We had originally planned to go to Fort William but we ended up going to Fort Augustus. I am glad we made this choice, as Fort Augustus has five locks that rise through the center of the village and it was fun to watch them operate. We had a pint while we waited.

It was a cloudy day but we still found the scenery to be lovely on the drive to Fort Augustus.

Fort Augustus

Boats entering the locks

The Drive to Kinlochleven

The scenery just kept getting better!

I dropped off Michael at the hotel in Kinlochleven and drove to Glencoe to walk the trails. (Michael was still a tad under the weather.) There was again so much green! These pictures are from two trails: the mountain trail and the woodland trail.

We drove to Oban the next day. We stayed at a nice little guesthouse (Don Muir Guesthouse) with a friendly female proprietor. Here are some pictures of the drive to Oban, Oban, and the town of Tobermory on The Island of Mull (with the colorful buildings). We took the ferry from Oban to the Island of Mull, then took the bus to the town of Tobermory. We had hoped to tour the distillery, but there were no more openings so we just went to a restaurant where I had some whiskey (this is what they make at the distillery) while Michael had beer.

We had planned to take the car on the ferry so we could drive to Tobermory ourselves, but we learned that it was too late to buy a car ferry ticket. So we took the car back to the hotel and walked back to the ferry terminal. Thankfully, we could still catch the ferry (about 2:00 p.m.) to Mull that day as well as a return ferry later that day.

I saw this very cool castle from the bus and took a picture, not knowing what it was. I have since learned that it is Duart Castle. For over 700 years, Duart Castle, the seat of Clan Maclean, has dominated the view to the Sound of Mull and Loch Linnhe with its huge curtain walls and solid keep.

You may also recognize Duart Castle from some Hollywood feature films such as Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones’ “Entrapment” (1999), “When Eight Bells Toll” (1971) with Antony Hopkins and “I know where I’m going” (1945).

We will tell you about our long attempt to leave Oban in the next post.

We left Edinburgh on the 22nd and stopped briefly in Dundee before heading to Inverness. We were planning to visit the Art Gallery and Museum, but the fire alarm went off just as we entered and everyone was sent across the street. We decided to abandon that idea and have lunch instead.

Here are a few pictures of a pretty bridge we took on the way to Dundee as well as a few sites in Dundee.

The bronze Oor Wullie Statue was created in honor of the spiky-haired dungaree-cad lad who graced the comic strip of the Sunday Post since 1936. He is aiming his pea shooter at a nearby statue of Robert Burns. Oor Wullie is a much-loved national treasure in Scotland.

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Our final day in Edinburgh consisted of visits to Edinburgh Castle (and the one o’clock gun), The Royal Mile, St. Giles’ Cathedral, Calton Hill, Grassmarket, Greyfriars Kirkyard, Victoria Street, and The Real Mary King’s Close.

We had a very lazy morning, so our first goal was to be at Edinburgh Castle in time for the one o’clock gun. We made it! (Gosh, I would hope so!!)

This is – once again – a post with a lot of back story. Feel free to skip what doesn’t interest you!

We passed by St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh (I no longer remember where, but it was shortly before we visited the castle) but only from the outside. It is a beautiful building! It opened in 1879. The cathedral is one of only three in the United Kingdom that feature three spires, the other two being Lichfield and Truro cathedrals.

Fun facts: St Mary’s Cathedral was the first cathedral in Great Britain to employ girls in the treble line as well as boys, in 1978. In 2005, St Mary’s Cathedral became the first cathedral in the Anglican tradition to have a female alto singing in daily services. (I am just going to say what you are already thinking: it took long enough!)

The One O’clock Gun at Edinburgh Castle is a tradition that dates back to 1861. Every day (except Sundays) at precisely 1:00 pm, a gun is fired from the Castle grounds. So precisely and so loud that the ships in the Firth of Forth and Leith Harbor two miles away used to set their clocks by it. Locals say that you can always tell visitors from the Edinburgh natives when the gun goes off. Whereas locals tend to check their watches, visitors jump out of their skins!

It was fired at precisely one o’clock and I confirmed that the time on my phone was correct. Here is Edinburgh Castle. As per usual, it is located on a hill.

We were surprised to see massive bleachers right outside of the castle. We learned that they are there about four months in the summer: The bleachers, or grandstand, are set up each year for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in August. The grandstand is a modern engineering feat that takes about seven weeks to construct. The grandstand is also used for concerts, and has hosted performances by The Who, Rod Stewart, and The Lumineers. 

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Although we were absolutely smitten with England and Wales, we were also eager to visit Scotland! Here is our Scotland itinerary:

We had tentatively planned to spend two nights in Edinburgh, but extended it to three. We spent our first day in Edinburgh in a pub. Okay, that sounds worse than it is. We didn’t arrive until the afternoon (it is four hours from York), so it wasn’t actually a full day in the pub. Anyway, we found this cute little pub near our hotel and decided to have a beer. One beer led to another, which then led to our eating dinner there. The bartender and clientele were so very friendly, we simply didn’t want to leave. So we didn’t!

We did get out and about on the second day, however. We visited The Royal Yacht Britannia, Princes Street Gardens and the Ross Fountain, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and Tolbooth Tavern (the last for food).

We hadn’t even known about The Royal Yacht Britannia, but the bartender from the pub recommended it, so we decided to go. It was our first stop of the day.

A Royal residence for 44 years, The Royal Yacht Britannia sailed over 1,000,000 nautical miles on 968 state visits with the Royal Family where they entertained prime ministers and presidents. She has been berthed permanently at the Port of Leith in Edinburgh since 1998 and is now a five-star visitor attraction, welcoming over 390,000 visitors a year from all over the world.

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If you like Viking history, York is a good place to visit. This is primarily a (very long!) “history post.” Grab a cup of coffee before you start reading.

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