After Durness and Faraid Head, we spent a couple days slowly making our way back down the west coast of Scotland.
Great Britain
Scottish Highlands: driving the northern west coast
If you look at a map of Scotland’s west coast, you’ll notice that it’s awfully jagged. One can’t exactly drive along it for any significant stretch; instead you just kind of drive near it, wherever the (often single-lane) road takes you.
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Scotland: in search of the Holy Grail at Doune Castle
Scotland is full of castles. We could spend years here and never get around to seeing them all. And the ones we have seen (much like churches in Italy) start to blend together in our memories so we’re not sure what was where. Doune Castle, however, stands out from the castley crowd.
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Edinburgh: Dean Village and the Water of Leith
Edinburgh is full of surprises. One minute you’re in a bustling city center, and the next you’re wandering down a shady trail, surrounded by trees and hearing only the sounds of the nearby stream.
Springtime in Great Britain
Last weekend we drove down to visit some friends in Birmingham. Along the way, spring was in full bloom.
Edinburgh: experiencing the Scotch Whisky Experience
On our recent bout of being tourists in our home town, we headed up the Royal Mile to the Scotch Whisky Experience. Edinburgh itself doesn’t contain any whisky distilleries, so tourists in the city seeking knowledge of Scotland’s great liquid usually end up here.
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Eastern Scotland: Hairy coos! (and Banff)
One of my favorite parts of driving around the Scottish Highlands is hairy coo spotting. As you drive along, you’ll catch sight of a couple cows grazing in a pasture far up the road.
Scotland: dolphins and oil on the Moray Firth
To start out our recent trip to the Highlands, we based ourselves in the seaside town of Nairn for two nights (and we would have happily stayed another night or two). We spent our second day exploring the Moray Firth (a firth is basically the Scottish equivalent of a fjord) on both sides of Inverness.