My Scotland Adventure began on May 12, 2024 when I landed in Edinburgh, Scotland after a red-eye flight from Boston. The first 5 days I was traveling solo, exploring the lovely city of Edinburgh before making my way by train to Inverness, the capital of the Scottish Highlands. My Edinburgh experience is chronicled in a separate blog. It was in Inverness that I began the second leg of my adventure – hiking in the Scottish Highlands with a group of women, booked thru Wild Women Expeditions, a Canadian adventure tour company specializing in women only tours. After finishing this tour, I would highly recommend this company and look forward to booking future adventures with them.
Day 1 – Loch Ness, Eilean Donan Castle, & Plockton
Our 8 day tour began at the Inverness train station where we met our local guide Beckie. Our group consisted of four Americans (Stephanie, Susan, Leesa, & Lindsay) and four Canadians (Jules, Kim, Janice, & Jennifer). We jokingly had a Team USA vs Team Canada rivalry going on throughout the trip. The ladies ranged in age from 42 to 60 (with the exception of our guide who was in her late 20s). We departed Inverness and drove along the north/west shoreline of Loch Ness to Fort Augustus, the southern terminus of the loch. There are locks located here that are part of the Caledonian Canal. We had 45 minutes to explore the area on foot before meeting up for lunch at The Lock Inn. All our meals were included on the trip with the exception of one dinner in Fort William.
After lunch we walked back down to the canal where we boarded an RIB (rigid inflatable boat) and took off on a hair-raising boat ride on Loch Ness, in search of “Nessie”. We never found Nessie, but our guide Steve gave us lots of information about the formation of the loch. We traveled northeast on the loch up to Urquhart Castle where Steve cranked up the bagpipe music on the boat speakers. The present ruins of the castle date back from the 13th to the 16th centuries. The castle played a role in the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century. It was partially destroyed in 1692 to prevent its use by the Jacobites. On our way back to Fort Augustus we saw an osprey’s nest and watched as the mother osprey tried to lead us away from the area. Steve also stopped in front of a cottage that is owned by the Aetherius Society, a group that used Loch Ness to “cooperate with the Gods from Space”. This boat ride was the coldest moment on our trip (including the summit of Ben Nevis). We had all donned winter hats and hoods.
Our next stop was Eilean Donan Castle. This is a very picturesque castle sitting on an island where three lochs meet. It is a popular location for weddings. We toured the castle at our own pace. I found the outside and surrounding area to be more interesting than the inside.
Our final stop of the day was in the small, fishing village of Plockton. We would be staying at the Plockton Inn for two nights. We had pre-ordered our dinner while on the road and had about an hour to relax before dinner. The inn had recently been remodeled and the wallpaper in every room was quite whimsical. I spent my free time wandering down to the harbor. For dinner that night, I had baked salmon on a bed of couscous with vegetables and sticky toffee pudding for dessert. Both were delicious. We were checking out what everyone else was having to gain intel before pre-ordering our dinner for the following evening. We also pre-ordered our sack lunch for the next day. I played it safe with a ham and cheese sandwich. Sunset has been after 9:40pm every night since I’ve arrived, so it’s still been quite light out when getting ready for bed.
Day 2 – Plockton area hiking
After breakfast we set out on our first hike of the trip. We drove a few minutes out of town and parked the van. Then we headed up to Cam a Bhealaich Mhoir. A lot of the hike was along logging roads. There is a big timber industry in Scotland. Unfortunately, the “haar” (or sea fog) still had us socked in, so we didn’t get the scenic views we were hoping for, but it was still a very pretty forested walk. We made our way back down, and detoured, passing by Duncraig Castle. The castle is more of a mansion and pretty modern for Scotland as far as castles go. It has been used as a private residence, a naval hospital during World War II, a home economics school for girls, and a bed & breakfast. We continued on until we reached the harbor on the opposite side of the Plockton Inn where we ate our sack lunches. We circled back along the shoreline to reach the Plockton Inn and later in the afternoon Beckie went back to retrieve the van.
Later in the day, Beckie gave us great news – she found a field with hairy coos, so off we headed for some photos. We were actually in the field with the coos. We didn’t want to be “tourons” (tourist/morons), so we avoided getting too close. After visiting with the hairy coos we headed off for a short beach walk to Camas Dubh-Aird, a coral beach. I’m not a “beach person”, but this beach was stunning! I’m guessing that if you showed photos of this beach to ten people, they would all guess that it was either in the Caribbean or Mediterranean Sea.
