Scotland – Days 2 to 6

Already over a week since we were Scotland and I’m only just getting around to writing about our second day there! The new year is certainly off to a roaring start.

On Day 2 (Dec 28) we started out from Inverness on a very cold, frosty and foggy morning and attempted to see some more of Loch Ness, given that it was pitch dark and foggy by the time we arrived in the area the day before. We did manage to get a glimpse of the northern tip, but the fog didn’t really seem to be in a hurry to move and show us much more than that so we pressed onwards towards Aberdeen in search of some castles for Kat. Unfortunately when we arrived at the main castle on our list we found it completely covered in scaffolding and looking like a plain white box. Not to be deterred we pressed on and found a few other castles to look at and then stayed for the night in a converted castle just outside of Aberdeen.

We’ve been doing some Geocaching on our travels as an interesting way to see some sights off the beaten track. Our success rate was 6 out of 8 and declined seriously as the trip progressed. We found 2 on the first day, four on the second and then none for the rest of the trip!

Day 3 was a bit of a rush as we hurried down from Aberdeen to get to Falkirk (following a circuitous route through a golf course and some random back roads thanks to some dodgy Google Maps directions) in time to see the Falkirk Wheel in action. Outside of the Hogmanay activities, the Falkirk Wheel was probably the highlight of the trip for me. The wheel is basically a large canal lock which very efficiently transfers boats between two canals just outside of Edinburgh. A magnificent and beautiful piece of engineering.

The reason for our haste this day was that we needed to get into Edinburgh, drop off the car and get to our accomodation in time to be in the central city by 6pm for the Hogmanay Torch Procession. 20,000 people carrying flaming torches through the center of Edinburgh up onto the top of a hill where they let of lots of fireworks and light a huge Lion shaped bonfire. An excellent way to kick of the Hogmanay celebrations.

The rest of Hogmanay was just as good, including the New Years Eve street party in the middle of the city. They reckoned there were 100,000 people there, all remarkable well behaved despite the free flowing beer and wine. No drunkenness or stupidity like you’d expect at a similar event in New Zealand or Ireland! We had a great time. The fireworks were again spectacular with short bursts every hour from 9pm until midnight and then a long display to see in the new year.

So, all in all, Scotland rates highly in our book. Our biggest mistake was trying to see too much of the countryside in the first few days. We didn’t really factor in the fog and early sunset at that time of year (around 3:30pm) which means that we will definitely need to return at some point to do justice to the beautiful scenery that we glimpsed as we rushed through.

Photos from the trip are up:

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Comment from Mark Brown on 2009-01-12

Glad you enjoyed Scotland despite the cold and found some interesting sights and produced some great shots of the landscape. Also enjoyed the Falkirk Wheel – would like to see that in operation.