Some interesting tidbits we heard while in Edinburgh. There are about 40 souvenirs shops on and around the Royal Mile. All but four of these are owned by Indians (this info from one of the four). Twenty six of them are owned by just 2 Indians. We must admit we found it strange to hear Indians with thick Scottish brogues. Late Saturday afternoon we did notice one of them running across the road from shop to shop, obviously as it was so quiet, he was looking after two at the same time.
We also discovered that it wasn't the nicest place to live in previous centuries. In fact history has it that you could smell it before you saw it. We heard quite a bit about this from the castle and close tours. No wonder there was so much disease.
When we finally were away from Edinburgh, we really had no set itinerary except where we were booked that night. And so we found ourselves going past Scone Palace. In we went and we were so glad we did. Apart from having scones at Scone, we saw the place where the kings of Scotland including Robert the Bruce were crowned. We also did a great tour of the castle although this isn't anywhere near as old. After leaving here, we started the climb into the Highlands. What spectacular scenery this is. Our destination was Ballater, near Balmoral Castle. We weren't able to visit this because the Royal Family are still in residence there, so it is out of bounds until the end of October.
He couldn't resist sitting here
Scone Palace showing its autumn colours
More autumn colours on the castle ivy
Highland Scenery
Tuesday morning back on the road, and more spectacular scenery, this time so rugged and bare. We went through a number of ski fields and we could see that it must be popular in this high altitude area. So we were in the Highlands and in whisky country, so what else but a tour of The Glenlivet. This is the home of Scotland's first malt whisky. The tour was interesting as we knew very little about the making of whisky and the tour ended with a free tasting. We both decided that it must be an acquired taste, one we don't have yet. But you can see it is very popular around the area.
The Glenlivet Distillery
We continued driving with some historical stops such as ancient carved stones and then a tour of Tain township. We arrived at our destination of Donarch late afternoon to find a beautiful view from our room. A walk down the road brought us to the furthest hole of the Royal Donarch Golf Course. As Donarch is a couple of miles away, it must be a long course.
Pictish engraving
Tain
4500 Neolithic Burial Mound near our B and B
Wednesday morning we left our wonderful B and B with its huge bedroom and equally huge bathroom. Sheila and Hugh were lovely hosts and served up a delightful breakfast. B and B's are a great way to go for Scotland and good value too. We backtracked south, with our first stop at Loch Ness. We took a quick look at the touristy centre but had already decided it wasn't for us and our destination was going to be Urquhart Castle, overlooking Loch Ness. The castle is a ruin, but in a fantastic location. The visitor centre has been very well done and to start the tour there is a short video which finishes with them opening the curtains on a huge rounded window with the best views of the castle. We very much enjoyed our time here and were lucky that the weather didn't overly affect us.
Urquhart Castle
Views of Loch Ness
Scenery on our way to Oban
Up until today the weather had been very mild, up to 18 degrees. But from today, that has dropped about ten degrees off and we have had squally showers. Apart from not being able to see Ben Nevis (the highest place in Scotland) it didn't affect the wonderful scenery we saw today. We drove past many lochs and are now at our destination of Oban. We are booked on the ferry to Mull Island tomorrow but unfortunately the weather forecast isn't looking much better. It was a very brisk and very steep walk down the hill to the town tonight, and an even steeper trip back.
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