Stirling is Stellar

What a beautiful, amazing last day in Scotland. We woke up early to get to Stirling by 10, per our host's recommendation. Boy, was he right, what a lovely city.  But before we reached Stirling we drove through Glencoe and Loch Lomond Park. Stunning views, check out this loch, it looks like glass.

When we arrived in Stirling, our host, Malcolm, gave us a map of the town and also suggested we visit Doane Castle. This is the castle used to film most of Monty Python and The Holy Grail, castle Leoch scenes on the show Outlander and some scenes of Game of Thrones. The castle was basically untouched since the Duke of Albany lived in it, which made it very rustic. We were also allowed cameras, so take a look at the pics and see if you can picture the scenes in the shows mentioned.

The kitchen oven

Afterward, we went back to Stirling and walked from Malcolm's house to town and the Stirling Castle. Have I  mentioned the insanely warm weather we're having? All the locals are shocked and so is my limited wardrobe. We had to make a pit stop so I could get a cooler shirt to wear.
After a lunch of fish and chips, yes I'm gaining weight, but can't be bothered by it, we trudged up High street to Stirling Castle and happened into a free tour. We learned the interesting history of the castle, including that Robert the Bruce tore it down when he claimed custody of it. Pretty interesting history, Google it if this kind of thing excites you.
The views from the castle were panoramic and we even saw a bride and groom taking their photos on site.

After the hot castle tour, we stopped for another Scottish icecream :) I see a trend forming, I only hope Ireland's is just as good.

On our way back down high street we popped into Nicky Tams for a wee pint. It is one of the oldest Stirling pubs, dating to 1718!! Neat building and dog-friendly. I met a nice pup named Telula mixed with half deerhound and half "lurcher", the British name for a greyhound mix.  Her dad was mixed with something called a corky (never heard of it). Anyway, I think that's right... sometimes the accents are a bit too broad.

Eric at Nicky Tams enjoying a pint

Telula at Nicky Tams

After Nicky Tams, we saw Brew Dog pub a few doors down. We actually know, through a friend, their new marketing guy. He used to live in Vancouver, and last year they moved all the way to Scotland for the new job. Amazing! Beer and food!! And, of course, we purchased shirts. :)

By the time we got back home, my feet were killing me. Walking on all those cobbles with thin flats is not fun. But we sat on the outside patio and chatted with Malcolm until midnight. Very nice gent. Have to be up at 4AM to catch our flight to Dublin! G'Night.

Oh Oban.

We decided to take a day off of white knuckling around winding roads and to cool our heels in Oban instead. Even though a small part of me feels we missed out on seeing something new and different, our decision was the right one.

The prior afternoon, while drinking coffee in the cafeteria at Culloden Battlefield (free wifi there), we booked a distillery tour for 10 AM.  Good thing we did too because I think we may have grabbed the last slot.

We woke up early. I'm not sure if Scotland ever gets fully dark this time of year. It was still a bit light after 11PM and bright enough that it woke me up at 3:30 AM. My sleeping rhythm is all confused.  The poor birds around here never get any sleep either.

11PM at night.

Before heading to the distillery for a tour and a dram, we walked down the sea wall and had a nice cup of coffee and a marginal scone for breakfast. I think The Milkman in Edinburgh has set the bar for a scone too high, it'll be hard to be satisfied again. And their BUTTER.  Did I mention their butter in my Edinburgh post? If not, for shame on me. I could have eaten their butter with a spoon. Actually, when I ran out of scone I did use my finger a bit. Actually, now that I think about it, it was Eric's scone that I was helping myself to.  It was phenomenal.  OK, I digress, back to Oban.
After our marginal scone, we moved the car into a four-hour parking zone, which printed a six-hour pass... strange, but good. We then wandered around to find a coin-operated laundry. We need to do laundry. No joy on that front, I'm afraid.  Finally, 10:00 came around and it was time for the tour.

