Puffins and Prehistory - A Scotland Trip Report (May 14-28)

Prior to the start of our trip, we encountered a few pesky problems, chiefly with flights. Nothing terrible, and honestly, I expected some change because we booked both British Airways and Loganair (to Orkney) so far in advance, but it was a bit annoying. With some diligence on our part, though, all worked out.

BA ended up changing our seats (which we paid to pick from the start) four times, each time they changed the type of plane we would take. I only ever got one email about a change. So, after the second time, I began to go online each Monday morning, from about five months out, and double check our seats were still the same. Each time our seats were changed, I was able to pick new ones we were happy with in the price range we had chosen. Our Loganair seats never changed, but there were minor issues with them, too.

Four months before the start of our trip, Loganair emailed me to let me know our original 9:30a flight from Edinburgh had been cancelled; we were now on the 7:30a flight. Well, ok, except I had booked us a hotel (for the night before) in the middle of Old City Edinburgh, about 25-30 minutes’ travel time from the airport. And we always try to get to the airport for domestic flights at least two hours ahead. So now we would need to leave the Old City at 5a-ish. And get up even earlier to re-pack, as we were required to check at least our bigger bags for this flight; plus eat breakfast and hope traffic wasn’t bad. Just didn’t work for me. I regretfully cancelled our castle-view Old City hotel room, and re-booked at the Hampton, a few-minute walk from the terminal. At least breakfast there started at 4a.

BA also gave me a few heart stopping minutes with about three months to go. I was getting ready to start my routine at the gym when I got a text our BA flight from Heathrow to Edinburgh had been cancelled. Well, I wasn’t going to rush home, as I was at the gym already, but it was the longest hour of exercising I ever did. When I got home, I saw they had booked us on another flight and gave us a layover time of . . . . 5 minutes. Obviously, they just threw us into any old slot, but it was very annoying.

It turned out in our favor, though. I went online, scrolled through the many Heathrow to Edinburgh flights that day, picked one that gave us a new, five-hour layover, and called BA customer service. I politely asked to be re-scheduled on my new choice, and within 5 minutes had it booked. We liked the new seats even better. And, with more time on the ground now, we would be able to leisurely take a shower and have breakfast in the lounge (business class, we treated ourselves) before going on to the rest of our day in Edinburgh. Win there.

Day Zero, Tuesday, May 14: our Day Zero, as I like to term it, was traveling overnight Philadelphia to Heathrow, leaving around 6:40p, and landing around 6:30a Wed, May 15, then continuing on to Edinburgh. We had gotten to Philadelphia a few hours early, and with only carry-on luggage, got through security quickly, and spent some time in the lounge before leaving. The flight left almost on time.

Day 1, Wednesday, May 15: coming into Heathrow, we were running about twenty minutes late, but since we had a long layover, we didn’t rush to de-plane. We came into the 5B satellite terminal, and as always seems to be the case, the shuttle tram to the main Terminal 5 was jam packed.

On the advice of other online forums, we decided to go to the BA arrivals lounge outside of security, on the notion that it was larger and wouldn’t be so crowded. Well, it was a bit tight seating-wise, but even busier was the wait for a shower room.

In the past, dh came through this same lounge frequently and had always gotten a shower room in less than ten minutes; when he came through early last year, most of the 30 or so showers appeared to be operating. But not so this time. When we walked by them later, almost half were not being used. We don’t know if it was budget cuts, lack of employees or what, but it took us almost an hour and a half to get one. We were given beepers and sent off to get something to eat while we waited.

After a shower, and back to finally feeling human again, we still had plenty of time before our Edinburgh flight. We decided to head back through security first, and then over to the North BA lounge, so we would be closer to where our flight departed from.

Security was quick and we had time to use one of the ATMs in the terminal. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find one that used the free LINK system and ended up paying a few pounds fee to withdraw money. But we wanted to get British pounds here in London, before heading to Scotland. I had read several posts discussing how shops in England often won’t take Scottish money, because they are unfamiliar with it. We figured we’d visit England/London again in the future before Scotland, so we would be better off with leftover English pounds, rather than Scottish ones. As it was, we did use money several times – as opposed to the cards – and only came home with about twenty-five pounds in notes, one of which was a Scottish five-pound note. If we can’t use it in the future, it will make a nice souvenir.

With the longer layover, we ended up arriving in Edinburgh after 1pm. But with only a ten-minute walk to the Hampton near the terminal, we dropped our luggage in our room by 2p, quickly found the Airlink 100 bus stop a short walk away and got return tickets to Princes Street for £8 each (easy contactless on our phones, pay on the bus.) Traffic made the trip a bit slow, but after about 35 minutes, we were off the bus, heading to Dishoom for a late lunch/early supper. We both like Indian food and it was very good. (Familiar to me, new to dh) Earlier, in our hotel room, we had tried to book online, as lunch is available to book but not supper; but every slot was full. We figured we’d give it a shot anyway and walked into a half empty place when we got there.

It was a beautiful day, even a bit warm in the bright sun (close to 68F), so after we ate, we spent some time walking near Waverley train station, and the Scott Memorial, an area that was new to us from our prior visit. A meander up to the Royal Mile to spend some time in a favorite - St. Giles Cathedral - and to visit a few (very touristy) shops, and then we were on our way back to the hotel. With plans to be down at breakfast by 4:30a, we were in bed before 8p. As the sun sets so late this time of year, the light blocking curtains were welcome indeed.

Link to photos for today: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1M4wvzFjFWqBSRI5Miyw2WeJh6WKFJBF2?usp=sharing

Day 2, Thursday, May 16: a very foggy morning, but our Loganair flight to Orkney never ended up being delayed or cancelled. We got through check-in/bag drop and security quickly; still had to take our belts and watches off but could leave the shoes on this time. And we also needed to drag out the iPad mini and the 311 bags, but they did offer UK 311 bags prior to the start of security. It was a simple matter to drop our Ziploc baggies into the new ones. I grabbed a few for the return flight. We waited only about 45 minutes before our gate number was put up on the board. There was no gangway, simply a short bus ride out to our little plane and up the stairs.

Upon entering the plane, we were asked if we could sit in the front emergency exit row. We agreed, put our carry-ons up top (nothing allowed in front of us in that row) and waited for take-off. The plane wasn’t quite full, and we had plenty of room overhead for our bags. I had rigorously packed them, nervous over Loganair’s smaller dimensions, but needn’t have worried so much – no one gave them a second glance. And just an observation – Loganair likes their tartan!

The flight took a little over an hour, and about halfway through, we saw breaks in the clouds. We landed in Kirkwall to gorgeous sunny blue skies. It was funny to see our luggage come into the terminal on the same small little belt we had just passed coming into the building.

We had reserved a car from Drive Orkney, and a few days ahead received an email with very good instructions on how to find it in the airport parking lot. DO was very easy to deal with and the entire rental went smoothly. When booking (about four months out), I had requested a zero excess for CDW but could only get it down to £700. We were careful, though, and didn’t have any damage when we returned a few days later.

The car keys and rental contract were simply left in the (unlocked) car at the airport. Since everything was done contactless, a diagram was included, on which DO noted any current damage (a crack in part of the windshield that grew a bit while we were driving, but not by our efforts, so no worries) and we made sure to take pix before and after the rental. Because of our scheduled flight change, we arrived earlier than expected, but still within the 24 hour/day limit of the rental, and the car was conveniently there already, so we were on our way shortly after landing.

After a quick Google search for a car park in Kirkwall, we input the postal code into the sat nav (included in the rental this time, not like six years ago when we had to specifically reserve a car with one.) And the postal codes were so helpful, taking us very close to the spot we wanted to go. They weren’t pinpoint precise, but so much better than trying to use Google maps and our precious data.

We spent the next several hours touring the Earl’s Palace and the Bishop’s palace (both ruins; we have quite a thing for European ruins!) Foot traffic increased as the day went on, since there was a German cruise ship in port, but nothing overwhelming.

We had a leisurely lunch and did a bit of souvenir shopping at Judith Glue Café, right across from St. Magnus Cathedral. The homemade food was very good – sandwiches for both of us, then a few baked goods and cappuccino for dessert. Some of the items offered in the attached gift shop were made by crafters on the island. I did a bit of damage to the credit card here, while dh was back at the parking lot “feeding” the digital meter for another few hours.

At 2p, we met up with a small group (limit of 6 people) for a more-or-less behind the scenes, upper-level tour of St. Magnus Cathedral. We ended up going all the way to the very top of the cathedral and outside. Very interesting but a bit nerve-wracking, especially using the circular stairs on the way up and down. So much so, that we were shown pictures ahead of time, of people on the tour, and asked if we wanted to back out, before being charged. We all opted to stay and had a wonderful almost two-hour tour. Slow and steady on the stairs was the key; that and very handily placed ropes to hold onto. The cost was £10.60/pp and well worth it. We had reserved about two weeks before our trip began (by phone) and got the last two spaces. We considered ourselves lucky.

