Driving Across the Highlands!

This post isn't about one particular city, but about a wonderful road trip from Edinburgh to the Isle of Skye. It was our second adventure with a rental car, and again Amber did a fantastic job of maneuvering roads large and small!

We  stopped at a lot of fun places along the way. First off was lunch on the "bonny banks of Loch Lomond." There was a rest stop of sorts there that was a convenient stopping point on our road.

Our typical lunch--apples and Nutella or almond butter sandwiches.

I don't remember the name of this valley, but it was really pretty, and there was a pull-off at the top of a pass at this spot complete with a food truck (we didn't eat there).

Amber and Christina take in the view. As I recall it was really, really windy here. Not the first or last windy place we would experience on our trip.

We also made a short stop at Inverary Castle. It had a really pretty garden. Amber knew of it, because it was used in the Downton Abbey 2012 Christmas special.

Perhaps my favorite stop of the day was Kilchurn Castle. It was such a moody, atmospheric place. It was a ruin, and yet there were still parts left that you could climb around in.

This is the trail to the castle. It was really muddy!

We also stopped at an overlook above Castle Stalker, which was featured in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

That night we stayed at cute little Inchconnal B&B in Glencoe. The lady who ran it was delightful and we wished we could have stayed longer in her cozy little house.

We were only stopping through for the night, so we didn't get to enjoy Glencoe as much as we would have liked. However, we did make a quick trip down through the glen after dinner at The Boots Bar at Clachaig Inn. Glencoe is gorgeous! It's a great area for hiking, though we didn't get to do any. It also has a tragic history: Glencoe was the location of a infamous massacre when a local clan was late in swearing allegiance to the king of England.

A rainbow outside the Clachaig Inn, looking up Glencoe valley.

Glencoe is full of little streams and waterfalls.

We were there in late May, and there was still snow on the higher hills!

The next day we were back on the road, enjoying more beautiful scenery on our way to the Isle of Skye.

Our road took us past Loch Ness! Sadly, we did not see any sign of Nessie. :-(

This was not the scenic backdrop I was hoping for (it was next to a rest stop), but we did see some Highland cows. They're very cute! 

Our last stop before the Isle of Skye was Eilean Donan castle. It's such a pretty castle--I first saw it on the front of our Rick Steves guidebook. It's actually not original; it's a recreation that was built in the early 20th century. It was still worth visiting, though.

Cousins selfie in front of the castle!

Next up--the Isle of Skye!