It's amazing to me that the tiny Oban Distillery with only 2 copper stills produces enough whiskey to have all over the world. The tour was very good and I'd highly recommend it. We were able to see the entire process from start to finish. Then we had a 13-year-old barrel taste (strong!! since it was higher alcohol content) and then their standard 14 year at the end. We were even gifted the small Oban engraved whiskey glass. The tour was only £8, so quite a good bargain. Note, they rest their stills over the weekend, so If you want to see them in production, take the tour during the week.

After the tour we decided to have some ice cream that is made fresh daily.  You remember my love for the butter, right? Well, I figured the ice cream had to be pretty spectacular too. I was right. I had toffee swirl and Eric had salted caramel. Yum!!! 

Afterward, we knew we needed some exercise.

So we hiked our way up "Jacobs Ladder", 144, steep, uneven steps to the neighborhoods on the hill and eventually to McCaigs  Tower.  McCaig was a good chap who noticed that many stone masons were out of work during the winter months, so he employed them over many years to build this huge memorial for his family. This has stunning views of the town and sea around it. The  Islands in the distance remind me a bit of Kauai.

After another yummy snack (Scottish cheese and bread) we hiked it again to hear the high school piping and drum band again. They were having a concert at the tower to benefit the Lions club.

Back down to town we went for a dinner of steak and Guinness pie at The Lorne and a whiskey or two before we went for bed to ready ourselves for a drive the next day.  We entered our new guest house with hopes of a good shower with water pressure. No luck. Not only was there no pressure, but the shower head was completely broken off of the hose. So we showered with a weak hose... not very satisfying.  Oh well, we're in Scotland on vacation! Who can complain? Certainly not us. And no, we wouldn't bother the landlady over this. It was much too late and we were too tired to go traipsing around to find the correct emergency contact person at the local pub. That is not me being funny. That was the written instructions. Well... maybe not the word "traipsing".
Another day enjoyed,
Goodnight.

Beaches to Moores to Beaches

We left Nairn after a quick breakfast and headed towards Inverness.  Of course, when we saw the sign for Culloden we quickly turned off the road to make the stop and we're so glad we did.  This is the best visitor's center I've ever been to.  I wish I could show more pictures, but alas, like many places here "no camera's or cell phones allowed".  I'll try to be historically accurate by calling the English the "Government" since they did indeed have both Scots and English fighting on their side and I'll call the Scottish the Jacobite Army as they, of course, had English and French on their side.  This was all explained in great detail by a nice chap who gave a fine presentation on what happened to the Jacobite rebels that survived the battle (p.s., it wasn't good).

The visitors center had shot, buckles, knives, etc. that they've unearthed from the battle field.  They had a great chronological telling of the events, along with two extremely impressive video representations.  The first was shocking and actually brought tears to my eyes.  You walk into a square room and on each wall is a video spanning the entire size of the wall.  You are standing right in the middle of the battle.  The government on one side and the Jacobites on the other.  They switch around for different vantage points and then the fighting commences.  Picture a scene from Braveheart with cannons bigger than life.  Don't bring a small child into this room unless you want them to have nightmares.  The other video representation was on a low platform that you could look down on.  It was a birds eye view of the battle and showed how the troops moved.  The visitor center worked hard to bring the field back to how it was at the time of the battle - boggy in a lot of areas.  The boggy land, along with the Jacobites being tired, cold and hungry was a huge disadvantage.  They charged through muck while the government stood on the high flat ground waiting for them...  Here are some pics of the field (we could take these).

From Clan Fraser's point of view - very boggy and messy

From the Governments point of view - easy to see, flat & dry

Had to take a picture of this chap - they use highland ponies to maintain the grounds

After we left Culloden, we made our way to the lovely city of Inverness.  We had lunch in the oldest recorded pub from the 1841 census.  I wish we could have stayed in this town longer, it was quite charming, but we had reservations to keep in Oban.

We also found some sheep with an old rock fence along the way (hahaha - they're everywhere)

After Inverness we wound down Loch Ness.  It was so much like the Columbia River Gorge...  Very beautiful.

Arbour is the black building and St. Annes is just to the right

Oban...  Wow... so glad we picked here to stay.  Actually, it was because there was no "room at the inn" in Fort William.  Happy coincidence again.  We are here two nights.  One night at St. Annes guest house and then we move next door to Arbour guest house.  We haven't had good water pressure in a couple of days.  Really hoping to get some at Arbour so I can wash my hair.,..

