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I’m not sure there’s anything I would have done differently in terms of our itinerary except perhaps hoof it all the way to Tarbert on the first night to have more time hiking on the Kintyre Way.
Hiking near Glencoe
Of course we didn’t visit any of the cities on this trip. We decided we preferred to take advantage of having the car and spend more time in places you can only see with a car.
Christchurch, Skye
We can always get back to Edinburgh or Glasgow as short trips from elsewhere in Europe. But you may want to add a couple days in each if you have the time….
Eilean Donan Castle
Lastly, you’ll notice we didn’t visit any distilleries. But if you’re a scotch whiskey aficionado, you should of course schedule in some visits!
Kinloch Lodge, Skye
You can see all my Scotland photos here. See my other Scotland posts here.
The final part of our Scotland trip was the long but scenic drive from the Torridon to Loch Lomond, via the Cairngorms.
Loch An Eilein
To break up the long drive on this last full day, we stopped for an hour or so to walk around Loch An Eilein in the Cairngorms National Park. While not too different from familiar New England landscapes, Loch An Eilein is a beautiful spot.
Homemade ice cream at the Oak Tree Inn
We stayed at the lovely Oak Tree Inn in Balmaha, on Loch Lomond, and had drinks and dinner at the Oak Tree Inn’s pub. They have a large and inviting terrace. We then followed the route of the West Highland Way past the Balmaha Pier and along Loch Lomond for a little while. I found this side of the lake much prettier than the west side. Albeit, we saw the west side on the one overcast day, the first day of our trip, when we were jet lagged.
Balmaha Pier, Loch Lomond
The last morning, I woke up early and hiked up Conic Hill before breakfast—about an hour and a half round trip. Conic Hill is along the West Highland Way and offers a spectacular view down at Loch Lomond.
View from Conic Hill
On the way back to the airport, we found another Marks & Spencer (mini) food hall in Linlithgow and picnicked just outside the lovely Linlithgow Palace. It made for a nice last stop as it’s only 20 minutes from the Edinburgh airport.
Linlithgow Palace
You can see all my Scotland photos here. See my other Scotland posts here.
The Torridon piece of our trip was our splurge for my mom’s birthday. The hotel was exquisite and the scenery dramatic, and with very few other tourists.
The Torridon’s highland cattle
Just after crossing the bridge back to the mainland from Skye, we took a short detour to have lunch in the lovely town of Plockton, probably the prettiest town we visited on this trip.
Plockton
The drive to the Torridon was beautiful. If you have more time than we had (and you’re a fearless driver), you may consider a detour to Applecross, not far from Torridon.
The Torridon Hotel
The Torridon’s accommodations are truly luxury and worth the splurge! But if you are looking for a cheaper option, the hotel also owns an inn just a few hundred meters away.
The Torridon Hotel
The scenery in the Torridon is dramatic and we were lucky to have good weather most of the time there but it would also be a wonderful place to spend a couple of days even if the weather weren’t cooperating. Just spending time in the hotel lounges and impressive whiskey bar would be time well spent! Dinners at the Torridon, starting with aperitifs in the lounge, were fantastic—we continued our culinary splurging….
Whiskey bar at the Torridon Hotel
It turns out a 2-hour guided kayaking adventure was included in our rate as guests of the hotel. Visiting Upper Loch Torridon at water level was wonderful.
View of Upper Loch Torridon from the trail
I then climbed up above the lake in the afternoon, following one of the marked trails that crosses the A896 then leads south and uphill from the hotel. The adventure center in the inn can help you plan out the best excursions for your level.
Dinner at the Torridon Hotel
You can see all my Scotland photos here. See my other Scotland posts here. Next week, Loch Lomond!
We spent the middle segment of our trip on the magical Isle of Skye.
Trotternish Peninsula, Skye
Headed towards Skye, we made a small detour to see the aqueduct and “Harry Potter” train at Glenfinnan, a beautiful spot even if you’re not into Harry Potter. This is also the site of the 1745 “Bonnie Prince Charlie” uprising and monument thereto.