Dinner was again at the Plockton Inn and tonight I had the Baked Hake on a bed of mashed potatoes and vegetables. For dessert, I had a fruit tart. Jules had captured a beautiful sunset the night before, so at 9:30pm I went for a walk to a viewpoint to try and do the same. Unfortunately, the clouds rolled in, but it was still a beautiful scene.
Day 3 – Loch Coruisk, Isle of Skye
This morning, we departed from Plockton at 8:45am sharp, as we had a ferry to catch in Elgol Harbor on the Isle of Skye. We left mainland Scotland, crossing over the Skye Bridge to reach the Isle of Skye. The Skye Bridge was opened in 1995, prior to that the only way to reach the island was by ferry. Elgol Harbor is located on the southwestern side of the Isle of Skye and is where Bonnie Prince Charlie (Prince Charles Edward Stuart) was ferried to safety after his failed attempt to claim the throne in 1746. We motored across Cuillin Sound on the Bella Jane. Looking back and to the left we could see the Inner Hebrides Islands. The skipper took us close to the shore where the water was the same beautiful shade of blue/green as at the beach the day prior. He then circled around an island covered in resting harbor seals. Apparently, the seals don’t like the rain, so if it is raining, they tend to stay in the water. The seals really have no predators, so their population is quite large.
The boat docked along the shore and we walked along the shortest river in Scotland, the Scavaig River, at only a few hundred meters long. It flows from Loch Coruisk to Loch na Cuilce, an inlet of Loch Scavaig. We crossed over the river and then had to cross over a stream beneath a beautiful waterfall. We hiked up the right side (north) of Loch Coruisk. Loch Coruisk translates to “Cauldron of Waters” and lies at the foot of the Black Cuillin. We hiked along thru the boggy terrain, all the while playing “path or stream”, questioning each foot placement. We hiked about two thirds up the right side of the loch before stopping for lunch and turning around. Beckie introduced us to Tunnocks Tea Cakes along this trail and I am now addicted. The name is quite misleading, as it reminds me more of a S’more than a tea cake. It is a crisp biscuit with a big blob of marshmallow cream on top, all covered in a thin layer of chocolate. On our way back to the boat dock we took a slight detour over to another trail known as “The Bad Step”, because of a precarious section where you can fall into the water below. We came across three deer as we were crossing back over the river. The sun had now come out and all of the scenery that looked so dark and moody earlier in the day was now bright and inviting for the return journey.
The drive from Elgol Harbor to our accommodations at the Loch Eyre Guesthouse in Kensaleyre, on the Isle of Skye, was absolutely stunning. We spent the evening sitting around the common room at the guesthouse, drinking wine, eating Indian food, and sharing a lot of stories that turned into many inside jokes, not to be divulged. Of course I had to slip away for a few minutes to capture the sunset over Loch Snizort. Total miles walked: 6.7 miles
Day 4 – Isle of Skye, Old Man of Storr, & the Quiraing
We started a little later today because of the late dinner the prior night. I woke up early so I took a stroll along the lane where the guesthouse was located. I found some pretty horses along the way. Our first stop of the day was at the Old Man of Storr, a grouping of rock formations. It was very crowded but still enjoyable. There are many legends behind the Old Man of Storr. One legend is that the pinnacle is the thumb of a giant (or other more intimate body part) who was slain. His body fell to the ground and then the land eventually swallowed it up leaving only this one part poking out. Another legend was that a local couple would climb to the top of these hills every day of their happy marriage. Eventually the wife began to struggle on the climb so eventually the husband carried her up the hill. He didn’t want to leave his love behind. The fairies had taken an interest in the couple and promised him that his wife would be able to go everywhere that he went if he would just carry her up one more time. The husband agreed and when they got to the top of the hill the fairies turned the couple into a giant stone pillar, joined forever. We hiked up to the base of “the thumb” and then detoured off the main trail to do a circular trail around the pinnacles before heading back down.
For lunch, Beckie found us a beach where dinosaurs had walked (An Corran). We had a picnic there with our pre-ordered sandwiches. I had a Brie and cranberry sandwich. Afterwards we went dinosaur footprint hunting and we are pretty sure we found one. The placard at the beach said the dinosaurs were the meat eating Megalosaurus.
