Nicole finally got to play in a train station!
We arrived in Edinburgh, dropped off our luggage, and hike Calton Hill! It gives a beautiful view of the city-Old Town squished together in tall buildings, the rail station, and New Town with orderly rows. All with Arthur's Seat presiding at one end by Holyrood Palace with Edinburgh Castle sitting atop its volcanic foundation at the other end of the Royal Mile.
Lots to explore on Calton Hill and climb on
Walking through Edinburgh, Jim commented that the whole place could use a powerwash. We actually hardly saw any rain our whole trip which was a miracle. But I could easily imagine how the normally drizzly gray conditions would blend right in with these darkened stones.
The Tram was a new form of transportation we hadn't seen yet- but don't worry, we took that to the airport at the end of our trip!
Statue to the Duke of Wellington
We heard some noise and walked over to see a band playing some fun music!
John went over and dropped a "pound" in their music case.
Such a few welcome to Scotland!
We just spent that one afternoon taking a quick peek at Edinburgh because in the morning was a trip I've been beyond excited about ever since I'd heard of Skye. We hired a private tour guide to see the Highlands and Skye and it was everything I'd hoped for! Our guide Niall (pronounced Neal) was in his 50s, has two wee sons, and would normally never take kids but since I asked when covid was still hitting the industry hard, agreed to take us on. Thankfully, I don't think he regrets it and we learned so much from him. We started by seeing the Kelpies!
The Kelpies are named after the mythical water horses said to be in Scottish lochs and rivers. However, the creators said the inspiration for his sculptures comes from the heavy horses that once powered Scotland's canals. The project is between two canals.
They are 98 feet high and weigh more than 300 tonnes each!
Jim glimpsed this playground with a super tall slide and convinced our tour guide to take a detour. That was the beauty of a personal guide, and he sure thought we were funny. It was only a 15 minute stop and I'm sure he wondered if we would ask him to find slides from there to Skye! Thankfully, there were no other park stops Jim (or the kids) saw.
Doune Castle was built in the 14th century. Mary, Queen of Scots, stayed in Doune Castle on several occasions, taking her quarters in the rooms above the kitchens. King James VI also visited Doune Castle, and paid money towards repairs and improvements at the castle. King James also imprisoned dissenters at the castle. During Oliver Cromwell’s attempted occupation of Scotland, Doune Castle was the site of a skirmish between Cromwell’s troops and Royalists in 1654. The castle was also the site of conflict during the Jacobite Risings, and during one rising the castle was occupied by Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Jacobite Highlanders. Unsurprisingly, the condition of Doune Castle deteriorated throughout the years of fighting, and by 1800 had lost its roof. Luckily, George Stuart, 14th Earl of Moray stepped in during the 19th century and restored the roofs and interiors. Breathtaking history!
We fed some hairy coo! This is Hamish and Honey.
Big hairy fellows that were interested in food and not much else! Hamish used his big horn to shove Jim away when he tried to pet him.
Beautiful, crystal clear lake as we enter the Highlands
We skipped stones for a quick break, and Michael got the most
Green so vibrant it looked fake
Shimmering lochs
Clouds and waving grasses with majestic mountains playing with the shadows of clouds
Wildflowers and rippling streams
We were in such awe of the beauty around us!
At every stop, we could have happily spent our whole trip exploring just that area.
We saw the site of the Glencoe Massacre, when Campbells, who had been given food and shelter for two weeks with the MacDonalds, were given orders by politicians that disliked the Highlanders to destroy the MacDonalds. The Campbells went up and down the glen killing anyone under the age of 70, including women and children. It seems likely that some of the soldiers alerted the families, giving some of them a chance to escape. However, 38 men, women and children were killed in the attack, and many more died of exposure, evading the onslaught, but succumbing to the harsh weather/freezing winter conditions in the mountains.
We stopped for lunch at Glencoe
There was a recreation of the type of house they would live in
The grass was really growing on top
Glenfinnan Viaduct aka the Harry Potter train route
After a day of driving through the Highlands we made it to a ferry that would take us and our tour van to Skye!
