“A clean bus is a happy bus,” our tour guide, Marty, informs us as we leave behind a sleepy Glasgow on a lazy Saturday, heading towards the Scottish Highlands. We will be spending the whole weekend in the Highlands, but little did we know when we left what surprises were in store for us. Stunning views, rain, an amazing breakfast, more rain, haggis, even more rain and an unexpected detour.
After….some sleep in Glasgow, we got on the bus, excited for the day ahead of us. Our first stop would be the Wallace Monument, built in honor of Scotland’s most famous hero… Mel Gibson. Just kidding, although Marty did call him “the patron saint of tourism in Scotland” since after the movie Braveheart, tourism in the country increased significantly. I listen fascinated to stories from Scotland’s history and I try to take notes, but I quickly get car sick and give up on the idea entirely. Let me show you how the first day went.
The imposing Wallace Monumentand the gorgeous view from the topWe stopped to take a couple of pictures of Stirling Castle, right before catching a glimpse of Doune Castle, much to Paul’s excitement, as it was a Game of Thrones filming location in ScotlandOutside the restaurant where we had lunch there were two very lovely hairy coos, the first we’ve seen in the HighlandsThe scenery was gorgeous all around, I tried to take a few pictures from the car (like this one) but after bumping my head on the window only to end up with shit photos, I decided to just sit and enjoy to view – something I’m not entirely used to.I had fallen asleep and when I woke up, we had stopped at Glen Coe for a few photos, all I remember was that it was cold, rainy and foggy and I was only wearing a sweater.While we had just missed the famous “Harry Potter train”, I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the iconic bridge with my little Harry, wet from all the rain.Loch Schiel, near the Harry Potter bridge. Am I the only one who sees that log as a crocodile?My future house!And here is my favorite place in the Scottish Highlands: The Church of St Mary and St Finnan or the Glenfinnan Church for short. It was so quiet and the back yard of the church has an absolutely gorgeous view.The inside of the Glenfinnan Church, we were the only ones there.Our final stop on the first day: the picturesque town of Fort William
Buying scotch for our dads….and ourselves.A cute b&b in Fort William. Not our accommodation, which was even better than this.I had planned to go to Loch Linnhe once we reach Fort William and I didn’t want to let the cold and the gray skies stop me.Paul’s number one reason to go back to Scotland and the Highlands: the yellow poppiesTried haggis for the first time. It wasn’t as horrible as I though, in fact I quite liked it and even ordered it in a few other places.
The first day ended with an amazing accommodation, maybe the best I’ve ever stayed at. Our friend, Anda, had already been to Scotland and had stayed at the Myrtle Bank Guest House before and when she showed us pictures, we wanted to book a room no matter what! And boy, we were so glad we did. It was cold and raining that evening in Fort William and when we saw our room, we wanted to stay there for days. Cozy, spacious, beautiful, warm and it had a gorgeous view over Loch Linnhe. In the morning we had a delicious full English breakfast, to get us ready for the long day ahead of us.
The second day started with this breakfast (look at that view!), followed by a long day in the bus, traveling all the way to Eilean Donan Castle and Loch Ness. Despite my best efforts to enjoy the views of the Highlands, the relaxing Scottish music in the car made me doze off a few times…
Lots of empty roads in the Highlands on a typical Scottish summer day…Couldn’t see much of Glen Garry, but I did take a couple of pictures of these interesting rocks. Totally fine with that fog, it’s cool.The most photographed castle in Scotland, Eilean Donan. In my mind I had a lot of different photos I wanted to take, but none of them were possible due to the heavy rain that didn’t stop for one minute while we were there 🙁
So we had to seek refuge in the cafe of the castle. Scotland, if I gained weight, it’s on you!After a very long drive (and nap), we reached Loch Ness and I was astonished to see how huge it actually was. Sadly, Nessie (aka the famous monster) said it’s too cold to show up.
I wanted to go over there to eat simply because it had purple umbrellas, hahaWe had a couple of more stops planned (including a walk in The Hermitage, something I was super excited for), but after being stuck in traffic for over three hours due to an accident, we had to take a detour and stop in the charming little town of Pitlochry for a bathroom break and a quick look around.I had to take a photo of a town map just to remember how to spell the name, haha
While the tour with Timberbush didn’t go exactly as I had imagined, I still had a lot of fun and saw some incredible sights. I can only recommend this tour, you see a lot of beautiful places in a relatively short time. As for me, I just know I’ll return to the Highlands sooner rather than later. I may or may not have plans for the future already. 😉 But it will be too much to ask for at least one sunny day???
Have you ever been to the Scottish Highlands?
Disclaimer: I normally wouldn’t add this, but I feel like I need to say it just so there won’t be any confusion: the tour and accommodation were entirely paid by us and we received no discounts, nor were we asked to write this post. We simply had an amazing time and wanted to recommend you some cool places. You’re welcome. 😉
