Edinburgh and Stirling

Edinburgh

Looking at these photos, it must seem like a heck of a long day for us to fit in the highlands AND Edinburgh. Well, it was. We had woken up early at our midge-infested hostel on the banks of Loch Ness to get an early start down south.

Being August (peak summer season) and the fact that the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was on, there was absolutely no where we could get a bed. The nearest place we found room was Stirling, a city in between Glasgow and Edinburgh. After hastily checking in, we drove to Edinburgh to see what we could squeeze into an afternoon.




The city centre.

Although slightly smaller than Glasgow, Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland and enjoys a reputation for being one of the hippest, coolest, history-filled cities in the UK.



Edinburgh Castle



We sampled some Italian food in Edinburgh, a tad on the expensive side and nowhere near as good as Melbourne


A Celtic Cross in the Scottish National Museum (yes we managed to fit in a heck of a lot!)


Crowds in the streets for the festival

Scotland is a great place to trace one's Scottish heritage (if you have any), and so like I (Nat) did in Wales, I thought I would see what I could dig up here. My grandma on my mum's side was of Scottish ancestry from the clan Macnaughtan. I looked around and sure enough I managed to locate the Macnaughtan tartan for sale in a shop in Edinburgh. I bought a tartan scarf straight away.



St Giles Cathedral in the Royal Mile


The Royal Mile in the Old Town


Another view of Edinburgh Castle


The Scott Monument, a Victorian Gothic monument to author Sir Walter Scott

Since we were in time for the Edinburgh Festival, the largest arts festival in the world, we decided to get tickets to some random stand-up comedy. We managed to get half-priced tickets to a show The show we went to featured the youngest comedian at the festival, a 17-year old British schoolboy of Indian descent. The show was passable but juvenile at best.


View of the Old Town from where we purchased tickets

Stirling


Originally, the second choice to staying in Edinburgh, we soon discovered that Stirling is a city with a rich history of its own. Situated almost evenly between Scotland's two biggest cities, residents can commute to either and live in Stirling.

Stirling is most famous for the Wallace monument, a monument erected in 1869 to commemorate William Wallace (as portrayed in the film 'Braveheart') the Scottish nationalist hero of the 12th Century. It was in Stirling that Wallace defeated an English army.


Wheat field in Stirling


Stirling Castle


View of Stirling from Abbey Craig


The statue of William Wallace


The Wallace Monument

After Stirling, we left Scotland to go back into England where we would spend the last few days of our British trip.

For more photos of Edinburgh and Stirling, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52912&l=b24c4&id=681501850

Loch Ness and the Scottish Highlands

Leaving Dundee, we had to decide whether to drive up to Loch Ness via Perth or via Aberdeen. On paper it looked as though the Aberdeen route was longer but since the road looked less windy and much wider, we took that option.

The however, drive took a lot longer than we expected because the road went through every single little town. Due to their age, traffic flow planning in British towns leaves much to be desired. There was a bottleneck of cars in almost every single one.

Finally, after driving for most of the day and seeing the origins of (what felt like) half the place names in Australia, we arrived at Inverness, the "capital" of the highlands, and the largest city this far north in Scotland.




Downtown Inverness


The river Ness

Finally, after a short drive South, we reached the banks of Loch Ness, one of the world's most well-known lakes. Loch Ness is Scotland's second-largest loch by surface area (after Loch Lomond) but is the largest single body of freshwater (by volume) in the whole of the United Kingdom. At its deepest point, Loch Ness is 230 metres - deep enough to submerge London's BT Tower. To give you an idea of how much water it holds, Loch Ness contains more freshwater than all the lakes in England and Wales combined.

The great depth and the murkiness of the water caused by peat has given rise to thousands of alleged of sightings of the legendary Loch Ness Monster, nicknamed "Nessie". We couldn't help feeling hopeful ourselves that something just might poke its head out of the water.


Mist over Loch Ness


We found Nessie!


