Strathpeffer and Loch Ness, Scotland September 27, 2026

We arrived in the small town of Strathpeffer in the northern Highlands yesterday evening. We are staying two nights in a very unique hotel. It was built in 1879 in the Victorian style. Our room is on the third floor, down a side hallway with slanted ceilings. My guess it was originally a servant's room. Everything is old, but functional and quaint. 

This morning we are doing a driving tour deep into the northern Highlands which many people never see. 

We did a quick photo stop overlooking Dornoch Firth. Firth is Scottish for estuary.

 There is heather growing all over this area, however its at the end of its flowering season. You can still see a little bit of purple in the picture. 

A shop yesterday had it growing in a planter 

We stopped at the Falls of Shin, a waterfall site popular for watching salmon jump during spawning. It's the end of spawning season so no fish, and the falls are more rapids than waterfall. It was still pretty. 

I've been on the hunt for Highland cows since we arrived in Scotland. I've seen a few from the bus, but didn't get a picture. There are not very many, way more sheep! Today I got a picture of this guy. I'll keep looking!

I did find a shortbread cow, though. 🤣

We continued north and west across the very top of Scotland. Its a beautiful and remote area, although there are some small villages and sheep farms. This far north in the Highlands brought us to the Mountains

of Assynt.

A little tree growing on a little island in a little loch

Everything is so green because it often rains here

Across the mountains was the Atlantic Ocean. 

As you can see, its very cloudy today with off and on drizzle.  We have been so fortunate with beautiful weather until today. I honestly thought it would rain much more. We'll see what Ireland has in store for us in two days.

This afternoon we went on a Loch Ness adventure. We started out stopping at Urquhart Castle ruins. This is where we boarded the boat for the Loch Ness tour. We had to rush to catch the boat, so just a picture of the ruins. No time to watch the movie in the visitor center or look around. I'm not even sure what it was all about. 

Picture from the web as mine didn't turn out

We boarded the boat for the shortest boat tour we've ever been on, 20 minutes. It was raining, so we sat inside. There was narration, but people were talking so loud, I heard very little. The windows were wet so no pictures. 

Loch Ness from the bus

Loch Ness from the bus 

The boat we went on 

Then we went to a nearby hotel for the Nessie Experience. It was a video presentation explaining the history of the monster. It was well done and interesting. We had an included good dinner at the hotel.

This was one of the optional tours and cost just under $140 each. It's the first thing we've done on this trip that was a disappointment. I guess you can't win them all!

On the way back to the hotel, we drove through Inverness. This is Macbeth's castle built in the 1800s. So, relatvely new by Scottish standards 🤣

St. Andrews, Scotland September 26, 2026

Today we left Edinburgh and headed further north towards the Scottish Highlands. We crossed a bridge and entered a county called the Kingdom of Fife. Andrew Carnegie was born here, grew up very poor, and managed to become one of the richest people in the world of his time.

We passed a Scotch pine Christmas tree farm.

We passed through the town of Auchtermuchty where the band The Proclaimers are from. Their top song is I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) released in 1988.

St. Andrews is famous as the home of golf because the sport has been played there since the early 1400s, making it the birthplace of the game.

Our first picture together on this trip

St. Andrews hotel overlooking the course and sea

First hole tee box

Eighteenth green

Bridge where winners have their picture taken 

St. Andrews is the name of the town, as well as the golf course.  The oldest, very prestigious, university in Scotland, also called St. Andrews is here. Prince William and Kate Middleton met there as students. 

University quad 

University bell tower

St. Andrews golf course and city are located overlooking the North Sea. The beach in the second picture below was where the opening scene of the movie Chariots of Fire was filmed.

View of the North Sea from St. Andrews

Beach where movie was filmed 

We drove through the city of Dundee where the ship The Discovery was built. This was the ship that Ernest Shackelton sailed to Antarctica in 1902. The original ship is now moored back in Dundee having been returned and restored as a visitor attraction. She is only one of two surviving ships from the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration to survive. The other is in Norway. 

