Last Thursday, Luke and I had our first visitor to our new home -- my mother-in-law, Julie. It was Luke's Friday off weekend, so it made sense for us to "go somewhere" for the first weekend of Julie's visit. Luke and I decided that we would head toward Inverness making stops along the way, stay the night, then head south and see where it takes us. We did just that!
FRIDAY
-Left Aberdeen at 9:15am
**Huntly**
--Viewed Dean's Shortbread Factory. Saw shortbread being boxed (too late for mixing and baking). Tasted and made purchases from the shop.
--Viewed the exterior of Huntly Castle
--Toured Glenfiddich Distillery. Tasted 12yr, 15yr, 18yr Whisky. (a fire alarm went off after the tour was finished while Luke was about to purchase his favotire of the three whiskies. This resulted in us being held hostage for 15 minutes as the workers would not let us leave. It was ridiculous. Left a bad taste in our mouths.)
--Viewed the exterior of Balevenie Castle
**Elgin**
--Visited the famous Johnston's Cashmere Shop
--Visited the exterior of the Elgin Cathedral ruins
**Nairn**
--Made a quick grocery stop because we were hungry!
**Inverness**
--Upon arrival, we crossed the Kessock Bridge to go to the other side of the first to take pictures of Inverness, and its hilly backdrop.
--Viewed the exterior of Inverness Castle
--Had some drinks, walked around the city and along the river in the rain, ate some Indian food for dinner, and had a few more drinks before night time where we stayed at a bed and breakfast (first for all three of us!).
SATURDAY
--Had our breakfast the next morning, and we were off again by 9:15am!
**Drumnadrochit **
--Visited Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness
**Fort Augustus**
--Snapped some photos of the Fort Augustus Locks between Loch Ness and Loch Lochy.
--Entered a few shops.
**Spean Bridge**
--Did a little souvenir shopping.
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| The tiniest bottle of Whisky ever! |
**Glencoe**
--Visited the Glencoe Visitor Centre for photos and some soup.
--Made a few stops for photos.
--Stopped at a giant waterfall to take more pictures.
--Made the decision to head to Stirling to stay the night instead of driving back home.
**Stirling**
--Had a few drinks, found a place to stay, had dinner, done for the night!
SUNDAY
--Had our breakfast and we were in the car again by 10am!
--Headed to Stirling Castle. Did an hour long guided tour. Roamed around by ourselves for a while.
--Headed to William Wallace Monument. Hiked up the hill. Took some photos of the exterior. Hiked back down the hill.
**Head home**
--Enjoyed some sunny skies and a beautiful North Sea view. Arrived back home by 5pm.
It was a fun and busy weekend! I had never done a road trip quite like this. And after this weekend, I am going to say that that was my FIRST EVER road trip. All other "road trips" I have done, were nothing compared to our adventures for this weekend. We made one big loop in Scotland, and there is still so much more of the country that we have not seen. I have decided that we will do this again in the future with another set of visitors and venture ever further!
Thank you to the beautiful country of Scotland, who cannot in any way be expressed in pictures! Thank you to CVX, who brought us to this country for an opportunity of a lifetime! Thank you to my hubby, who drove the whole weekend!
To learn how to say some of these funky names I have mentioned on my blog, click here (www.forvo.com).
For example: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Urquhart, Glenfiddich and even Aberdeen
RANDOM FACT:
Loch Ness, on average, is deeper than the North Sea.
-Debbie-
I agree, Scottish road trips are the best. I wsh we could have squeezed Stirling into ours. I'm so glad CVX brought you here as well:) I hope you have fun with your upcoming company and Bavaria trip. Miss you!
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