Four-Day Fabulous: Scotland

January 21, 2019

A friend of mine just messaged me, asking if four days is enough to see the Scottish Highlands. Edinburgh, Inverness, Fort William, and Glencoe are the areas she's especially interested in visiting.

My answer: YES! Four days is the perfect amount of time for a lovely driving tour around the Scottish Highlands. I know, because Andy and I just did exactly that, and it was spectacular!

Of course, you could spent forever in the Scottish Highlands and it would be spectacular, but for those of us who have real-life schedules to keep, four days is a great starting point.

Andy and I have a take-no-prisoners, we'll-rest-when-we're-dead sort of approach for trips like this. We wake up early, go until dark, and then crash into a pub at the end of the day with our heads spinning full of glorious, beautiful, wonderful things.

The Itinerary

Day One: Edinburgh to Inverness

Cullross Village, Carrbridge, Clava Cairns, Glennfinnan Viaduct, Culloden Moor **Our flight arrived in Edinburgh at 7 a.m.**

We felt quite literary on this day, as our sight-seeing included a trifecta of Outlander-inspired destinations and a Harry Potter train bridge.

Even if you're not an Outlander fan, Culross Village is a wonderful first stop, a well-preserved piece of the past, where you can wander cobblestone streets and alleys, and explore the grounds of Culross Abbey.

As we drove north, we took time for a short detour to Carrbridge, where the eponymous bridge has spanned the River Carr for 300 years.

Next we stopped to see the standing stones at Clava Cairns, and the nearby Glennfinnon Viaduct, made famous as the bridge in the Harry Potter movies.

Our final stop before Inverness was Culloden Moor, site of the final battle of the Jacobite Uprising of 1745. In less than an hour on this open field, the highland clans lost not only the war but also their entire way of life.

We spent the night at the Glenmoriston Townhouse Hotel, on the banks of the River Ness, and had the most glorious dinner at the Hilton Village Chip Shop in Inverness. It was not a glamorous dinner; in fact, we ate in the car. But it exactly what we'd wanted to find: the local chippy with a line out the door. Fish and chips perfection.

Day Two: Inverness to Isle of Skye to Glencoe

Loch Ness, Castle Uruquhart, Eileen Donan Castle, Fairy Pools, Fairy Glen, Lealt Falls

**This is a VERY ambitious day, and if you don't want to run quite this hard, leave out the Isle of Skye, and choose some other excursions along Loch Ness on your way to Glencoe**

Leaving Inverness, the road follows the long, long length of Loch Ness. We left Inverness so early that it was still dark, resulting in a wonderfully gloomy and atmospheric drive along the loch. We were sure we saw Nessie several times.

Crossing the bridge to the Isle of Skye, we stopped to view Eileen Donan Castle, and to greet our first Highland Cows.

Here's what I learned: don't touch the cows. They don't like it, and they will whack you with their horns to let you know.

True confession: we came to Skye because I saw a picture of the Fairy Pools on Pinterest. I had been told by friends that Skye was a must, but the Fairy Pools photo is what convinced me that the extra long drive was worth it.

Turns out, the Fairy Pools are like someone you met on match.com: they may be perfectly nice, but they look absolutely nothing like their online photographs.

Apparently, many visitors have trouble recognizing the Fairy Pools from what they've seen online, because a fair way up the track there's a sign that essentially says, "You've seen them. Turn around and go back."

Fairy Pools, as I saw them, not as Pinterest saw them

At the Fairy Pools, though, we met up with a family who gave us our hot tip of the day. We absolutely HAD to go to the Fairy Glen, they said. So off we went. And it was magic: terraced hillocks, rocks to climb, stone circles, and a little waterfall with a red-berried rowan tree.

We spent the night in Glencoe at the heavenly Heatherlea Glencoe Bed & Breakfast. Helen and Jo have comfortable rooms, a fabulous garden, and a delicious cooked-to-order breakfast.

Day Three: Glencoe to Edinburgh

Glencoe Moor, Three Lochs Drive, Castle Doune, Stirling Castle, Midhope Castle

The drive from Glencoe to Edinburgh was everything I ever thought the Highlands would be: majestic mountains, windswept moors, placid lochs, crumbling castles.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand, swarms of midges that let you get just far enough away from your car, then attack with bloodthirsty intent. If you wonder why nobody lives up here, the midges provide a clue.

