When opportunities are given
It had been a couple of months since our last trip, when Ryanair unexpectedly had a special promotion on flights to the UK.
We had not planned on going anywhere this particular week, but when we then found tickets to Glasgow in Scotland, for just 30 USD/each, we just had to go.
None of us had been in Scotland before so we immediately started drafting our travel itinerary.
Of course we wanted to see the Scottish Highlands and the Loch Ness. They were a must.
And a visit to a genuine Scottish Whiskey Distillery would cerntainly be appropriate too. So that went on the list as well.
Edinburgh looked beautiful with its castle overlooking the city, so check on that.
Ok, that should do it, the rest we would plan along the way.
Short flight
As the UK is fairly close to Sweden the flight time was short, only 2,5 hours.
Our plane landed late in the afternoon and went straight to the rental desk to pick up our car.
We got brand new Ford Focus and it felt perfect for our upcoming road trip.
The art of driving
The only little catch was that in Scotland, as in the rest of the UK, you drive on the left side of the road. And when you have driven on the “right” side of the road your whole life that feels a little odd
We slowly drove out from the airport parking lot and steered towards the main road, heading for the Glasgow City Center.
The first sweat started to cool off as I positioned the car in the right lane and drove into the roundabout interchange.
“Nice, this was easier than expected. Changing gears with my left hand and checking the mirrors feels easy. This is going to be great, no problem!”
A scotsman saved us
I quickly looked to the right to make sure no other cars were coming. Everything looked fine, and we drove into the roundabout.
The unmistakable sound from a car that hits the brakes directly came from – ooops – my left side.
Thank you to the unknown Scotsman that did not crash into our car that day.
After some minor cursing, when I told myself to get my s**t together, we slowly, slowly continued the drive towards our hotel in the center of Glasgow.
No time for Glasgow
As Glasgow did not meet the standards of our to-do-list we had only planned for a short one night stay.
Early the next morning we took a quick look at the town center before we packed our car and drove to Edinburgh, a 1,5-hour drive to the east.
Auld Reekie
Edinburgh, with the interesting nickname “Auld Reekie”, is the capital of Scotland with a population of roughly 500,000.
It is raining here 191 days per year and the heavy rain leaves its marks.
Many of the buildings that are made of stone are covered with a darkish layer of grime, amplifying the ancient feeling of the city.
A lot of houses in the city are actually more than 500 years old. The Old and the New Town are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Edinburgh certainly has a medieval touch to it and we liked it a lot.
Edinburgh castle
We walked up to the castle where we witnessed the changing of the guard before we were let into the courtyard.
On the upper walls there are old batteries (cannons) that long ago served as protection of the city. From here you will get a great 360 view of Edinburgh.
Every day at 1 pm, except on Sundays and certain holidays, the “One o´Clock Gun” is fired from the castles north Mill´s Mount Battery.
Be prepared for it, or bring an extra pair of pants, as it can be quite “noisy”.
Alcohol and accents
Of course we had to have a pint of beer at one of the city’s countless pubs after the long climb up to the castle.
While sitting there, enjoying our beer, we suddenly got company of some happy but utterly drunk locals.
The lovely Scottish accent can be hard to understand as it is. When adding a great amount of alcohol to it, it takes a linguistic cryptographer to make sense of anything they say.
We believe that they told us some kind of story about a fishing trip that they had just been on. Or something about fishes in general, we are not sure.
We really tried our best, we really did. Even so, that was about all we managed to understand of a 30-minute discussion. Great fun though.
Motorcycle heaven
Scotland is an absolute paradise when it comes to scenic road trips. We drove north from Edinburgh towards the Nevis Range and the landscape was absolutely spectacular.
It is easy to understand why the roads in the northern parts of Scotland are so popular with motorcyclists. The quiet, long winding roads are perfect for bikers.
Nevis Range
The only gondola system in Scotland can be found at the Nevis Range.
It is located on the northern slopes of the Aonach Mór, the closest mountain to Ben Nevis (Scotland’s highest mountain, 1344 m/4406 ft).
We parked at the bottom of the mountain and took the cable car up to the top station. From here it is a relatively easy walk up to one of the two viewpoints overlooking the surrounding area.
The first one is called Sgurr Finnisg-aig and the other Meall Beag, so their names are very easy to remember. (Huh?)
