Would appreciate feedback on our 26 day itinerary August 30 to Sept 25, 2015

Stockbridge is a lovely area of the city to stay and actually where I was born (Leslie Place). loads of nice bars , cafes and resturants in the area. the city center is walkable but loads of buses to get you there quickly and cheaply.The water of Leith walkway goes through or indeed under Stock Bridge ( yes it is a small bridge.)worth taking a 5 minute stroll to St Bernards well or another 5 minutes or so to the lovely Dean Village.I actually walked from Balerno to Stockbridge a total of 10 miles along the water of Leith walkway a couple of weekends ago,its is a lovely walk.
As to Aberlour, great place to be based for whisky distilleries, Craigellachie is only a 2 mile walk away along the Speyside way and there are numerous other distilleries in the other direction, so easy to do a hike from Aberlour in either direction, there is a spur to Dufftown which is worth the effort, easy enough to get taxis or public transport back.

I don't think that the day trip to Orkney will satisfy you. There are so many interesting sites: Scara Brae, Maes Howe, Ring of Brogdar, Eagles Tomb, Stones of STenness, Bishop's Palace, Earl's Palace, Kirkwall Cathedral and the new Ness of Brogdar. And then there is contemporary Orkney: Crafts trail, Stromness, hiking on Hoy, Italian Chapel. And I've not named all. Particularly, you should also be thinking about Shetland for it's Viking heritage as well as Orkney.

If you have a car, you should drive to Dunrobin. There are things to see on the way. Dornoch has a lovely cathedral. Also, you cross the Dornoch Firth which is wonderful natural area and is a special area of conservation. We didn't have time to really explore, but it is gorgeous. Here's a link to the walks in the area of Dornoch. And here's another. You will enjoy Glen Affric. If you have a full day, and are in good shape do the walk around the Loch. You walk on a road on the South side of the Loch and then you walk along the north shore. It's wet and rocky, but absolutely beautiful.

From Inverness, it's really not hard to get to the west coast for more walking. My walking group currently bases itself in Fortrose at The Anderson, but we used to be based at Strathpeffer. The advantage of this is that you can decide where to go based on the weather. It can be raining in the west, but not in the East. You can get to Torridon, Ullapool, and places in between in about an hour. Loch Maree has good hiking. If you get a wet day and it seems that there are clouds everywhere, sometimes, Culbin Sands to the East past Nairn on the Moray Firth is dry. And you can walk out to the beach and enjoy dolphins, birds and otters.

Finally, I don't know where you live and how hard it is to get to the airport, but I would suggest spending your last night in Edinburgh. You can set up to have an early cab to the airport and be their in plenty of time. When I stayed at the Walton and did this they even left me breakfast at my door. I had checked out the night before and so just grabbed my stuff and my breakfast and was at the airport. Viamichelin says that it's 40 minutes. I remember more like 30 which I think was due to the early morning departure. It's the same in NYC. You need to allocate 45 minutes, but you are there in 30 or less if you leave before 7AM. I just find it much nicer than an airport hotel.

When you get to planning that next trip, make sure you include Mull. It has marvelous Viking heritage. If you and your husband have not yet discovered Nigel Tranter's books, you should. Many are about the Viking west, but many others are about other times in Scottish history. They are historical novels. Also, look for George MacKay Brown novels as well.

Pam

We are also 60's and enjoyed hiking on Skye and in the highlands. please give the website a look as a resource for hiking in the highlands and on Skye. Numerous hiking recommendations, maps, and user suggestions. www.walkhighlands.co.uk its a great site! We had a very early flight from EDI bck to the states and took a taxi to the airport and it worked out very well, dont feel you need to be near the airport. Looks like an awesome trip! get a small car!

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the comments. Yes, we realize our time on Orkney is too short, but we go to Norway 1-2 times a year, and it is an easy trip to Scotland from there. So we will definitely be back to "do justice" to the islands. And yes, I've spent many hours on www.walkhighlands.co.uk, which is an amazing resource.

Agree with comments re: not needing to spend last night in an EDI airport hotel, however, we'll spend our last (very full) day in Glasgow, and just want to get on the train and head to EDI and the airport and fall into bed! We'll have spent 5 days in EDI on the front end of the trip, so hope we'll have covered the main points at the beginning.

I think we're in good shape now, I've pinned down all of our airbnb and Home Away rentals. Still lots of details to figure out, but the big pieces seem to be falling into place.

Kind regards,

Cindy
Berkeley, CA

When you are looking for walks, also look on local town websites. For example, walks near Dunkeld are on this site. They are likely on WalkHighlands, but I find that the local page can be very helpful as it situates the walks to a town that I am visiting. Here's another example for Aberfeldy. I did the Hermitage Walk and the Birks of Aberfeldy. Both nice shortish walks.

Pam