Archives 2013 October

Our first day in fort William was a rainy one so after a slow morning we decided to catch the train from here to Mallaigh. This is the west highland way and it is beautifully scenic. We had hoped to get on the Jacobite express (the steam train from Harry potter) but it has finished […]

Sunday we left the remote north and drove to Ullapool. It only took half a day so we had the afternoon to explore Ullapool which is beautifully situated on a working harbour. The Main street, Shore Street runs along the water with a few pubs and woollen/ tourist shops. We found lunch in a very […]

We have spent the last two nights in a stone croft cottage at Kirtomy, 3 miles west of Bettyhill. Tomorrow we travel to Ullapool as we begin our journey down the West Coast. After arriving on a fairly bleak evening, to a cold cottage after a long drive on single lane roads we were perhaps […]

We started off at dawn (8am) from Edinburgh to make our way to Bettyhill on the north coast of Scotland. After making it to Culloden just near Inverness we stopped to explore the visitor centre and museum, and to walk around the battlefield. Aside from the constant drizzle outside this was a great historical site […]

We had a beautiful last day in Edinburgh today. The weather was sunny and almost warm (by Scotland’s standards…we were still wearing our parkas). We caught the bus into town and went to Scotland’s records office where you can search for Scottish ancestry through their records. The staff were lovely and extremely helpful. Only one […]

We were up bright and early by Edinburgh standards and on the bus into town by just after 9am. We had organised to meet my aunt and uncle to go on the real Mary King’s Close tour which takes you into an underground warren of old streets and houses that had been built over in […]

Today we took a drive out of town. First stop the Falkirk Wheel. It wasn’t something that I had been desperate to see but Dad was very keen. After seeing how this giant feat of engineering changes the way boats move through canals and locks/lochs in the Forth Valley I was pretty darn impressed. Then […]

Today we bought a ticket for the hop on hop off buses and toured around the city. It was a fabulous way to get to the key sites really easily as well as get a really good feel for lots of other areas and their history. We spent the morning at the Castle with lots […]

It was a sunny autumn day as we set off into the city of Edinburgh. All being a bit wrecked from the long day of driving yesterday the plan was a quiet day with a bit of walking but not too much, lunch and a look around to get our bearings. We caught the bus […]

Today was a big driving day as we started out bright and early from Yorkshire and have finally landed in Edinburgh this evening. The weather was bleak on leaving Yorkshire and we headed for Hexham as a point for getting to Hadrian’s Wall. We were slowed down by some roadworks and stopped in Thirsk for […]