By far the most picturesque and photographed castle in all of Scotland. Eilean Donan sits on a small tidal island where three lochs meet (Loch Duich, Loch Long, and Loch Alsh) and is connected to the mainland by a stone footbridge. The mountain backdrop and surrounding area are equally as breathtaking and as photo-worthy as the castle itself. There is a fee to enter the castle which includes a guided tour (which we did not […]
No visit to the Scottish Highlands would be complete without a boat ride on Lochness. Not only the largest lake in Scotland by volume, it’s also home to famed Nessie the Lochness Monster. And, whether or not you believe, most people hold a romanticized vision of the creature that, legend has it, plumbs the depths of the Lochs dark waters. Her story will live on for generations in everything from folklore, to pop culture to […]
The entire Union Canal runs just over 30 miles from Edinburgh Quay to the Falkirk Wheel, the world’s first rotating boat lift. Originally built to transport coal, the Union Canal opened in 1822 and played an important part in the commercial link across central Scotland before the railway was established in 1842. Today the Union Canal is popular with walkers and cyclists. We only experienced a small portion of the canal but found it charming […]
We spent a couple of days here on our way up to The Highlands and I can’t really say a whole lot about Scotland’s capital city because we didn’t spend a great deal of time in it aside from the high street….which we loved. Afterall, what’s not to love about cobbled streets, crusty pubs and bagpipers. Instead, for one of the days, we decided to book a Hairy Coo tour; a decision we didn’t regret. […]
Located on the North Northumberland coast, roughly halfway between Newcastle and Edinburgh you’ll find the tiny coastal town of Seahouses. Not a destination in itself for us but a lovely stop to stretch our legs, go into a few of the local shoppes, and grab some fresh fish and chips-maybe the best of the trip-on our way to Edinburgh. And, just a short jaunt up the road, you’ll find the beautiful Bamburgh Castle ominously overlooking […]
Perched high on the Abbey Craig above the floodplain of the River Forth and overlooking the city of Stirling, this beautiful gothic monument commemorates William Wallace the hero of the Battle of Stirling Bridge and the bid for Scottish independence in 1297. Most recently however, Wallace’s name was again made famous by Mel Gibson who depicted him in the movie Braveheart…one of my favs. Once you arrive at the monument you can either take a […]
I probably wouldn’t make a separate trip here either but I’d have to say The Angel of the North is quite amazing and the photograph I took of her (or him) is one of my favorite photos of the entire two week road trip. Designed by Anthony Gormley and completed in 1998 it is a contemporary steel sculpture of an angel, 66 ft tall with wings measuring 177 ft across. Interestingly, the wings do not […]
Although I probably wouldn’t have booked a trip here by itself, it was nice to make a stop at this UNESCO World Heritage site. The history of Hadrian’s wall dates back to the years AD122-30 when it was built as a Roman frontier by the order of the Emperor Hadrian to separate the Romans from the barbarians. It was 73 miles long and ran from Wallsend-on-Tyne in the east to Bowness on the Solway Firth […]