T̶w̶o̶ One p̶e̶r̶p̶e̶t̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶a̶t̶s̶ immigrant settling into home country number five.
We had some excellent Scotland adventures in April. I spent a week in Gardenstown at a workshop led by a very talented Scottish artist, and then Scott came to join me and we headed further north. On our way to the ferry to the Orkney Islands, we stopped for a couple hours to check out Dunrobin Castle.
The Isle of Skye is a wonderful place for hiking, if you’re lucky enough to have cooperative weather. We spent an afternoon exploring the Trotternish Peninsula, topped off with a hike up the Storr to visit its old man.
Our road trip through the western Highlands ended with several relaxing days on the Isle of Skye.
It was still raining as we pulled into Plockton, but the charm of this small seaside town was evident even through the dreich.
After Durness and Faraid Head, we spent a couple days slowly making our way back down the west coast of Scotland.
Back to our road trip through the western Highlands. In our last post, we drove the beautiful strip from Ullapool to Durness.
Read moreScottish Highlands: hiking the dunes of Faraid Head
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.
Read moreScottish Highlands: driving the northern west coast
When we moved to Scotland, we started asking everyone we met for travel recommendations. “What’s your favorite place to visit?” “Where should we go first?” Often the answer ended up being something along the lines of “just drive up and down the whole west coast of Scotland.” The first chance we got, we did just that. Our first destination (after a spontaneous stop for a tour of Dalwhinnie Distillery) was Ullapool.
On a recent trip to the Western Highlands, we made a spontaneous stop for a tour at Dalwhinnie Distillery, around a two-hour drive from Edinburgh.
Most of our recent exploration of the Highlands have been by car (have I mentioned that we now own a car, after 8 years without one?), which has its advantages and disadvantages. One distinct disadvantage is that the driver has to pay attention to the road rather than enjoying the abundant scenery; another is that we have to put in the time and effort to plan our route ourselves.
Read moreA day in Scotland: Stirling Castle, Loch Lomond, and Glengoyne Distillery