Leaving the Isle of Skye, we drove through small villages, such as Oich and Fort Augustus, and reached the famous Loch Ness. The Loch stretches for 23 miles, and contains more fresh water than all the other lakes in Scotland and England put together.
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| Scotland's Loch Ness |
Although we looked really hard, we didn’t spy Nessie, the Loch Ness monster swimming out there!
Driving alongside the Loch, we soon arrived in Inverness. There were no campsites available in Inverness, so we followed the recommendation of a local, and parked on the road alongside the River Ness.
This proved to be a great spot as we had an easy walk along the lovely river pathway, into Inverness city.
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Inverness Castle |
Nearby was Inverness Castle which is located on a prominent hill above the city, giving a great view of both sides of the River.
From the Castle, we walked down to the old city where we saw Inverness Cathedral, along with many other historic buildings and churches.
It is a lovely city with interesting architecture, and a really friendly and laid-back feel to it. It was a very easy place to wander around.
After a few hours, we stopped at a small pub right near the castle. It was very quaint, and had a lovely outdoor garden.
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Enjoying convivial company in Inverness |
It was very crowded, so we asked a couple sitting at a table for four, whether they minded sharing it with us. They were from the Nederland and were happy to share.
So we spent the next couple of hours having a great chat about travel, retirement, and the general state of the world (as you do!).
They said that, just before we arrived, they had been sitting next to two New Zealand women who had only just left, and now, here were two more New Zealand women – small world.
During our walk back along the riverbank, we saw St Andrew’s Cathedral which towered over everything else nearby.
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| Local fishermen on River Ness, 2 mins from the city centre |
We also saw lots of anglers in the river, and just up from our parking spot was a small shelter which seemed to be their meeting place.
We didn’t see them catch any fish but they seemed to be having a good time talking about it.
The next day we moved from our riverside park to a campsite about 2 kilometres away, which was on the banks of the Caledonian Canal. Beside the campsite and straddling the road, was a swivel bridge that opened when boats needed to go through.
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| Road opening as a swivel bridge on the Caledonian Canal |
It was interesting watching the barrier come down to close the road, the bridge swinging open, and the boats going through to journey up or down the canal.
This is the same canal we'd seen earlier in our trip, letting boats get to and from the Atlantic Ocean to the North Sea.
Leaving Inverness, we drove slightly northeast through the pretty towns of Elgin and Rothes.
We then we went through some narrow winding roads to the Glenfiddich Whiskey Distillery in pretty Dufftown. We were there to learn about one of the world’s most-awarded single malt whiskeys.
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| Dufftown-home of Glenfiddich whiskey |
It was interesting to compare this Scottish whiskey distillery, with our visit to the Bushmills whiskey distillery in Northern Ireland. The Scottish and Irish whisky brewing process is quite different.
After touring the distillery, we enjoyed a lovely lunch - Leigh had a vegetarian haggis! - before moving on.
We were headed to Balmoral Castle next. That day was the last day it would be open before the Queen arrived for her annual stay, and we had to get there before 4.30 pm to get inside the Castle.
However, we were running late - the craggy terrain over the Cairngorm Mountains kept us at a slow speed. We could deal with the twists, turns and narrow roads, but add to that, the incredible ups and downs and it ate into our travel time.
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| The very humped Bridge of Gairn |
At one stage, we came to a very steeply humped narrow bridge, the Bridge of Gairn, where a sign said 'Not suitable for long vehicles'. Being 7 metres long, we asked ourselves - "are we too long"?
We pictured our motorhome, Vtee teetering on the top of the hump, all wheels off the ground – eek!
With nowhere else to go except back an hour the way we had come, we went for it. So we drove over that bridge so very very slowly; and had no problems.
Now later than ever for Balmoral, we drove on as fast as we could to the Castle.
We eventually made it. Phew!
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Us at Balmoral Castle |
The Castle has the most amazing grounds and gardens, and is completely secluded from the road.
Disappointingly, you only get to see the lovely ballroom, but we had hoped for more (especially given the price of the tickets). The rest of the visit was to the stables and gardens, which were very lovely. We could see why the Queen would enjoy the beautiful setting and the privacy.
As it was getting quite late, we decided to overnight in the Balmoral Castle carpark. We had a peaceful sleep there, and set off early the next morning.
We drove through isolated and beautiful countryside, and many pretty towns and villages. Soon, we arrived at Braemar Castle, a 14th century fortress. After a quick look around there and the nearby village, we moved on.
A few hours later, we arrived in Dundee, which is on the Firth of Tay.
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| Victoria & Albert Design Centre, Dundee |
Initially, we thought Dundee was a rather bland looking place as all the buildings seemed to be a rather dull brown. However, as we got into the centre, we found more interesting types of architecture, grand churches, and lots of greenspaces.
The waterfront was interesting, and we saw the very new Victoria and Albert Design Centre there. It is an amazing-looking modern building in the shape of a ship.
Leaving Dundee later, we drove on along the Fife Coast to St Andrews. Passing the famous St Andrews Golf Club (the 'Home of Golf'), we arrived in St Andrews town centre. What a gorgeous place it is.
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The haunting ruins of St Andrew's Cathedral |
We saw beautiful building after beautiful building on the main street, and all the side streets, leading down to the beachfront. The town was full of people, and it was very buzzy.
However, once again finding it difficult to park our large Vtee in the narrow English streets, we had to be satisfied with several loops through the town, before moving on.
After the jaw-dropping St Andrews, we drove along the coastal road, past fields of wheat, and through several pretty villages.
This certainly is a beautiful part of the world, with yellow fields viewed against a backdrop of an aquamarine sea and cobalt blue sky.
However, we're sadly leaving this area now. We've loved this highland part of Scotland, but are now on the road to the Scottish Lowlands.
This is part of a bigger blog on our travels around England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Belgium and Luxembourg. The first blog is called “Off to do the UK in a motorhome”