Euro trip - Nov 2019 - Part 5 (Scotland Day 3)

20 Nov 2019 - West Highlands, Lochs, and Castles

The tour started later than the previous one the day before -- a whole 15 minutes later! 😂  This tour though is supposed to be shorter than the previous day's with more time at each stop. So... yey!!!

There weren't a lot of places open for breakfast at 7 in the morning, so our choices were limited. We decided on a Costa Coffee by the Waverley train station to have our coffees and sandwiches and some pastries, on our way to the Rabbie's tour place. 

Much like the day before, after checking in, we were assigned our mini-bus and driver/tour guide. Another round of introductions -- a Filipino couple was actually in our same bus! -- and we were on our way (again).

Our first stop is at a lookout to view the iconic and historic Scotland's Forth Bridges -- three bridges spanning three centuries: the Forth Bridge, opened in 1890 and a UNESCO World Heritage site (voted Scotland's greatest man-made wonder in 2016); the Forth Road Bridge, opened in 1964; and the Queensferry Crossing, completed in 2017. (Not a great photo below - it was hard to get all 3 in a shot. That's my excuse. 😜) 

2nd Stop: The Kelpies. As we approached the site, our tour guide/driver told us a story/myth of how kelpies (shape-shifting water spirits) would charm children as these majestic white horses and then trap them and pull them into the water/river. Scary story. I couldn't believe how huge they (the sculptures, not the spirits) are in person.

Next stop: Doune Castle... or Castle Leoch in the Outlander world.😊 Originally built in the thirteenth century, this castle has actually "starred" in a few shows/movies -- aside from Outlander, it was used as a set for Winterfell in the Game of Thrones series, in the movie Outlaw King, and in the comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The audio guide even has some spots narrated by Outlander's Jamie Fraser 😉.

Next is a quick bathroom/coffee stop at Loch Lubnaig -- the same stop on the previous tour. This time, it was on a gloomy and foggy morning so the Loch actually looked a bit different than the previous day's visit.

Next up is a quick photo stop by the side of the road to view Kilchurn Castle and Loch Awe from a distance. A bit disappointing, not because of the castle or the loch, but because we only got to view them from afar. I wish we could have gotten closer. 😞

Then a longer stop for lunch and some look-around at the charming town of Inveraray on the western shore of Loch Fyne. We had lunch at The George Hotel -- Michelle and I decided to be anti-social and had a table to ourselves 😁 ... there's only so much time we can stand being around people we don't really know 😂 and lunch time (or any meal, for that matter) was sacred. LOL!

After lunch, we walked around the town a bit and took some photos.

As we drove away from the town, we had a pretty view of the Inveraray Castle - it was either closed that day or it wasn't really part of our itinerary.

Next stop... the Rest and be Thankful Viewpoint. According to our guide, it is named as such because the climb out of the glen was so long and steep, it was customary for travelers to rest at the top and be thankful to have reached the highest point. Beautiful view from up there. (Harry seems to be enjoying the view as well)

Our last stop of the tour was the quaint wee village of Luss, on the west bank of Loch Lomond. Loch Lomond, by the way, is the largest lake in Great Britain by surface area. Our guide/driver played us a nice song "The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond" as we were approaching our stop. 

I really liked this village; maybe someday hopefully 🤞, I will get a chance to stay a while and visit the place properly.

Then back to Edinburgh. We had dinner at Makars Gourmet Mash Bar... great food, yum!

Scottish eggs

sticky toffee pudding

We were going to do the Ghost walking tour later that night, but we had a little time before then so we decided to do some walking on the Royal Mile before the tour started.

Edinburgh Castle

I was a tad worried about the tour -- me having a wild imagination and all -- but it wasn't too bad... I just remembered to always stay in the middle of the group in case some incorporeal being decided to make itself known to anybody lagging behind. 😨😱  And by choice, I didn't take any photos during the tour. 😁 I had no desire to inadvertently capture anything I didn't want to see. Thankfully, no nightmares later either.

All in all, a great and productive day.