The Scottish Highlands

A Highlands "Hairy Coo"

I've been woefully remiss in recounting, at a high level, some of our travels as we enjoy life overseas.  Most recently, we took a trip "up north," to the Highlands.  What follows is a summary of our adventure, and recommendations for those who may one day trek up that way- and dare to do so with young children.

If you live in the UK, I'd argue that a trip to the Highlands of Scotland is a must.  If nothing else, it will make you better appreciate civilization.  This is because you'll find yourself driving mile after mile through absolutely nothing.  Utter desolation- beautiful, powerful desolation- that is the Scottish Highlands. So, how best to see it?

This was a "breadth" trip for us, meaning we wanted to cover a lot of ground.  There are two ways to approach this:
1) "base camp" in a town, and do day trips from it, returning to it each evening
2) stay in a different place each evening, tracing a large circle around the area of interest

We chose the former- we stayed 4 nights in Fort William, and 3 nights near Portree (Isle of Skye).  This allowed us to see a fair amount, and yet have some consistency for the sake of the children.  An added advantage was the flexibility it gave us- each day, we'd look at the weather, and plan to go the direction that looked the best.  Unfortunately, it also meant a lot of "out and backs"- lots of back tracking and extra time on the road.  More on that later.

The ground we covered in the Highlands (ignore the lettering- it's out of order)

The Drive Up- Day 1
Departing from near York, it took essentially all day to get up to Fort William, our first hub (300 miles away).  This is primarily because
1) we have two young children, so any time we stop it's a one hour minimum, and
2) the roads from Loch Lomond north haven't been improved since Roman times, are narrow in many places, and frequented by slow-moving trucks, so 30 miles an hour was typical

At dinner we arrived at Fort William.  It's a small town (but big for the Highlands), and a good "central" location in the southern highland region, and a haven for outdoor lovers.  From Fort William, we did the following:

Day 2
We stayed local to the Fort William area.  Within 15-45 minute drives are Glencoe (beautiful valley and mountainous region), the Glenfinnan Monument (celebrating Bonnie Prince Charlie) and Viaduct (as seen in Harry Potter films), and the highest mountain on the island- Ben Nevis.  Aonach Mor is a smaller mountain near Ben Nevis, and the only one with a cable car.  We took that so we could enjoy the scenery without having to carry two small and screaming children up Nevis itself.  We also enjoyed haggis, neeps & tatties at a local restaurant.

Aonach Mor

The view from the top of Aonach Mor

Haggis (Sheep innards), Neeps (Turnips) & Tatties (Potatoes)

Glencoe

Glencoe

Church between Glencoe and Fort William

Same Church, different angle

Glenfinnan Monument

Glenfinnan Viaduct- of Harry Potter film fame

The road through Glencoe- the main thoroughfare to the Highlands

Day 3
We headed south-west from Fort William.  Our goal was the Isle of Mull, to which we have ancestral connections.  Getting there was fun- we crossed the Loch near Fort William, then drove for about an hour, arriving at Lochaline, where we then took the Lochaline-Fishnish car ferry to Mull.  The drive from Fort William to Lochaline was amazing- perhaps my favorite scenery of the trip.

Once on Mull (we landed on the south-east coast of the island), we first saw Duart Castle- the ancestral seat of clan MacLean.  There we met the current clan chief, Lachlan MacLean, and toured the castle (and grounds).  We had a light lunch, then drove clockwise around the island- on almost exclusively one-lane roads (with frequent passing points).  It took forever, but what scenery!  Mull, to me, was a highlight of our trip.  Majestic mountains, forests, moors, lakes, waterfalls, cliffs, beaches, sheep . . . I felt like I was driving through several countries and ecosystems, all in an afternoon.  We ended up in Tobermory (north-east), had a great dinner, and drove to Craignure, where we took the ferry to Oban.  Oban looked to be a nice town, but it was past the kids' bed time, so we just drove through on our way home.  It was a great day, but a lot of time spent in the car. 

Duart Castle in the morning fog

Duart Castle

A typical one lane road on Mull

Mull

Getting stuck behind sheep on Mull

Mull's mid-north-west coast

A boat on Calgary beach, north Mull

Tobermory, north-east Mull

The auto ferry from Craignure (Mull) to Oban

Duart Castle from the auto ferry

Highland cattle, on the drive from Oban back to Fort William

Day 4
We headed north-east from Fort William.  Just outside of town, we stopped at the Commando Memorial, commemorating those who trained in the area during WWII.  My picture below doesn't do it justice- surrounded by beautiful scenery, it was fantastic.  We then drove on to Loch Ness, where we did what everyone does- looked at the Loch, tried to spot Nessie, couldn't find her, and kept going.  Urquhart Castle, on the Loch, was a nice ruin.  After that, it was on to Inverness, on the east coast of Britain.