The Loch Ness Centre attempts to explain away the Nessie sightings as pranks and wishful thinking. Still, an interesting visit


In this part of Scotland, signs are in both Gaelic and English (despite the fact that almost nobody can speak Gaelic anymore)


The banks of Loch Ness


Urquhart Castle, one of the largest strongholds of medieval Scotland. It's origins date back to as early as the 6th Century AD. Today, the majority of Nessie sightings occur near the castle.


The landscape is absolutely beautiful. Even photographs don't do it justice.


Our hostel. I (Nat) had to use my lawyer negotiation skills to get the price down, seriously!

Lochs abound in the highlands. Although not as famous, there are so many Lochs that can be equally as stunning. The next day we set off back down south.


Loch Lochy

We decided to take the scenic route. And let me tell you, boy was it scenic. We had to keep stopping by the side of the road to gawk at how beautiful the mountains were.


Aussies in the highlands


The dark brooding weather added to the dramatic effect as we drive


We don't even know the name of this peak


We couldn't help but imagine ourselves travelling back in time 1000 years - nothing much has changed!


Sally, Candice and I with our little rental car


Don't let my t-shirt fool you. It was freezing.


We accidentally set our timer to "video", making us look like idiots while we posed in the chilly highlands.

For much of the rest of our drive, we were enthralled by glens, fells and lochs - the natural beauty of Scotland. And that was only the beginning of our day, we still had Edinburgh to see!

For more photos of our time in the highlands, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52905&l=22d92&id=681501850

Glasgow, Dundee and trekking up to Loch Brandy

Glasgow

There is nothing much of interest in the southern part of Scotland. As we drove through Northern England we didn't even realise we had crossed the border until we figured we had to be because Glasgow was getting so close.

Then suddenly before we knew it we were in Glasgow, Scotland's largest (and Britain's third largest) city. Glasgow is beautiful and vaguely reminded us of a smaller and older version of Melbourne. Plagued by an extremely high crime rate, Glasweigens have attempted to turn their city into Scotland's most modern to catch up with the booming popularity of nearby rival, Edinburgh.


A busy Glasgow thoroughfare


The Royal Concert Hall


Glasgow really reminded us of Melbourne


We ate our packed lunch in Glasgow which we had made before we left our hostel in Shap


Bagpiping buskers in Glasgow


Dundee and Glen Clova

That afternoon we arrived in Dundee, where we would be staying for a few days with my friend Elodie and her boyfriend Colin. Elodie is French and since it had been a few years since we had seen each other, I wasn't prepared for the Scottish accent I heard on the other end of the phone when I called! A French/Scottish accent is a strange thing.

Elodie and Colin's apartment was right in the city centre with a prime view of the River Tay.


View from the apartment in the evening and the view at night.

To kickstart our Scottish adventures, Elodie cooked us up some traditional Scottish quisine - haggis and oatcake. For the uninitiated, haggis consists mainly of sheep's heart, liver and lungs usually boiled in the animal's stomach. For the most part it tasted like pate´.


I sample the fine Scottish dish

The next day Elodie took us on our first Scottish hike. We drove about an hour to Glen Clova, one of the five Highland glens in the western portion of the Angus region of Scotland, before we started on what has to be one of the most scenic walks we have ever done.


The hills were covered in heather


The girls on the trail


The view as we climbed


We finally arrived at our destination, the beautiful Loch Brandee


Pure fresh Loch goodness!


Candice and Sally


Ahhh, Scotland!


More amazing views


The crew: Elodie, Sally, Nat, Candice

Dundee is Scotland's fourh-largest city. Like most cities in Britain, Dundee is beautiful and full of history. Here are some snapshots:


Sadly, this old church has now been turned into an Islamic Education Centre


The city centre


Desperate Dan


Sally and Candice discover Primark, mecca for cheap clothes!

Finally I sampled a taste of that good old Scottish family restaurant:-

McDonalds!

Funnily enough that night we watched the movie Braveheart on TV. Fitting, since we were actually in Scotland.


Sally, Candice and Colin hanging out

We left Dundee early the next morning to do some more Scottish driving. This time, all the way to the highlands! But we'll leave you with this interesting specimen we spotted in front of us:-


The number plate says it all

For more pictures of Glasgow and Dundee visit:- http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52901&l=3e65a&id=681501850