Scotland: The Isle of Skye and Edinburgh

We booked a last minute trip to Scotland at the start of August. As the Highland Games were scheduled for that week on the Isle of Skye, it turned out that we weren’t the only ones heading that direction and that accommodation for July and August typically books out in March. After a brief panic, mostly on my part, Ivan jokingly mentioned camping.

The next day the train tickets to Edinburgh Waverley were booked and the tent was ordered.

Planning our trip

Scotland is pretty big and there are many beautiful routes which you can find to drive including the North Coast 500. As we had a week, we decided to focus on driving to the Isle of Skye and based our route on one we found online by a company called The Wee Red Bus. It is a good idea to have a road map or satnav for areas where there is no phone signal.

We had a brief stopover in Edinburgh – Ivan had studied there and the Fringe Festival was on too. There are two train routes from London, the East Coast train is both quicker and prettier.

Accommodation wise we stayed with friends in Edinburgh and decided to camp the rest of the time. Our tips on lessons learned camping in the UK can be found here.

Edinburgh

I always feel that when I come to Edinburgh, in many ways I am coming home. – Alan Rickman

Edinburgh is a beautiful city full of rambling streets, steep steps and people meandering at a leisurely pace. It is easy to see why it has captured many hearts and minds, from the warming story of Greyfriar’s Bobby to the mystical world of Hogwarts penned in the Elephant House cafe. The contrasts of the city can be seen clearly from the view at the top of Arthur’s Seat, where you can see the wide expanses of the city and university and the surrounding countryside and sea.

On returning from our walk, we had lunch in an Asian restaurant ‘Yocoko’ – a university favourite of Ivan’s which didn’t disappoint. Ivan also had the ‘best’ chai latte at Papii Cafe on Hanover Street.

Driving to the Isle of Skye

The next day we used our usual trick and picked up our hire car from out of town by the airport using Europcar. We filled up with petrol, plugged in the Satnav and made our way over the Firth of Forth bridge to our first stop: Dunkeld Cathedral.

Dunkeld Cathedral

It takes about half an hour to wander around the old and new cathedral and surrounding ground. I also had a lovely takeaway tea from the shop there (the lady used tea leaves, brewed it in a teapot and then filled the plastic cup – a strong contrast to the usual experience of the tea bag still in). We then headed to the Edradour distillery, but as time was short and the tours were long, we made it to the shop and left.

Commando Monument

Fun driving then began as we wound our way around endless lochs and beautiful hills. After lots of photos, we stopped briefly at the Commando Monument, a monument dedicated to soldiers who fought during WW2.

Eilean Donnan Castle

We made it to Eilean Donnan around 5pm as the castle was closing. Whilst we didn’t make it inside, we were allowed to walk around the outside and briefly pretended to be mermaids emerging from Loch Alsh:

Arriving at the Isle of Skye

The next stop was across the bridge to Skye and to find a petrol station to pick up cash (most campsites don’t take cards). We stayed at Sligachan Campsite – it was lovely and for someone who hasn’t camped since the Duke of Edinburgh expeditions at school, it had all the basic amenities (even hairdryers) and a cosy pub across the road. We set up tent and went for dinner and a nice pint.

The Isle of Skye

The next day we woke up early and drove via Portree (the capital of Skye) onto the Old Man of Storr. It takes about 45 minutes to climb up the hill (6 km in total after wandering around the top) and the views of the sea and surrounding hills are incredible.

We took in a couple more of the local sites, such as Kilt Rock and the coral beaches to the north. Perhaps the most random place we visited was the very small Giant Angus MacAskill museum at Dunvegan. An editor at work recommended that I go, Ivan wasn’t that bothered until he noticed the orange bike of Danny MacAskill in the corner of the museum. Turns out there were two well-known people in the giant’s family. It is definitely worth going and the man who runs the place (Danny MacAskill’s dad) is lovely!

We sadly only had one full day in Skye and missed out on the Cullin Mountains. It is a beautiful island, and as long as you’re willing to pack a waterproof (we didn’t in fact need to use ours) you can definitely stay for up to a week of walking.

Loch Lomond

The next day we set of early to Loch Lomond with hope of climbing Ben Nevis. Sadly, by the time we arrived the fog was pretty low and whilst we couldn’t see the mountain we made it to the visitor’s centre. On the advice of the guide, we decided not to climb to the top and instead had a brief detour to Neptune’s Staircase, a series of locks at Laggan, and Glen Coe. The bottom half of the hills in Glen Coe were worth a photo and the ginger beer was pretty good as well. We carried onto Loch Lomond and searched for a place to camp.

Wild camping (as such camping not in a campsite) is legal across Scotland, but there are a number of by-laws that you have to be careful of. This includes the east coast of Loch Lomond. We struggled to find anywhere on the west coast of the loch to stop (most places were too close to the road), but after stopping in Balmaha we realised that if we walked west-wards it wasn’t far to the end of the zone. We climbed up and found a beautiful spot next to Conic Hill. After clearing the sheep poo, we set-up camp.

Whilst, I must admit, that I did sleep slightly closer to Ivan that night and woke him up when I needed the toilet in the middle of the night, wild camping is a lot of fun. Although you have to hike to your spot, nothing quite beats waking up the next day to see beautiful scenery and to hear absolutely nothing apart from the sheep beside you.

In the morning, we sat on the pier and ate the remainder of oat cakes and apple cake for breakfast before heading back to Edinburgh airport to drop off the car.

The end of the trip

We spent our last day at the National Museum of Scotland (it is a warren of delights and they have a really handy bag drop). In the evening we saw two pre-shows at the Fringe Festival. We had the ‘typical’ experience: one was terrible, the other – The Axis of Awesome – were very witty. The best by far was a busker from New Zealand called Tom Ward who we bumped into on the street, strumming on what looked liked an old battered guitar.

Rickman was right, there is definitely something homely and warm about Edinburgh and the Highlands. It captures both the heart and the imagination.