February 25, 2017

Scotland on the road

2016 Adventures: Scotland on the road

This is the story of our last summer’s Scotland on the road adventures.

Day 1: Edinburgh by night
We landed in Edinburgh on August 1 at 8,00 pm and immediately started to look for the car-rental office.
We booked the car one week before the trip but we missed it because of the office point that we found out it was closed from 7,30 pm. With an hotel booked outside Edinburgh but no car for reach it we were forced to stay in the city for the night.

Day 2: Perthshire / Glen Lyon / Loch Rannoch

We started our Scotland on the road tour the day after, with a little bit of difficulty with the British drive.
The first stop was the little city of Aberfeldy where we visited the Mill that is the most ancient bookshop of the Highlands.

Then we move to the little village of Kenmore where the church and the cemetery are surreal and magical.
After a little walk at Loch Tay we moved to Fortingall that is a little cozy village full of typical beautiful Scottish cottages. Seems like a fairytale.

In Fortingall there is an ancient yew that is the oldest tree in Britain and maybe in Europe, so modern expert estimates put the age of the tree at between 2,000 and 3,000 years, others have suggested an age as great as 5,000 to 9,000 years. So incredible!

We arrived at MacDonald hotel at Kinloch Rannoch just before dinner. Our room is in front of the Loch, simply amazing.

Day 3: Inverness / Nairn

We moved to Nairn to shoot a beautiful couple, Stephen and Laura.
We spent the day around Nairn and Northern Sea beach, it rained all the time but the atmosphere was priceless.
After dinner we met Stephen Laura and their lovely Springer Spaniel Carlos for a tea at their beautiful home.

Day 4: Nairn / Loch Ness / Fort William

We did Stephen and Laura’s photoshoot in the morning on the Nairn beach and in an amazing antique shop at Audelarn. We had a great time together, then in the afternoon we went to Loch Ness and Foyers Fall.
We arrived at Fort Williams around 7 pm and we met our airbnb hosts, Max and Lena, then we spent the night in a room of their amazing house.

Day 5: Kyle of Lochalsh / Skye

We left Fort William early in the morning, the first stop was the enchanted Eilean Donan Castle at Dornie.
The view on Skye island is beautiful, so we visited the castle, then we went to Skye from the Kyle of Lochalsh bridge. The landscape on the island is stunning. Waterfalls dig the ground and the colors all around are incredible in summer. Mountains are surrounded by clouds and fog, so we decided to walk to the Fairy pools, natural stunning pools in the middle of the island. It rained meanwhile.

We reached Granton-on-Spey early at night.

Day 6: Granton-on-Spey / Castles tour / Balbeggie

After sleeping in a beautiful Scottish guest house we moved to the Kildrummy castle. It’s a ruined castle on a little hill surrounded by the wheat fields shaked by the wind. All around it’s countryside and meanwhile the sky quickly fills up of clouds. We were alone exploring the castle ruins so I’ve got a strange feeling thinking about that moment.

The second castle that we visited is the Craigievar Castle, a pink castle that seems to come out from a fairy tale and finally we took a little walk in its amazing park.

Before to move to our airbnb cottage for the night we did a little stop to Dunnotar Castle that is simply amazing. It’s located on a peak on the Northern Sea, then we reached the beach downside the castle and spent beautiful time there admiring the landscape around us.

We arrived at the beautiful Jeanie’s cottage before dinner. The cottage is in the middle of the countryside with a forest on the back and an amazing view on the hills on the front. Jeanie is simply adorable so we promised to come back one day.

Day 7: Dundee / Saint Andrews / Edinburgh

We sadly left the Holmyre cottage in the morning and then we moved to Dundee where we met Laura and Kimon for a little photoshoot.
We went to Saint Andrews where the weather is good because in Dundee usually the wind is very strong and so it was that day.
We spent the day around the little town that is amazing and then we took a walk around the Cathedral ruins.
This was our last day in Scotland, let me say that it was a beautiful experience, almost mystic in some aspects, then our wish is to come back soon.