By late afternoon, we left Kirkwall and were on our way to Stromness, and our first b&b – Lindisfarne B&B (review left online; very nice place!) - about 20 minutes away. Well, 20 minutes according to Google and satnav. I’m positive both were always overly optimistic and didn’t consider that dh had to reacquaint himself with UK driving, while also often navigating those rather tricky single-track roads. We usually just doubled the time estimated and did much better.

After getting settled into our new home for the next few days, we decided to head for Unstan Chambered Cairn, as we had some time before our 7p supper reservation. This was the beginning of what for me was three days of wonderful neolithic overload. Orkney had long been on my travel bucket list, starting after I first heard of Skara Brae, and it was wonderful to be able to soak in all the sites.

Dh enjoyed visiting these sites, too, but for him part of the enjoyment came from returning after the crowds left each night, to get some drone pictures and videos. I was happy to indulge him because I loved to see the aerial shots he got. Seeing places like Skara Brae, the Ring of Brodgar and the Broch of Gurness from the air added so much to each. He had gotten his license before we travelled and was always respectful when sending up the drone.

As we visited Unstan, we both remarked how glad we were it was dry. To get there, we had to walk a path between two fields of sheep (and very cute frolicking lambs) then crawl into the cairn on our hands and knees. Crouching just didn’t cut it here. The inside was well worth it, though, and the placard outside the cairn gave us additional information. Almost every place we went had such signage.

After getting my neolithic fill for the night, we headed for the Ferry Inn, on the Stromness waterfront. Because it was after 5p, we were able to park in the ferry parking lot for no charge. The restaurant was across the street. For starters, dh had the crab/fish tart, and I went with the scallops, all very fresh. Next, a baked chicken dish for me and lamb for dh. After enjoying his meal, dh texted pix home to our (adult) daughter, who was housesitting for us. First, a photo of the cute little lambs we had just seen. Then a picture of his main dish. Terrible dad! Dessert was lemon posset for me and chocolate terrine for dh.

Quite full, we took a stroll through a bit of Stromness to help work off our meal. We were back at the b&b as the sun was beginning to set, just after 9:30p. We never really did get used to the extended daylight hours.

Link for today’s photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1STSQzBokk3LJhvpnXWyYvQ-OHlg2RaNb?usp=sharing

Day 3, Friday, May 17 – having filled out a form with our breakfast choices the previous night, we ate a wonderful Scottish breakfast the next morning at 7:30a. Dh chose black pudding, and I chose haggis, both with eggs and those wonderful mushrooms. I’m still trying to make them here at home, but just can’t seem to get the taste the same.

After breakfast, we grabbed a small string backpack and headed off to the Finstown car park to meet our friendly tour guide, Marlene Thomson, of My Orkney Tours, for our all-day jaunt around the island. Marlene, a native of Orkney, is a certified green badge guide, and is a wealth of info about the archeology, history, wildlife, and culture of the island. We learned so much while touring with her, but in a low-key manner, and didn’t even realize how much information we were absorbing. She gladly worked with us to create an itinerary that included all our must-see spots and more, even getting us hard-to-get-tickets for Maeshowe.

Our first stop: the Stones of Stenness, complete with sheep meandering, unfenced, around the huge standing stones. It takes a bit to comprehend that these ancient sites are now often located in farmer’s fields, and only accessible through their willingness to allow strangers through. (We tried to watch where we stepped!) We also shared the site with a Rabbie’s tour group briefly, and still managed to get some good shots of the stones. Marlene took some of the both of us, too.

On our way to the next stop, the Ring of Brodgar, we passed several swans nesting close to the road, and were able to take a few minutes to just watch them, not to mention get some beautiful pictures.

At the Ring of Brodgar, we were lucky, as the grassy path around the interior of the Ring had just re-opened a few days prior, and we could get up close and personal with the stones. This was a much bigger site to walk around, so we set up a time with Marlene to meet back at the van and were on our own for a while. Even with a couple other tourists, the site was so peaceful. A few pictures rounded out our visit. This was one of the sites we came back to, later in the evening, so dh could fly his drone.

We still had about 45 minutes before our slot to visit Skara Brae, so Marlene took us to Yesnaby next, with its stunning scenery. Although it was hard to get good pictures with the bright sun almost directly overhead, we planned to come back later in the evening. Unfortunately, we never had time, so it goes on our “next trip” list. She did show us the very tiny, rare Scottish Primrose (primula scotica) while there, a bonus we hadn’t even planned to see.

Back on the road again, we made a quick stop to give a few carrots to some nearby Shetland ponies (Marlene had cleared it with the farmer the day ahead); when we turned back to the van, we found a whole herd of cows across the road gathered near the fence – they wanted their share of carrots, too.

Then it was on to visit the site highest on my bucket list – Skara Brae. For so long I had seen pictures, and now it was almost surreal to be there in person. Again, we set a time to meet back with Marlene, quickly checked out the visitor’s center, with its recreated building (what archeologists believe the houses could have looked like) then headed over to the site.

I think I took a million of my own pictures, all the while just trying to soak up the novelty of actually being there. I very reluctantly left when it was time to meet back up; dh did come back early the next morning, when the site was closed, to get some drone shots for me, and I was thrilled to see the site from the air as well.

We then headed over to the Broch of Birsay; although the tide was out, and we could walk over to the island and the Pictish and Norse remains there, we decided just to meander along the water a bit, as we had Maeshowe on the schedule next and didn’t want to chance missing our scheduled slot.

Although we couldn’t take pictures of the inside of Maeshowe, it was the most impressive cairn we had seen to date. This site we couldn’t explore on our own, but fortunately, as mentioned, Marlene secured us last-minute spots on the tour. I enjoyed the humor of our tour guide here who explained many of the theories about the cairn, then more or less admitted there’s not much that can be verified. He did put into perspective the landscape of the time, pointing out the Ring of Brodgar visible in the far distance.

Our final stop was the Broch of Gurness, a site believed to be much younger (500BC – 100 AD). We walked around for a bit, then as it was nearly closing time and the other visitors had all left, the employee there allowed dh to fly his drone over the site. Again, the views from the air really helped us understand it more.

We had an enjoyable meal that night at Adam’s Place, another restaurant directly on the waterfront in Stromness. Unfortunately, we were so busy discussing the sites we had seen during the day, we completely forgot to make note of what we ate! We knew it was good, but upon getting home after another week and a half of travel, simply couldn’t remember! Now that’s a good vacation!

After the meal, we spent some time at the Ring of Brodgar, so dh could again fly his drone. It was unbelievably quiet, and the sun was starting to set as we left, so it was back to our b&b for the night.

Link for today’s photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fbjy9h41UxYf2lzDqBrqu3D7cKxDEuRT?usp=sharing

Day 4, Sat, May 18 – we decided to island hop over to Rousay (pronounced row (like cow) -see) for the day, for another (semi-private this time - another couple with us) island tour. Prior to the trip, I had a hard time picking from all the island choices, but went with Rousay, as it too had several Neolithic sites, as well as wildlife and scenery.

We took the 10:40a ferry from Tingwall as foot passengers (advance booking not required.) It was a 40- minute drive for us from Stromness to Tingwall, and about the same amount of time on the ferry. We met our guide, Patrick Maguire, of Rousay Tours, at the dock, and really enjoyed the next few hours. Although not a native of Rousay, Patrick’s knowledge of the island is amazing. We did a bit of bird watching, some seal spotting, covered history and more, and had a very tasty and quite filling picnic lunch (well worth the extra cost.) We ended with a tour of several neolithic sites. If we were on our own, we would have visited the Neolithic areas, but missed the rest.

As for the Neolithic sites themselves, first we stopped at Midhowe Cairn, a massive 5000-year-old chambered cairn. It is preserved inside a hangar built in the 1930s, and various walkways allow for up-close and overhead views of the site. It was so intriguing to imagine what the builders were thinking at the time.

Next, we visited the nearby Midhowe Broch, an iron age settlement, built around the first century AD, and thought to have been around 8 meters or so high when intact. The site includes the ruins of a few outbuildings. Both are on the shore very close to the water now, and it was quite breezy and chilly while we were there. Layers were definitely a good idea.

Some Pictish buildings and a Norse long hall also share this stretch of beach, as well as an ongoing archeological dig, Knowe of Swandro (set to resume digging in late June, sadly. It would have been wonderful to talk with the archeologists involved.)

The entire bunch of sites involved a rather long walk to get to, sharply downhill and over terrain that was rocky in parts. But the biggest challenge was in getting back up. Patrick took us on a series of switchback sheep paths for part of it, but my thigh muscles were protesting and all of us tourists were breathing heavily by the time we made it back up. Completely worth it though.

And there were still more Neolithic sites to check out. Further along the island road, we stopped at two more chambered cairns – Taversoe Tuick, an unusual, two-level cairn, and Blackhammer, which dates from around 5300 BC. These were nowhere near as hard to get to, and we were able to go into both. Fingers crossed these remain accessible, as Patrick told us of finding graffiti in one of them recently, and there had been talk of limiting access.

