Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Castles and Coast – 16 Castles, 1600 miles through Scotland and Northumberland

Day 9: Yes, another gorgeous weather day! I was going to be doing some of the north coast this day. My GPS took me through some messy traffic, but once across the bridge out of Inverness, things got good. The scenery north from Inverness is so pretty.

First stop was the town of Dornoch to see the cathedral. What a beautiful town! This would be a lovely, relaxed place to stay. Parking was free and easy.

The church is very pretty and makes for a nice stop. There is a castle in town that operates as a hotel. It had signs that entrance was for guests only so I didn’t go in to scope it out. After strolling a bit of the town, I headed on to Dunrobin Castle. Dunrobin is more like a chateau than a castle. It’s very photogenic, especially with beautiful blue skies. The interior visit is self-guided with a few staff people available to answer questions. The most memorable room for me was the kids’ playroom. Dunrobin was a great place to be a kid based on that room along with the beautiful garden.

Dunrobin is known for the falconry show. One was just getting underway when I arrived, so I watched for a while. The falcons are beautiful but it was hard to catch everything the handler was saying. I think he needs amplification. At the same time that was going on, I discovered a display of multiple birds and an owl. These animals were chained to perches, with just about 18 inches of lead. It was a hot, sunny day and I felt very bad for them. Two of the birds were agitated and kept trying to fly to the shady structures just a couple of feet out of their reach. I found that distressing to witness. There was a woman in the watch station so I approached her to inquire about the birds’ schedule. She sternly interrupted me and directed me to read a sign, that it would answer all of my questions. I politely said that my question was not covered on that sign and I was hoping to inquire about the schedule of the birds. She was dismissive so I mentioned that I saw two of the birds in distress and she told me that I obviously didn’t know anything about birds. How outrageous! I know when an animal is in distress. She coldly told me that if I was not enjoying the birds then I should leave and go look at the gardens. The experience rated as one of the rudest I’ve ever experienced in my life. It could easily have been avoided with simple diplomacy. I’m obviously not the first person to express concern for the birds and instead of reassuring me that the birds are given breaks, she was dismissive, cold and rude. Everyone else I met along my way in Scotland was very nice and helpful. The experience tainted my view of Dunrobin Castle and dampened the outing. I was ready to get out of there.

Onward up the coast. I stopped in the Wick Tesco to get gas. Random tip: supermarkets in the UK make for great pit stops. They have readily available and clean public toilets and I made use of them throughout my travels.

Next up was Duncansby Head to see the light house and hike to the stacks. The hike across sheep inhabited fields along the coast is beautiful. There’s a chasm you come across pretty quickly that is home to thousands of nesting guillemots and other birds. I really hoped to see puffins here, but no luck. I used the zoom on my camera to scan the furthest shelves of the cliffs, but none were to be found.

There were lots of mother sheep and their babies in the field and I gave them as much space as possible. It’s a bit of a hike to get to be directly above the stacks but not bad after doing the Old Man of Storr! It’s worth it. There were a couple of seals to be seen near one of the stacks. I spent a good amount of time here as it was so beautiful and relaxing. Not too many people were out.

On to John O’Groats for the obligatory photo with the sign post that provides distance to various places such as New York, Lands End, etc.

It’s annoying that there was a charge, minimum £3 to park in the parking lot. I found many of the parking charges throughout the trip to be tedious and unfair. There was never a charging lot that would allow 30 minutes free or offer a smaller fee for a short amount of time. Shopkeepers lose out. I would have gone into the shops but I was burned out on paying for these parking fees. I got my pic of the signpost quickly and moved on.

I drove by the Castle of Mey, just to see the outside as it was closed. The Queen Mother had a really nice place right on the north coast. It looks like a cosy place.

Next stop, Dunnet Head. I do love lighthouses and try to visit them whenever they are along my path. This is the most northerly point of mainland Britian and it’s accessed via a single track road. Plenty of people were coming and going but there are enough passing places it wasn’t a problem.