Next it was off to the Quiraing. This was my favorite scenic viewpoint of the entire trip. To get there the road goes up via some very steep switchbacks and you also have to contend with sheep and lambs in the roadway. The views reminded me somewhat of the highlands near Lake Alftavatn in Iceland, except there was the ocean instead of a lake. This is what I imagine the Faroe Islands will look like. We hiked along a very narrow path with towering cliffs on one side and steep sloping, bright green pastures on the other. We were serenaded by the baaing and bleating of sheep, along with bagpipes from a wedding being performed in the field below. Jennifer, Lindsay, and Susan bowed out part way through the hike due to the narrow path and steep drop-offs. I could have spent a lot more time in this area.
We made our way back to the guesthouse, had a little time to relax and then headed off to Frasers at Bracken Hide for our dinner reservation. I had a Scotch Egg with peas and broadbean pesto as an appetizer, crab risotto as my main course, and tiramisu for dessert. While I don’t normally take photos of my food, the dishes on this trip had such beautiful presentations. Total miles walked: 7.5 miles
Day 5 – Portree & Glen Sligachan
Another glorious day weatherwise. This morning we checked out of the Loch Eyre Guesthouse, as we would be leaving the Isle of Skye. We were dropped off in Portree, the largest town on the island, for two hours to explore on our own. I initially thought this was way too long (as did some others in the group), but after visiting the harbor to photograph the colorful shops, I found a local coastal path and was in all my glory. The path goes thru the Clan Lands of Ben Chracaig and is maintained by the Trustees of Clan MacNicol.
Before leaving the Isle of Skye, we stopped for a picnic lunch along the River Sligachan. The river has a legend that if you stick your face in the water under the Old Sligachan Bridge for seven seconds and let it dry off naturally, you will be granted eternal beauty. No one in the group tested this theory. I had the pastrami sandwich today, along with ham and mustard flavored crisps (potato chips). The entire group was a big fan of the different flavored crisps along with flapjacks, which in Scotland are not pancakes, but more like chewy granola bars (we had Beckie quite confused).
After lunch we hiked in Glen Sligachan with the Red Cuillin on one side of the trail and the Black Cuillin on the other. It was an easy, level hike but quite tiring due to an unrelenting sun (I never thought I would use that phrase when describing Scotland). On this hike, along with many of the others, we were constantly hearing the call of the cuckoo bird, although I never actually saw one.
After the hike we had a long drive (~3 hours) to get to our accommodations in Fort William. We stopped at Chocolates of Glenshiel for a bathroom break halfway thru the drive. Finlay MacDonald founded Chocolates of Glenshiel when he was 16 years old. I bought some chocolate bars to bring back to my co-workers: Milk Chocolate & Highland Roast Coffee, Dark Chocolate & Skye Sea Salt, Dark Chocolate & Cuillin Mint Cake, and Dark Chocolate & Haggis Spice. We arrived at the Guisachan Guesthouse in Fort William around 6:30pm. Tonight was the night we were on our own for dinner so Susan, Janice, Jennifer, Leessa, Lindsay and I walked downtown to the main thoroughfare and ate at The Grog and Gruel. They served traditional pub fare and I had a venison burger with French fries. There was no chit chatting after dinner as we had a big day ahead of us. Total miles walked: 9.9 miles
Day 6 – Ben Nevis Hike, Fort William
Today was the hike most people on the trip were looking forward to – Ben Nevis, the highest peak in the United Kingdom, starting at 22 ft and rising to 4,406 ft at the summit. The weather forecast was not in our favor, but we miraculously had sunshine when the day started. The revised forecast in the morning said that the rain would start at 2pm. Jennifer, Leessa, and Lindsay opted out of this hike and chose instead to do the Glen Nevis option, which was a much shorter, level hike that led to the Steall waterfall, Scotland’s second highest waterfall with a single drop of 390 ft. They were led by Rona, another guide from Wilderness Scotland.
At 8:45am, Beckie, Jules, Kim, Janice, Susan, and I started off on the grueling Mountain Path trail with a constant steep uphill climb which afforded incredible views…until it didn’t. There were LOTS of steps and switchbacks. We hiked by Loch Meall an t-Suide, known as “the halfway lochan”, even though it is not halfway (it is less). The Mountain Path Trail then crosses over a beautiful waterfall, where we filled up our water bottles. Kim and I had gotten so hot less than a quarter of the way into the hike that we had to strip down to our shorts, even knowing that the temperature was supposed to be ~40F at the summit.