Inverness is the largest  town in the Highlands- it's the closest you'll get to a city up that far north.  We enjoyed the shopping and dining, though there's not much else to do in the city proper.  Cawdor Castle is nearby, and well worth a visit, as is Clava Cairn- an ancient burial ground which predates Stonehenge. Culloden Battlefield is only minutes from the Cairn- regrettably, we ran out of time, so we just had to drive by on our way home.  Inverness is "only" 60 miles from Fort William, but on Highland roads, plan on at least two hours.

The Commando Memorial

View from the Memorial

Urquhart Castle, looking south, on Loch Ness

Urquhart, looking north-east

Cawdor Castle

Cawdor Castle

Clava Cairn

Clava Cairn

Day 5
Our time in Fort William was done- it was time to drive up to the Isle of Skye.  On the very scenic drive up, about 100 miles away, is the romantic and photogenic Eilean Donan Castle.  After that, we took the Skye Bridge on to the Isle of Skye, then drove another 45 minutes to Portree, the largest town on the island- our next hub.

Scenery on the drive from Fort William to Eilean Donan

Eilean Donan Castle

Eilean Donan again

Looking at the Isle of Skye- note the Skye bridge (background, right)

"Hairy coos" on Skye

The view from our B&B outside of Portree

Day 6
Our first full day on Skye, and I was shocked.  The Isle of Skye is, well, so brown in places compared to Britain that I thought I was in Colorado.  We first went northwest, to see Dunvegan Castle.  We wanted to do a boat trip to see a seal colony, but they were booked a few hours out, so instead we drove to nearby Coral beach (a mile walk from the parking lot).  We returned to the Dunvegan Castle cafe for lunch.  The afternoon we spent circumnavigating the Trotternish Peninsula- the huge peninsula on the north-east corner of the island.  We made frequent stops to take in the more spectacular scenery- the Old Man of Storr, Kilt Rock, and numerous waterfalls.  We looped back to Portree in the evening, had a nice meal, and turned in.

Dunvegan Castle

Dunvegan

Coral Beach

The Old Man of Storr is visible in the background

Kilt Rock (background)

Portree Harbor

Day 7
In the morning, we re-traced our steps a bit on the Trotternish Peninsula, seeing this castle tower whose name escapes me, and Fairy Glen.  We then headed into Portree for a wildlife boat ride, which regrettably was canceled due to rough seas.  Thus, it was a laid-back day- but one we desperately needed, as we'd spend the next two days on the road.

Castle Tower on Skye

Fairy Glen

Day 8
We left bright and early- our destination was Stirling, about 220 miles away.  On the way, we stopped again at Eilean Donan Castle, just because it's so pretty (and we needed a bathroom break).  We then retraced our route to Fort William, had lunch, then went on to Stirling, where we saw more beautiful scenery and inadequate roads.  We swung by Doune Castle (seeing the exterior only), which featured in a Monty Python movie, and then arrived in Stirling, where we toured the magnificent Stirling Castle.  Afterwards, we had a fantastic dinner in Stirling, a beautiful little town, and spent the night.

Eilean Donan again

Bagpiper at Eilean Donan

Doune Castle

Stirling Castle

Memorial outside Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle

Day 9
We had enjoyed our holiday, but were anxious to return.  About 240 miles away from home, we had mercifully left the back roads behind us, and it was highway from here on out.  We made it 120 miles and stopped at Alnwick Castle- also in the Harry Potter films.  After a tour and lunch, we then headed home.

Alnwick Castle

Alnwick interior

From across the river

Final Thoughts
All told, we had driven over 1500 miles in 9 days.  That's an awful lot of time to be in the car, especially with two little ones.  The Highlands is where you go for nature, so if you want shopping, museums, or nightlife, it's not for you.  It's tough entertaining little kids on a trip like this- and there's a lot of things you won't be able to do with them in tow (like hiking/etc).  But, overall, we enjoyed ourselves.

In hindsight, I'm not sure our "base camp" approach was right for this trip.  It certainly gave us flexibility, but the amount of backtracking we did each day to return to camp was extensive- we probably spent an extra 300 miles, and 10 hours, on the road as a result.  If we did it again, we'd probably spend a night or two in Oban, seeing the southwest Highland sites (and stay on Mull for a night), drive up to Skye, stopping at Fort William sites and Eilean Donan on the way, spend a two nights in Skye, drive to Inverness, spend a night or two there, then go to Stirling for a final night before heading home.  Basically, I'd tackle it clockwise.  That approach would require more car loading/re-loading, and make your trip less flexible to deal with the weather, but I think it would be worth it overall.

Area Rating: A