The blind leading the blind in the Scottish Highlands

30-31 July 2014

Nico and I have spent a lot of time in Edinburgh, enjoying many pubs, restaurants, and tourist landmarks. However, Ronda and Ryan gave us the chance to get out of our comfort zone and see a bit more of this beautiful country. Since we hadn't ventured this direction, it was essentially a case of the (mostly) blind leading the blind.

Ronda and Ryan rented a car and Ronda drove - slightly more complicated in a manual, but she did a great job. However, it was sometimes a group effort when it came to sorting out directions :) As a recurring theme in a Scottish blog, castles were the main attractions, although we managed to fit in a distillery and hiking as well. A good, all-purpose trip to the Scottish Highlands. On the first day, we saw Lochleven, then toured the Blair Atholl distillery, spent the night tucked away at a B&B with adorable pine martens, went hiking, hunted some highland cows, and visited Stirling Castle and Doune Castle on the way home. Quite a lot to pack into two days! I think I would budget longer in the future - I can't wait to go back and see more!

Thanks again to Ryan & Ronda for the excuse to get out of town!

Lochleven: A castle on an island. 

A beautiful castle tower all to ourselves - perfect for Ryan and Ronda to re-enact a beautiful romance story with a princess in a tower :)

We stopped at Blair Atholl distillery for a tour. 
Fun to see how they make the tasty beverage, despite the fact that none of us are whisky connoisseurs :)

Trying a new whisky. 

Beautiful scenery on the drive.

Our bed & breakfast for the night. Well off the beaten path and chosen specifically for its frequent, wild visitors. 

Pine martens played outside!

Hiked in Glen Nevis. Tons of waterfalls and it didn't rain on us!

Sometimes the small can be as beautiful as the big.

The destination of our hike, but the rest of the rocky and picturesque hike was almost as gorgeous!

Ronda enthusiastically showing off her rock collection that is supposedly 'for a friend'.
We may turn her into a geologist yet! 

Hunting (with a camera) the elusive 'eelin coo' (Highland Cow):

We specifically stopped several places in the highlands that were rumored to have a cow. No luck! We even stopped by the Ben Nevis distillery that was said to have two cows named Ben and Nevis. They had recently passed away and the baby coos were not ready to be on display just yet, so no luck there. On the way to our hike, we were supposed to see tons of them in the valley - No luck again! We had essentially given up hope and were driving home when we saw these cute guys in a field across from a tourist cafe and gift shop! The pouring rain made it a bit tougher, but I guess this is a more natural state for these guys :)

Stirling Castle - The most intact and stunning castle I've seen in Scotland yet. Edinburgh castle is neat, but Stirling feels more like a castle and it's fun to see sections restored to their previous elegance. It definitely gave us a more complete picture of what these castles might have been like when people actually lived in them. 

We picked up an extra member of our group at the castle. 

You'd never know, but we hosted royalty!

My love affair with crenelations continues :)

Doune castle - Famous for its starring roles in Monty Python and the Holy Grail as well as the being part of Winterfell in the first episode of Game of Thrones. In honor of its ties to Winterfell, Ronda beheaded me in front of the castle :)  We got here after it closed, so no view inside, but still worth stopping by!

Not long after this trip, our guests headed home and life settled back down to 'normal' - which still includes a walking commute past a castle and amazing history on a daily basis. We absolutely don't take our time here for granted and I can't wait to get out and see more of the country!