Patrick got us back to the dock in time to use the nearby restrooms (no potty stops available on the tour, so we made judicious use of these both before and after the tour), before our 5:40p trip back to the Orkney mainland. It was humorous to watch a tractor pulling a cattle wagon disembark the ferry before we got on, but they do have to get around somehow.

Even though we hadn’t seen what we thought were a lot of tourists to date, we heard it was wise to book our evening meals ahead, so the previous night we had called and reserved the Skerries restaurant at the Merkister Hotel for tonight. Again, a very good choice, and a great view of the Harray Loch, even though it was a bit drizzly while we were there.

We both started with chicken pate, then dh chose the steak and ale pie while I had the chicken, ham and leek lasagna (not traditional, more like a casserole). We did give in to the dessert menu, salted caramel pudding me and a trio of ice cream (including a scoop of double cream ice cream, fast becoming a favorite) for dh. And just to set the record straight – we most certainly do not eat this well or this much when at home. It’s just that we were on vacation, and well, hey, time to treat ourselves, right? Plus, we did enough hiking to burn off at least a bit of it. Hopefully.

Link to today’s photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GFGsHoQl9t0ab_1ZxkFXQtksU00BTFZq?usp=sharing

Always pleasing..
Baby puffins are pufflings

Cathy, I’m really enjoying your report to an area we would love to get to. We share your love of ruins! Great photos too and can’t wait to see the scrapbook!

Richard - good to know! And whatever they're called, they're certainly cute!

Hi Tammy!
Glad you like the report so far. It was a trip we've been wanting to take for so long, and just like that it's over. But we had a blast! Not sure where we'll go next, but your Egypt trip and album certainly was an inspiration, might just have to plan to go there!

I'm hoping to have my London trip album from last September finished soon (I'm certainly not a quick scrapper in that regard!), only nine months or so after we went. :) I'm at the final journaling and proofing stage, then I'll send it to Shutterfly and post it online. Went right up to the printable limit of pages (105/106) on that one, if I remember correctly.

But as for now, just another ten days of trip reporting to go . . . .

Day 5, Sunday, May 19 – our last (half) day on the island, and we were not about to let it go to waste. After another delicious breakfast, we left our b&b for the last time and headed to the more southerly part of the island, an area we hadn’t visited yet.

We first stopped at the Italian Chapel, the WWII church built out of two Nissen huts (a slightly smaller version of our Quonset huts) by Italian POWs. The painting inside is beautiful and amazing, the flat surfaces painted in such a way as to resemble architectural features. Much of the interior was decorated with what was at hand at the time – really interesting to see the light holders made of corned beef tins. The baptismal font was made from the inside of a car exhaust covered in a layer of concrete. The small book we bought onsite both educated us and proved to be a great souvenir!

Next, we took a look at the Churchill Barriers and the remains of boats sunk nearby, partially sticking up out of the water. Dh took this chance to again fly his drone, and the pictures were remarkable. I did a bit of shell searching on the nearby sandy beach.

Finally, we made a stop at the nearby Orkney Fossil and Heritage Centre (£6/pp), a small but well-done museum that houses not only quite a few fossils, but also a group of exhibits on the second floor, covering past everyday life on the island. It took us about an hour and a half to see and was well worth the admission. We bought a few polished trilobite fossils in the gift shop here. They are on my desk at home and are a nice reminder of our trip.

For lunch, we stopped at the Barrier View Café; located inside the Celina Rupp Jewelry store, it was a bit harder to find, but offered a great menu selection. My brie/bacon/cranberry panini, salad and coleslaw were delicious. The bread was crusty, yet sliced thin, so didn’t overwhelm the sandwich.

With a bit of spare time before we had to be at the airport, we checked out the attached gift shop, and again did a bit of damage to the credit card. We purchased a few pieces, including some handmade sterling earrings for our daughter, who as mentioned before was house and dog sitting for us.

Finally, a quick stop in Kirkwall to fill up the rental car tank (ouch! more costly compared to home, at £1.519/liter - about $7.35/gallon - but we knew this ahead of time) and it was on to the airport. Car rental drop-off was simply parking in the same gravel lot, taking final pictures of the outside in case any issues came up later, then leaving the keys in the glove box, door unlocked. We were early for check-in, so grabbed a few cappuccinos while waiting. It was a small terminal but did have a few nice amenities.

The weather was pretty foggy as we left Orkney, about half an hour late, but in a reversal of our incoming flight, we started to see clearing as we neared Edinburgh. The caramel biscuits and tea onboard were a nice snack. Upon arrival back in Edinburgh, we again disembarked onto the tarmac, and this time took a short walk back into the terminal. We were close enough that no bus ride was needed.

Because we got back to the mainland too late (5:10p), and it was a Sunday, our next car rental place (Arnold Clark) was closed for the day. Back in the early planning stages of our trip, I had planned on picking up the car and heading out. Fortunately, someone pointed this out to me early enough that I was able to book a hotel for the night just outside the city.

With such good memories of our final hotel on our Scotland trip six years ago, I booked the Norton House Hotel and Spa again, and it did not disappoint. The only drawback was that it was far enough away from the airport, and not on a bus line, so we had to take a cab.

We got to the cab area outside the airport, told the helper where we were headed, and she told us how much it should cost and pointed to one of the empty waiting cabs nearby. However, our cabbie overcharged us – he took us close to the hotel, then seemed not to be able to find it, even after I showed him the address.

After a few wrong turns and turnarounds, we finally pulled up to the front door. The trip cost £24, when it should have been under £20. We did better the next morning when we asked the hotel to call us a cab. That driver was friendly, efficient and knew exactly where to go. Even with traffic the cost was £16.

We find it funny the Norton House names some of its rooms but can now say we stayed in the Hopetoun Room. Lol. Located in the main, older part of the hotel, it had wonderful high ceilings and old-world charm. But even with the windows open, it was very warm. Luckily, the hotel provided a fan. We kept it going all night and were comfortable. The towel warmer, too, was a bit troublesome. We couldn’t find a shut-off switch, and it got extremely hot. Again, the hotel did post a large note next to it stating such, but we were always nervous of accidentally running into it.

They also provided a very cute stuffed hairy coo to put outside our door if we didn’t want to be disturbed. Six years ago, it was a black kitty. I think our coo (his name was Clyde) was cuter.

While checking in, we made dinner reservations at the hotel for later in the evening. Next, we spent some of the downtime before dinner re-arranging our luggage, spreading out a bit. We had a car from here on out and didn’t have to condense anything again until checking bags for our trip home.

The food was as delicious as we remembered from six years ago. I started with a Kopparberg cider, a brand I developed a fondness for back in September when my daughter and I visited London. Since he wasn’t driving again this night, dh went with a nice glass of pinot. Again, I forgot to jot it down, but I think we both started with a pate, with scallops for the main meal. Many of our meals blend together a bit, now that we’re back home. But, at any rate, we do remember how good they all were.

Link to today’s photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qNkZZaPk9yVsEfbEVXptyKXA84gFA81o?usp=sharing

Day 6, Monday, May 20 – started with a substantial breakfast in the hotel, included in our booking (Expedia); it included both continental items and a choice of cooked foods. And, as I was quickly becoming addicted to, a cappuccino from the machines that seemed to be found throughout Scotland. Dh asked for a cup of “regular” black coffee (close to what we make at home) and some double cream as well, this a rich substitute for our half and half. He also enjoyed a few Americanos this trip.

After checking out, we waited only a few minutes for our taxi, and were much happier with this driver. Not even ten minutes later we were at the Arnold Clark car rental, on Eastfield Rd. We were supposed to pick up our car at 10a, but we arrived early, and they had availability for us. And after inquiring, we were even able to get a diesel car. Six years ago, we rented from AC and had a diesel car then, too, with excellent mileage. This time was no different. We made sure also to reserve an automatic when originally booking. Can’t recommend this company enough!! So easy and friendly to deal with.

From the dealership, we started off taking the M9 for a bit, then exited onto the A84, A85, A82 then A85 again, on our way to, eventually, B840 heading down to Eredine, and the Kintail Birds of Prey Experience. Later, we would continue on to Connel, just outside of Oban, for the night.

Once off the larger M9, we still had nice double lane roads until B840; once on B840, though, dh had no choice but to deal with that bane of his existence, single-track roads. It’s not that he isn’t used to UK driving. It’s just that most of it in the past has been on nice wide main roads. Weirdly, though, sitting on the right side of the car and driving on the left side of the road always seemed to make him veer toward the left. A bit scary for the person sitting on the left (me), when there were deep ditches there.

The rest of the trip it was up to me to remind him frequently when he got too close to the edge. Soon he could gauge how he was doing by how much I winced. Traffic was light, but all the blind curves and hills added to his stress a bit. B840 did provide beautiful views, though, and I took a few pictures through the windshield as we went.

