Back From Scotland

The journey is over, I have seen, walked, climbed, and explored Scotland and now I am home. I am truly thankful I got to go but am so very thankful to be home.

I was not even sure if I could write about my journey and travel adventures because where do you start?

Scotland. A land rich in history, the countryside is glorious and the towns and cities filled with gorgeous old buildings and enough tales to keep you entertained for a long while.

I heard about King James… a lot of King James’ because they like the name: there were 8 of them. Mary Queen of Scott’s was infamous and showed up in various stories all around Scotland. The link between church and government (kings, queens, lords) is everywhere and it is mind boggling to keep everyone straight as you hear the history. To be honest it was like listening to a soap opera gone bad. Sorry I am not trying to offend anyone but this person fought that person, married or carried on with that person while plotting or being plotted to assacinate others. Truly not all that different from current royal stories… and many other places and families in the world.

The Scotts are a kind and proud people, their love of their country is not to be missed. They support each other, I was in Glasgow on a Saturday and could not figure out all the crowds and the excitement in the air until I heard someone say there was a football game on. (Soccer to us) it made for a large party in the city.

My favorite day was the day I toured the Highlands, explored Loch Ness, had lunch at a seaside town and rode the famous Jacobite Steam Train.

The steam train releases its tickets to sell in April and only runs until Mid-October and the tickets sell out nearly right away. I was blessed to be able to ride it a few days before the train shut down for the year.

Made famous for many reasons the Jacobite steam train is most noted as the train in the Harry Potter movies. The train passes over the Glenfinnan viaduct and this is the most famous spot of the 84 mile journey.

As we approached the viaduct I could see something like dots all along the way with a huge cluster at the end of the viaduct. All those dots were people. For absolutely miles, people, hundreds of people come out to view and wave at the train. I felt like royalty waving to the people who were lined up to see the train. I admit I was probably the only person on the train who has never seen a Harry Potter movie and I am okay with that.

I started my trip in Edinburgh. Edinburgh is “up”. The Royal Mile in old town is quite doable as a walk except that you will be going up at some point. Up the steep grade hills and did I mention the stairs? Usually on average over a hundred. Oh, it’s not bad going down but the going up got old fairly quickly. No matter which way I went from my hotel- it was “up”. Try doing that with your suitcase, it seemed like the right decision to take the airport bus to the hotel…. Except they said I’d have to walk a bit…they neglected to mention the “up”.

I caught a cab on my way to the train station on my exit from Edinburgh. A lovely beautiful city to visit, but just keep the “up” in mind.

I could see the castle from my my hotel room on one end of the Royal Mile, the palace is on the other end.

I found Edinburgh very touristy with many people from all over the world, different languages abounding all around me. The stores were kind of like Jasper, designed to sell you all the Scottish treasures you could want and they all basically sold the same things.

I did find a chocolate factory in Edinburgh that had tours and got to make my own chocolates and try an exceptional amount of different kinds and flavours. It was really informative and of course yummy!

Pubs dotted the sidewalks and a lot of coffee shops. I found some of the coffee shops did not sell tea, just coffee. I have to admit a tea sadness, I really only found English Breakfast tea as the norm for tea. You could buy different tea at a grocery store but out and about a cup of English breakfast was what you were getting.

The best way to see the city is to ride the hop-on/hop-off bus. It gives you a city tour on a double decker bus- open air for some of the top seats. It is a really unique way to tour.

After four days I made my way by train to the start of the Scottish Highlands, Inverness.

What a beautiful and romantic city, with a small town vibe. Walking is the way to go in Inverness as you can get around easily and it was not far to anywhere. Plus the River Inverness runs through the city and walk ways and walking bridges let you enjoy the city and the river at the same time. The largest bookstore in Scotland is in Inverness, “Leakeys”. There is a wood stove in the middle of the store and curling up with a book is encouraged.

Unfortunately I ended up getting sick with a nasty chest cold in Inverness so I did not get to explore a lot and took some time to stay in and try to get better.

Next week I will discuss Glasgow, highland cows, and exploring the countryside.