Scotland Trip Report - sorry its belated - from July 2007
Jun 10th, 2008, 03:27 PM
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OK, well, that's embarrassing - I was cooking dinner while writing my reply and you posted the photo link without my noticing... Fabulous pictures, which I will now go back and study again. Boy, do I miss Scotland.
Jun 19th, 2008, 10:37 AM
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Hi everyone, I'm back. I'm really glad you are enjoying my trip - it has been fun posting it in little bits, it makes me enjoy it all over again! Here's the next installment, and sadly, it's getting near the end of the trip. Thank you Sheila for the compliment on my photos - I felt like I took some of the best pictures I ever have on this trip - maybe it's because Scotland is so very beautiful and photogenic.
Duror, July 17
This day was a crazy day of driving – I remember discussing it here on the forum, and several people questioned my plans and suggested reasonable alternatives. I was trying to cover as much territory as possible, and the long day was exhausting. But, we did see a lot and if we hadn’t done this, I would have missed the stone circles and cairns at Kilmartin, as well as the museum there, which I really enjoyed.
So, here’s what we ended up doing. We got up early to drive approximately 30 miles from Glengorm to Craignure to get an early ferry back to Oban. Near the ferry was a coffee shop that had an espresso machine and blueberry muffins, to fortify us for the ride.
From Oban we drove south on the A816 to Kilmartin, where we had lunch in the Glebe Cairn Café at the Kilmartin House Museum. The café was very good, and uses all local and fresh produce (this café also had the only other pepper grinder I saw in Scotland!). I noticed that they had a plaque on the wall for receiving a Scottish Chef of the Year award in 2007.
After visiting the museum, we wandered down into the fields directly behind the museum to visit the cairns, and further on, some standing stones and stone circles. Later, continuing our drive south, we came to Dunadd, where we climbed up to the remains of the fort that was the capital of Dalriada, one of the most important places in Scotland around 500-900 AD. From the top of this small rocky outcrop you can see very far in all directions, and can understand its strategic importance at that time.
We then drove further south on the A83, past Lochgilphead, turning north and driving by Loch Fyne to Inverary. If we had had more time, I would have liked to stay here for a few days, so we could explore the area more. I was also sorry to miss out on the Loch Fyne oysters! At Inverary we got on the A819 toward the A85.
We photographed Kilchurn Castle, but didn’t stop. We did go into St. Conan’s Kirk, which is an unusual small church designed using many different architectural styles right on the shore of Loch Awe. Going west, we drove through the Pass of Brander and eventually turned north again at Connel, passed the turn off to Pt. Appin, and stopped for the night at Duror.
We stayed in a B&B called Druimgrianach with a hostess named Bridget. Lovely quiet place right on Loch Linnhe, where we saw another gorgeous sunset. Bridget suggested a restaurant a little farther up the road – the Holly Tree in Kentallen. The restaurant got its name for a holly tree that supposedly grew nearby, where a Campbell was murdered and a Stewart was blamed. This story was the basis for Robert Louis Stevenson’s book, Kidnapped. We had a very good dinner there: appetizers were grilled oysters with heather honey and green onions, and a salmon salad, entrees were venison and rack of lamb, and served with a tomato, green bean and red onion side.
Duror, July 17
This day was a crazy day of driving – I remember discussing it here on the forum, and several people questioned my plans and suggested reasonable alternatives. I was trying to cover as much territory as possible, and the long day was exhausting. But, we did see a lot and if we hadn’t done this, I would have missed the stone circles and cairns at Kilmartin, as well as the museum there, which I really enjoyed.
So, here’s what we ended up doing. We got up early to drive approximately 30 miles from Glengorm to Craignure to get an early ferry back to Oban. Near the ferry was a coffee shop that had an espresso machine and blueberry muffins, to fortify us for the ride.
From Oban we drove south on the A816 to Kilmartin, where we had lunch in the Glebe Cairn Café at the Kilmartin House Museum. The café was very good, and uses all local and fresh produce (this café also had the only other pepper grinder I saw in Scotland!). I noticed that they had a plaque on the wall for receiving a Scottish Chef of the Year award in 2007.
After visiting the museum, we wandered down into the fields directly behind the museum to visit the cairns, and further on, some standing stones and stone circles. Later, continuing our drive south, we came to Dunadd, where we climbed up to the remains of the fort that was the capital of Dalriada, one of the most important places in Scotland around 500-900 AD. From the top of this small rocky outcrop you can see very far in all directions, and can understand its strategic importance at that time.