We couldn't get enough of the still, beautiful lochs, so we took an extra detour along Three Lochs Forest Drive.

Our favorite castle visit of the day: Castle Doune, which plays host to many film crews. As you explore, you can sing along with Monte Python's knights of Spamalot, le sigh over Jamie and Claire's first meeting in Outlander, and roam the great hall of Winterfell from Game of Thrones.

Doune Castle, where you're sure that livestock will come flying over the walls any second

We also stopped in at Stirling Castle, where we had the chance to enjoy a brief moment as Lord and Lady Bruner.

Our final stop before returning to Edinbugh was Midhope Castle, the film site for Lallybroch in Outlander. We had to drive a bit out of the way for this, but I'll never regret that I was able to stand in the same doorway as Jamie Fraser. Never.

Day Four: Edinburgh

St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh Castle, Royal Mile, Elephant House, National Museum of Scotland, Scottish Parliament, Calton Hill/Arthur's Seat

**Our flight departed Edinburgh at 10 p.m. of Day Four**

On the night of Day Three, we stayed at Old Town Chambers, in Advocate's Close, just off the Royal Mile. It was a pretty fabulous location, down this alley, picturesque in the extreme and central to everything in Old Town.

We did all the things you're supposed to do in Old Town Edinburgh: ate in a pub in Grassmarket; visited St. Giles Church, Edinburgh Castle and the National Museum of Scotland; visited the Scottish National Parliament building and sat in on a bit of a session; climbed Calton hill to view Arthur's Seat; and wrapped it all up with afternoon tea at The Elephant House, where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book.

The Elelphant House, Harry Potter fan graffiti in the washroom

And so, to the question of whether you can do Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands in four days, the answer is a resounding YES--and if you're super ambitious (like we were!) you can even see a wee bit of the Isle of Skye as well.

Believe me when I say that you will sleep well on the flight home.

Travel Note: A Word to the Wise on Car Rental

We flew into Edinburgh, where we rented a car for our drive into the Highlands. On our way back to Edinburgh on Day 3, we dropped our car at the airport and took the train into the city, where we stayed overnight and spent the next day exploring the city. We were very pleased with our decision to be without the car in Edinburgh, as we stayed in a hotel on the Royal Mile and walked everywhere we wanted to go, and saved ourselves a day's rental in good frugal Scottish tradition.

Wild Irish Roads

January 18, 2019

Twenty-two years ago, I saw a picture of Milford Sound, New Zealand in a travel agent's window.

"I don't know where this is," I said to Andy, "But I want to go there."

A few weeks later, we were in a camper van, on the road in New Zealand, with Milford Sound as our destination, stopping along the way for anything that looked interesting and exciting.

Our trip to Ireland was composed this same way: beautiful images of far-flung places, stitched together with many kilometers of scenic roadways and surprising stops along the way. We drove a counter-clockwise ring around Ireland, from Dublin, up to Belfast, along the Antrim Coast, down the west coast, and back through the center of the country to Dublin.

This was not a trip for the city-lover. Although we did visit and enjoy the wonderful cities of Dublin and Belfast and Londonderry, the cities were, for us, gateways to the open road and the beautiful, wild places.

The absolutely fantastic thing about Ireland is that you've arrived in the land of the B&B and the pub. So, you can drive as far as you want, hike to your heart's content, and at the end of the day, someone will serve you up a wonderful dinner and a pint. There will be music, and a fluffy duvet to burrow into until the morning comes.

Bring your rain jacket and your waterproof hiking boots, and you're good to go.

So, without further adieu, here's our five days of driving through much of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Day 1: Dublin to Belfast

We landed in Dublin early, rented our car, and headed north.

Or, as the signs on the motorway say in all caps, The NORTH.

Like a prophecy. Like a portent.

Our very first stop was the World Heritage site, Bru na Boinne, a Neolitic passage tomb older than the pyramids at Giza. I wept like a child inside the tomb called Newgrange, and then couldn't speak without crying for an hour or so after. It was one of the most deeply moving spiritual experiences of my life, feeling a deep connection to humanity throughout history, and the oneness of our common experiences with death, sorrow, hope, and light.

I've written more about Bru na Boinne and my experience, here.

Our next stop was Monasterboice, site of a monastery founded sometime around 500 AD. The high crosses here, including the highest in Ireland, date from the 9th or 10th century.

