Friday & Saturday

 FRIDAY - 

Oh wow, where to start? Most importantly, Anna and Jamie got here! Bev and I had booked a tour with the Viking Tartan Tours as one of our first adventures and fortunately Anna & Jamie were able to book at the last minute. An entire day with them - what could be better? And Bev kindly gave up her bed for them, what a buddy!

Bless their hearts, they had worked all day, drove for several hours, and now we had to get up early to meet the tour. And we're all off to the Highlands - woo hoo! We're in a small van and there's a total of 6 of us plus our guide, Callum. He was terrific. He works sometimes as an extra in films and it was easy to see as he was a great storyteller.

 

I can't even begin to describe the scenery we saw. Scotland is breathtaking but this was an area that I had not gone to before and, well, just wow.

As we were heading out of Edinburgh, he talked about Harry Potter and the Outlander series. He asked if there were any fans - well, no, not so much. He said, you don't give me much to work with! Interesting stories about J K Rowling, the author of the Potter books.

First stop was a castle ruin that was used in several movies - including Monty Python's Holy Grail. We all cheered over that and Callum said- oh, so it's THAT kind of crowd. We all started quoting the movie. 

If you know the movie, you know this is where the "taunting" took place.

Next stop - the hairy Highland Coos (cows but they're lovingly called coos). Our guide has seen them so many times he's on a first name basis with them. You could get a bag of carrots and potatoes to feed them if you want - well, OF COURSE we want!

When you feed them, it's not like a horse. Instead you hold it out in your fingers and they wrap that long, sticky tongue around it. They're very gentle!

This is Honey - I forget the others names. Aren't they magnificent??

Moving on in the direction of Glencoe and the upper Highlands.

The railroad viaduct shown in Harry Potter

Shots along the way

We stopped at this lovely spot for lunch. That's one of our group.

I really tried to convince Callum to come home with me!

Here's some shots of Glencoe and the Great Glen. It's impossible to capture this accurately. It's lovely, mysterious, and sort of haunting. In some spots we saw the cottage used in filming Skyfall (James Bond where they killed off Dame Judi Dench), and the hut for Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies. People were hiking out to them

Another stop at a museum with a reconstruction of a peat (sod) house. Bev and I were taking up residence. And some more Hairy Coos!!

There's no end to the magnificent vistas

Another stopping place to hike (short hike) to a waterfall

I just love these creatures so much!

SATURDAY - 

Sadly, all too soon, our adventure is ending. We're having breakfast with Anna and Jamie before they have to head back south. Just so wonderful to spend time with them. I had to get me some Scottish porridge and one more scone. That's Bev's eggs benedict across from me. Yes, we were those people taking photos of our food! 

This was my view as I looked up from my plate - not too shabby!

After seeing the kids off - and of course I cried, I always do, we walked around one last time. There's a couple of local markets that we had missed when we came in since we were delayed a day so we strolled them and admired the fresh meats, cheeses, produce plus local craftsman's wares. We picked up some last minute items and enjoyed yet another lovely day, views of the Castle, and spoke with the locals - to repeat, such friendly people. And if you're ever looking for wild pigeon patties, loin of venison, or wild boar steaks, we can tell you where to find it!

One more late lunch at the local pub then back to the apartment to finish packing. We've got an Uber ordered for 8 a.m. to head back to Glasgow airport. We had considered finding a day to go visit Glasgow, but, well, yeah, once again the time has sped away.

I would love to report that our journey home was smoother than the trip over, but, nope. Again, delayed flights made for re-booking, and re-booking, and yet another re-booking. At one point they were going to route us thru New York with and overnight at JFK. Then we were on Delta, but then were told that we'd never make it to that flight in time (so why did they book it? No idea) so finally we were on Virgin Atlantic flying into Atlanta (sure glad we used the shuttle and didn't leave a car in Nashville!). I must say, Virgin was great. They let us move from another screaming baby situation and kept us plied with wine. 

I had texted my daughter, Sam, and she reached out to Groome Shuttle to get us on the Atlanta instead of Nashville shuttle. Thankfully, we were able to dash - of course - and catch the one there and didn't have to wait an hour on the next one. Finally home at 3 a.m. - over 24 hours of having to function in a responsible manner!!!

What a wonderful adventure and with such a terrific travel buddy. We laughed so much, tried new things, dealt with unbelievably kind and helpful people. Bev was willing to try all kinds of new foods, learned some Scottish phrases, and walked about 100 million steps! I just hope the travel difficulties don't put her off international travel - it's not like that, we just really had a bad string! 

There's something about Scotland that just speaks to me - no idea why. It doesn't disappoint. If  you have the desire and the opportunity - go!