We kept heading north and finally reached the Highlands.  Up to this point, the England and Scotland countryside has been farmland and rolling hills. The Highlands has some mountains. The tallest is 4,400 feet.

All signs in the Highlands are in Gaelic and English 

Our last stop of the day was the Culloden battlefield where the Jacobites fought the British in 1745.  It was the last battle fought on British soil. Around 1,500 Scottish clan members died at this site. Many of them are buried in this field. There is a visitor center and museum. 

Culloden battlefield 

Culloden visitor center 

As a result of this battle, the Scottish clans were forced to give up their culture, including not wearing kilts and not speaking Gaelic. Those laws were repealed over a hundred years later in 1871.

We crossed over a bridge of the river that flows into Loch Ness. Guess where we're going tomorrow!

Our trip today was a little longer, 221 miles, but we had a few interesting stops along the way to break it up.

Edinburgh, Scotland September 24 and 25, 2026

Last night we attended an optional excursion to see a show called The Spirit of Scotland and a dinner. We were greated by a bagpipe player when we arrived. How cool is that!

I really liked the meal with smoked salmon as a starter and then haddock pie, a fish stew with broiled mashed potatoes on top. 

The evening's entertainment began with the ceremony of the haggis and the reciting of a poem about haggis by Scottish poet Robert Burns.

We had a sample of haggis. It wasn't bad, kind of like sausage. Haggis is an old traditional Scottish food made with leftover bits of sheep parts, oatmeal, and seasonings which are cooked in a sheep's stomach.

There were two singers, four dancers, an accordion player and the bagpipe player. All of them were very talented.

This little girl was adorable!

They performed traditional Scottish music, as well as some modern songs. At the end, everyone sang Auld Lang Syne, the second most sung English song after Happy Birthday.  I didn't know it was of Scottish origin. 

On the way home, our tour guide had us singing karaoke on the bus. It was a great evening of fun!!

This morning we visited Rosslyn Chapel outside of Edinburgh in the city of Roslin. This 600 year old chapel was finished in 1446 for an Earl named William St. Clair. He was very wealthy, owning a nearby castle, and wanted a chapel for his family.

Master stone masons were hired and it took 40 years to finish the current chapel. There were plans to add much more to it, but the Earl died, and the rest was never completed. The stone carving is incredible. 

Burial memorial of the 4th Earl

If you look closely or zoom in on any of the above pictures, you can see the amazing details of the many carvings. 

Unfortunately, there were no pictures allowed inside. I did manage to sneak one of the ceiling and main stained glass windows. The ceiling is incredible!! The current windows were installed in the 1800s. Prior to that it was just glass. The remaining pictures are from the internet.

There are many legends surrounding the chapel. One is regarding the two main columns in the front.  One is much more impressive than the other. The left one was supposedly carved by the master mason. Upon completion, the Earl was not happy, so the master mason took a trip to see if he could find inspiration elsewhere. In the meantime, his apprentice carved the column on the right based on a dream he had. When the master returned, he was so jealous, he killed the apprentice.  Take a look and see which one you like better.

Master

Apprentice 

There is a crypt below the chapel where the last clue in the DaVinci Code movie was filmed. There are legends that the Holy Grail may have been here at some point. Who knows!

The castle ruins are just down a hill from the chapel. The 7th Earl of Rosslyn still has a home here. It's around 500 years old.

The original castle was built around 1304. Some of the ruins are just next door to the current house.

On the way back we passed the National Records building. Even their government buildings look like palaces. It's where all birth, marriage and death records are recorded.  They refer to it as the hatch, match and dispatch building. 😀

We also passed this school which was supposedly the inspiration for Hogwarts. Tough to get a picture from the bus.

So, our time in Edinburgh has come to an end. It's truly an amazing and magical city. I would encourage you to visit if you ever get the chance!