After spending 2 nights in London, we took a train to Edinburgh and spend another one week in Scotland.
The old town of Edinburgh has a certain nostalgic and regal charm.
We visited the Edinburgh castle nearby (spend a few hours there), then went for a walk in the new town (with its buzzling crowd and traffics).
We also took a bus to a quaint street (Circus Street) - to take some photos. Now I can understand why tourists streamed into Joo Chiat area in Singapore to take photos of the colourful Peranakan houses there.
Circus Street
Cheng Yee and Kevin met us for dinner at a pizza restaurant later part of the day.
The next day, we went to pick up our rental car from Edinburgh airport. Then we drove back to Edinburgh old town to pick up CY and Kevin from their hotel and began our Scotland self driving trip.
We visited many places - covering almost the entirety of Highland, explore Isle of Skye, and finally returned to Edinburgh airport for our flight home. Luckily we booked a new Air France flight from Edinburg to Paris and then Singapore - our original Qatar flight was cancelled because of the Middle East situation.
The following is a summary of our itinerary:
Edinburgh -> South Queensferry --> stopped over at Ravenscraig Castle, Crail (coastal village) -> Perth (overnight @ Airbnb in Scone)
Perth --> Balmoral Castle (it was close on the day, but we ended up having our lunch at a nearby eatery, and the owners told us we can actually go the the castle via another route - which was quite a distant walk, we gave up half way!) --> drove to Inverness (lookout points - Ringing stone; could not find the Well of Lecht) -> overnight at Inverness
Inverness -> Highland Wildlife Park (close encounter with polar bear) --> Working Sheepdogs show -back to Inverness
Inverness --> Fort Augustus (look out points along the way - Loch Ness View) --> to Eilean Donan Lookout --> Isle of Skye
Isle of Skye (spend whole day there)
Isle of Skye -> Glencoe
Glencoe --> Glasgow (dropped CY and Kevin at the Glasgow airport, they are flying to Ireland) --> Dunadd (visited Beaver trail in the evening, did not see any beavers there)
Dunadd -> Stirling (visited Beheading Stone)
Stirling --> Berwick
Berwich - drove to Eyemouth (sunrise) --> brunch --> Edinburgh Airport
The road tip was planned by CJ. Hence, I was entirely clueless of the places we visited. I could not remember clearly the names of various look out points we visited, but suffix to say that the scenery (particularly in the Highland) was simply amazing! We also have an opportunity to see how Border Collie in Scotland work as sheepdog in Scotland (a small private tour, 6 of us + another Caucasian couple). In addition - we have close encounter with polar bear in enclosure, fed the seals, watched sunrise, took a boat ride to explore nearby islands with their birds/seals/puffins.
The puffins are actually very small birds - those pictures we see in most travel brochure depicting big colourful birds are actually a "blown up" version --- don't be fooled. (must tame down our expectation).
这次的苏格兰之旅，完全由靖捷一手编排。行程步骤恰到好处，所看到的景色也非常怡人。因为所到的地方实在太多了， 我只能大概记得几个地名。。。
婧怡与她的老公在半途离队飞往爱尔兰去。
以下是一路上的景点。。。The following is the snapshots of places we visited along the way...
OLD EDINBURGH
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| King's Cross station - our original train service was cancelled because of some accidental ... changed to a later train, and was surprising given a >50% refund for service lapses |
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| Boarding the train |
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| Reached Edinburgh |
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| The stairway to our AirBnB...we used an alternative route because of our luggages |
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| To our AirBnB |
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| View from our AirBnB |
Edinburg Castle
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| city view from Edinburgh castle |
Around Edinburgh...
Botanical Garden
South Queensferry
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| Look out point along coastal drive |
Beach near Ravernscraig Castle
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| The castle on the right ... it looks like a ruin though |
Crail (a small coastal village, we made a quick stop for photo taking, looks very "deserted" though)
On the road @ Scotland Highland...
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| Braemer Castle |
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| taking our coffee break/lunch at a road side cafeteria, Highlander bakehouse, near Balmoral palace |
Exploring alternative route to Balmoral castle which was closed for the day...
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| we turned back before reaching the castle... |
Ringing Stone
Along the way to Inverness
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| "The Watchers," a contemporary art installation located in the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland |
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| It snowed... |
Highland Wildlife Park
Working Sheepdogs
Costal scenic site @ Inverness
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| This is a view of the Chanonry Point Lighthouse located on the Black Isle peninsula in Scotland |
Left Inverness... drove to Skye
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| Invergarry Castle, a 17th-century tower house located in the Scottish Highlands |
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| Eilean Donan Castle, before venturing into Skye |
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| Skye Bridge |
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| The cabin we stayed in |
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| Sligachan Old Bridge, located on the Isle of Skye in Scotland |
Hiking @ Fairy Pools in Glenbrittle on the Isle of Skye, Scotland
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| Portree @ Skye... stopping for lunch |
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| Lunch At Sea Breezes restaurant |
Quiraing
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| The ferry service from Armadale to Mallaig was cancelled because of bad weather... had to drive instead |
Drove to Glenfinn Viaduct (train track), and viewed Eilean Na Moine (Harry Porter island)
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| The Island |
Glencoe scenic Drive
Overnight at Arrochar AirBnB - the scenery there was superb - overlooking a lake!
Drove to Glasgow for lunch, and then dropped Cheng Yee and Kevin at Glasgow Airport
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| stopped over at one of the local parks enroute to Glasgow |
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| Duck Bay |
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| Dumbarton Castle |
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| Glasgow train station |
After dropping off CY and Kevin, we drove to our hotel @ Dunadd (Dunadd Cottage) - we went for Beaver trail walk just before sunset. Unfortunately, no sign of beaver at all. The place was quiet and provided a zen-like ambience.
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| Inveraray Pier |
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| Small village before reaching our hotel |
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| Inveraray Pier |
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| Beaver Trail |
The next morning, we went to explore Dunadd Fort nearby, followed by the delipidated Buchanan Castle (old ruins).
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| The ruins of Dunadd Fort |
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| Buchanan Ruins |
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| At one of the stopover shop, showcasing the Scottish Highland cow 牛魔王 |
We stayed overnight at Stirling - went for a walk in the afternoon - viewing the Beheading Stone and Stirling Castle (from outside).
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| The Beheading Stone |
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| Stirling Castle |
The following day - we drove to view the Dunnmore Pineapple (symbol of wealth and hospitality in those days) --> The Kelpies --> Berwick (Scottish Seabird Centre).
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| The Kelpies |
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| Dirleton Castle dovecot (or "doocot"), a 16th-century pigeon house |
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| Beautiful residential houses opposite the castle |
Took a boat ride to Isle of May Landing for puffin viewing. (Bought the ticket from Scottish Seabird Centre. It rained heavily while we were on the boat - heavily soaked!!) - managed to take a glimpse of puffins as they float on the choppy water - they were very small !
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| The Watcher |
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| tiny puffin flew pass... |
We stayed overnight at Eyemouth, and visited the nearby St Abbs aka News Asgard in Avengers: The End Game.
Woke up early in the morning for view of sunrise.
And then fed the wild seals at Eyemouth Harbour.
Bought Fish and Chips for lunch, before driving to Edinburgh Airport to return our car.
Overall, Scotland and its highland offer splendid scenery. It certainly worth many return trips.
