Highlands Road Trip: September 12-19, 2006

With a new tire on cousin Cath’s car, Craig and Zoe headed out on a road trip up around Scotland, especially eager to get to know the infamous Highlands.

We first stopped to see Dumbarton Castle, just North of Glasgow. This castle is perched on a towering volcanic rocky island and had some impressive views.

We drove up the side of Loch Lomond, stopping to see some waterfalls and headed over towards Loch Awe to search for a good campsite. We took in the ruins of another magnificent castle and a huge church before finding a little reserve and picnic area to “wild camp” (the Scottish term for camping in the open).

The next day we headed up into the real Highlands of Glencoe and Rannoch Moor, huge hills and valleys trapping cloud and mist all around us. We went on a short hike in the area, walking part of the famous West Highland Way (connecting Glasgow and Fort William). We went up the gorgeous West Coast, enthralled by the views the whole way, and crossed over to the Isle of Skye.

The Isle of Skye boasts some of the highest mountains in the UK and is a magnet for serious climbers and trekkers. We went for a full day hike, not through the big mountains, the Cuillens, as they were shrouded in cloud, but around a big peninsula. The peninsula looked out onto other islands and sheer cliffs dropping into the sea. There were flocks of sheep grazing, which at one point we enjoyed chasing down a big hill, flailing our arms. Also on this peninsula we found some ruins of a building from the iron age. The heavy cloud lifted in the evening to dazzle us with a beautiful sunset complete with a rainbow.

We visited a few castles back on the mainland and peered out over Loch Ness, with no signs of Nessie. On this day we also repaid our traveling karma by picking up a record 6 hitchhikers as we traveled up to Inverness in the North and down into the Caringorms, another mountain range. Next to some serene evening waters of a loch in these mountains we again wild-camped. We even had a chance encounter with an Irish guy out photographing the sunset as we cooked our pasta on the camping stove. He turned out to be a wonderful guy and gave us heaps of great tips for both Scotland and Ireland (the next destination) over dinner together.

We rose at dawn the next morning to see the sunrise over the very misty Loch Morlich. We packed up our tent and went for a few hours hike around the loch. We took lots of back roads, exploring more countryside and searching for another place to wild camp, this time in vain. We ended up frustrated and jumpy as darkness set in, and stayed instead in an inn in a very quaint conservation town.

We explored a few more castles, notably the huge one in Stirling, before driving into Edinburgh to stay with Craig’s relatives, James and Maggi, and meet up with Craig’s mum who was in town for 2 days.

It was great to get a chance to see lots of different parts of Scotland and explore the real Highlands.