Leaving Scotland
While on my final hike in Harris I reached into my pocket to check something on my phone and to my horror the screen was black and wouldn’t work at all. After some trouble shooting it stayed black and I could only conclude that the screen had failed and the phone had become completely unusable.
I just didn’t realise how reliant I was on my phone, but these days you use it for everything, especially while travelling. So we needed to get it fixed as a priority. After a bit of research we worked out that; a) it was still under warranty so I could get it fixed for free and b) the only place in Scotland that would do warranty repairs on a walk in basis was in Edinburgh. So we changed our plans and headed straight across country and down to Edinburgh.
We took the ferry back to Skye the next day, albeit a slightly longer crossing than normal as it diverted to pick up some livestock. The crossing was calm and we arrived back in Skye in time to find a park-up just before nightfall, tucked away off the road.
The next day we started our drive across country to get to Edinburgh. As we were driving along we were completely surprised to pass a large dam with a huge amount of water being released. It was such a cool sight we had to stop to take a look. We learnt that this was Laggan Dam, a hydro-electric structure built in 1934, which releases water via six pipes into the River Spean to manage water levels.
We stopped only once more on the drive to have a nose around the House of Bruar. This is a high end shopping complex of Scottish products and as Christmas was fast approaching Sarah couldn’t resist picking up a few gifts. We also wandered around the food hall looking longingly at all the amazing food but managed to resist. You could spend a fortune there if you weren’t careful.
We reached Edinburgh and parked up in one of the park and rides (Newcraighall), taking the train the next morning directly into town. The mobile phone shop was easy to find in a shopping mall in the centre of the city. However it was going to take a week to fix as they needed to order parts, which meant hanging around near Edinburgh for a week.
Edinburgh is an amazing city and we hadn’t been here together since 2004, so we had a fun touristy day, taking in some of the sights again.
It was a wet, cold day which limited the number of tourists around but that also meant we practically had a private tour of Gladstone’s Land, a National Trust property, which is one of the oldest buildings on the Royal Mile.
Each floor depicts a different era and function of its life span, from a boarding house to a wealthy merchants home and there are some impressive painted ceilings which have been preserved from the 1600’s. What we thought was going to be a fairly uneventful way to get out of the rain for a while actually turned into one of the highlights of the day, which was completely down to the fantastic knowledge of the guides.
So with a week in the Edinburgh area and our National Trust membership, we decided to visit as many of the attractions in the area as we could.
First up was Preston Mill which was the region’s last working watermill and was actually still in commercial operation until 1959. The mill produced oatmeal and there has been a mill on this site since the 16th century. It was the centre of the community and all the local farmers would have there oats milled here.
The tour of the mill by the guardian of the site was very interesting. He had a huge amount of knowledge about the process of milling and the history of the site which really brought it all to life for us.
From here we drove to Falkirk to see the famous Falkirk Wheel, the only rotating boat lift in the world. It was built in 2002 to connect the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal, 35 metres above, replacing a series of 11 locks in the process. It is now of course a major tourist attraction and for £18 motorhomers can spend the night there.
Just down the road from the Falkirk Wheel are the Kelpies, massive sculptures of horses heads. It’s a diverting 10 minute stop but not much more.
We also visited the Bannockburn Visitor Centre which is on the site of the battle of Bannockburn. There is not much to see outside but in the centre a 30 minute long presentation by a guide gives a good overview of the battle and the tactical failings of the English army.
We found a good free place to stay at Loch Leven where there is a lovely walk through the woods around the Loch.
This allowed us to visit a couple of National trust properties in the area.
First up was Kellie Castle, which is really a big house rather than a castle. Kellie Castle was originally built in the 14th century but it was in the 19th century when it was overhauled by the Lorimers, a family of artists, when it took on its current character.
The castle was sold to the National trust in 1970 and the rooms remain largely as they were then.
Up next was Falkland Palace. Unfortunately this was partially destroyed by fire in 1654 but some of it still remains including a stunning chapel and one of the first Real or Royal Tennis courts in Scotland, built for King James V.
The palace was used by the Kings and Queens of Scotland and was actually one of Mary Queen of Scots favourite places.
The Real Tennis court is actually the oldest in the world that is still in use today.
The chapel, which unusually for Scotland, is Catholic, is still in use today for Sunday Mass. It was originally built in the 16th century and refurbished in 1896 by the 3rd Marquess of Bute. King James V (Mary Queen of Scots father), died at Falkland Palace and his body was laid in state here for a month.
It wasn’t just National Trust castles we went to see, we also headed to the village of Dunkeld where the National Trust has restored 20 houses some of which date back to the 17th century. Dunkeld has a been the site of Christian worship since the 6th century and has a large 13th century cathedral out of all proportion to the size of the town.
Right next to the village is a lovely walk called The Hermitage, which follows a river through a wood of giant Douglas Firs, among the tallest in Britain, to a lovely waterfall overlooked by Ossian’s Hall, a folly built in 1757.
All of this enabled us to kill a week in the Edinburgh area and with some really cold weather coming in we checked into a campsite just outside Perth so that we could run our electric heater. The campsite was at Scone Palace near Perth, but unfortunately because of the time of year the palace was shut. When one night hit -7c our pipes froze even with the heater on and we decided it really was time to head back down south!
From Perth, I took the train into Edinburgh to pick up my fixed phone. It was a crisp blue sky day so the tourists were out in force and bagpipers had appeared on what seemed like every street corner. I took the opportunity to walk around much of central Edinburgh before getting the train back to Perth.
It was now late November, the weather was cold and a succession of winter storms were starting, so our time in Scotland was almost at an end but not before we visited the small settlement of St Abbs.
It was however blowing a gale the day we were there. We had hoped to walk out towards St Abbs Heads but when we turned the corner, as the high wall fell away and the path hit the coast, we were almost blown away. So we took this as our cue to turn around but on the plus side, we did see some seals.
We made a few more stops on our way south including a brief stop to see the Angel of the North having never visited Newcastle before, but by far the stand out was a visit to Donna Nook in Lincolnshire, thanks to a recommendation from our friends Donna and Jon @theroverlanders.
Being nature lovers I can’t believe we hadn’t heard about this place, it must be Britain’s best kept secret. Donna Nook is a nature reserve with a huge colony of grey seals with over 2000 pups born each year. There are volunteers there to answer any questions you might have and we got some great close up views of the seals and their pups. This marked a fab end to our Scotland trip.