We then drove further south on the A83, past Lochgilphead, turning north and driving by Loch Fyne to Inverary. If we had had more time, I would have liked to stay here for a few days, so we could explore the area more. I was also sorry to miss out on the Loch Fyne oysters! At Inverary we got on the A819 toward the A85.
We photographed Kilchurn Castle, but didn’t stop. We did go into St. Conan’s Kirk, which is an unusual small church designed using many different architectural styles right on the shore of Loch Awe. Going west, we drove through the Pass of Brander and eventually turned north again at Connel, passed the turn off to Pt. Appin, and stopped for the night at Duror.
We stayed in a B&B called Druimgrianach with a hostess named Bridget. Lovely quiet place right on Loch Linnhe, where we saw another gorgeous sunset. Bridget suggested a restaurant a little farther up the road – the Holly Tree in Kentallen. The restaurant got its name for a holly tree that supposedly grew nearby, where a Campbell was murdered and a Stewart was blamed. This story was the basis for Robert Louis Stevenson’s book, Kidnapped. We had a very good dinner there: appetizers were grilled oysters with heather honey and green onions, and a salmon salad, entrees were venison and rack of lamb, and served with a tomato, green bean and red onion side.
Jun 19th, 2008, 03:17 PM
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JulieAA, I know what you mean about that long driving day being somehow totally worth it. We had a killer day like that on our first trip to Scotland. Knowing what I know now, I'd certainly try to not plan one like that again - but we loved everything we saw and did that day. And there are endless amounts of things we didn't get to see! Your report is whetting the appetite.
Jun 20th, 2008, 11:46 AM
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Thanks again everyone, I'm now able to post the slideshow for the Mull to Duror portion of the trip. I'll get the last little bit up next week. Everyone have a great weekend.
Julie
http://tinyurl.com/6mxng9
Julie
http://tinyurl.com/6mxng9
Jun 24th, 2008, 01:34 PM
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July 18-19-20
We woke to a beautiful sunny, blue sky and warm morning, enjoyed a good breakfast with the other two guests of the B&B, two guys named Hans and Josef from Austria. They were on their way to tour Mull and Iona for the day – that sounded like a long trip, especially after all the driving we had done the day before. They planned to be back at Bridget’s for the night again.
We left around 1030 AM to drive through Glen Coe and Rannoch Moor, where we took lots of pix, some of the best of the trip I think. We enjoyed the fellow playing the bagpipes at one of the turnouts, as did all the other tourists. Saw lots of hikers, and wished that we had time to do some hiking (note to self: must come back soon!).
The clouds were building up during this drive, but it was only when we stopped at Tyndrum for lunch at Paddy’s Pub that the rain started coming down. I have to say we lucked out like this on most of our trip – when it was important for the weather to be good, the rain held off, and once we got someplace where it didn’t matter as much, down it came (except on Mull).
Anyway, at Paddy’s I had a venison burger and a bloody Mary while we watched the rain come down.
From there we drove on to Callander, taking the side trip to see Rob Roy’s grave. In Callander we walked around and went into the visitor’s center. Seemed like a lot of tourists there. I did find a good art gallery – Gallery Luti – with interesting paintings and ceramics and good contemporary Scottish jewelry by local artists. I bought a cool felted wool bead necklace by a woman who raises her own Shetland sheep, sheers them and makes the dyed felted wool beads herself.
We drove a loop through the Trossachs, stopped at the ferry for Inchahome Priory, although the ferry wasn’t running at the time. We also stopped and walked around in Aberfoyle, but it was also mostly closed up since it was after 5 PM by then. We did have a glass of wine at the Wallace Pub at the Forth Inn. Later, we had dinner in Brig O’Turk at the Byre Inn, and spent the whole time talking to the only other guests in the dining room – a nice retired English couple, who told us all about their sons who live in the area of northern England that had terrible floods last summer. For dinner we had duck breast with raspberry and ginger and chicken curry with rice.
Woke up on the 19th and left town early, stopping to visit Doune Castle when it opened at 930 AM. I really liked this castle because it isn’t furnished and hasn’t been “fixed up” that much. Plus, it’s interesting as the place where Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed in 1975. It felt like the medieval castle that it was.
Then we went on to Stirling and did the usual tourist things there – we visited Stirling Castle and the nearby Argyll’s Lodging, a furnished townhouse of the period. Perhaps fittingly, this last full day in Scotland was absolutely freezing cold, gray and damp – this kind of weather is the only thing that could make me willing to leave the country after such a beautiful trip.
We found a small Italian place in the town center where we had all you can eat buffet plus espresso, surprisingly good food for ₤5.95 per person.
