Trip Report on Scotland - Sept 2014

Posted by Karen (Monterey County, CA (formerly Verbania Italy-Lago Maggiore)) on 10/24/14 04:16 AM

We've been back from our trip for almost three weeks and had a fabulous two weeks in GB, mostly in Scotland. Thanks to the forum for great suggestions and input! Too much to write at once, so I'll try to verbalize some of the highlights in this thread. We found a couple wonderful back doors not mentioned in RS Great Britain or Scotland books.

Day 1: Edinburgh
We arrived in Edinburgh on time at around 11:00 am and were met by our Scottish friends at the airport with a sign at said "Hanniffia's Tour". On the way in to Edinburgh, we stopped by the Rugby Stadium. One of the gates was open, so we were able to walk into the stadium and check it out. Could you imagine being able to walk into Levi Stadium during the week and checking it out? Not in the US. My husband was bummed we wouldn't be in Edinburgh during a rugby game.

Next stop was the Brittannia. Our friends had never been there and were equally fascinated with "museum". There's a great audio guide that allows you to tour the entire ship, top to bottom. If you get bored, just move on to the next segment. Next we walked around new town and found a pub for some much needed food and drinks around 3pm. Then around the corner to The Dome. Definitely worth a stop and round of drinks. Apparently at Christmas the dome is breathtaking.

By the way, weather was gorgeous all day- t-shirt weather. So when we wandered through Princes gardens, tons of people were picniking and enjoying the gorgeous day.

We found a Studio apartment on North Bridge, about 1/2 block from the Royal Miler. The North Bridge Lofts (managed by Destiny Scotland) are newly remodeled apartments in the Scotsman building. Very bright, spacious, and modern. Had a coffee maker, small fridge, washing machine and nice bathroom. We found it on booking.com for $195/night and were provided a code to punch into a keypad to get in the building, then again to gain access to the apartment. It was a great location, so during the day it was easy to get back to the apartment to regroup before heading out again.

All in all great first day in Edinburgh, despite the jet lag!

More to come another day.

Posted by Teresa

Seattle

10/24/14 10:14 PM

908 posts

What a great location! Did you find it noisy with the train station being right there?

Posted by Connie

Everett, WA

10/25/14 04:53 PM

1288 posts

I am looking forward to hearing more. We were in Great Britain in September as well. (Maybe we passed by each other!). We were gone a month. Spent 10 days in Pairs and Normandy, the rest of the time in Great Britain-England and Scotland. . In 30 days, we had rain one afternoon in the Lakes district, and one morning in Fort William. The rest of the time was dry (Northern Scotland was cold but dry except for that one morning.) I had been told to just expect rain in Scotland, so it was a pleasant surprise. The day before the rain in Fort William was sunny and the warm. We hiked in the Glencoe area and had a fabulous day. That left shopping and the Ben Nevis distillery for the rainy morning so it all worked out. Similar experience in the Lakes. We used the rainy day to see Beatrix Potter's farm and the Honnister slate mine. The next day was sunny and beautiful and we did 2 hikes including the Catbells. BTW. I have been to London on 3 different trips and and have never had any rain. I feel very fortunate. Keep posting.

Posted by Karen OP

Monterey County, CA (formerly Verbania Italy-Lago Maggiore)

10/26/14 05:09 PM

1626 posts

Teresa,
No we didn't hear any trains. I think the trains are under the train station which muffles any noise. Our apartment faced toward the train station, but didn't hear a thing and we had our windows open all night.

Connie, We may have crossed paths :). And the weather was awesome the whole trip. We knew it rained at night a few times only because the car and/or roads were wet. Before we left home, our Scottish friends reminded us to pack for rain, and I told them we always bring good weather when we travel- no exceptions this trip.

Day 2 and 3 (Sept 22/23):
After a good night sleep on night one, we were ready to explore Edinburgh over the next two days, seeing the highlights mentioned in RS guidebook. We started the day listening to RS audio tour of the Royal Mile, which was good and easy to follow. I find all the history just fascinating on the various tours. And after a short nap on day two, jet lag was behind us.

Here's a story to remind people what a small world it is. After touring the Palace of Holyroodhouse, we were ready for lunch. I had a list of 10 top budget restaurants in Edinburgh on my IPod and found a bakery (Manna House Bakery & Cafe) not too far from the bottom of the Royal Mile. As we were waiting for our sandwiches, my husband's ears perked up as he overheard the gal behind the counter tell another patron that she was from North Dakota. So Tom mentioned that he was from North Dakota also. So we had a 5 minute conversation asking how she ended up living in Edinburgh and exchanging ND stories. Never fails that anytime Tom meets someone from ND, it takes less than 5 minutes for them to find something or someone in common. Great little cafe off the beaten tourist path.

We walked a LOT during the 3 days in Edinburgh. I have a "Fit Bit" which tracks steps, miles, flights of stairs, etc. So here's the stats from the 2 weeks trip. . Enough to eat and drink what we wanted and I still lost 2 pounds.
221,000 steps
95 miles
615 flights of stairs

Before taking the train out of Edinburgh on day three, we splurged for dinner at the Tower restaurant on the 7th floor of the museum. Then a quick walk to the train station, picked up our bags from the EXPENSIVE left luggage place (30 GBP for the day), and got on a train to Fife (Inverkeiting) where our friends picked us up.

Three full days was a perfect amount of time for us in Edinburgh. We walked the Royal Mile several times, visited the Castle, hiked Arthur's Seat, visited Brittannia, Palace of Holyroodhouse, Mary Kings close, the National Museum of Scotland (awesome), quite a few pubs, New Town, Grassmarket, and my husband went for a 4 miles run one morning in Princes Garden.

Next update: 3 days in Fife