Glenfinnan
We drove through Fort William and picked up picnic supplies at the Marks & Spencer Food Hall, which should be a tourist attraction in itself.
Scottish thistle
Our next stop was at the iconic Eilean Donan Castle, where we ate our picnic goods.
Eilean Donan
We had a mix of lodging on our trip–from small B&Bs to luxury hotels to the HF Holidays’ manor house to an AirBNB apartment. In Edinbane we rented the lovely Aber View self-catering apartment. It was very clean, spacious and comfortable. The location was great for exploring the best of the island and also given it is just across the street from a great gastropub, the Edinbane Inn. We had a lovely dinner there the first night. The hosts left us an abundance of food to “get us started” and it lasted our whole stay.
Trotternish Peninsula
In the morning of our first full day on Skye, we headed down to Portree, Skye’s largest town and a lovely harbor. Portree also would be a good base of operations, especially if you’d like to be able to walk to more restaurants, etc. But unless you’re splurging for the Kinloch Lodge, I’d stay up north and not in the southern part of Skye as the Trotternish Peninsula has the most dramatic scenery. Don’t underestimate the distances in Skye. While everything is reachable as a day trip, the roads are small and if you get stuck behind someone slow, it can be hard to find a place to pass. Off the main routes, roads are narrow and very windy. So if you can group your activities in Skye by geographic proximity, you’ll be much happier!
Kinloch Lodge
Skye was the start of our culinary splurging. As Kinloch Lodge and Three Chimneys are rated some of the best restaurants in the world, we could not pass up the experience. Both meals (and splurging for the tasting menus) were well worth it. The food is incredible but the settings were also magnificent and the hospitality impressive.
Old Man of Storr
After lunch at the Kinloch
Lodge (a good hour’s drive from Portree), we visited the Old Man of Storr, a
bizarre outcropping of rocks. It was a good time of day to go, in the early
evening, as the sun was peaking out from behind the peaks and the crowds were
dwindling. If you’re up for it, it’s definitely worth climbing up behind the
rock outcroppings to the top of the ridge.
Old Man of Storr
After Old Man of Storr, we drove around the rest of the northernmost peninsula, the Trotternish, which, again, I think has the best scenery of Skye and possibly of all of Scotland. We stopped several times along the way to walk out along the coast, for example by Duntulm Castle. We also stopped off briefly at the Skye Museum of Island Life though it was closed when we arrived so we only saw the period homes from the outside.
Trotternish Peninsula
Our second full day, we headed back to the Trotternish Peninsula to explore the Quiraing in the morning. The Quiraing is another area of odd rock formations—impossible to describe in words. You have to look at the photos! We were lucky to arrive when the valley was fogged in and still be there while the fog was lifting. It’s a magical place—definitely one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been in terms of natural scenery.
The Quiraing
After the Quiraing, we walked around the Fairy Glen just outside Uig. It’s a lovely spot with a surprising landscape. We expected everything after the Quiraing to be a disappointment but this was definitely worth exploring!
Fairy Glen
On our way to Three Chimneys, we visited Dunvegan Castle. We are usually content to just visit castles from the outside, but we decided this one we should go in as some of our ancestors are of the MacLeod Clan. So we wanted to see the castle that really should belong to us but through some mishap in history doesn’t. While perhaps not the most interesting interior, the setting of the castle is beautiful and the gardens are worth a walk through.
Dunvegan Castle
We drove past the castle, towards Claigan Corral Beach for a brief walk along the coast before the exceptional 8-course Three Chimneys tasting menu. In addition to the food and setting and service, I was impressed with the way the wait staff really pushed the non-alcoholic drinks for the drivers. They know the roads can be treacherous, so they have a great array of non-alcoholic options. I was planning to have one glass of wine with the 8-course dinner, but in the end I just stuck with the non-alcoholic elderberry sparkling “wine” because it was so good!