After lunch, we drove on back to Edinburgh and our final dinner in town. We decided to go to David Bann, which is a rather trendy vegetarian restaurant not far off the High Street – in fact we stumbled upon it when we were on our way to dinner at Stac Polly; it’s just down the street, and made our reservation then. It’s very contemporary, noisy, and a lot less intimate than Stac Polly. Very hip, beautiful interior – red and taupe walls, lots of wood, with a lot of light and shadow, open floor plan and eclectic menu. Very good food.
For appetizers we started with Thai fritters of smoked tofu, peas, ginger, green chili, lime, sesame and potato. Served with mango chutney and roast garlic tomato sauce. The other appetizer was mushroom and grilled basil polenta – wild and cultivated mushrooms lightly cooked in butter, white wine and garlic, served on grilled parmesan and basil polenta with raspberry vinaigrette. (This is making me hungry.)
Did you ever notice how complicated the descriptions of vegetarian dishes can get?
For entrees one was risotto of asparagus, green pea and blue cheese – Arborio rice cooked with broth and asparagus, peas, basil, spring onion, mascarpone and white wine, topped with Lanark Blue cheese and rocket; and the other was home smoked tofu with udon noodles – tofu smoked with aromatic spices, pan fried and served on udon noodles, red pepper and bok choi, miso dashi with sesame paste, lime, fresh ginger and spring onion, topped with cucumber, nori and mizuna.
Back at the Apex International for the last night, we packed. Up super early the next day and off to the airport by 6 AM, had to return the rental car first. Our BMI flight to London was normal, but there was bad weather in London and our flight was delayed. We were supposed to leave at 215 PM but didn’t even have a gate assignment by then. By the time they sent us to a gate, they had to bus us out to the plane and then we sat on the tarmac till almost 6 PM. Flight was very turbulent and we were exhausted (but very happy with our trip) when we got back to California around 8 PM.
Thanks for letting me relive this fantastic trip! I’ll let you know when we go again – I’m sure I’ll have many more questions to ask of this great forum.
Julie
We woke to a beautiful sunny, blue sky and warm morning, enjoyed a good breakfast with the other two guests of the B&B, two guys named Hans and Josef from Austria. They were on their way to tour Mull and Iona for the day – that sounded like a long trip, especially after all the driving we had done the day before. They planned to be back at Bridget’s for the night again.
We left around 1030 AM to drive through Glen Coe and Rannoch Moor, where we took lots of pix, some of the best of the trip I think. We enjoyed the fellow playing the bagpipes at one of the turnouts, as did all the other tourists. Saw lots of hikers, and wished that we had time to do some hiking (note to self: must come back soon!).
The clouds were building up during this drive, but it was only when we stopped at Tyndrum for lunch at Paddy’s Pub that the rain started coming down. I have to say we lucked out like this on most of our trip – when it was important for the weather to be good, the rain held off, and once we got someplace where it didn’t matter as much, down it came (except on Mull).
Anyway, at Paddy’s I had a venison burger and a bloody Mary while we watched the rain come down.
From there we drove on to Callander, taking the side trip to see Rob Roy’s grave. In Callander we walked around and went into the visitor’s center. Seemed like a lot of tourists there. I did find a good art gallery – Gallery Luti – with interesting paintings and ceramics and good contemporary Scottish jewelry by local artists. I bought a cool felted wool bead necklace by a woman who raises her own Shetland sheep, sheers them and makes the dyed felted wool beads herself.
We drove a loop through the Trossachs, stopped at the ferry for Inchahome Priory, although the ferry wasn’t running at the time. We also stopped and walked around in Aberfoyle, but it was also mostly closed up since it was after 5 PM by then. We did have a glass of wine at the Wallace Pub at the Forth Inn. Later, we had dinner in Brig O’Turk at the Byre Inn, and spent the whole time talking to the only other guests in the dining room – a nice retired English couple, who told us all about their sons who live in the area of northern England that had terrible floods last summer. For dinner we had duck breast with raspberry and ginger and chicken curry with rice.
Woke up on the 19th and left town early, stopping to visit Doune Castle when it opened at 930 AM. I really liked this castle because it isn’t furnished and hasn’t been “fixed up” that much. Plus, it’s interesting as the place where Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed in 1975. It felt like the medieval castle that it was.
Then we went on to Stirling and did the usual tourist things there – we visited Stirling Castle and the nearby Argyll’s Lodging, a furnished townhouse of the period. Perhaps fittingly, this last full day in Scotland was absolutely freezing cold, gray and damp – this kind of weather is the only thing that could make me willing to leave the country after such a beautiful trip.
We found a small Italian place in the town center where we had all you can eat buffet plus espresso, surprisingly good food for ₤5.95 per person.
