The Highlands of Scotland

May 18th 

We set out from Edinburgh having said our goodbyes to Bill and Danette who flew to Dublin for a few days in Ireland. Robin at the Ardmor House on Pilrig street loaded us up on a fantastic Scottish breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausages, tomato, fruit and bread, gave us great instructions to get to the Firth of Forth Bridge and off we went.

Breakfast at Ardmor House

The day was off and on sunny and cloudy but our first stop was Balmoral Castle, the summer residence of the Royal Family. It was lovely - quite "homey" for a castle, but man, what a place to spend time with your grandchildren! The gardens - both flower and vegetable were gorgeous, can't imagine what they will be like in summer. We were able to see the grand ballroom with pictures of past years as well as some of the queen's gowns. It's amazing how many people it takes to run an estate like that, but they do a fantastic job!

The River Dee at Balmoral

The Flower Gardens of Balmoral

Rick in the play area of Queen Victoria's grandchildren

Liz in front of Balmoral Castle

We climbed back in the car and spent the rest of the day on beautiful windy, hilly roads surrounded by very green forests - the kind of area you envision great knights and lovely princesses traveling through in day a of old. We made it to the northern village of Fochabers where we spent the night with a new friend we met in Edinburgh who is a distant relative of Rick's good friend, Bill Leslie of Barrie, Ontario. We drove to the neighboring town of Keith for Indian Cuisine and then Anne took us arouned the surrounding, charming villages and out to the coastal area of Spey Bay. We returned to her home, had a "dram" or two of local whiskey (we were in the heart of Malt Whiskey country) and hit the sack.

The road to Fochabers - the cutest little guys!

Anne in front of her home in Fochabers

Stone Bridge at Spey Bay

There you go, Patrick!

Morning came early for me as it is light at 4 am! I did manage to get back to sleep and awoke at 8 to a lovely breakfast and coffee and we set out again. Anne shared many Scotish stories and a lot of history with us and we were able to see a lot of that on our way west. May 19th When we left Anne's, the first stop we made was to the Glen Moray Distilery for a look at some scotch (promised Patrick I would:). Soon we came across Cawdor Castle that has been linked to Macbeth, but since we had toured Balmoral, here we just got out and walked the grounds.

Standing outside the gate at Cawdor Castle -
Macbeth was the "Thane" of Cawdor!

Baa Baa Black Sheep...

We then continued west to the city of Inverness, but not before stopping at the centuries old Culloden Battlefield. The sight of the last war in Britain in 1746. It was here that the English defeated the Jacobite army who were trying to return the Stuarts to the throne. It was a fantastic museum and the fields where they fought looked pretty much the same as they did back then, the weather was even a bit similar, cold, windy and rainy!

Culloden Battlefield

The thin red line at Culloden Battlefield

We left Culloden and headed south to Urquhart Castle - must be the oldest in the land - settled originally in the 500's! Amazingly, in good shape and we wandered for quite awhile through the ruins of the many different areas of the castle. The drive there was quite spectacular as it goes along the water of Loch Ness - yes, the one with the supposed monster! Didn't see one, but did pick up a little green one for Riley! We drove from there through more lovely hillside areas with the loch on one side and the mountains with waterfalls every 50 feet or so, trailing down to the roadside.

Loch Ness from the road

Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness

Liz at Urquhart Castle

We stopped and took a look at The Caledonian Canal that connects the locks as well. We were headed to Ft. William, also on the coast, but stopped first at the Commando Memorial just north of Ft. William. Awesome memorial to the commandos that fought in all the wars, but especially sad to see all the young guys names and ages!

The Caledonian Canal

Tonite, we are in a lovely B&B - enjoyed a lovely dinner overlooking the water (had sticky toffee pudding for dessert - to die for!) Tomorrow we hope to hike the glen of the big mountain of Ben Nevis and then continue south to the waterfront village of Oban.

The best dessert we've had here - sticky toffee pudding!

For James & Patrick - all the way from Philmont Scout Ranch
to the highlands of Scotland

Liz in front of Lawriestone B&B in Ft. William