I left you last week, having taken so long to explore Lowther castle that we arrived in Edinburgh late afternoon. This city is one we must come back to, especially to discover Edinburgh castle which is perched on a hill in the centre of the city. I’d also love to stop and see The Kelpies – they are 30-metre-high horse head sculptures, completed in 2013.
The next stop heading north was midmorning at a beautiful little town called Callander. There was a picturesque river winding its way past the shops and a council worker stopped to tell us a little about the area. After a quick coffee, it was up and up to the Scottish Highlands.
There was still snow on the Bens- beautiful- and walkers everywhere! In fact, walking in summer in the UK seems to be the favourite past time. Around every corner, there was a cluster of cars from those who were off trekking the hills.
Back to Scotland- I lost track of the magnificent mountains as panorama after panorama opened before us. I was so blown away by the beauty, I almost forgot to take photos with the Budgy Smuggler hat. We stopped at a Scottish Commando memorial tucked away in a huge valley- what a moving tribute to the service of those men!
And where there are mountains, there are lochs. I was incredibly excited to see Loch Ness which has its own castle ruins- Urquhart. I walked the length of the ruins and climbed to the ramparts, snapping photo after photo and imagining what it was like before it was blown to smithereens. I didn’t see Nessie.
There were many battles fought over that piece of real estate and in the end, Castle Urquart’s owners fled, blowing it up so it could never become a refuge for their enemies – so very difficult to imagine today. I didn’t want to leave but we were due in Inverness to spend the night.
And that’s where I end this week. Loch Ness and Castle Urquhart deserve a feature of their own!
See you next week when we discover Blair Castle!
Bernadette x