After lunch, we drove on back to Edinburgh and our final dinner in town. We decided to go to David Bann, which is a rather trendy vegetarian restaurant not far off the High Street – in fact we stumbled upon it when we were on our way to dinner at Stac Polly; it’s just down the street, and made our reservation then. It’s very contemporary, noisy, and a lot less intimate than Stac Polly. Very hip, beautiful interior – red and taupe walls, lots of wood, with a lot of light and shadow, open floor plan and eclectic menu. Very good food.
For appetizers we started with Thai fritters of smoked tofu, peas, ginger, green chili, lime, sesame and potato. Served with mango chutney and roast garlic tomato sauce. The other appetizer was mushroom and grilled basil polenta – wild and cultivated mushrooms lightly cooked in butter, white wine and garlic, served on grilled parmesan and basil polenta with raspberry vinaigrette. (This is making me hungry.)
Did you ever notice how complicated the descriptions of vegetarian dishes can get?
For entrees one was risotto of asparagus, green pea and blue cheese – Arborio rice cooked with broth and asparagus, peas, basil, spring onion, mascarpone and white wine, topped with Lanark Blue cheese and rocket; and the other was home smoked tofu with udon noodles – tofu smoked with aromatic spices, pan fried and served on udon noodles, red pepper and bok choi, miso dashi with sesame paste, lime, fresh ginger and spring onion, topped with cucumber, nori and mizuna.
Back at the Apex International for the last night, we packed. Up super early the next day and off to the airport by 6 AM, had to return the rental car first. Our BMI flight to London was normal, but there was bad weather in London and our flight was delayed. We were supposed to leave at 215 PM but didn’t even have a gate assignment by then. By the time they sent us to a gate, they had to bus us out to the plane and then we sat on the tarmac till almost 6 PM. Flight was very turbulent and we were exhausted (but very happy with our trip) when we got back to California around 8 PM.
Thanks for letting me relive this fantastic trip! I’ll let you know when we go again – I’m sure I’ll have many more questions to ask of this great forum.
Julie
Jun 24th, 2008, 02:28 PM
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Finally, here are the last of my pictures. In looking at them again, I'm not sure they are the best of my trip after all, except for the ones of Rannoch Moor, which really are good.
The trip ends kind of abruptly - the gray weather in Stirling and around Callander just wasn't as conducive to photo taking as the rest of the trip.
It means I'll have to go back, but for now, enjoy the end of my trip.
http://tinyurl.com/3jlaof
Thanks again to everyone who helped me plan my trip - I'll be back!
Julie
The trip ends kind of abruptly - the gray weather in Stirling and around Callander just wasn't as conducive to photo taking as the rest of the trip.
It means I'll have to go back, but for now, enjoy the end of my trip.
http://tinyurl.com/3jlaof
Thanks again to everyone who helped me plan my trip - I'll be back!
Julie
Jun 24th, 2008, 02:36 PM
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Julie,thank you for a truly enjoyable trip report.
Re the day trip to Mull/Iona by the Austrians, I notice that Rick Steves has it as a day trip from Oban in his guidebook and DVDs. I can't think he is very big in Austria
but perhaps other guidebooks list it that way as well. After all the info I have read, we have decided to spend two nights on Mull, which will really only give us one full day, parts of another two - still not enough time, of course.
Also, I think your scrumptious descriptions of food you enjoyed has completely de-bunked the myth that Scots/English food is not good. Everything sounded delicious!
Re the day trip to Mull/Iona by the Austrians, I notice that Rick Steves has it as a day trip from Oban in his guidebook and DVDs. I can't think he is very big in Austria
but perhaps other guidebooks list it that way as well. After all the info I have read, we have decided to spend two nights on Mull, which will really only give us one full day, parts of another two - still not enough time, of course.Also, I think your scrumptious descriptions of food you enjoyed has completely de-bunked the myth that Scots/English food is not good. Everything sounded delicious!
Jun 25th, 2008, 04:19 AM
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Julie,
I can't thank you enough for posting. I've really been enjoying your trip report since we are leaving in just 8 days for our 15-day trip to Edinburgh and the Highlands. Thanks again! I hope I have the discipline to sit down and write such a detailed trip report when we get back!
I can't thank you enough for posting. I've really been enjoying your trip report since we are leaving in just 8 days for our 15-day trip to Edinburgh and the Highlands. Thanks again! I hope I have the discipline to sit down and write such a detailed trip report when we get back!
Jun 25th, 2008, 04:33 AM
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Julie - a quick question. The long-term forecast on Accuweather looks pretty good for the beginning of out trip (no rain), but the temps are in the 60s.
