Hi!

In a weak moment I think I promised a trip report from Scotland and here it is. Since English is not my native language, I apologies for any wrong spelling or bad choice of words.

Trip Report to Scotland July 21- 27.

Day 1. Departed from Stockholm with a non-stop SAS flight to Edinburgh (2 hrs) and picked up a rental car at arrival. Have to change the car due to the air condition not working. We had the first and last night booked at the SAS Radisson Airth hotel and Castle not far from Stirling. OK hotel but outside the hotel area not much to see. Unfortunately we did not get a room in the castle, which looked very nice. Anyway - afternoon spent at Stirling Castle, which was nice and interesting.

Day 2. Bought a road map, which turned out to be a good investment, so that you could see all the roads including the small ones. Drove to Loch Lomond, and decided to stay and look around in a smaller less touristy village, so we stopped in Luss. It was a very nice, picturesque village, and we walked around and had some coffee at a nice cafe. Continued north through Glen Coe (beautiful), passed Fort Williams and finally stopped for the night in the pretty village Fort Augustus, in the south end of Loch Ness. Found a very nice B&B 5 minutes outside the village owned by a very nice couple. Their house was just 1,5 years old and it was very nice. It was actually one of the nicest B&B I have ever stayed at. We stayed for two nights. The breakfast was outstanding, I could not have asked for anything more. We liked Fort Augustus very much, and they had nice restaurants and pubs.

Day 3. Did a 3 hours hike above Loch Lomond through the woods and the view was spectacular. After lunch, we drove to Isle of Skye and stopped and looked at Eileen Donan Castle on the way. Drove from the bridge (expensive…. and they took the same fee to go back again!!!), and stopped in Portree for coffee. It was OK, but we were not that impressed of Skye. Very barren and the road to Portree was busy, hard to pass and nothing to see. I know we didn't have time to see the whole island. The road from Fort Augustus to Isle of Skye was on the other hand extremely beautiful.

Day 4. Checked out, and took the smaller road on the eastern side of Loch Ness up to A9 south of Inverness and then down to Aviemore area. Again, we decided to stay in smaller village and ended up in a lovely farmstay in Kinguissie. The village itself, nothing special, but it was ideal base for touring the area. After checkin in, we headed off for the whisky trail along the river Spey. Stopped first at Glenfarclas and tasted a couple of different whiskys. Ended up liking the 21 year old best and we bought a bottle. Since it was Saturday not every distillery was open (which we know in advance) so we went to the Glenlivet after that. We took the tour and it was very good, got a very detailed insight in the process of making whisky. The distillery was closed, due to maintenance and vacation for the staff, but then it was not so warm, noisy as it is otherwise.

Day 5. Did 2 different hikes – one in Cairngorm mountains and one a bit lower along the lakes. It was very nice and the view from the Cairngorms was beautiful. In the afternoon we headed up to the coast east of Inverness, and started in a village named Findhorn. Stopped for lunch and walked at the beach along the dunes. It looked a lot like some places in Denmark, with all the sand dunes.

After that we visited Cawdor Castle and Garden and that was very nice. The castle had a lot of old paintings, furniture etc and the garden was full of different flowers. Back late at the farm stay and we got a smaller meal, when we asked the couple that owned the B&B. They were also very nice and their breakfast was also the best. I had the worst fear, that I only was going to get fat and unhealthy breakfasts, but it was the opposite (or you had a choice I shall say).

Day 6. Left early and went south to Pitlochry. First we visited the distillery Edradour (Scotlands smallest), which was situated just outside Pitlochry. It was indeed very small and the produced in a whole year what the produce in a big distillery in one week. Bought one bottle there too. Stopped for luch in Pitlochry, which was a very nice village, even thought it was full of people. The whole area around was very beautiful, and if we have had the time we would have stayed longer. Continued to Stirling, for some shopping (you know Boots and other stores). Then back to the Radisson SAS hotel in Airth again, for the last night.

Day 7. Flight back home, no problem.

Overall, Scotland is very beautiful and the Scottish people are very nice and helpful. It's very easy to be a tourist; a lot of tourist information's with tons of brochures and staff there to help you. The roads are fine and people help each other in traffic. Strange though, that they drive on the wrong side of the road;-)). The staff at one distillery kept saying that we (and there were other people there too) please remember to drive on the left-hand side.
The only drawback – it's very expensive! Sweden seems to be very cheap in comparison. And to be honest, I am not that thrilled about the food. But the good things definitely are in favour. Unfortunately we did not have time to go to Edinburgh at all, so we decided that we have to go back for a weekend and only be in Edinburgh.

Many thanks to those of you, who helped me out with advices and route suggestions before we left.

Maggy