It’s very windy here and beautiful. I didn’t do a lot of walking about here as it was getting late and I still had the drive back to Inverness. The north coast offers a lot of stunning scenery and I saw at least one beautiful sandy beach. It warrants more time for sure.

Upon arrival back in Inverness, I stopped in Tesco to pick up a microwave dinner and called it a day. I had to get organized back at my lodging because the trip was nearing its end.

Day 10: Goodbye to Inverness! I wanted to see Glencoe, so I traveled south past Loch Ness one last time, past Ft. Augustus and Ft. Williams. I didn’t stop in the Glencoe visitor’s center. How annoying for a visitor center to charge for parking. I’ve never seen that anywhere.

The scenery through Glencoe is striking and it’s a very popular drive. All the best stopping places were packed. It being a Saturday and such a beautiful drive, it’s not surprising. I didn’t get great pictures for this reason.

Before continuing on east, I made a detour to visit Kilchurn Castle ruin. Thank you, Janisj and HOTR, for flagging it. There’s a bit of a walk to get to the castle and it’s closed for interior visits and encircled by chain link fencing. I hope they can secure the building so that fencing can be removed for future visitors. Behind the castle and hanging out in the lake were a few of the classic highland cows. I don’t know if they have a special name, but these are the ones with the bangs. It wasn’t a hot day but they seemed to enjoy a good soak.

It was cloudy when I arrived and a light rain started as I was walking back to my car. I then drove to another viewpoint across the lake for more photos. There’s a field with sheep and cows here too. A family arrived with a bratty daughter who insisted she was going to pet all the animals. There’s a code of respect and non-harassment of animals that is supposed to be followed but this family didn’t care. This young girl chased the animals all over the field in her quest to have physical contact with them. These are not hand raised petting zoo animals, so they wanted nothing to do with her. Or maybe they were good judges of character. She’s just lucky she didn’t get charged by any of them and headbutted. I talked to a couple from California and the husband was so hoping the cow would give the girl a good toss! Let’s hope this kid doesn’t visit Yellowstone and try her tactics with the bison.

This whole area is very scenic, and the long drive wasn’t a burden. I was mindful though of the diminishing operating hours of two other places on my list. Even though Doune Castle was first along the way, I passed it up to be sure I could visit Dunblane Cathedral. Turns out they stay open until 5:30 so I would have been ok doing Doune first. Dunblane is fantastic. There was a docent there who was friendly and clearly enjoyed talking about the building. It’s a very old structure that’s had additions over the centuries There’s beautiful woodwork and stained glass in the cathedral. Dunblane is also a nice little town.

I backtracked to visit Doune castle, getting there with just a couple of minutes to spare to make the “last admission” deadline. Thank you to maitaitom for mentioning it. Doune is most known these days for being the filming location for the Netflix series “Outlander”. There’s not a ton to explore here and one can easily see it in about 20 minutes.

Airport hotels are expensive at EDI and also charge to park. I actually tried to book a Premier Inn near EDI, but they didn’t have any parking left. Thanks to booking.com, I found Whitecroft B&B in East Calder had one room left, a twin for £85. It had free parking and breakfast and was just about 15 minutes from the airport, a very easy drive.

Day 11: Goodbye Scotland! I had a noon flight to Atlanta. I headed to the airport at 8:45, allowing time to get gas and return the car. There are at least two gas stations within 2 miles of the airport. Security lines are not long here, but they do make you take out your liquids. They moved my stuff around behind the scenes, separating my stuff into different bins, so I walked away without my bag of liquids. Luckily, I realized it before I flew out and I was able to go back and retrieve it. It had a brand new bottle of expensive makeup, so I didn’t want to leave it!

It was a great trip with me accomplishing just about everything I wanted.The scenery was gorgeous and the people nice.I was surprised when I saw my receipt from Alamo showing my total mileage, 1599 miles! I knew I had driven a lot but didn't realize that much! The landscape was so beautiful, driving was a pleasure. I definitely could have used one more week, but reality was calling me back home.Now I am brainstorming my next trip!