Southern Scotland

MAY 2019

After an overnight at Gatwick Airport, our journey from Austria continued on to Scotland. We arrived at Edinburgh Airport on a cold but bright afternoon and transferred to our apartment in the centre of town. By early evening we were settled in and feed, so headed out to see the old town, only 15 minutes away by foot. We were so glad we did, as there was a clear blue sky now, making the old town look its best. Having past the Palace of Holyrood, we walked up the Royal Mile past many of Edinburgh’s iconic sites, until we reached the castle where we had great views all around. The Royal Mile must be one of the most beautiful streets in any town in the world, let alone a capital city.

Palace of Holyroodhouse

Edinburgh Buildings

Looking down Royal Mile from the Castle Esplanade

View from the Castle Esplanade over Edinburgh

Royal Mile section of the High Street in Edinburgh

The Scottish Parliament

We were so pleased that we took the time to visit the old town on our day of arrival, because the weather then took a turn for the worse, restricting activities. So it wasn’t until our last day in Edinburgh that the rain stopped and we were able to explore some more. We took a couple of bus rides, which allowed us to see the area of the city just outside of its centre. We then explored the area around Princes Street, including the gardens, and did a bit of shopping whilst there. The view from Princes Street gave us another prospective of the castle, this time from below, and allowed us to see much more clearly the extinct volcano the castle is perched upon.

Edinburg Castle from Prince's Street Garden

Street sculpture

Our next location was on the other side of the country, so we left the east coast and went west. With time on our hands we made a small detour to visit the Forth Bridge (see below), this provided with a great view of the Forth River and the three bridges that cross it.

Forth Bridge over the Firth of the Forth

Our base in the west was the attractive village of Aberfoyle, sitting just inside the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park and surrounded by beautiful countryside. Our good friend Rob joined us for the first three days here and with the weather now much nicer, we were able to explore to the full.
Our first day took us into the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, where we were able to drive through the forest and stop off for a number of short hikes on route. Great weather, beautiful scenery and watching Saracens win the Rugby Union European Champions Cup on TV, made it a very enjoyable day.

Forest Drive in the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park

Still snow on the highest Bens (peaks) in this part of Scotland

One of the views on our Forest Drive

The weather on the following day was even better so we decided to get out on the water. To do this we headed to Loch Katrine where the Sir Walter Scott steamboat runs scenic trips around the loch. The Sir Walter Scott is the oldest operating passenger steamboat in the world, and still uses its original engine, now 120 years old. A beautiful hour was then spent cruising around the loch, made even better knowing that you were aboard a piece of history. To top it all we even saw an Osprey. The loch also has a famous building on its banks, the Royal Cottage, (See Interesting Facts below).

The Walter Scott Steam Boat 120 years old (the boat not Walter Scott)

Cruise on Walter Scott Steam Boat around Loch Katerine

Home on Loch Katerine

The rest of the day was a road trip to explore more of the national park. So after a pleasant lunch in a local inn we drove north, through the mountains, then west to Loch Lomond. Loch Lomond is the largest lake in Great Britain, 36km long and up to 8km wide, and we drove its length from north to south. But it wasn’t all driving; we called in at a viewpoint in the north of the loch and followed that with a visit to the pretty village of Luss, two thirds of the way down. And that completed a very full day.

Loch Lomond

Our next day was just as bright and sunny as the first two, so we decided to do something different, a bit of mountaineering. Bearing in mind the definition of a mountain is a piece of land that summits at 1000ft (305 meters) or over, this wasn’t as dramatic as it might sound. Our goal was the summit of Ben A’an (461 meters). Our route was through a pine forest and up several steep rocky paths, tough on the legs but the reward at the top was worth it. From the summit we could see for miles, with Loch Katrine immediately below us other lochs and mountains in the distance.

Walking up to Ben Aa'n

Scotish Terrier Hamish kindly posed on top of Ben Aa'n

View from summit of Ben Aa'n

Loch Katerine from top of Ben Aa'n

The mountaineering was followed by a well-deserved lunch and drink in a small town nearby. Fully refreshed we were ready for the second activity of the day, a visit to Inchmahome Abbey. To get to the Abbey a boat is required, as it sits on an island in Lake Menteith. Fortunately the water transport is included in the entrance fee, so we were collected from the shoreline and whisked across the lake. The Abbey, built in 1238, is now a ruin but very well preserved considering its age. Some notable guests have also visited it, Mary queen of Scots and Robbie the Bruce to name but two. The island itself was very tranquil, maybe because we were at the end of the day and we had it to ourselves, bar three American ladies. We looked around the Abbey, walked a circuit of the island through its ancient woodland and Bluebells, and then caught the boat back. It was a very relaxing way to finish the day.