We stopped for lunch at the Monasterboice Inn. Don't worry, I'm not going to show you all our meals, but this one includes our first pint of Guinness, and the meal itself featured potatoes three ways: topping the Cottage Pie, and side dishes of mashed potatoes and chips. We shared, because there was Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert. HEAVEN.

Heaven on many plates, and in some glasses, too

After lunch, we wandered The Peace Maze at Castlewellan. I wanted to find some labyrinths to walk on this trip, and when I Googled labyrinths, this came up. It was gorgeous, and almost deserted, exactly the way we like our tourist attractions to be. We were entering Northern Ireland at this point, and with its long history of troubles and painful division, a peace maze seemed like a spiritually appropriate beginning.

By this time, it was late afternoon so we quickly nipped in to DownPatrick to pay our respects at the Grave of St. Patrick, quite remarkably humble and secluded, behind the cathedral.

We spent the night at a Hilton in Belfast--the worst bed of the trip, but the best breakfast. Fried soda bread. Why don't we have this in America?

Here we learned that our GPS can't pronouce the Irish any better than we can. In fact, the GPS chick took words I can figure out, like "Templepatrick" and made them into unrecognizable things like "TempLEPatrick." As a result, we couldn't always figure out what GPS-chick was trying to tell us. Fortunately, roundabouts (rather than stoplight junctions) mean that you can just keep going around and around until you get back to the road you were supposed to follow.

Day 2: Belfast to Portrush

Our first stop of the day was The Dark Hedges in Balleymoney. It's one of the most-photographed sites in Ireland, and was the film location for The Kings Road early on in Game of Thrones. We got there really early and had it all to ourselves.

After The Dark Hedges, we headed for the village of Cushendun on the coast, via the Glendun Scenic Route. It was so beautiful, so lonely and wild.

Arriving in Cushendun, we went to climb around in this cool cave area we'd read about, and then found a sign saying that it was a Game of Thrones location, too.

The narrow roads in this area were bounded by huge hedges of fushcia in full bloom, and giant brambles of ripe blackberries.

We'd seen so many enormous hedges by this point that I started hypothesizing that a biological imperative toward hedge-planting is likely an accurate test of whether you've got Irish roots. Forget ancestry.com. Do you feel a deep-seated need to plant hedges? You're probably Irish.

We found our first red telephone box near Torr Head, where we stopped to climb the hill for a majestic view along the coastline.

After spending the morning in this very remote and quiet area, we hit three tourist traps in the afternoon: Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, the Bushmill's Distillery tour, and Giant's Causeway.

The rope bridge at Carrick-a-Rede connects a tiny island to the mainland, and was first built by local salmon fishermen, before America was even a country. It's a tourist trap because it's cool!

Giant's Causeway is another World Heritage Site and simply spectacular. There are tons of people around, but if you wait til just the right moment, you can get a shot without humans in it. The guards told us we were too close to the edge and in danger of being washed away by crashing waves, so clearly a fine time was had by all.

Bushmill's Distillery Tour, with a thimbleful of whiskey at the end

We stopped by Dunluce Castle (Castle Greyjoy in GoT), where we were too late to get inside for a tour, but were able to climb around the outside, and even found a sea-cave that comes in under the walls.

Day 3: Londonderry to the Cliffs of Moher

We started our day walking the medieval walls of Derry. I took this photo on the wall near Bishop's Gate, and if you look on either side of the cannon, you can see Protestant church spires on one side, Catholic on the other. I was glad we had already walked the Peace Maze before we walked the walls.

Other than getting to the Cliffs of Moher for sunset, we didn't have set plans for the day. Andy looked along our route and decided we'd drive through Glengesh Pass to another set of cliffs called Slieve League, taller than the Cliffs of Moher, but very remote and less visited.

When we arrived at Slieve League, we hiked up from the car park, past a lot of sheep, through gale-force winds, to a good picnic spot. We were eating a sandwich on a bench near the cliffs, when we saw a bit of a rainbow.

This, in fact, was Rainbow Number 12 for the day. But we were still liking them, so Andy took this picture.

Then we realized that the wind, blowing strongly toward us, was pushing the clouds rapidly inland. As the clouds cleared, the rainbow kept growing and growing and growing, getting brighter and brighter and brighter.