We are trying to pack really light. Including what I'll wear on the plane, I'm planning to pack for myself 3 pairs of jeans, 2 capris, and 1 slightly dressier slacks...maybe 1 pair of khakis too. I notice in one of these photos, at Rob Roy's grave you (?) are wearing capris and a sleeveless top. For tops I'm thinking layers, and I am trying to make everything interchangeable.
Could you comment? At home (New Hampshire) in the spring/summer I live in shorts and capris. Will I be sorry I have to many cool-weather clothes and not enough warm-weather clothes with me? Is 2 pairs of capris enough?
Was there anything you brought that you were really glad you did? Anything you didn't bring but wish you had? Thanks again.
We are trying to pack really light. Including what I'll wear on the plane, I'm planning to pack for myself 3 pairs of jeans, 2 capris, and 1 slightly dressier slacks...maybe 1 pair of khakis too. I notice in one of these photos, at Rob Roy's grave you (?) are wearing capris and a sleeveless top. For tops I'm thinking layers, and I am trying to make everything interchangeable.
Could you comment? At home (New Hampshire) in the spring/summer I live in shorts and capris. Will I be sorry I have to many cool-weather clothes and not enough warm-weather clothes with me? Is 2 pairs of capris enough?
Was there anything you brought that you were really glad you did? Anything you didn't bring but wish you had? Thanks again.
Jun 25th, 2008, 06:03 AM
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Thanks Julie - we took a trip to Scotland -primarily the Highlands - 10 years ago and your report is making me remember that, and wish that I had done a trip report then, as I know I have forgotten lots and wish I had gone through the effort of trip reporting/documenting it like this!
Jun 25th, 2008, 09:00 AM
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Thanks everyone - your comments are making me glad I spent the time to write this up and post the pics.
Regarding michellemd's question about packing, I packed really light too - I had a light weatherproof jacket and a fleece zip up jacket that I could layer - took care of most of my needs.
The one thing I didn't have that I bought right after we got there was a wool sweater - I mentioned the shop in Edinburgh in one of my early segments - Joyce Forsythe Designer Knitwear. When we hit the places where the weather was cold and it was gray and rainy, I wore that sweater all the time. There weren't all that many truly warm days when the sun was out - one of them was our first day on Mull when we arrived (as you can see from pics at Duart Castle, and the ferry ride, the sky was blue and it was very clear).
I did have on a sleeveless top and capris at Rob Roy's grave. After the rain when we came out of Rannoch Moor, it cleared up again for a little bit before the weather settled in for the rest of our time there. Layers is the best I can suggest - I live in the Bay Area and would not go out without many layers, even on a warm day.
Thanks again for your kind comments.
Julie
Regarding michellemd's question about packing, I packed really light too - I had a light weatherproof jacket and a fleece zip up jacket that I could layer - took care of most of my needs.
The one thing I didn't have that I bought right after we got there was a wool sweater - I mentioned the shop in Edinburgh in one of my early segments - Joyce Forsythe Designer Knitwear. When we hit the places where the weather was cold and it was gray and rainy, I wore that sweater all the time. There weren't all that many truly warm days when the sun was out - one of them was our first day on Mull when we arrived (as you can see from pics at Duart Castle, and the ferry ride, the sky was blue and it was very clear).
I did have on a sleeveless top and capris at Rob Roy's grave. After the rain when we came out of Rannoch Moor, it cleared up again for a little bit before the weather settled in for the rest of our time there. Layers is the best I can suggest - I live in the Bay Area and would not go out without many layers, even on a warm day.
Thanks again for your kind comments.
Julie
Jun 26th, 2008, 07:57 AM
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Thank you Sheila, I'll do my best. I'm bemoaning the exchange rate now and hope that things will change at some point so I can afford it!
I hope that LCBoniti has a great trip (enjoy Mull!) and michellemd too, and definitely enjoy that wonderful Scottish food.
I'm looking forward to more trip reports too.
Cheers,
Julie
I hope that LCBoniti has a great trip (enjoy Mull!) and michellemd too, and definitely enjoy that wonderful Scottish food.
I'm looking forward to more trip reports too.
Cheers,
Julie
Jun 26th, 2008, 08:33 AM
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Thanks for the advice and the well wishes Julie. I'm pretty excited about the trip--so much so that it is making it hard to work. So here I am checking the message boards on my lunch.
When I get back, I'll do my best to write my own trip report in hopes that it might be even as little bit as helpful to someone as your report and others have been to me.
When I get back, I'll do my best to write my own trip report in hopes that it might be even as little bit as helpful to someone as your report and others have been to me.
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