We were delighted in this seaside town with the amazing weather (we've been lucky all week), the high school pipe and drum band practicing near the water, and a beautiful sunset.  It's 7:45 AM our 2nd day here as I type this while sitting on the front patio and batting away incessant biting flies.  I'll sign off now before they eat any more of my flesh.  Today we have a tour of the Oban Distillery :).



I need to find a hairdryer today too. Mine literally shot fire out the nozzle yesterday at Nairn... luckily it wasn't pointed at my head.



The Hills of Scotland

We packed up and left Edinburgh with a restorative cup of Starbucks coffee. Hey, give us a break, it was the only coffee shop open on High Street that early in the morning. 

Starbucks in Edinburgh, a disgrace, really.

Aftet riding on the top of the double decker airlink bus and seeing additional architecture from the  high vantage point, we arrived at the airport.

With sweaty hands, we approached the rental desk, ready to put Eric's skills to the test. We received the key for a sporty, red, Fiat 500.

After a few white knuckle moments, he had the shifting with his left hand figured out. Rental agencies should have a test track before releasing us on the roadways...

Within an hour we were in the countryside on our way to Inverness when we spied a turnoff for a castle, Blair Castle.  We quickly learned how to turn off the "carriageway" and drove to a beautiful, white castle. I wish we were allowed to take pictures inside... it was stunning. And the Atholl clan were clearly good hunters. I don't think I've ever seen so many sets of horns in my life, combined.  We did get a few shots of their great room, which doesnt look at all like the rest of the house.  Other than that you'll have to be happy with outside shots. We'd recommend a stop if ever in the area. It was the first great house in the UK that opened it's doors to the public for income, think Downtown Abby and their friend's predicaments.

Antlers Galore

We then hopped back in the car and continued North. We made a last second decision which required a u-turn and headed towards Dufftown to hit a whiskey distillery or two.

We stopped at Glen Farclas, not my favorite, but kind people who offered us a free taste even without taking the tour.  Their hospitality was WAY above par.

We then went to the famous Glenfiddich. We would have to wait an hour for a tour, and it was getting late in the day so we skipped the tour and tried their 18 yo in the restaurant. I liked it much better than the previous tastings.

Inverness seemed too far at this point, so we decided to head for Nairn. We pulled directly to the beach and had to put our toes in the water, or I did anyway. It's much like the Oregon Coast except for finer sand.

With that task done, it was time to eat and find wifi to hunt for accommodations. That wasn't fun, any of it. Finally found wifi at a restaurant and I frantically hunted for a place to lay our weary heads. We were coming up empty.

I was almost resigned to sleeping in the car when I tried one last place. The Newton Hotel.  We were in luck! We quickly confirmed we'd be there soon and I hung up worried that she didn't take a credit card or phone number...

OK, we had NO idea what we booked or how lucky we were about to get. We enter the name into our trusty GPS (which I've nicknamed Hero). After a drive down a forested and windy path, we open up on a BEAUTIFUL home.  Upon check-in, we find that several online bookings came in as we booked, so she is giving us a "very nice room" at the same price quoted... I'm thinking, "yah, El broom closette". Wrong! We got the Chaplin Suite. Named after Charlie Chaplin who used to vacation there in the summers with his family and staff. They would rent the entire 2nd floor.  The room boasted a four poster bed, living room with a view of the garden, and en-suite. We toured the grounds, walked to the beach again, said hello to some highland cows, had a nice chat with some Aussies from Brisbane over a night cap and then turned in for the night. Oh! Almost forgot the sticky toffee pudding, yum!!! 

One other thing we noticed. Oregon and Scotland are very similar in their plant life - we feel very at home here.  ( rhododendrons,  azaleas,  pine and fir, honeysuckle, etc) 

Last night, we didnt have wifi, so I'm currently typing this on my phone as we wind our way along Loch Ness, which is a dead ringer for the Columbia Gorge or vice versa.

Going to end now, so I can enjoy the scenery.

Ciao!