For at least ten minutes, we sat spell-bound, watching this rainbow being born, until a complete arch formed all across the cliff face.

At this point, we called the trip a raging success and everything that happened afterward, a bonus.

On this particular day, the bonus included WB Yeats' resting place in Drumcliff, the ruins of Clare Galway Franciscan Priory (now inhabited mostly by birds, St. Francis would approve), and the Cliffs of Moher (aka The Cliffs of Insanity from The Princess Bride) at sunset.

Treading just lightly on WB Yeats' dreams

Sunset on the Cliffs of Moher, when the tourist crowds are gone: spectacular

Day 4: Dingle & Rock of Cashel

We got up early on Day 4 for a long drive around Slea Head Drive, Dingle. Afterward, we turned back inland to Rock of Cashel, headed back toward Dublin. This was a very long days' drive, and that informed our decision to drive the smaller peninsula of Dingle, rather than the larger and more well-known Ring of Kerry directly to the south. We were perfectly happy with our Dingle-drive decision. No regrets at all, when your lunch spot looks like this. No filter.

Day 5: Back to Dublin

Day 5 begins with the sad tale of Irish breakfast tea gone amuck.

We spent the night at the lovely country home of Helen, whom we discovered through Air BnB. Helen's home had the distinction of being the only place we stayed where there was a hair dryer (note, I wore a hat most of the trip). More importantly, it was the place of the tea disaster.

Helen was a very friendly person who gave us great advice for our Day 6 itinerary, plus the run of her kitchen for breakfast. She told us how to make ourselves REAL Irish breakfast tea, with leaves, in a pot, and not with those desecrations to good tea known as tea bags.

So, the morning of Day 5 arrived, Helen was off to work and we were on our own with the detailed tea instructions we had received. We boiled the water, made the tea, sugared it, took a sip, and both went, "Faugh!"

(Really, there's no other word. Faugh is the best I can come up with.)

"Why is this so SALTY? Is real Irish tea made with seawater?"

We could not understand why anyone would drink salty tea.

But in Scotland, they have haggis, so Irish tea might be salty.

Who knows.

Human taste is a mystery.

"There's no right or wrong," we said, "To each his own," we said, but we could not drink this tea.

So we poured it out (sorry, Helen, sorry!!!) and went with the substandard tea bags for round two.

Meanwhile, poking around on the table, I found a ramekin of brown sugar and decided to try that instead of the white sugar in my second cup of tea. The open bowl of white sugar was fairly depleted from our previous use, and I wanted to leave that for Andy. So I fixed up my second cup of tea with brown sugar, and he dumped the remaining white sugar into his second cup.

"Faugh!" he says again, "Faugh!"

And that's when we realized: the little open bowl of white sugar, with which we fixed our first cups tea, and with which Andy fixed his second cup of tea: SALT.

After slinking away from the tea-disaster at Helen's, we managed to find ourselves in the best ruin of the trip: the Rock of Dunamase. It was very early, we were alone in the quintessential Irish countryside, surrounded by rolling fields full of new-mown hay and grazing sheep. Nobody stopped Andy from climbing the walls, and I took a lot of pictures of old rocks and ivy.

I waded through hay and brambles to take my favorite photo of the trip, looking back at Dunamase. Traveling in September, the rose hips were gorgeous everywhere and made wonderful frames for so many beautiful scenes.

From Dunamase, we drove through the majestic scenery of the Wicklow Mountains National Park, to the estate of Powerscourt with its beautiful waterfall and gardens.

Finally, we wound up back in Dublin where we visited the Book of Kells and the Long Reading Room at Trinity College, then said farewell to the Irish countryside on the hill at Tara of the Kings.

That night, we had dinner and a cider at Merchant's Arch, where the music was not traditional, but where Stevie and Lee made themselves heroes when they mixed Let It Be with No Woman, No Cry. The Beatles and Bob Marley, together, and everybody singing at the top of their lungs: musical perfection.

Thank you, Dublin. You did not disappoint.

A Word to the Wise: Travel Tip

It rains a lot in Ireland, which means endless green hills, spectacular rainbows, and misery for you, if you don't come prepared. A good waterproof jacket and waterproof shoes are absolutely essential to your enjoyment of Ireland.

Visit our product recommendations for jackets and shoes, and have a wonderful time in Ireland!