About 2/3 of the way to the summit we became engulfed in a sea of clouds and lost all visibility. Beckie coaxed us (and a few other hikers) on with Tunnocks Caramel Wafers and sour gummies. The final push to the summit involved hiking up a snow field to a plateau. Once on the plateau, there is really no trail, you just have to hike from cairn to cairn which were now difficult to see. To add another element of danger, there are snow cornices hanging at the top, so Beckie wanted us all directly behind her. We reached the summit and took a family photo (with no view). Beckie instructed us to add layers since we would be stopping for 10 minutes for a quick snack. Kim and I were still in our shorts, so we looked kind of funny with 4 layers on top, a hat, and gloves but shorts on the bottom.
After a very short break, we started making our way back down the trail. We made it about 1/3 of the way down before we gained visibility. About 5 minutes later at 1:58pm, the clouds let loose, and the rain began (2 minutes earlier than the forecasted time). We quickly covered our packs and some people put rain pants on. The last 2/3 of the downhill hike was all in the rain. I had to take my glasses off because I couldn’t see anything with them on. The rain really slowed us down because it made the rocks very slippery. We reached the van at 4:30pm and had a toast with a shot of Malibu rum (the only alcohol in the van). The entire journey included 7.5 hours of hiking (4.25 hours going up and 3.25 hours coming down).
We returned to our guesthouse and headed straight to the Drying Room, a great feature at this guesthouse. I can’t imagine that my boots would have ever dried if it wasn’t for the boot dryers in this room.
We had about an hour and a half to relax and get cleaned up for dinner. We drove back almost to the starting point of the hike for our dinner reservation at the Ben Nevis Inn. I really liked this restaurant. It was a stone building with climbing memorabilia hanging on the walls and a pub-like atmosphere. Jennifer rewarded all the Ben Nevis hikers with a “I Climbed Ben Nevis” sticker while she sported a “I Did Not Climb Ben Nevis” T-shirt. I had a bowl of the Cullen Skink soup along with one of the specials – a goat cheese, beetroot, and spinach quiche with coleslaw and French fries. It was delicious.
After dinner we met back up in the common room at the guesthouse for a whisky tasting led by Beckie. She went over a lot of the things that had been covered at the Scotch Whisky experience, but she also talked about adding water drops to the whisky to cut down on the “alcohol flavor”. We sampled three whiskys: Glenlivet (aged 15 years), Ben Nevis Coire Leis, and Talisker Port Ruighe. Total Miles Walked: 11.7 miles
Day 7 – Caledonian Canal Kayak paddle & Glenfinnan Viaduct
The itinerary for today was to give our legs a rest after the big hike and instead take to the water, sea kayaking at Arisaig Skerries. Unfortunately, the weather forecast for the coast was not promising, as strong winds were anticipated. Our resourceful guide, however, took it in stride and instead arranged for a 10km (6.3 miles) kayaking paddle down the Caledonian Canal with the wind at our back.
Jules and Kim opted out of this activity. The rest of us met up with Stuart from Rockhopper Sea Kayaking. We started out at the locks at Gairlochy. The first thing we learned was that there is an additional term that can be used to describe the weather in Scotland. Days can be sunny, rainy, windy, cloudy, or “midgy”. Today was a midgy day!! OMG!! We got out of the van to put the kayaks in the water and were engulfed in a swarm of midges (kind of like no-seeums, but they bite). There was no escaping them. Stuart said we would be fine once we got out on the water. Susan was my tandem kayak partner and you’ve never seen two people get in a kayak and launch so fast.
The kayaking was fun and relaxing and quite peaceful. Stuart was right, the midges disappeared once we started moving. The day was cloudy, but it didn’t rain, like it was forecasted to. We were passed by quite a few large sailboats in the canal, one from Sheboygan, Wisconsin. We took the kayaks out at Banavie. The Caledonian Canal runs from Fort William to Inverness, connecting the Inner Seas of the West Coast of Scotland with Loch Lochy, Loch Oich, and Loch Ness. It is 60 miles in length, of which 22 miles are man-made. It was completed in 1832. The canal enabled boaters to avoid having to circumnavigate around the northern coast of Scotland, which can be quite treacherous.
