Time for another slightly overdue post! So, after a long overnight bus trip from London, we arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland. Charlotte had been particularly excited about this leg of our trip for a long time – whereas I hadn’t done much research at all and didn’t really know what to expect. So I was pleasantly surprised at just how epic Scotland turned out to be.
Edinburgh
We stayed in the Castle Rock Hostel in Edinburgh, which ended up being a world all of its own. It is a massive building close to Edinburgh castle, with the largest common spaces I’ve seen in any hostel. Definitely one of the better and more interesting hostels we have stayed in. It has over 300 beds, with some 60 of them filled by ‘volunteers’ at any given time. These volunteers work 14 hours a week in return for free beds, staying any amount of time from a few weeks to several years. What this meant is that there were a whole bunch of mostly younger people in the hostel who basically live there, while working/studying/partying in Edinburgh. If this bizarre, mini-city fascinated you as much as it did me, this article was a pretty cool read about it all https://louevepopper.com/becoming-volunteer-behind-the-scenes-of-a-youth-hostel-in-edinburgh/
Unfortunately, we both managed to catch a nasty cold whilst staying in Edinburgh, so it meant we did not get out quite as much as we had hoped. But when we did get out, we thoroughly enjoyed exploring “Auld Reeky”. Some of my highlights were:
The Royal Mile
The Royal Mile is the length of road that runs through pretty much the entirety of the Edinburgh old town, from the Edinburgh Castle at the top to the Scottish parliament and another castle at the bottom. It was almost constantly choked with tourists and the rather cringe-worthy stores dedicated to them (with names like “Thistle Do Nicely”), but despite this, there is something pretty special about walking through the cobble streets with bagpipes playing in the background, and soaking in the old buildings, with the spectacular castle towering above it all.
Arthur’s Seat
Edinburgh has some great parklands, and one of the local reserves, right next to the Royal Mile, is home to Arthur’s Seat. One pleasant day, we headed up to get some views of the city, and the rather intense climb was made worthwhile by incredible views over the whole of the city. Edinburgh is a great city for walking, if you are lucky enough to avoid the rain.
Whisky Tasting
One of the activities offered by our hostel was whisky tasting. It seemed pretty cheap, and it turns out the reason was it was run by and hosted in another hostel, and by a guy who was reading information about the whisky off a piece of paper as he bluffed his way through the tasting. We had rushed to get to the tasting on time, and thus had not eaten since lunch. Turns out an empty stomach and six shots of whisky will lead to some rather dizzy times… a cheap curry has never tasted so good though.
5 Days in the Highlands and Isle of Skye
Sometimes, the solution to your problems just appears when you need it. Charlotte was desperate to make it to the Isle of Skye, but public transport across Scotland looked expensive, and all the most interesting locations really needed a vehicle for access. When we arrived at Castle Rock Hostel, we still hadn’t found a solution. On the walls of the hostel however, we found the perfect solution: MacBackpackers. They offer a 5 day Highlands and Isle of Skye tour, targeted at backpackers (us!). So we signed up, and before we knew it, we were on our way to the highlands in a small tour bus along with 10 others. We stayed in backpackers hostels each night, toured across the country by day, and were entertained throughout by our tour guide Neil, who was as Scottish as you could imagine, had a wicked sense of humour, and told a yarn so well we never knew if he was joking or he actually believed everything that was coming out of his mouth. Here’s some of our highlights from the tour:
Swimming in Loch Ness
Our first night was on the tour was spent at a fantastic little hostel overlooking Loch Ness. We didn’t see any sign of the monster, but some other tourists may have been convinced they saw it, when I made a very brief dip into the freezing waters and came out screaming blue murder! Still, I can now say I swam in Loch Ness.
Highland Scenery
Too many any specific locations to mention, but just across the whole highlands, the scenery was pretty spectacular. Rolling hills, mysterious castles, massive lochs, dramatic cliffs, snow-capped mountains, rushing streams, waterfalls, and even some hairy coos… the only thing that was missing was forest much of the time (which over thousands of years of human occupation has been almost entirely eliminated from Scotland sadly). It was a joy to just watch out the window of the bus as the scenery rolled on by.
Isle of Skye
By some absolute miracle, our one day on the Isle of Skye happened to be the one day it wasn’t raining during our bus tour (Many parts of Scotland had their wettest April on record, some 3 weeks into the month at this point. Crazy.) We hiked up to the Quiraing, where I executed some rather questionable rock-climbing (thank goodness there was another way down the mountain or I might have been in some trouble…) and enjoyed the unbelievable views; hiked to the alternative, “secret and better” fairy pools that our guide reckoned were a bit of a local secret (They were pretty special! I got another swim in here, another freezing dip) and finished the day with a drink at the local hotel, watching the sunset go under the bridge. A good day.
History
Scotland’s long, rich and often tragic history was magnificently told by our tour guide as we rolled through hills and valleys. The bit that stuck with me most was the tenacity of people who lived on this soggy, harsh landscape, and the tragedy of the clearing of the highlands in the 18th century, when the English basically forced those living in the Highlands off their lands. So much history and heritage, destroyed so quickly…
Glasgow
The last leg of a Scotland adventure was spent in Glasgow. We were pretty burnt out after the epic 5 days of non-stop touristing, so we spent a few relatively quiet couple of days there. We did get out for a walk through the city centre, of which the architecture and feel reminded me a little bit of Melbourne; and also explored the Kelvingrove Museum (one of the more eclectic collections we’ve seen, but very enjoyable).
Well, our tour of the UK is officially at an end – I’m writing this post from back on the continent in Paris. It was an expensive (terrible conversion rate), but really special few weeks, and we would love to make it back Scotland some day. There’s just so much hiking and beautiful scenery! Looking forward to warmer temperatures and (fingers crossed) a little less rain, as we enjoy Paris and gear up for a month on the Camino.
Next Stops: Paris, Camino Frances