A lazy last Hampton morning ended with an easy farewell to Karen, Naftali and Nathan – if felt like we expected to see each other again soon, hopefully in Tahoe. Yet another pleasant driver Ubered us through the weekend London traffic to the British Library, where we alighted on foot past St Pancras – perhaps my favorite brick building – to King’s Cross, where we stocked up with salads and sandwiches before boarding the north-bound Highlands Chieftain.
We’ve got a leisurely 8 hr roll north through East Anglia, The Midlands, Yorkshire and Newcastle into Scotland’s Southern Uplands, Lowlands and our terminus in Inverness. Sue and I try our best to engage the boys in the rolling English countryside scenery and Scotland trip planning, but we lose to the lure of their iPhones – sigh.
Past long train trips were welcome respite from harder travels. Here we’re Easy Riders – tranquil travel trainjectories, railrolling north to novel new conveniences in these mother countries. As I write we’re gliding into Edinburgh, a quick preview of our tour there 7 days hence. A few hours later and we’re disembarking in Inverness, pulling our carry-ons through the pedestrian High Street and across the Ness River to our sleek and convenient hotel Premier Inn. Sue and I leave the boys and meet our HomeExchange hosts Jane and Garry for dinner next door at The Kitchen, a sleek brasserie with fine seafood
Sunday morning we take an expensive cab to an expensive car rental – anticipating having to shift left-handed with my sprained wrist on unfamiliar, narrow, right-side drive roads, I opt for full insurance coverage. But the “premium location” and VAT fees add 45% to the bill… ouch.
The compact SUV is fine, and we motor off to hit some local sites – the Culloden Battlefield – which looms as large as our Gettysburg in the Scottish memory; the 4000-year Clava Cairns burial grounds; and the Cawdor Castle… too expensive to enter but we enjoy the grounds. On the way back towards Inverness I get my first does of single-lane and left-side driving… good practice for Tuesday. Pushing upstream, we tour the Dores Inn and Falls of Foyers on lovely Loch Ness’s southern shore. The only monsters around here are in our back seats.
On our return we stock up for groceries at Tesco then drive in drizzle across the River Ness to Beauly. Our HomeExchange flat occupies the top floor of a handsome old railroad station. It’s charming and neat, well provisioned with light food, coffee milk and other essentials. Wet and weary, we enjoy the hot shower, cook a simple dinner and settle with a scotch into the broody mood of Scotland.
Monday is soggier. We anticipated the grey so focus our day touring the Speyside distilleries. Stops include the local Cooperage – where we learn that almost all Scotch Whisky barrels are made of American white oak and come used – from Kentucky bourbon distilleries (!). Nearby the Macallan Distillery is a cavernous, somewhat sterile earth-roofed building – feels a little like Madrid’s Terminal #4 inside. Continuing our anti-clockwise Speyside tour we stop in Elgin at the venerable Gordon & McPhail store, purveyor of fine malt Whiskys. A few miles west on the A96 and we arrive at the Gordon-McPhail-owned Benromach Distillery, where with our host Jane’s help Sue has arranged for a tour and taste. Rain and commute traffic clog our drive home, but we eventually arrive and enjoy another dinner in with a warm coal fire… a very Scottish day indeed.
Tuesday the sun peaks through, and I feel as if our adventure begins in earnest. Today we’ll do a grand highland tour. Not quite the North Coast 500, but a good sampling, full of windy single lanes and passing places.
Scotland’s roads are nerve rackingly narrow. In the Highlands they shrink down to a single lane with frequent “passing places”… where the etiquette is to pull or hold left to enable oncoming traffic to pass. You know you’re good once you can time your passes so neither driver must stop. Courtesy is the general rule, and there’s plenty to go around up here… every pass comes with a friendly wave.Our first break comes at pretty little Gairloch, where we stop at a teahouse that might have fallen out of the Himalayas. A sunny beach stroll takes us through some tidy pools and past some classic golf links, with hardy scot septuagenarians pushing clubs and driving balls through the sea breeze.
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Carrying on to Torridon we read up on their tidal fishing techniques and take a brief stroll before pushing on Shieldag, where we pause to skip stones in the harbor, and the Applecross smokehouse for some salmon, and the lovely, remote resort town of Applecross itself. The pub serves up a fine atmos-phare, and with full bellies we ready for the hair-raising, hairpin turns of Bealach-na-ba pass… right hand drive, sprained left hand on the shifter, 20% grades on single lane cliffs… no problem. But it would be more fun on a touring bike…
The drive home to Beauly is somewhat anti-climactic… we have time for a stroll to Rogie Falls and before rolling in to our tidy Beauly HomeExchange. The rugged Highlands feel empty and pristine.
The Wednesday weather has turned as an African heat bubble bakes the Continent, but it’s lovely here on the Isles, as the welcome sun basks our bones and banishes the highland midges, the scourge of Scotland. Our plan is drive down the Great Glen – a country-wide fissure that cleaves the upper and lower highlands and cradles the river and loch Ness, the Caledonian Canal, and other waterways between the Atlantic and North Seas – to our new base in Glencoe.
Our first stop is Urqhardt Castle – sunny, lovely and very crowded – we’ve caught up with the tour buses. At the bottom of Loch Ness we happen into Fort Augustus, and spontaneously park the car for a walk locks. It’s a pleasant day and pleasing town, so we enjoy sandwiches and ice cream as we watch the canal boats rise through the locks from the Caledonian Canal into Loch Ness.
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Pushing on we bypass now-redundant Neptune’s Staircase for Glenfinnian and the train Viaduct – famed for Potter movies – and along the way get good dose of Bonny Charles and highlander history. Backtracking to the Canal we park at the UK’s outdoorsmans mecca of Ft. Williams, where we walk High Street, gather info on mountain biking and I buy some lightweight socks for the warm days ahead.
Just up the road we check into our cramped Bunkhouse room, there’s time to leave the boys to their devices while Sue and I scout the Four Seasons over a pint… it qualifies and we walk the boys back over for a friendly family dinner before squeezing back into the bunkhouse for bed.
Thursday I rise for breakfast and blogging before we begin our Glencoe day. I drive us back through Ft Williams and up Glen Nevis for an adventurous hike across wet slate along the River Nevis to Steal Waterfall. The highlight is wire bridge across the River Nevis, which Sue manages with aplomb. We opt out of the boggy trail beyond and I take the overgrown high trail back – glad I had boots – and meet Sue and the boys back at the car.
Squeezing back down Glen Nevis gorge to Glencoe we stop at The Craft Store for lunch, take a short hike about town and Glencoe it’s Lochan lake, then another short hike at Ballachulish peninsula before returning to Corran Bunkhouse for downtime. I get a little work done, Sue researches upcoming travels, the boys game. That evening we enjoy the free ferry ride across Loch Linnhe to local pub…lovely light.
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