Beckie, Jules, & Kim picked us up around 12:30pm. The original plan was to do a short coastal hike after our sea kayaking, but Beckie stated that it was ridiculous to drive almost an hour for such a short hike. Instead, she suggested a short hike in the Fort William area near the Glenfinnan Viaduct. Geek that I am, I was ecstatic because this is the viaduct filmed in the Harry Potter, “Chamber of Secrets” movie. Susan and Jennifer were also aware of the significance. We drove out to the viaduct where Beckie dropped us off with our lunches before looking for a parking spot because a steam train was scheduled to come through the area in the next 10 minutes and she didn’t want us to miss it. There were plenty of people standing up on a hillside (with a lot of long lenses), so we joined them to wait. We waited, and we waited, and we waited. Finally Beckie came along and gave us the bad news, that the scheduled train had been cancelled. While slightly disappointed it was still a beautiful area to visit.
We started out on a short loop hike. Our lunch was cut short by a midge outbreak, as long as we kept moving, we were OK. The hike looked out over Loch Shiel which was the backdrop of Hogwarts in several of the films and is the location of the Black Lake in the “Prisoner of Azkaban” and “The Half-Blood Prince”. Rhododendrons were everywhere on this hike. The number of flowers I saw in Scotland was one of the biggest surprises I encountered. As we finished up the hike, Beckie stopped to talk to one of the parking attendants and learned that the steam train that left Fort William much earlier in the day would be returning and coming through the area in the next 15 minutes. So of course, we all ran back to the viaduct. Since the train was coming from a different direction, this time we chose to remain near the stream. Fending off a midge attack, we waited, and we waited, and we waited, and then we heard it! It was quite impressive listening to the chugging engine. The conductor let out a long whistle and a big puff of steam at the perfect time on the viaduct. I sent both Ryan and Colin photos of the event and ironically in the van on the drive back to Fort William they responded. The silence of the van was broken by my Harry Potter theme ringtone, and I got a laugh from everyone.
Dinner was at Crannog at Garrison West, downtown. Our table wasn’t ready when we arrived, so we went over to the cinema next door for a drink. For my meal that night I chose to start with a Fizz Freath, a cocktail consisting of Ben Nevis whisky, apple liqueur, pomegranate, and elderflower. For the main course, I had a bowl of Cullen Skink soup along with cod fritters and for dessert I had the Millionaire’s Tart which was a chocolate tart served with cardamon sorbet. It was a wonderful farewell dinner with an outstanding group of ladies.
Day 8 – Ben Nevis Distillery & the West Highline Train
We convened for breakfast the next morning at 7:45am. Leessa had mentioned the prior evening about passing by the Ben Nevis Distillery and of course Beckie took it upon herself to get us in for an unexpected tour before our departure from Fort William. This tour actually walked through the distillery where you saw the whisky being made. Our guide was Joe, an older gentleman with a thick Scottish accent. He went over a lot of the same things covered at the Scotch Whisky Experience, but it was interesting to see it happening in real time. Their whiskys are stored in 4 different size barrels: Barrel (200L), Hogshead (250L), Butt (500L), and Puncheon (500L). At the end of the tour, we tasted two whiskys: Nevis Dew – a blended Scotch whisky and Ben Nevis Single Malt aged 10 years. The water used to make the whiskys at this distillery comes directly off Ben Nevis (it could be from where we filled up our water bottles!).
At the conclusion of the tour, we took one final family photo before Jennifer and I said our goodbyes to the group. Originally, Beckie was to transport everyone back to Inverness in the van, but since Jennifer and I needed to be in Edinburgh by the end of the day, Beckie suggested that we take the train from Fort William to Glasgow and then onto Edinburgh to save us the unnecessary two hour van ride. I jumped at the idea since we would be able to see different scenery.
Beckie dropped us off at the Fort William train station where we had a 30-minute wait. The train ride to Glasgow was spectacular. In my opinion it was more scenic than the train ride from Edinburgh to Inverness the prior week (even though that was also beautiful). The Fort William to Glasgow route is part of the West Highland Line and takes you through the Ben Nevis and Glen Coe area as well as Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, the first national park in Scotland. The only downside to the ride was that the train windows were quite dirty so I really couldn’t capture the beauty in my photos.
We arrived at the Glasgow Queen Street station on time and got to spend a whopping 11 minutes in Glasgow before catching our train to Edinburgh Waverly Station. We arrived at Waverly Station at 4:35 and then took the Airlink 100 bus out to the Airport Hotels stop which was directly in front of our hotel – the Moxy Edinburgh Airport (a Marriott property). We dropped our bags and had an early dinner since we never ate lunch on the train. I had one final whisky drink (a whisky sour) and a cheese pizza (I had been craving pizza all week). I had spent an incredible 13 days in Scotland and could easily have spent another 13 days visiting. I already have a list of places to see on a return visit!
Day 9 – Departure