We had chosen to walk the latter, but when we got out at the top station the operator told us that we only had an hour and a half to get back again as the cable car was soon closing. And that it would take about an hour one-way to reach the top pf Meall Beag.
Stubborn as we are we thought that the worst thing that could happen was that we would miss the last cable car and then had to walk all the way down to the parking area.
We skipped the trail and went fast, straight uphill.
40 minutes later we were standing on the viewpoint, sweaty and content. There was no one else there but us.
The clouds were low and the wind had picked up considerably.
Ten minutes of solitude, while adoring the views, was all we got before we had to rush down the hill again to the cable car.
We made it with a good five minutes before the gondola closed. Must have been some kind of record climb…
Next stop Loch Ness
From Nevis Range it is about an hours drive to Fort Augustus, at the southern end of the world-famous lake Loch Ness.
We continued driving on the west side of the lake and stopped at the Urquhart Castle from where we had nice views of the waters below.
Even though there has never been any proper sights of Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster, the legend of her is estimated to render tourism revenues of £41 million a year.
Pretty impressive how something that most likely does not exist, or never has existed, can have such an impact on a destination.
We tried our best to find Nessie and get that million-dollar photo of her, but finally we had to give up and got out on the road again.
Isle of Skye
We then had to backtrack south a bit to get on the A87 towards Isle of Skye.
By crossing the Kyle of Lochalsh Skye bridge you get from the mainland to Kyleakin on the islands east coast.
Isle of Skye is the largest and northernmost island of the Inner Hebrides with a population of about 10,000.
There are numerous whiskey distilleries in Scotland but the Isle of Skye just have two, Talisker and Torabhaig.
With Talisker being the oldest and most famous one we decided to give it a go. (Neither of us are whisky drinkers but how could you not visit a distillery when visiting Scotland?)
Talisker Distillery
We drove through the rugged and dramatic landscape while passing small fishing villages. Soon we arrived at the tiny town of Carbost that is home to the Talisker Distillery.
We parked our car by the large, white, main building that contains both the visitors center and the main distillery.
Talisker Distillery is open to visitors all year round and there are three different tours available. Which one to choose depends on how into depth you want to get in the whiskey making process and its history.
Allways something new to learn
We chose the shorter Classic Tour and it was fascinating to be introduced to a completely new topic, as we knew pretty much nothing about how whisky is made.
Our guide showed us around the facilities and the huge, curvy copper stills where the whisky is produced. He explained to us that distilleries in Scotland mainly use copper stills, in comparison to the US where they use cheaper materials like iron or stainless steel.
The reason for the use of copper in Scotland is that copper can deliver one thing that the other materials cannot, and this seemed very important. Namely a consistently good taste.
It had something to do with a reaction on molecular level, which made yeast and sulfur to react in a better way than if you had used an other metal still.
Whisky or wine?
The whole process was a bit too complicated to grasp in just 45 minutes.
One thing was clear though. The workers of Talisker were very proud of their craftmanship and the final result.
At the end of the tour we got to taste some single malt scotch whisky and it tasted just like a good whisky should taste like, we think.
Even though whisky might taste delicious to some, we would choose a glass of Amarone any day of the week..
Whisky or whiskey?
So there is Whisky and there is Whiskey, but what is the difference?
Well, it is not that complicated as, basically, all whiskies are the same. It is only geographically that their names differ.
In Scotland, Japan and Canada it is called Whisky. In the rest of the world it is usually called Whiskey.
Then you have two different types of whisky, grain whisky and malt whisky.
While malt whisky has to be made of 100% malted barley, grain whisky can be made of different kinds of grains. I will not get into the depths of the world of whisky as I know way too little about it.
If you are a true moonshine aficionado I would definitely recommend to give one of Scotlands 126 distilleries a visit.
And if you would like to learn more about how to enjoy whisky the proper way, this site is a must.
A room with a view
We spent our last night in Scotland in a hotel just by the ocean. It had a magical sunset over the harbor and the fishing boats. One week passed quickly and the next day we had to go back to Glasgow to catch our flight back home.
To quickly sum up Scotland:
+ Fantastic roads, fantastic scenery and fantastically friendly people.
– Terrible food, one of the worst cuisines that we have experienced while travelling. The best thing I had to eat on the whole trip was by far – haggis. Yes, you heard it right.
If you do not know what haggis is, besides of being Scotland’s national dish, it is a pudding made of minced heart, lungs and liver of a sheep. Surprisingly enough, it actually was quite tasty.
