While Scott was in New Jersey, performing Harold in Italy, I was on my solo trip to Scotland!
This will mostly be a photo tour….and there are TONS of photos :)
Since Scott was flying out of Edinburgh, we got on the Metro to Newcastle City Centre, then walked to the train station and hopped on the LNER. Always a nice train.
(notice the reason for delay on the bottom of the screen)
(Everything was in bloom!)
And then I was on my own to explore more of Edinburgh:
(Leith - Edinburgh)
(Hiking part way to Arthur's Seat…still Edinburgh)
Then I hopped on the train to Oban, via Glasgow:
OBAN:
(view from my hotel room)
(Oban Distillery tasting….by myself)
I took the CalMac ferry to the Inner Hebrides, visiting the Isle of Mull, then a tour boat around Staffa and to the Isle of Iona:
(Ferry from Oban to Isle of Mull)
(Views of the Isle of Mull from the bus)
(Boat tour from Mull to Staffa)
(Fingal's Cave!!! They even played the Mendelssohn overture on the boat - see video below)
(sorry about the wind….might be hard to hear the music)
Isle of Iona….what a gorgeous place. I'd definitely go back:
After Oban and the Isles, I got on a bus to Ballachulish (Scottish Highlands):
I had a cup of coffee and picked up a few snacks from the Co-Op before walking about 30 minutes to Glencoe village.
Had some lunch, then finally got a taxi (took several calls) to pick me up and take me to my hotel. I started feeling something in my throat around the time I got to Oban…but I assumed it was just a dry throat. By this point, I was coughing a bit and realized I was actually getting sick….Scott convinced me to try and get the taxi instead of walking 1 hour to my hotel.
I had booked a single room with a view at the Clachaig Inn:
Did a bit of hiking, even though I wasn't at 100%. What a gorgeous place….highly recommend:
My last day in Glen Coe, I woke up with a fever and slowly packed my things. I had not been able to book a taxi to the village so I ended up hiking 1 hour in the rain. I left super early in the morning….nobody was around in the hotel….it was all locked up. So I was on my way:
Once I was out in the fresh air, I felt a bit better. Wasn't a bad walk…and mostly a nice path off the road. Once in Glencoe Village I got on the bus to Fort William, had lunch there, and then got on the train back to Edinburgh. I wore a mask the entire trip back as my cough had gotten worse. I had booked a single room at one of the Premier Inn Hubs in Edinburgh. Quite a nice little room, actually (minus the fire alarm going off immediately after I checked in).
Picked up Scott from the airport, took the tram into the city, had lunch, and headed back home!
Had a great trip……looking forward to another one soon!
Tanya