Two fantastic weeks in Scotland

I am back from Scotland, and my first days back at work are behind me. Let me tell you about my awesome vacation!

For Christmas, I gifted my fiancée an Interrail ticket and entry tickets to the Harry Potter Studios in London. Since we needed to return earlier from our Scotland trip in 2023 due to COVID-19, we wanted to finish the trip and also maybe take a look at some things we didn’t manage to see two years ago. And we did!

Our trip started with the train from our hometown to Amsterdam. It was a Saturday, and we explored Amsterdam for a bit while we waited some hours for our bus shuttle to the Europoort in Rotterdam. From there, we took the overnight ferry to Kingston upon Hull. The next morning, after we arrived in Hull, we directly continued to travel by train to Edinburgh, our first stop.

In Edinburgh, we stayed for three nights and walked a lot. A lot. So much that I got a bit of pain in my hips and decided to invest in some hiking poles. A decision I quickly realized was excellent, as that forced me to move my hips a bit more, which reduced the pain. Expecting typical Scottish weather, I left my Tilley hat at home, but as we were blessed with two weeks of glorious sunshine, this quickly led to another urgent purchase of sun caps! In Edinburgh, we walked through the Holyrood Park, onto Arthur’s Seat, through the city, to the castle, and some more spots. One day, we also went to Stirling to visit the castle there (I can really recommend it, as it was quite interesting) and also did a boat trip to the Isle of May from Anstruther, to where we first had to take a two-hour bus. But it was worth it; the little puffins on this natural island are so cute.

From Edinburgh, we took a Flixbus to Inverness. (I used a trick I saw in a German savings forum and booked the ticket via Flixbus Turkey, where the ticket was cheaper and we also got free seats in the front row.) There we walked a bit along the water and the Caledonian Canal and used the next day to go by bus to Fortrose and the Chanonry Point in the hope of watching some dolphins. We also saw some dolphins from far away, but a little seal came a bit closer. We also visited the Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, with some fascinating history about the Highlands. And we picked up our rental car for the next few days.

The next part of our adventure was a road trip to the Isle of Skye and Fort William. First, we tried to plan by train and bus, but quickly noticed it would be better and more flexible to have a car if we wanted to visit the Isle of Skye. I chose an automatic car to only have to worry about driving on the left and not to worry about changing gears as well. We got a huge Mazda SUV, although I ordered a small car, but Enterprise said they only had larger automatic vehicles available. It was sometimes quite a challenge on the narrow Scottish single-track roads. But I quickly managed to adapt myself to driving on the left and taking care of enough distance to the left and right side.

Because the Isle of Skye is a pretty popular destination, accommodations are pretty expensive as well. As all the accommodations, the ferry ticket, and all the other stuff was already costly enough, we decided we needed a cheaper alternative on the Isle of Skye. We decided, although we only camped for one day more than five years ago, to try camping. Even with all the new camping equipment (from Decathlon), it was still cheaper than three days of accommodations on the Isle of Skye and later also Fort William, where we wanted to stay for two nights as well. At least on Booking.com and everywhere else we looked.

The three days on the island were wonderful. We visited all the popular sights, such as the Fairy Pools, the Old Man of Storr, or the Quiraing Walk. While most tourists only quickly went to the sight, took some pictures, and left again, we often did more extensive walks around. Each day during our vacations we did more than ten thousand steps, typically also more than twenty thousand steps. The most spectacular sight on the island was, in my opinion, the Quiraing Walk. On the day we went there, it was a bit cloudy. We started on the lower side of the round walk, but on the upper side, we were above the clouds, and everything looked so tiny and unrealistically picturesque.

The island also confronted us with midges for the first time. I don’t fully remember, but I think I also got huge bites in Thurso in 2023, but wasn’t aware about these beasts. Luckily, one reader commented on one of my posts about my trip preparations this year, and I did a bit more research and also bought Smidge in a supermarket there. However, I did not buy a head protection net quite away and was surprised on the first camping evening and tripped over the tent pegs, which destroyed a sock, but gladly not my foot. And after I bought some nets on the next morning and we took care not to be outside the tent during sunrise and sunset (where midges seem to be the most active), the other evenings and mornings were more relaxed. While I still got a few itchy bites, they were significantly less severe.

After a luxurious camping ground in Broadford on the Isle of Skye, our next stop for two nights was a camping ground, more like a field with two toilets and showers (but still enough – and with two horses and a view to the Ben Nevis), near Fort William. There we walked a bit near Glencoe but also used the only mountain gondola in Great Britain (Nevis Range) to go up to the Aonach Mòr. Of course, we also walked around in Fort William and remembered all the things we saw two years ago there after walking on the West Highland Way.

That concluded our camping experience for this vacation, and I can say camping is better than I thought it would be. I am usually a very light sleeper; I often wake up at night and have trouble falling asleep with too much sound or light around me. That’s why I always sleep with a light-tight sleeping mask and ear plugs. Both of these tools also worked perfectly while sleeping in a tent. The sleeping bag and the sleeping pad were also comfortable enough. I am extremely pleased that I decided after our test in the backyard to swap the foam pads for some air sleeping pads. As a side sleeper, it’s much more comfortable this way.

After Fort William, we headed back to Inverness to return the rental car. Of course, we stopped by the Urquhart Castle to visit it; also very interesting! After handing back the car and sitting a bit next to the river Ness, we boarded the Caledonian Sleeper in the evening, continuing the rail journey. This gave us some last views of the Highlands in the evening. Having experienced several night trains with rather ancient rolling stock, it was a welcome change to sleep on a train that was only a few years old. I did not have the best sleep, but it was way better than my other sleeper nights. The next morning we arrived in London Euston, left our luggage at a Stasher location, and explored the city a bit.

In the afternoon, we had our tickets for the Harry Potter studios. I am not as deep into the Harry Potter topic as my fiancée, but even for me, it was quite fascinating to look behind the scenes of such elaborate film productions. It’s impressive how much effort they put into building the stage sets. Be aware that you need to book tickets way in advance, though. Originally, we planned our trip the other way around (London first), but all tickets were already gone, so we had to do London at the end.

On the second day in London, we visited some more places, like the Tower of London. We went back to mainland Europe the next day using the Eurostar through the Eurotunnel. After two incredible weeks, filled with breathtaking landscapes, unexpected adventures, and a few valuable lessons learned (hello, midges), we arrived home tired but immensely grateful for the memories made.

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