Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Scotland--The Highlands

Today has been periodically rainy and generally overcast (although, as I type a little patch of blue is trying to break through). That hasn't stopped us from enjoying our drive around the lochs and castle ruins, however.

As we left Dumbarton and headed on our way, we passed Loch Lomond.



Continuing on, these were some of the views:







Our trusty Audi was a trooper.

Next we stopped off at Inverary, a little waterfront town with a castle. This was where I was desperate to find a bathroom. The gas station (or should I say petrol station?) attendant pointed us towards a small building near the water with public restrooms. The only paying restrooms I'd encountered in France and Italy always had a bathroom attendant to collect the money. This one had a machine with a turnstile. Sadly for my thigh, I didn't realize until only a second remained that my trip through the turnstile was on a timer. By the time I raced through the contraption, one of the bars smacked me mid-thigh. Talk about insta-bruise. I was surprised it didn't rip my khakis, considering the size of the indent. Ouch!







Scotland is simply dotted with castles. We walked through the ruins of Carnasserie Castle. The light drizzle helped set the mood.








Dunstaffnage Castle


We stopped at Oban where we ate lunch in a little cafe and stretched our legs a bit before continuing on our way.

Castle Stalker




When we reached Fort William, we stopped at McDonald's for a snack and free WiFi (where the first part of this blog post was written). Our final stop before arriving at our bed and breakfast was the viaduct at Glenfinnan, which some might recognize as the bridge to Hogwarts from the Harry Potter movies.


Glenfinnan Monument




Unfortunately, we came too early to see purple heather in all its glory. In August, the hills are covered to the point where they look purple. We decided that just means we'll have to revisit Scotland in August some time!



The highlight of the day came after we checked into the Lochailort Inn. Since the sun came out once we neared the shore, Steve and I headed out for a sunset drive. The views were spectacular, and we drove down a one-lane, two-way road and ended up at a castle on the water. Brilliant.





Castle Tioram










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