Winter in Scotland is Snow Joke

I have been saying that I'm kind of mad that I am missing New England winter, but Scotland reminded me that maybe I don't. This is one of the few places on this trip that I am revisiting. There is so much of the world to explore, it takes a lot for me to go back to a place I've been vs. exploring somewhere new. It was mostly to get up into the Highlands again to explore a bit more because I only did a day trip up there last time.

Edinburgh

With winter in Scotland, sunny days are few and far between, but I was lucky with two nice day that I got to do a bit of hiking. I say "a bit" because it was more like short hill walks, but both got me some spectacular views. The one below is from Arthur's Seat which overlooks Edinburgh city.

The other hill walk I did, I actually learned about when talking to my walking tour guide. The Pentland Hills are some rolling hills south of Edinburgh that offer some short walks with some great views. I did some research and choose to do a path that hit Turnhouse Hill, Carnethy Hill, and Scald Law. It was a nice sunny day, but because of the periodic rain the majority of the hill was pure mud. Some Canadians almost got to witness me fully wiping out, but the experienced hiker I am managed to turn it into a power slide. In the picture below, the ridge to the left is the one I walked up.

I got an unexpected surprise when I was walking around the city. The 6 nations rugby tournament was going on and the big rivalry game between Scotland and England was happening the weekend I was there. Man, I have never seen so many man in kilts in my life. I was going on a walk to Dean's Village, which was the direction of the stadium, when all of a sudden the street where flooded with people fully dressed in Scotland pride. I watched the game at the hostel bar with some friends I made who tried to explain the game of rugby to me. Honestly, I still have no idea what happened in the game.

Highlands

The biggest internal debate I had so far this trip was how I was going to explore the Highlands. My biggest worry was the weather. My second biggest worry was the remoteness that would come with my itinerary. After my experience with the isolation and loneliness of my off season adventure of the Azores island, I was worried that on my 5 day road trip would have minimal human interaction. On further research, I learned that the cell phone service up in the Isle of Skye is unreliable. So, you're welcome Mom, I reluctantly booked a tour of the Highlands instead of solo road tripping it. Further justification of booking the tour was the price. It was actually cheaper for me to do the tour than renting a car solo.

I ended up booking with Haggis Adventures for a 5 day tour of the Highlands. After the first two days, I was happy I ended up booking a tour. Our first two days we got a pretty constant snow fall. I am used to driving in the New England winters, but with the confusion of driving on the other side of the road with small winding roads was an unnecessary stress I'm glad I avoided. Secondly, I was correct in assuming that there would be very few tourist exploring the Highlands in winter. Every site, rest stop, and even lodging had either no one there or maybe one other tour group.

Day 1 started off smashingly with an early wet snow walk at 8 am to the tour pick up spot. From Edinburgh, we started driving towards Queensferry. This is where you get a fantastic view of the Fourth Bridge. Here we got our first glimpse of how rapidly the weather can change is Scotland. We arrived with a bit of sun and storm cloud down the river. We watched as within 5 minutes the storm cloud blow in, downpour, and then clear out.

We then headed across the river and towards Dunkeld where we got to explore the town and the cathedral. Just up the road, we got a short walk around the Hermitage. At this stop, the snow was properly coming down.

After frolicking around in the snow, we continued our drive through Cairngorms National Park and across to the Commando Memorial. Here was our first view of Ben Nevis and the Nevis range. Ben Nevis is the highest peak in Scotland. Our driver says that only 60 days of the year you will be able to see the top of Ben Nevis. We were actually lucky enough on our 4th day to have a clear enough to see the top of Ben Nevis.

We drove up the Fort Augustus where we got our first views of Loch Ness and stayed for two nights. We were the only ones in the hostel, but it was a good chance for us to play games and get to know each other. It was also the first time on the trip I got to eat a classic Scottish delicacy, Haggis.

Day 2 we got to drive around Loch Ness to see Urquhart Castel and make our way up to Inverness. We learned about the Jacobite uprising and the Battle of Culloden before making it to the Culloden Battlefield. Recently, I finished the TV series, Outlander which starts at the time of the Jacobite uprising in the Scotland Highlands. It was interesting hearing the difference in the true history vs the TV version. Also throughout the tour, we got to stop at many of the filming sites for the show. This was also where we got to see some highland cows or better known as hairy coos. As I like to call them, hippy cows because of their long mains that tended to fall over their faces.

Day 3 was my favorite day because we finally got to the Isle of Skye, which is what I was looking forward to the most. The isle is known for its extraordinary landscapes and fairy stories. During the ride, I was just in awe of the ever changing landscape and how the changing skies added to the dramatic landscapes. We got to see classic Isle of Skye sites like Sligachan Old Bridge, the town of Portree, Old Man of Storr, Kilt Rock, and Quiraing. We lucked out with having a clear day for Isle of Skye standards. Before crossing the Skye Bridge, we got to explore Eilean Donan Castle which according to our guide, the most photographed castle in Scotland.

Day 4 was my second favorite day as we got to explore the beautiful Glencoe. On our way there, we got to stop at the Glenfinnan Viaduct. This viaduct is famous because it is the viaduct that the Hogwarts express goes over.

I got to visit Glencoe 3 years ago in summer, and though it was much colder this time, I think I enjoyed the landscapes a little more. It loved the contrast between the snow covered tops with the green brown of the exposed grass. Then to add to it, you get the blues of the river. We only got 30 minutes to walk around, which was way too little time. Thankfully, I am a fast walker and got to explore a little bit.

Day 5 was a sad day as it was the end of the tour and we made our way back to Edinburgh. We made a few stops on our way back, one of which was a whiskey distillery with a tasting. Thank you Haggis Adventure for an amazing tour with an amazing guide and people. I do not regret booking the tour one bit.

Even after my 5 day taste of the Highlands, I still want to go back and hike a bit more. I did ask our guide when the best time to visit would be if I wanted to hike, and he said either April or September. So Highlands, you will see me again in the near future probably in April or September.

The rest of my time in the United Kingdom was visiting my cousin and his family down in Nottingham. It was a nice break to have some family time. We took the kids to explore the underground network of caves in Nottingham. The interesting part of the caves was that they built a shopping mall over it. They originally wanted to destroy the caves to build the foundation of the mall, but the historic committee wouldn't allow it. I thought I had dealt with difficult job sites in my structural engineering days, but I can't imagine having to figure out how to build over sandstone caves. They also drove me to the nearby town of Lincoln, which was a cute medieval town with a castle and cathedral.

Now time to explore Ireland.

Click here for all United Kingdom pictures.