From Edinburgh, the satnav said three hours of travel time and we had four hours to make it to our Kintail experience. Knowing how optimistic satnav was, we didn’t linger much, with only a few quick stops for pix along the way as the scenery became increasingly majestic. We made it with five minutes to spare, but that included a quick 15-minute food stop at the Real Food Café, outside of Tyndrum. The only time we weren’t excited about the food, but it provided lunch.

I went back and forth on booking the birds of prey experience until a few days before we left home, due to how close the timing was, but we both agreed it was one of the top things we did in Scotland. We had booked the hour and a half long experience, ended up spending almost two hours with the birds, and were the only ones there at the time, making it seem like a private booking.

At the site, we learned about and got to handle many of the birds Kintail keeps, from the various owls (little, barn, long eared), to the peregrine falcon, male goshawk, and all the way up to Heidi, the beautiful golden eagle. At sixteen pounds, she is one heavy bird! I had to use my other hand to help support my arm while holding her. To interact so closely with these magnificent animals was incredible. Towards the end of our experience, we even got to fly a few of the birds! If anyone is looking for a memorable experience, this tops the list, and I can’t recommend it enough.

After such an incredible afternoon, and a little less worried about time now, we slowly continued down B840, to and through Oban, and on to the Ronebhal Guest House (another well-run place, review online), in Connel, just outside of Oban. We hit Oban at rush hour, although nothing like we would encounter here at home. Just a few extra cars and a town bustling with tourists. By the time we came back for supper, an hour or so later, it was already quieting down.

We booked the Waterfront Fishouse restaurant for supper, and again, were happy with the food. I started with the local venison surf and turf and then the scallops for the main dish. Dh ordered the salmon crab cakes to begin then the seafood trio. An order of ice cream, and a sticky toffee pudding, for dessert, rounded out our meals.

We finished the evening with a long stroll through town, stopping to watch one of the ferries come into port and release its long line of cars. The whole process was fascinating for those of us not used to such sights, and we took some pictures as well as video to share with those back home. It also gave us insight into what we would encounter the next morning with our own ferry. We took the opportunity to fill up at the gas station out of town as we headed back to Connel and our b&b for the night.

Just a quick note here about our experience at this gas (er, petrol) station. We knew to use diesel, so dh confidently reached for that nozzle as he went to fill up. Well, it didn’t fit. Apparently, there is more than one type of diesel? He was just glad each nozzle is a different size. Wouldn’t have been good to put the wrong type of diesel into the tank!

Link to today’s photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1pnJ1UC9R4T8u7g1ZDs9L9359_rEmISR7?usp=sharing

Day 7, Tuesday, May 21 – we awoke to more sunshine, earlier than normal because of the very early sunrise at this time of year (around 4a, and we left our curtains open the night before to catch the wonderful breeze coming in the open windows.) We used the extra time before breakfast to have a cup of coffee (provided) in our room, while looking out at the gorgeous view from three large windows facing the loch across the street.

Another interesting note: the same loch we saw out the window here in Connel was the end of the loch (Etive) that we would drive to the northern start of when in the Glencoe area later in our trip.

We thoroughly enjoyed our one-night b&b stay here, especially the views from our room and the salmon scrambled eggs at breakfast. We made the reservation through Booking.com and had no issues.

First on our itinerary for the day: our ferry ride to Mull, where we would spend the next four days, and we wanted to arrive early to the terminal. Once we got to the dock in Oban, we asked an employee where to enter, then it was a simple matter of showing our reservation (on the phone) and being ushered into a line. We were early but not the first ones to arrive.

The ferry office included a restroom, which we made use of, then meandered around the area taking a few pictures. Check-in closed about half an hour before sailing, and we boarded our ferry – the “Isle of Mull” - about ten minutes after that. We were not allowed to remain with the car but wouldn’t have anyway as we wanted to enjoy the views during the hour or so it took to get to Mull.

We headed up to the topmost outside deck and staked out seats for the ride. We didn’t remain in them for long, walking from side to side to take more pictures as the ferry got underway. It was a beautiful sunny day, but chilly on the water, and our several layers were again welcome. I used fingerless gloves several times on our trip and did so for this ferry ride too. They worked well in allowing me to use my phone camera while keeping my hands warm.

The ferry had a café, as well as restrooms, neither of which we used on the trip over, but we quickly stopped at the restrooms provided near the visitors center after we docked in Craignure. Now that we were on the island, we had a day of meandering planned, and wanted to get to it.

First stop, Duart Castle. Very quickly after leaving Craignure, two lanes of roadway became single-track, and we slowed down considerably. Most of the roads on the island were single-track, which was the only drawback of our entire island visit according to dh.

We spent some time at Duart Castle, including watching our ferry pass by on its way back to Oban. The Castle grounds included a very nice café, and we enjoyed a simple meal of a few sandwiches, chips and a shared cream tea.

Then it was back on the road, to Tobermory and our apartment for the next few nights. We stayed at a self-catering place called Morvern (website: moverntobermory dot com; I also did a review) and consider it the best place we stayed the entire trip. It was a splurge, both cost and size-wise, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms for just the two of us, but also had a full-sized washer and dryer and very cozy spaces to spread out in. Very well equipped, it even came with a French coffee press. At first, dh was disappointed there was no Keurig coffee machine. But once he found a YouTube video on how to use the French press, coupled with the provided electric tea kettle, he was an instant convert. I must admit, it made good coffee.

The apartment was on a hill overlooking Tobermory, a steep uphill walk to get to, but we just drove the two minutes to town, and always found plenty of parking, either in the huge distillery/public parking lot at one end of town, or even on the street lining the main road, later in the evening.

After checking in to the apartment, we made our way to the Isle of Mull Cheese shop, a few miles away, where we took a relaxing snack break – coffee and some of the yummy pastries on offer. We also bought a small piece of one of the cheeses for sale and enjoyed it over the next several days.

Later in the afternoon, we checked out a few of the souvenir shops in Mull, took yet more pictures – this time of the whole stretch of town, visible from the dock at the far end of the public parking lot – and finally stopped in at the Co-op in town, for a few groceries. While in Tobermory, we ate supper in the apartment two nights, using the provided grill one night for some great steaks from the co-op.

But for our first night in town, I had reserved the Mishdish restaurant for supper. The food was tasty, but the service was very slow, even with several waiters in an almost empty restaurant. We started with spiced potted crab for dh and Cullen skink for me, then ordered seafood pie and guinea fowl as our main courses. Dh said the guinea fowl was good, but dry. My seafood pie was a bit watery but good.

Since we ate suppers later than we usually would at home and adopted the European notion of relaxing much more over our restaurant meals, it was often rather late by the time we got back to our lodgings. Again, it was usually hard to tell what time it was just from the light still left, as the sun set so much later than we were used to.

Link to today’s photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1AAdxKn8B_QdqgBHopuiKHPgj7aBjbmP_?usp=sharing

Day 8, Wednesday, May 22 – As plans go, this was supposed to be the day we visited the puffins on Lunga, but the weather had other ideas. The day before, the Turus Mara website was listing our trip as questionable (high winds expected), and when we checked before bed Tuesday, those trips planned for Wednesday and Thursday had been cancelled.

TM was good at keeping us updated and had sent an email asking if we would be able to reschedule another day. We were keeping our fingers crossed for Friday. Others online had suggested planning our Lunga visit for early in our Mull stay, just in case something like this very thing happened, and we are very glad we took their advice (spoiler: Friday worked!!)

Easy enough to rework things, though, so we switched our plans today with those of Friday and spent most of the day driving around the island soaking up the gorgeous views and visiting a few sites. It worked well, as we didn’t have to reserve anything.

While Google Maps wasn’t too accurate on timing, one thing it excelled at was pointing out possible (somewhat obscure) sites to visit, once you zoomed in on an area. One of these sites was the Kilmore Standing Stones, just before the town of Dervaig. We would never have even noticed them in our travels if not for Maps. They weren’t very big and the small, offhand, gravel parking area was full of potholes, but the novice archeologist in me was happy we stopped. We were alone almost the whole time.

Unfortunately, until we drove the area in person, we hadn’t paid attention to all the sharply curved lines on the map, from around Achnadrish to Dervaig. We should have. They were meant to represent the large number of switchbacks we encountered coming down out of the mountains (the same mountains we had driven into shortly after leaving Tobermory.)

Some sections of roadway in this area were not for the faint of heart, and I don’t think dh ever managed to get above 10 or 15 mph while navigating them. Throw in the unfenced, meandering sheep alongside and in the road, and it took us awhile to reach our next destination, Calgary Beach. Sharing a similar sentiment with a memory from six years ago, when he first encountered single-track roads on Skye, dh was very happy to reach the beach and finally un-clench his hands from around the steering wheel.