We saw a few fish, seaweed and lots of jellyfish
Skye ahead! our tour van is the black one- we were the first off.
Then off for the final leg of the day to Portree. Niall played some great Scottish tunes about Skye and some funny ones the kids liked such as "Donald where's your trousers?" about a man wearing a kilt to a big city.
Just driving through all of this beauty was jaw dropping. The endlessness of it was surreal.
Random waterfalls
Sligachan Bridge, where the trickling water is rumoured to provide eternal beauty
The view was stunning
The reflection of the mountains was so beautiful. Sunny days are rare here, and we had only a few sprinkles the whole time. So we got to enjoy the green beauty without the rain!
We stayed at Coolin View, and it had the perfect view of the postcard perfect harbor town of Portree.
Jim and I dropped the kids off at the hotel (dinner reservations weren't until 7:30 and they were starving but the whole place was booked) and we walked around the quaint pretty town. A teenage bagpiper was playing and we spoke with him when he took a break. He has a rented bagpipe set but told us all about the bagpipes he plans to buy someday.
Listening to him play over the still waters with the beautiful scenery was calming and purely Scottish.
Looking over the bay. The sun sets late and rises early this far north.
In the morning, the water was so calm, the houses reflected perfectly on the bay. With the mountains in the background, it was gorgeous.
Can you see that jutting finger of rock? That is the Old Man of Storr!
Niall drove us there and we hiked it. He told us that we would feel like we were in Lord of the Rings and when we got there it totally was.
The opposite view was gorgeous too
The higher we got, the more epic the views.
The Old Man of Storr looking out at his perfect view
We hiked up behind as well for the truly out-of-this-world terrain
John showing you were are almost back. He wanted to run the whole way back and would have fallen a million times into mud if I hadn't made him "help" me by holding my hand to guide me so I wouldn't fall. Thank goodness he's such a kind boy because I don't know how else I could've stopped all that energy from causing some disaster!
The thistle is the national flower of Scotland. One legend has it a sleeping party of Scots warriors were saved from ambush by an invading Norse army when one of the enemies trod on the spiky plant.
His anguished cry roused the slumbering warriors who duly vanquished the invader and adopted the thistle as their national symbol.
Kilt Rock was beautiful! The waterfall has different water levels based on rainfall, but it was decent when we were there. The rocks are wavy like a kilt.
We had a picnic lunch on a beach that has fossilized dinosaur prints.
Can you see the one in front of Michael's shoes?
Nicole had to wade out to the rock just waiting for her! It was harder than it looked because it was so slippery, but she did it.
We scrambled all over the shoreline with the whole place pretty much to ourselves
John was proud of himself for being able to climb this rock
The kids loved wandering and finding new, unusual sights
So different from our beaches at home, but magical in its own way.
Sheep, colored so the shepherds can tell the herds apart, wander all over
Truly breathtaking in scope and color
John wants to show you his eyes shine. He just loved being with the family- he glows with happiness with all the attention and fun of his siblings and parents.
We hiked to the Fairy Glen! Everything is small- the mountains, the trees, the loch (well, it's called a lochan because its small). And of course a great legend to go along with it. The kids were enchanted and it was one of our favorite places in Europe.
The fairy circle
John overlooking the Fairy Glen whilst hearing the tale.
The kids were like goats running through the hills- can you see the little specs over there on that hill? That's them!
I zoomed in
But you can see how far they kept going, and they loved it.
Niall and Jim scaled this one across from me
The other kids finding a path to them
What a perfect ending to our day!
We got earlier dinner reservations this time, thanks to Niall, and when they opened up they asked for our party of 8 first. It was awesome and one of many times we were so glad to have a tour guide.
Sticky toffee pudding was amazing
The third morning we made our way out of Skye, this time on a bridge. And on to Loch Ness.
Not before appreciating the beauty of the Highlands a little more. With the sun and endless sky, it was heavenly.
Here's the Eilean Donan Castle- the original castle was built in the thirteenth century; it became a stronghold of the Clan Mackenzie and their allies, the Clan MacRae. However, in response to the Mackenzies' involvement in the Jacobite rebellions early in the 18th century, government ships destroyed the castle in 1719. The present-day castle is Lieutenant-Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap's 20th-century reconstruction of the old castle.