Abbey on Lake Meredith

Transport to the island on Lake Meredith where the Abbey stood

Blue bells forest on island of Lake Meredith (90% of bluebells flowers in the world are found in the UK)

We couldn’t believe it when the next day dawned as nice as those that had gone before, so more exploration was the order of the day, even though our legs were now complaining about the previous day’s mountaineering. We selected a hike up a gorge, passing two waterfalls and emerging into an upland meadow. Mountains enclosed the meadow and it was very peaceful, with the absence of tourists all you could hears was rushing water and bird song. From the meadow we returned to the car park along the opposite side of the gorge and headed back to the apartment for a late lunch.

Barcklinn Falls, Callander Gorge

View during gorge walk

With so much still to explore, it was hard to decide what to do for our last day. But because we had seen the mouth of the River Forth (from the Forth Bridge), as it emptied into the North Sea, we thought it would be nice to see its source. So we selected a hike that started at the source, namely Loch Ard (see River Forth below). The hike took us from Loch Ard, up into the Loch Ard Forest, eventually arriving at another body of water, Lochan Spling. Once again we had the trail almost to ourselves, which always increases the enjoyment.

Sculpture in a loch in Loch Ard forest

Loch Ard, source of the River Forth

And that brought an end our short visit to Southern Scotland, except for a quick call in at “The Kelpies” on our way back to Edinburgh Airport. The Kelpies are two amazing 60-meter high Horse Head sculptures in the Helix Park near Falkirk. Kelpies are mythological water horses with the strength and endurance of 10 horses, placed here to celebrate the contribution heavy horses made to the Scottish economy.

Kelpies

Kelpie

Kelpie

The Kelpies sculpture

Flying back from Scotland to London on a sunny day gave us an good aerial view of the country

Windsor Castle

Personal Observations & Interesting Facts

Scotland
Scotland, the U.K.’s northernmost country, is a land of mountain wildernesses such as the Cairngorms and Northwest Highlands, interspersed with glacial glens (valleys) and lochs (lakes). It also has 790 islands scattered long its coastline.
Its major cities are Edinburgh, the capital, with its iconic hilltop castle, and Glasgow, famed for its vibrant cultural scene. It has a population of around 5.5 million, of which most reside in the areas around Edinburgh and Glasgow. Scotland is also famous for golf, the game first played at the Old Course at St Andrews in the 1400s, and whisky which dates back much further. It is also surprising how far north its furthest points are, the Shetland Isles are further north than Oslo in Norway.

Scotland has its own bank notes but uses Pound Sterling as in the rest of UK

Forth Bridge
The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge across the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, 9 miles west of Edinburgh City Centre. It is considered as a symbol of Scotland, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was designed by the English engineers Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker and is sometimes referred to as the Forth Rail Bridge (to distinguish it from the adjacent Forth Road Bridge) although this has never been its official name.
Construction of the bridge began in 1882 and it was opened on 4 March. The bridge spans the River Forth between the villages of South Queensferry and North Queensferry and has a total length of 8,094 feet (2,467 m). When it opened it had the longest single cantilever bridge span in the world, until 1919 when the Quebec Bridge in Canada was completed. It continues to be the world's second-longest single cantilever span, with a span of 1,709 feet (521 m).

Forth Bridge

River Forth
The River Forth is one of Scotland’s most famous rivers. It flows for 47 km, west to east, and almost cuts the country in two. Its source is on the slops of Ben Lomond and initially empties into Loch Ard. It then flows east through Aberfoyle, and across the country, eventually emptying out into the North Sea at the Firth of Forth.

Aerial View of the Forth River and its bridges over it as we left Edinburgh

Different bridges for different mode of transport going across the Forth River

Bridges across the Forth River

Royal Cottage
Queen Victoria found the area around Loch Katrine so beautiful she expressed a desire to have a cottage built on its banks. Her request was fulfilled and the Royal Cottage was built at the western end of the loch. However, not all went well on her inaugural visit, for the 21-gun salute was so powerful it shattered most of the windows. This meant she had to stay at a local hotel in Callander instead. As you can imagine she wasn’t best pleased, especially when she presented with bill for her hotel stay, and never returned to Loch Katrine again.