We used our beach stop to have a nice picnic lunch. Although the wind was forecast to be quite strong today, the area was a bit more sheltered, and we enjoyed watching the surf as we ate. Dh was a bit hesitant to fly his drone here, because of the strong winds, but took the chance and again got some magnificent pictures and video. The temps remained in the mid-50s F most of the day but believe it or not there were a few people splashing around in the surf. Crazy, but hearty, to be able to even get in!

More slow driving to enjoy the views (and navigate those single-track roads) eventually brought us to the Eas Fors Waterfall. I had seen it mentioned somewhere online, but it wasn’t until I saw it also shown on Google Maps that I decided to research it further. I found plenty about it online, but I had to do a Google streetview of the area, or I think we would have driven right past it. It was not signed at all.

With several levels on both sides of the road, the falls were very picturesque, and once again dh flew his drone around the area. For the first time, he met another person also flying their drone, and spent a few minutes comparing notes. Some of the best shots we got of the largest waterfall - where the falls spill over the cliffs into the loch below - were with the drone, as it was impossible to reach out over the cliffs safely enough to get a normal shot.

From there, we took some time to drive around Loch na Keal, first the northern side on B8073, then a good way down the southern part on B8035, before finally turning around and heading back for Tobermory. B8035 definitely had the more dramatic, stunning up-close cliff views and we paused often for pictures, although there was just no way to adequately capture what we saw with mere photos. The four-minute video I shot as we drove along on the southern side did a better job, but still couldn’t do the scenery justice.

We kept a lookout hoping to spot golden eagles or otters, but I think the strong winds kept the eagles off the loch (the forecast was for 40mph sustained winds), and the choppy surf probably deterred the otters. But the moody, overcast sky was perfect for photos. No real rain, though. We would have to wait until tomorrow for that.

Once we finally reached our apartment in Tobermory again, we were ready for a rest and supper in. Dh did a wonderful job of cooking our steaks on the grill and I added a few sides done up in the well-equipped kitchen. We toasted our successful island self-tour with some chilled IrnBru and called it a day.

Link to today’s photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16Es5koeQhfHJmj4S5E7UQkQ-MKa-pDoh?usp=sharing

Day 9, Thursday, May 23 – if any day didn’t turn out quite as planned, it would have to be this day. Still no Lunga/puffin tour, as mentioned previously, so we kept to our schedule, despite the heavy weather, and drove to Fionnphort (pronounced “Finny-firt,” certainly not the way it looks!) to catch the ferry to Iona. (No other time to squeeze it in this trip, so we just went with it.)

No matter what Google maps and our satnav said, it was a two-hour drive to Fionnphort for us, with all those single-track roads, but we made it a bit longer by stopping here and there to again capture the dramatic moody skies and mountain views.

Despite our stops on the way to Fionnphort, though, we had started out early from Tobermory and were able to catch the 9:55a ferry. Initially, the plan had been to visit Iona Abbey first, then take the round trip walk out to the far white strand beach. Dh was eager to fly his drone again, and I love hanging around on beaches, so that would have worked out well.

The weather halted those plans. Again today, the forecast called for sustained 40 mph winds, and we believed them. Walking just from the ferry dock to Iona Abbey was a challenge. Not to mention the sideways, driving rain at times. We reluctantly decided a 6/10 of a mile one-way walk to the beach (and back!) was just not feasible in this weather.

This just meant a much longer visit to the Abbey than we planned, and surprisingly, we really enjoyed the slower pace. (Besides, I’ve never met a European cloister I didn’t love!) Both the Abbey and the attached museum kept our attention for a few hours, including all the incredibly carved, massive stone crosses and grave slabs on display. When we were done there, we headed over to the ruins of the Iona Nunnery for some pix, despite the nasty weather.

After all this, we needed a place to warm up, so we stopped for lunch at the Martyrs Bay Restaurant café. We both had the soup and sandwich meal, and I added a very nice pot of lemon ginger tea (extra lemon slices on the side), while dh had a soda.

We caught the ferry back to Fionnphort, and slowly made our way back to Tobermory, over the next few hours. Before leaving home for Scotland, I had booked a restaurant in Fionnphort for supper, but with the current weather and now upended schedule, we knew we wouldn’t be there long enough, so I ended up cancelling. But that meant we had no supper booking back in Tobermory. It took a bit of Googling to find a place that didn’t require reservations, but finally we hit upon MacGochans, on the Tobermory waterfront. A very good choice indeed.

With the appearance of a bar from the outside, this two-story bar/restaurant was surprisingly sophisticated. We chose a seat upstairs in the half-full restaurant section, with nice bay views. The food placed this near the top of all our choices so far, it was that good.

I started with a seafood chowder, very creamy and complete with mussels still in the shell. Dh had wanted to try langoustines since the trip began, and finally got his chance tonight, as they were offered as a starter here. We followed these with burgers, simple but not ordinary. I had the pork ranch burger, complete with brie and cranberry jam, and dh went with the venison burger, with cheddar cheese and cranberry. Dessert was sticky toffee pudding and tiramisu. We shared each with the other, and waddled out, completely stuffed but also completely satisfied, at the end of the meal.

Prior to eating, we decided to fill up the car tank, as we had used up a decent amount of petrol with all our driving, and there was a station right next to MacGochans. Here, we lucked out filling up when we did – shortly before the station closed at 6p – because none of our bank/credit cards worked to get gas from the pump this time.

I had worried about this before our trip began, as none of our cards except for our atm/bank withdrawal card had attached pin numbers, and I learned petrol stations often needed them especially if they were unmanned. Most couldn’t take contactless payments either. In anticipation of this, prior to leaving home we had asked the provider of our Capital One credit cards if they would add pins to our cards. They agreed but warned it might not work overseas. Dh tried those first. They didn’t work.

He then (reluctantly) tried to use the atm card attached to one of our bank accounts. It had a pin, but also didn’t work. Best we can guess, even though our atm card is a Visa card, the system it uses with the pin number probably isn’t one compatible to those in the UK. The card did actually work to withdraw pounds in London, though, from an actual atm machine, so no idea why it didn’t work on Mull.

In the end dh just asked one of the garage attendants still there if he could pay inside, with our credit card. No problem! Prior to and after Mull, we managed to find stations that took our credit cards, no pin required, so this was the only time we needed to find a real person to take our card.

Link to photos for today: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ovmIp49CCySbe-oe-bxbY4uUj0KPJP8q?usp=sharing

Day 10, Friday, May 24 – time to complete another item on my Scotland bucket list! It took until the last day on Mull, but our puffin trip to Lunga was finally happening. I had excitement overload from the minute I woke up!

We had carefully calculated (during our time out and about around Mull) how long it should take to drive to Ulva Ferry, where Turus Mara left from. We left a lot of extra time - the last thing we wanted to do was be late - and made it easily. Since we had spare time, we made sure to use the restrooms before leaving the dock, an absolute necessity as there were no facilities available on board or on the islands. Also, we packed some snacks and water, as Turus Mara did not provide lunch.

Most of the passengers onboard with us seemed to be part of two nature tour groups, but there were a few unattached like us. We were only interested in the tour because it offered us four whole hours to spend with the puffins. But probably because the trip was billed as a big bird tour, many on the boat had very elaborate cameras with exceedingly long lenses, for those distant and action wildlife shots.

Since we knew we could get good shots with our Pixel 7 pro cell phone cameras, we were perfectly satisfied to let the others lug all their gear along. As it was, we ended up taking over 800 shots between the two of us, and it was hard later to choose what we considered the best from all of them. I only had a moment of jealousy when one of the group showed us a beautiful picture he had captured of a puffin in flight. Our Pixels weren’t that good!

I remember a TripAdvisor forum member (screen name: Scotlandmac) referring to this Turus Mara trip as “puffin therapy,” and it was truly that. We had to laugh when we saw an advertisement put out by one of the other puffin tour groups using that very phrase to promote their current tour.

It was a little over an hour boat ride until we reached Lunga, and we had plenty to look at as we made our way there. We saw birds galore, small little islands with seals resting on the rocks, and other photo worthy larger islands.

Upon reaching Lunga, we watched as the Turus Mara employees attached a floating dock to our boat and pulled it close to shore. We were let off on a very rocky beach, and had to watch where we stepped, so as not to turn an ankle wrong, but the rocks didn’t extend too far from the water.

Once we climbed up the cliffside on Lunga to where the puffins have their burrows, we pretty much staked out a spot and sat down, moving around only to get different angles for our photos. Soon enough, the little guys started coming up out of their burrows and inching closer to us, some as close as five feet away. I had learned prior to the trip that they like to come out when humans are near, as we scare away the predator birds that are just waiting to pounce on them. The more humans nearby, the more puffins we see.

Ours was not the only tour group on the island, but I believe we stayed the longest. As other groups came and went, so did the puffins. We were content to watch them and take pix. And laugh whenever one came in for a landing. They are definitely not the most graceful of birds, but they are very cute.

