We are currently on a train heading down to the southwest of Scotland to a little town called Maybole. Maybole is where I lived and grew up in Scotland so Mike is going to get to see where little Scottish me lived and meet some of the most important people from there. The train ride will take a couple hours and the train has wifi which means I can spend some time catching you all up on what has happened is well.
On Monday we were supposed to do our first day tour of our trip going to Oban which is a town on the west coast (upper west coast) that is one of my mum's favorite places. I've never been and they supposedly have amazing seafood and I was really excited to visit. As luck would have it, our tour ended up being cancelled, however our tour company failed to tell us it was cancelled (commercial break-do not use Highland Experience for day tours in Scotland. Terrible customer service and they have the reputation for canceling tours last minute all the time). Luckily, the tour guide who helped us figure out our tour was cancelled still had room on her tour for the day so we made the decision to jump on that one. So instead of Oban we stayed in the center of Scotland for a tour of Loch Lomond and Stirling.
Our tour guide Laura was absolutely wonderful all day long and we highly recommend Timberbush Tours for day trips in Scotland. We headed over to Loch Lomond which is the largest Loch in Scotland and is absolutely breathtaking. The area is actually a national park now. Oh I should explain that in Scotland a lake is called a Loch :) we did a boat cruise of the Loch which was just lovely and allowed us to see different islands in the Loch and gave us an amazing glimpse of the highlands in the distance. We got to stop and have lunch in the small town of Aberfoyle which gave us a chance to sit back and relax for a while and allowed Mike to try his very first Toastie.
After lunch we headed towards Stirling. Stirling is the site of several very important battles in Scottish history,specifically the Battle of Bannockburn where Robert the Bruce defeated the English essentially securing Scotland's freedom and uniting the country under him as the Scottish King. We had plenty of time to explore the main attraction in Stirling, Stirling Castle. It was said in history that whoever held Stirling Castle, held Scotland based on the fact that the castle is in the center of the country and is a giant fortress. Historic Scotland has done an amazing job restoring the castle so that you can get an idea of what it would have been like several hundreds of years ago. Mike really enjoyed the castle and actually likes Stirling more than Edinburgh castle which is a shock to me. After our lovely day tour we had a relaxing night and enjoyed a takeaway curry from the Wee Curry Shop in Glasgow which was just lovely!
Tuesday was a very long day for us as we had another day trip but this time we were heading to the highlands. I think this was the day Mike was most looking forward to because when most people think of Scotland they think of the highlands and of course of Nessie and Loch Ness. Our driver/tour guide for the day was probably one of the most interesting people we have encountered while in Scotland and we had the weirdest weather of the trip on Tuesday as we experienced snow, rain, high winds, hail, and sunshine all in the course of 12 hours. Most Scots would tell you that is pure Scottish weather for you as quite often you can experience all four seasons in one day.
We started our tour going back to Loch Lomond but luckily this time we were on the other side of the Loch which gave us different scenery and new experience from the day before. After leaving Loch Lomond we headed into the highlands and for a while we had terrible visibility so weren't able to see the beauty of the majestic mountains. The good news is that when we arrived at the Three Sisters of Glencoe the weather had gotten better and the mist had cleared and we got amazing views and pictures of the haunting Glencoe. We continued to travel up the highlands and made our way to Loch Ness. Mike and I were the only ones from our tour group who decided to spend time visiting Urqhaurt Castle which sits right on the Loch. While we were at the castle the weather cleared up and we had a great time exploring the ruins of the castle and looking for Nessie. The long drive back took us on the other side of the country with a quick stop in the Victorian town of Pitlochry for fish and chip supper where Mike tried a Black Pudding supper which my mum had recommended. We also decided to be those crazy people who had a 99 (ice cream cone) and eat it standing in the snow.
Tuesday was another lovely day and it ended back in Glasgow with us meeting up at the Counting House which was one of my grandads favorite bars with two of my cousins and their partners. What was supposed to just be a drink or two turned in to much more than that but Mike and I had a great night with Ewan, Zoe, Demi and Stephen :)
Wednesday we left Glasgow and made our way to Edinburgh which is the Capitol of Scotland. Glasgow and Edinburgh are two cities that could not be more different. Edinburgh has a lot of history but is very much focused towards tourists. Glasgow, especially according to Mike, is more real and people there just tell you how it is. He actually prefers Glasgow to Edinburgh which was another surprise to me.
So I'm actually a little tired so I'm going to take a break and write more later. I promise by the end of the night I will finish catching you up on the trip!
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