We finally got a picture with our tour guide! He always made sure we had the right tickets, knew all of the best tales, and found bathrooms as needed (critical!)
Loch Ness has a really great set of locks. Seriously. Who knew? We got to wait first in line in traffic watching it work.
Loch Ness! Shivers...
John didn't see Nessie at first
The boat had sonar showing depths and a guide giving all kinds of theories about what people have seen. The European Eel gets big enough to each a child, so that was the biggest theory he proposed. One of the hard things about the loch is that there are so many peat moss particles, it makes light very hard to penetrate. It gets very dark very fast in the water. And the Loch is super deep with very steep sides. Pretty creepy awesome.
Not to mention beautiful!
We may had had a Nessie sighting or two
After our excitement at Loch Ness, we drove back to Edinburgh and said farewell to Niall. The 3 day Skye trip was totally amazing!
We went to church the next morning to the little ward of loving, sweet members. There were other visitors as well, and mostly older members. Primary had just a handful of kids, and Nicole only had visitors in her class. We had hoped to see missionaries we knew were serving there from the MTC group we met, but they'd been assigned elsewhere.
Our hotel was hilarious. They'd advertised an amazing view of Edinburgh Castle. But failed to mention the master bedroom had a view of this crypt. And it was close enough that with the windows open I could hear the tour guides telling all of the spooky stories!
The next morning we walked through the Princes Street Gardens, and it was lovely! These succulents and annuals make a clock, crown, and even words celebrating the Queen's Jubilee.
A light mist as we stand in front of Edinburgh Castle
Cast iron fountain from 1872
We arrived at the castle to a parade for their changing of the guard and got a picture with one of the soldiers.
When I originally planned our day, I was frustrated because Holyrood Palace tix weren’t available for the whole week. Today I found out why. Apparently the Queen is visiting for the week and arrived today. So we arrived at Edinburgh Castle to all kinds of parades and a ton of gun salutes right in front of us. The soldiers waited until the Queen literally arrived at Holyrood (just down the Royal Mile) and was given the keys to the city before they did the salute. Jacob got hit by a little of the stuffing when one gun fired. The whole experience was awesome. It was simply the right place at the right time kind of luck.
Famous people that got bagpiper escort to their seats. It was fun to imagine who they were. And elderly man in tweed stood on the platform to give commands to the soldier in charge of those firing the guns. At then end, he personally spoke with each soldier and you could see how special it was to them.
The chapel picture is St. Margaret’s tower, the oldest part of the castle, was built in 1130 for that queen who lived there. I thrilled to see the Stone of Scone, which is used as a coronation stone and was finally returned to Scotland in 1996.
We walked down the Royal Mile
Explored a close...and after lunch we capped off the day with a tour of King Mary’s Close- no pics allowed- but were fascinated by the stories and lives of people living in those tall narrow streets! John’s favorite: you could only throw out the “bathroom” bucket at 7am and 10pm and shouted “gardy-loo!” Nicole’s favorite was the doctor that could diagnose diabetes…by sampling a patients urine! Ugh!! They have original horsehair plastered walls from the 1700s and other great stories.
St. Giles Cathedral was magnificent as we walked by! That ended our day touring Edinburgh.
The next morning we took a tram to the airport, flew a delayed flight from there to Boston, then got told we missed our connection and would have to stay overnight and then they also split Jim with the youngest four on a different flight than me! This was after spending hours in 2 lines. Tried to make us split into 3 groups for 30 min cab ride to hotel but couldn’t because Nicole can’t take Lyft by herself. But we weren’t getting in that 2 hr line again. So we paid way too much to have hotel in airport. Not much sleep.
Nicole, Mike and I barely made our flight- they hadn't assigned us seats!- and they paid people $700 to not board so we could go. It was nuts. And poor Jim had hours to go with these kids that were already way past the breaking point. He did it though, just told me not to look at the credit card to see how he bribed them. I say, he's a rock star and we all survived! What an adventurous end to an epic trip of a lifetime!