Our four hours were up too quickly, and we reluctantly made our way back to the boat and the ride back to Mull. On the way back, we swung past Staffa, getting a good look at the island, including Fingal’s Cave. We didn’t have time to stop and get off, but the views were incredible, nonetheless. Again, it was hard to do justice to this awesome work of nature with just photos, but we certainly tried.

As we left Staffa, we ended up playing tag with a group of frolicking dolphins in front of the bow, for nearly ten minutes. We got better video than photos but did manage to capture a few stills. It was a nice way to round out our boat trip.

By the time we got back to our apartment, it was time for a later supper. We had picked up some frozen microwave meals in our last co-op visit and they were surprisingly good. That along with some pate we had gotten at a shop on Iona, crackers from the co-op, and the rest of our Isle of Mull cheese, and we had a good meal.

It was with great satisfaction that we headed to bed that night, after spending some time poring over all our pictures from the day’s outing.

Link to today’s photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-rpzjXt_xKbxt4dIR245ul7PIPng_dR4?usp=sharing

Day 11, Saturday, May 25 – It was with a bit of sadness that we turned in the key to our wonderful apartment this morning, before heading the 45 minutes or so back to Craignure, and our ferry back to Oban. We had another full day ahead, though, and were looking forward to all we still had planned.

We knew, too, that we were entering the last few days of our trip and vowed to make the most of them. For the first time, in all our overseas trips, we weren’t looking forward to getting back home. We were having too much fun.

It was a mostly sunny day and didn’t feel quite so cold on the ferry this morning. Again, we took the opportunity to stay out on deck, just enjoying the views. We had to laugh, though, when part of the way to Oban, the alarms on at least half of the locked cars onboard started going off; probably from the motion of the ship, we learned. Our car was no exception. None of the crew were at all bothered, so I’m guessing it’s a relatively common occurrence. Each time it happened, dh just turned our alarm off.

It wasn’t particularly late when we reached Oban again, so I talked dh into taking some time for souvenir shopping. We found a convenient car park a bit further from the main drag and paid for a few hours. Although we had purchased a few things along the way, I hadn’t done any serious shopping to date, and took the time to make up for that now. The shops were a bit touristy but offered a decent selection and we added nicely to our collection, plus picked up a few more gifts for those at home.

As it was nearing lunch time, we opted to eat in town as well. We liked the look of the Oban Inn as we passed by and found a seat in the restaurant’s completely empty top section. After a quick check of the menu, dh placed our order downstairs - fish and (sweet potato) chips for me (I always try to have it at least once) and a Guinness (I wasn’t driving!) and a burger and chips for dh. Another simple meal but satisfying.

After lunch, we were on the road again, to see as much of the Kilmartin area as we had time for. We stopped first at the small, but very informative Kilmartin Museum. I heard it had recently re-opened after being remodeled; if so, it was well done. The displays were arranged beginning with the most current time period, traveling back to the earliest as you walked through. We spent over an hour there.

And another interesting side note: when I was planning our trip and asking questions about Kilmartin, someone suggested reading the book “In the Footsteps of Kings,” probably without realizing just how expensive it would be for us to buy it here in the US. On Amazon alone, it cost about $90; not kidding! Other used book sites were similarly expensive. However, while at the Kilmartin Museum, I was lucky enough to spot several brand-new copies for sale. Cost? £10 (about $13.) I only had to travel across the pond to get one. It’s a good read so far.

We also took a walk through the Kilmartin Parish Church graveyard next door, with its displays of grave slabs, most from the Middle Ages, around 1200 AD and newer. Unfortunately, we could not go into the nearby church, since it’s currently privately owned.

From the Museum, we could see the nearby Glebe Cairn, a Bronze Age structure, but since we couldn’t go inside and were a bit short on time, we bypassed it and only took pictures from inside the Museum. Because we had to make choices now on how to spend our dwindling time, we decided to drive a short way down the road and walk over to the relatively close together Temple Wood Stone Circle and the Nether Largie Standing Stones, part of the “ceremonial heart” of Kilmartin some 5000 years ago. More Neolithic history and I was enjoying every minute.

After meandering through the two sites, we figured we had time to visit one more, before heading to our b&b. For me, it had to be Achnabreck Rock Art. Dh was more than willing to oblige. These carvings, too, are believed to be around 5000 years old. I’m sure for some they’re just rocks with lines on them, but we found them so intriguing.

It was an easy ten-minute hike up the trail to the rocks, through a shady, damp and almost rainforest-like section of land. I found myself taking an equal number of pictures of some extremely moss-covered green stones on the way up, before realizing they were part of an old stone wall. Quite picturesque. We were the only ones viewing the rock art at the time, and as we have found at so many sites this trip, it was very quiet all around.

Finally, realizing that we still needed to travel over an hour (satnav said about 45 min) to reach Inverary, and check in to our b&b before our 7p supper reservation, we reluctantly got back on the road.

Our b&b for the night was the Old Rectory, right on A83 going through town. As it was part of what we would call a series of row homes here in the US, parking was around the back. It wasn’t as easy getting to as we imagined, however, with only one way back; we actually ended up pulling into the parking lot of the nearby co-op and calling for directions.

After parking, we met our hostess, who led us up three tall flights of circular stairs to our bedroom. Fortunately, we had brought most of our belongings with us the first time, and only had to make one more trip up those stairs to retrieve the rest. It was a good cardio workout to say the least.

The room was more than adequate for one night, except for the fact that aside from the mirror in the bathroom, the room had no place where I could see to do my hair in the morning. I knew from past trips to the UK not to expect plugs in the bathroom, but without a mirror in the room, I had a hard time when using my hairdryer the next morning.

Our choice for supper tonight again proved to be a good one, not to mention close to our lodgings. A quick ten-minute walk further along A83 and we were at the Samphire Restaurant. And a good thing we had reservations, as there was a music festival going on, unknown to me when I booked, and the town was bustling.

Tonight, I started with the potted chicken and duck liver pate and dh opted for the smoked haddock chowder. We swapped bites of each other’s selections and decided they both were excellent. Our mains included the Samphire fish pie for me and the queen scallops for dh (a special that night, if I remember correctly.) It’s a good thing we had to walk back to the b&b, as it gave us time to digest our delicious dinner.

Breakfast at the b&b the next morning was one of the best we had during our travels to date. In addition to a huge spread of pastries, cold cuts, breads, yogurts, fruits and too much more to list here, we were offered hot items as well. Dh went with some scrambled eggs, but I was more than happy with the selection the buffet offered. And dh was pleased to see coffee served in a French press here, too. I think I know what he’s getting for Christmas this year.

Link to today’s photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KAhMGE6j8_tmURgxpGrQs59by83Ek2dr?usp=sharing

Day 12, Sunday, May 26 – time to visit another castle that’s still standing and not just ruins! I had tentatively planned a stop at Inverary Castle for first thing today, but wasn’t sure if it would be a quick, just-for-photos-of-the-outside stop or if we would actually tour inside as well. As soon as we saw the Castle, though, it was an easy decision. Even from the outside, the castle demanded a full stop visit and we were glad we chose that option. Cost was £16/pp including the gardens (or £9 for just the gardens.) We toured both.

Remembering our visit to Cawdor Castle near Inverness, six years ago, I wasn’t surprised to find that Inverary Castle, too, is still occupied – here, by the Duke and Duchess of Argyll and their three (older now) children. The parts that are open to the public are incredibly opulent and stunning. It’s hard to imagine children running around in such rooms, but I’m sure the private side of the castle is far less elaborate.

Shortly after we started our visit, dh and I somehow lost track of each other. I entered the dining room, followed right behind by about twenty other people, and the door was suddenly shut. Apparently, I had gotten caught up in a group tour. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself by leaving again, so spent the next ten minutes unintentionally getting a fantastic lesson about this room of the Castle.

Along with providing other interesting details, the guide also mentioned that just the night before, the whole extended family had been gathered in this very (dining) room to celebrate the youngest daughter’s confirmation at church (happening right as we stood in the room, as this was Sunday.)

After finding each other again, dh and I took our time (and a bunch more photos) in the rest of the Castle sections open to the public. Then, since our meanderings happened to end in the downstairs kitchen, and very near the conveniently placed gift shop, we felt obliged to indulge in a bit of shopping. It was an easy matter after that to step across the courtyard to the café, and enjoy a simple meal of soup and sandwich, and another pot of tea.

Then it was time to check out the extensive gardens, part of our admission ticket. Some of the garden flowers (chiefly the rhododendrons and azaleas) were a bit bedraggled from the overnight rain, but others (lupines, various species in the heather family, lilies, and others too numerous to mention) were on full display. I’m the gardener in the family, but even dh loved it, and took this chance to experiment with some photo close-ups of many of the plants. I had to drag him away, as we still had a lot to see before we reached our lodgings this night.

It was also in the gardens where we had our first encounter with midges. Those highly irritating little critters must love us, because no matter how much Smidge we used (purchased in Kirkwall earlier in the trip, just in case), they just would not leave us completely alone. It did dim our enjoyment just a bit. And it was not the last time we would encounter them before flying home.