Three Chimneys
Our last morning in Skye, we drove to Elgol. It’s a bit of a harrowing drive but beautiful. It would have been great to combine this with Kinloch Lodge as they are in the same part of the island, but we just couldn’t make it work with the timing. From Elgol, you can take a boat trip to Loch Coruisk. We went with the Bella Jane.
Bella Jane
Unfortunately, we didn’t have time for the full trip that lets you get out and hike around Loch Coruisk, but the boat trip and the drive down to Elgol were definitely worth it anyways. The water is turquoise, the mountains impressive (this area is supposed to have great hiking too), the guide was very informative, and we saw a bunch of seals, including seal pups!
Elgol
On the drive back to the main road, we stopped for a bit at the picturesque Church of Kilchrist (Cill Chriosd) ruins.
Church of Kilchrist
Once again, we entirely lucked out with the weather and this had a huge positive impact on our time in Skye. We absolutely loved it, but I could see how bad weather could give someone a different impression of this relatively desolate place!
Three Chimneys
You can see all my Scotland photos here. See my other Scotland posts here.
The next leg of our trip was a 4-night/3-day stay stay near Glencoe with the British non-profit hiking vacation outfit, HF Holidays. Our tour was HF Holidays Guided Walking Alltschellach, North Ballachulish, generally known to offer the most difficult hiking of HF Holiday’s British Isles trips.
Alltschellach
To arrive from the Kintyre Peninsula, we drove through the Glencoe Valley alongside the West Highland Way to Alltschellach, a country home owned by HF Holidays.
Everything at Alltschellach is included in the price except for alcohol, which is very reasonable to purchase (there’s a full bar/pub in the house!) We found the price to be really quite reasonable; HF Holidays is after all a non-profit.
Beinn a’ Bheithir
HF Holidays offers hikes each day at 3 different levels. So if you’re traveling with someone at a different level from you, no problem. You can each hike at your own level and meet back up for dinner. I was a bit worried the advanced-level hikes wouldn’t be that advanced, but they definitely were. Very challenging! And incredible scenery. It was also really nice to meet and spend a few days with other hikers and get pampered a bit as everything is included.
Sgurr na h-Eanchainne
Each evening, the guides gave a presentation on the three hiking options for the following day, along with slides and information on the ascents and overall difficulty. These were the three hikes I chose. All the descriptions below were provided by HF Holidays:
DAY 1: Sgurr na h-Eanchainne Distance: 7½ miles (12km) Total ascent: 2,750 feet (840m)
The walk in a nutshell: Cross the Corran ferry to walk in the mountains of the Ardgour Peninsula. Our route takes us past Maclean’s Towel waterfall then around the ridge onto the summit of Sgurr na h-Eanchainne.
Sgurr na h-Eanchainne
DAY 2: Beinn a’ Bheithir Distance: 8½ miles (13½km) Total ascent: 4,300 feet (1,300m)
The walk in a nutshell: Climb the two Munros of Sgorr Dhearg and Sgorr Dhonuill, the twin peaks clearly visible across the loch from Alltshellach. From Ballachulish we ascend a rocky spur onto the main ridge of the Beinn a’ Bheithir mountain ridge and later descend through the wooded valley of Gleann a’ Chaolais to Alltshellach.
Beinn a’ Bheithir
DAY 3: Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the British Isles. Distance: 10 miles (16½km) Total ascent: 4,500 feet (1,380m)
The walk in a nutshell: Our objective today is the summit of Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest mountain. Starting from Glen Nevis we follow the Pony Track which zig-zags up to the summit plateau. We return by the same route.
Ben Nevis
It’s very difficult to hike in Scotland on your own. Especially if you’re a more advanced hiker, you will miss out on many outstanding hiking opportunities as there are very few marked trails. You really need a guide who can take you literally off the beaten path.
You can see all my Scotland photos here. See my other Scotland posts here.