As we left Inverary Castle, we backtracked slightly to get to A819, which we took north to the viewpoint and layby for Kilchurn Castle. We actually missed the viewpoint the first time and ended up in the car park for the Castle on A85. It’s a bit of a hike to the castle ruins from there, and they were surrounded by a large fence anyway, so dh figured it was as good a spot as any to send up his drone (with very good results) instead of making the trek on foot.

When he was done, I asked if we could go back to the layby on A819 for a few distance shots, and he agreed. To get unobstructed pictures, it was necessary to climb over a gate into a sheep field (small ladder provided by the farmer) and wander down aways.

All well and good. If you didn’t read the big sign that stated there could be adders in the field and watch where you step. Adders. As in the venomous European snake. We very carefully watched where we stepped, took a few shots, and even more quickly made our way back out of the field.

From there, our satnav told us it was another 45 minutes or so (our translation: probably closer to an hour and a half; it took us 70 minutes) to get to Glencoe and our hotel - the Kingshouse Hotel - for the night. Because we were driving on two-lane roads by this point, it wasn’t a bad drive, though.

When we pulled up to the front of the hotel, the owners had graciously stationed three red deer by the small pond in anticipation of our arrival.

But, seriously, three magnificent antlered deer were busy chomping on grass, just a stone’s throw from the hotel, not at all bothered by the small crowd gathering a few feet away. Of course, we had to join the crowd, phone cameras in hand, and it took us another twenty minutes before we finally made our way inside to check-in.

A small wood fire was burning in the main reception area fireplace which gave the whole area a wonderful smell. It wasn’t very cold out, maybe upper 50s, but fog was drifting over a few of the nearby mountains, so the woodsmoke was a perfect accompaniment to the outside conditions.

When booking this hotel from home, I had selected a room with “a view.” And the hotel really delivered. We could have gotten the worst room in the building, but the view would have made everything fine. But the room, too, was nicely done. Simple furnishings, robes invitingly hanging on hooks outside the bathroom, and a comfy couch positioned just right, to make the most of the landscape right outside. I could have been very content to plop down on that couch for the rest of the night and watch the fog come in.

But we wanted to drive down the Glen Etive road, just a short ways away, before the rain that was predicted moved in. We did have a quick discussion as to whether it would be better to wait until the next morning to head over, but being ever the impatient sorts, we quickly opted to drive down today and headed out.

It was a fun few hours, retracing the same route we had taken and loved six years ago. It never did rain, at least while we were out, but the midges were back in force, so more Smidge. Again, it kept them away . . . to a degree. Not completely, so I think we’ll try the netting on our next visit, should we return at the same time of year again.

With so many stunning vistas, I had to resist asking dh to pull over at each and every layby to take more pictures. I did encourage him, though, to send up his drone again and he took a few nice photos and videos, including one in the area where some of the James Bond movie “Skyfall” was filmed. That and a nice “drone selfie” of us on a nearby bridge. Who would have thought? By the time we got back to the hotel, his three drone batteries were completely drained.

Another side note: while we were stopped at one of the laybys, a family group came by (mom and two adult children, I believe) taking selfies. When I offered to take one of the three of them, we got to talking, and once again proved to ourselves just how small the world is. One of the three lived about twenty minutes away from us at home.

Knowing we had a 6:30p supper reservation at the hotel, we made the most of our afternoon, before retracing our route back over the single-track road. We had another gorgeous view from the restaurant windows during supper, made more special when two deer – probably the same ones from earlier – strolled by the windows as we ate.

As for our menu choices, we both started with the soup of the day (mushroom, if I remember correctly) and then chose venison loin for the mains. I felt a bit guilty eating venison while watching Bambi’s brother stroll by but must admit it was delicious. We ended with dessert – only two more days left, so of course we were going to get dessert – warm treacle sponge for dh and a chocolate and orange torte for me.

We spent a little time after our meal sitting near the wonderful smelling fire, before retiring for the night. While getting up once, shortly before midnight, to check on his recharging drone batteries, dh took a picture out of the bedroom window. Although it had gotten somewhat darker by then, he noticed it was still not what we would call nighttime.

Link to today’s photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IVWPVWw57-qTfBG6CMGnyEoppWxl0jxS?usp=sharing

I'm enjoying your report and it's bringing back memories from 2 years ago. I'm so glad you liked Mull (and Tobermorey). That was one of my favorite places to visit!

Mardee - Thanks for following along to this point! I'm glad I can help you relive some trip memories.

I remember when I was planning our trip and reading tons of past trip reports, I especially concentrated on yours for Mull. So, I couldn't help but recall your post (I think it was yours) when we ourselves were heading to Calgary Beach. You (if my memory is correct) mentioned not being able to make it there because of the steep hills, switchbacks, etc. Well, all I have to say is yep, I'm there with you. I'm so glad dh was driving, or we probably wouldn't have made it otherwise!

Just a few more days to post about!

Day 13, Monday, May 27 - our last real day of vacation and we were bound and determined to enjoy every minute. Breakfast this morning, included in the room rate, was another delicious buffet. As we’d seen at other places, it included both hot and cold items, as well as juices, tea - and coffee from another of the same wonderful machines we had now come to anticipate. (I figured I had better get my fill of cappuccino while I could.)

The restaurant was decidedly busier this morning, something we had been noticing as we edged closer to the end of May, and the main part of the tourist season. While not what I would call crowded by any means, the roads from here on out were busier as well. We thought it also might have been because it was a bank holiday, but regardless, it certainly bears mentioning.

Since we had visited Glen Etive yesterday, we decided to switch things up this morning and ride the chairlift up part of the mountain at the nearby Glencoe Mountain Resort (£17/pp, return.)

We discussed plans over breakfast, a tad concerned as we watched fairly heavy fog cover one section of the nearby mountains, then blow away only to cover another section half an hour later. But dh really wanted to try and capture some panoramic scenery with his drone, so we set off after checking out from Kingshouse.

We made it to the Resort just as it was opening, around 9a. At this time of day, we were the only ones on the lift for the 12-minute ride up. While it wasn't hard to use the chairlift, I was glad for the kindness of the attendants – at the top and bottom – who were on duty. My knee gives me issues sometimes when I get up quickly from sitting, but both operators were more than happy to stop the chairlift for me to get off after I explained my situation.

Ironically, even though the seats weren’t very high off the ground, I felt a bit nervous going up the mountain, while dh felt a bit nervous coming back down later. We just distracted ourselves by taking selfies and pictures of the beautiful views.

While dh flew his drone, I explored the area around a small nearby stream. When he was done, happy with the drone footage he had gotten, we both crossed the stream and climbed another ten minutes or so higher up the rocky path. We didn’t go all the way to the top, as fog was now covering some sections and we couldn’t see much more, but the vistas we could see were beautiful.

Off to one side of where we were, we saw another chairlift located what we estimated to be another twenty-five to thirty-minute walk further up. It wasn’t operating currently, as we were already well into May, but a short way from where it began, there were still small patches of snow in the hollows.

Once we were back on lower ground again, dh worked on getting our car satnav set up, and I started to look up where we were headed next on the Google Maps app on my phone. As I scrolled over toward Edinburgh, however, the little icon for Linlithgow Palace caught my eye. I was curious enough to click on it, even though I had already planned a leisurely drive back to Edinburgh along Loch Lomond, with a stop in Luss for possibly a late lunch and some last-minute shopping.

Well, we’ve never met a castle we didn’t love, so I’m not sure (and I really can’t remember) why I didn’t originally include the Palace on our itinerary; probably because I thought it would be closed by the time we reached Edinburgh again. But now, after Googling it, we liked what we saw enough to make a split-second itinerary change and decide to head there instead of back along Loch Lomond.

We figured since it was close enough to lunch by now, though, we would quickly backtrack into the main Resort building for a quick snack, which should still leave us enough time to get to the Palace and see it before it closed at 5p.

We didn’t rush back through the Highlands, since we were enjoying the scenery in this direction too but made better time than we had anticipated now that we had left those single-track roads far behind. And once we reached the M9, even though we weren’t on it for very long, dh was back in his element with all those wide, multiple lanes of traffic. He even got up to speed, where he could pass a few cars! Lol.

The £10/pp admission fee we paid at Linlithgow Palace was more than worth it, and we had over two and a half hours to wander through the many rooms, nooks and crannies. To be honest, parts of the Palace were such a maze (in a good way), that if not for the helpful signs and docents on site, I’m not sure we would have made it out. Fine by me, but dh thought it might be a bit drafty at night.

While we didn’t close the site down, we did stay nearly the whole time it was open. After that, it was time to squeeze the car back through the stone archway leading into and out of the Palace, and onto the main road once more. (I’m sure we had much more room to fit through the archway than we thought, but I was ready to have dh pull in the mirrors, so we didn’t get stuck.)

Once through town, it was a quick twenty-minute drive to our final hotel – a repeat visit from earlier in the trip - the Norton House Hotel and Spa. Now to pack up for the trip home. Sigh.

Again, while checking in, we reserved a spot in the hotel restaurant for supper, and used the time before we ate to this time condense our luggage for the plane ride home. We had brought with us two very thin, squishable, yet decently sized duffel bags packed in our main luggage, anticipating the shopping we would do, and brought them out now.

By putting all our clothing except for one change (in case something happened to our plane ride) into our original carry-on suitcases, we now had only the small duffels (smaller than a normal carry-on) and our personal bags to bring onboard with us. We were checking the original carry-ons.

The duffels now held electronics, a change of clothes as mentioned, all our souvenirs, and a few other equally important items. Much less to have to keep track of and easier to carry when running through a terminal (cue ominous music . . . but, more on that later.)

For our final sit-down meal of the vacation, we again began with our favorite drinks – another Kopparberg cider for me, wild fruit flavor this time, and another pinot for dh. Both times we ate at the Norton House, we first were given cute little amuse-bouches of small chopped pieces of salmon inside of a very thin shell (probably phyllo, but I haven’t seen it quite so thin before) with a sort of flavored crème fraiche on the bottom. Very nice!

For starters, we both decided to go with the creamy pea soup, a surprise for me, since I normally don’t like my peas mushy. It must have been the abundance of cream, because I thought it was delicious. Again, we both chose the same thing – salmon – for our main dish. Dessert was a cheese board and a glass of Bailey’s for me, and a chocolate mousse for dh; his looked very good and tasted even better. He chose a single malt whisky to go along.

As we had done a good job of packing before supper, we took time after we ate to have a final stroll around the hotel grounds, again marveling at how quiet and country-like the surrounds were, even being less than three miles from the airport. It was quite the counterpoint to hear the airplanes taking off close by one minute, followed by the sounds of the sheep in the nearby field the next.

This time, we were given a room in the newer, more modern section of the hotel, and enjoyed relaxing on the balcony before bed, with the sliding door open to the fresh evening breezes. We slept well.

Link to today’s photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TBcE-MYujgwr6DYfOTDKUEZbKGjO0QtS?usp=drive_link

Day 14, Tuesday, May 28 – as I like to term it, Travel Home Day; the end of our vacation, but not quite the end of our “adventures.”

Always ones to follow accepted guidance, we arrived at Edinburgh Airport for our first leg home in plenty of time – first to drop off our car rental (that was quick and painless) and catch the shuttle over to the terminal. However, we had opted not to splurge for business class on the way home, so mustered up our patience and, with a bit more than two hours left before our flight, joined the very long line waiting to check bags.

We stood in line, envious of the business class passengers and increasingly nervous for ourselves, as our wait stretched to well over an hour. I doubt it would have been quite so long, except for the fact that one of the four check-in desks was closed with what looked like computer issues. And business class passengers were given priority for check-in. After this, dh vowed to find some way to add business class seats coming home as well to the budget for any future trips.

Finally through the line, and lighter by two bags, we headed for the very crowded security area. Again, I wondered if the back-up here had something to do with people returning after the bank holiday, but regardless, we were directed through so many winding lines, I started to get dizzy. In the end, we and several others were directed to what I believe was one of the newer scanning machines, as we didn’t have to separate out our 311 bags or electronics.

By the time we reached the main secure area, we had only about ten minutes to wait before our gate was announced. We lucked out with one very close to where we stood, which made it possible for dh to quickly head back to the duty- free shop for a nice bottle of whisky before we boarded.

As we settled into our plane seats, we breathed a sigh of relief. But we relaxed too quickly.

What should have been a quick domestic flight ended up arriving over 45 minutes late. And we only had a two-hour layover at Heathrow to begin with. About 25 other passengers on our flight were also on our connecting flight to Philadelphia, though, and we commiserated with each other before landing, all the while watching the time tick by with increasing despair.

Once we landed, our pilot took us on a leisurely tour of what seemed like the entire runway system, before finally coming to our gate. Next, it took forever to get off, as we were roughly in the middle section of the plane. Then, since we came into one of the Terminal 5 satellite terminals (B), we had to take the tram over to the main terminal.

As politely as two very anxious people could, we elbowed our way off the tram, and after an extremely fast walk (ok, maybe a little running, too) to our very far away gate, finally made it to our plane, with about 15 minutes to spare before the gate was scheduled to close. While we made it onboard, though, our luggage did not.

Or rather, it didn’t make it back to us until two days later. In all honesty, I wasn’t overly concerned or surprised, since we had such a delay to begin with. And we had only dirty laundry to lose if it came to that. Fortunately, though, we didn’t find out about it until landing back in Philadelphia.

To be fair, British Airways did deliver it to our house, about an hour from the airport. But I was extremely angry at the company they contracted with to get it to us. Our two bags were dropped off around midnight, on our (uncovered) front porch, in the rain. We were notified by text two hours after the fact. I think we’ll go back to United for our next trip to the UK.

While sitting on the plane waiting for our final flight (which was in and of itself delayed about 30 minutes) to depart, we heard that several other groups connecting to our flight, including a group of school students, had flights delayed getting into Heathrow as well.

After what we went through to make this final flight, we totally enjoyed the complimentary champagne we got after finally falling into our plane seats, and once more toasted to a very enjoyable and mostly successful vacation.

On the way home, I ended up watching two recently released movies I hadn’t yet seen and added a few notes to my travel journal. I also caught a glimpse out the window of Newfoundland, as we flew over. Dh also caught up on a few movies and read a bit on the Kindle app on our iPad mini.

Finally, after landing, it was time to collect our car, get home to hug our very excited pup (and our kid), and start to organize our trip photos. All 7000+ of them.

Thanks for reading!

Link to the last few photos from our trip: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rpzZGklfyfbrD997lSCyJs2Vk9EwuLbJ?usp=sharing

I remember when I was planning our trip and reading tons of past trip reports, I especially concentrated on yours for Mull. So, I couldn't help but recall your post (I think it was yours) when we ourselves were heading to Calgary Beach. You (if my memory is correct) mentioned not being able to make it there because of the steep hills, switchbacks, etc. Well, all I have to say is yep, I'm there with you. I'm so glad dh was driving, or we probably wouldn't have made it otherwise!

Ha ha ha!!! Yes, that was me and I still shudder when I think of those switchbacks! I wish I would have had your husband along to drive, because I would have loved to get to Calgary Beach! :-)

I loved reading about all the places you've visited. Orkney (and Shetland) is high on my queue, and I can't wait to get there. Glad all your flight changes worked out!

Thanks, Mardee! Yes, our travel home day was one for the books alright. We've always had such good luck with plane travel in the past, so it was a bit harrowing to say the least. But at least I got dh to commit to budgeting for business class both ways next time, so that's a win! :)

And I must say, if your blog is any indication, you will be getting to Orkney and Shetland in no time at all. I had a blast reading about your latest trip, and wow! Over a month in England? And everything you ended up doing? I have now set a trip like that as my goal for us for when we retire!! Kudos!

Oh gosh, I thought I'd commented but see I must have decided to wait. What an awesome time you had on Orkney! Isn't the landing in Orkney great?

Getting in/out of Unstan Chambered Cairn made me realize I need to do a lot more "floor sitting" and working on getting up from the floor. I also should have brought 2 pr of jeans for Orkney because of the potential for muddy conditions while crawling into various places! The stalls in there were so interesting compared to Maeshowe!

I went on a tour of Orkney and Shetland last August and the company owner told me he thought I'd enjoy Orkney because he knows I like Neolithic stuff. These 2 areas had never been on my radar and I was completely enchanted by Orkney (and Shetland)! What an awesome area. I'm going again in July 2025 to both places! I want to spend time in Edinburgh at the National Museum as quite a lot of the artifacts dug on Orkney are held there.

Thanks for your detailed TR. You know I love it!

Thanks for the comments, Pam! I read and re-read your trip report on Orkney (and Shetlands) while planning our trip, and got tons of inspiration from it, so just passing it on here!

I love plane rides, so the small one to Orkney was fun and a bit exciting for me. Add on the novelty of the propellers being right there out the window and how very small the airport there was, and I was enjoying every minute! (Can you tell we mainly fly the big boys when we travel? Lol)

We managed Unstan ok on our hands and knees (yay, no mud!), but it really was Midhowe - and the very steep trip back uphill - that made me wish I had spent more time at the gym pre-trip. But your note about bringing two pair of jeans was spot on. We each had two pair and a pair of rain pants, plus a washer/dryer in the apartment, and that was perfect.

And we loved how each cairn we went to was a bit different. (A Neolithic lovers' meeting of the minds on these?) I'm still in awe over Maeshowe, and wish we would have been allowed to take pix.

I have to admit, though, I'm a bit jealous that you get to go back next July; just more inspiration for us, I think! I'll be waiting for another trip report. Friends of ours want to go to London for a week or two with us next year, so we will be doing that first. But I wonder what they think of touring Scotland . . . . :D