Day 1 – Edinburgh

The flight from Belfast was only 35 minutes breaking my shortest plane ride record set only one week ago with Cardiff to Dublin. We arrived to a wet and cold Edinburgh mid-afternoon.

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and the place I was born (1963).

We were talked into taking the Airport bus by our cousins. We’d have to alight at Haymarket Station and walk to our hotel. Arriving at Haymarket the weather was not conducive to carrying three suitcases and a backpack. It was cold and raining. The walk was only 10 minutes but felt longer.

We arrived to find my cousins, Keith, and Alison and their partners Lynn and Vic waiting for us in the hotel rooftop bar. The six of us planned a week travelling around the Scottish Highlands. On return to Edinburgh in a week’s time, we will be spreading some of the ashes of our parents over their birthplace.

It was fun to catch up with the cousins and share our adventures leading up to this point. Keith and Lynn have been in Poland and Alison and Vic recently arrived from a gruelling flight from Perth via Singapore and London – still suffering from jetlag. Our group name is “Will Trade Cousins for Whisky“. Lynn had badges made up for us all to proudly wear.

We walked up the road and has dinner at Maki & Ramen.

Our hotel was the Moxy Edinburgh. It was quite nice, but we were only staying here one night, using it as a launch pad to our self drive tour.

Day 2 – To Pitlochry

We met back up at breakfast and planned the day. We all had to pick up our hire cars, leave the hotel and drive to Pitlochry with a few planned stops along the way.

Budget car rentals was withing waking distance from the hotel. I suspected that I wouldn’t be able to drive seeing as I didn’t have my licence card. I’d lost it – or had it stolen in London the previous week. Sure enough they wouldn’t allow me to drive and once again Jane would shoulder all the driving duties. They had to cancel my booking and sign Jane up. The young attendant struggled with this and took over an hour to organise the car. We ended up with a Volkswagen Polo. It was a late model and had Android Auto, which was a big help.

First stop was the Forth Bridges. I have vague memories of crossing the Forth Road bridge when I was young – maybe over 55 years ago. The most famous is the UNESCO heritage listed Forth (rail) Bridge, then the Forth Road Bridge and since I was a boy they’ve added a third: the Queensferry Crossing. We didn’t need to cross the bridge; I just wanted some photos. Parking was at a premium, so I quickly shot out the car and snapped a few photos.

Next was a short drive to the Kelpies. These are massive horse head sculptures designed my Andy Scott in 2013. They certainly are impressive. We met back up with the cousins and had our first picture all together.

Another short drive was Stirling Castle. Parking here also proved challenging as the main carpark was closed for repair. We managed to squeeze into a spot on the road running behind the castle. The castle was huge and fully intact. Perched on a hill top it had magnificent views over the town of Stirling and the countryside. We spent a couple of hours exploring the rooms and displays. It was quite different to the castles we visited in Ireland. We bought a “Explorer Pass” will will give us access to other historic sites around Scotland.

On the way to Pitlochry we pass through the town of Perth. As we’re all living in the city of Perth, Western Australia we decided to stop and visit the place it was named after. It is a beautiful town with the River Tay running through the centre. We stopped briefly and took some photos. We intended to grab some lunch, but we were behind schedule and we needed to get to Pitlochry.

We arrived at the Poplars Guest House B&B in and checked in. What a magnificent place this was. Nancy, our host and the most cheerful person in the world, greeted as and got us settled in. Our room was on the top floor with stunning views. We also had a second bedroom so we could comfortably store all our luggage. There was nothing to fault with this place. everything as immaculate.

Pitlochry itself is a very beautiful town. Its surrounded by mountains and is the gateway to the Cairngorms National Park. We knew we were going to enjoy this place.

Dinner tonight was going to be special. We were going to meet another cousin, Gillian, whom I (and Alison) haven’t seen for over 55 years. Keith hadn’t seen her for about 40 years. Gillian, her husband Scott and dog Nala live in Edinburgh, but coincidently they just happened to be in Pitlochry for an arts festival. We met at the restaurant Port na Craig. It was a great night catching up. Gillian and Scott invited us back to their caravan to continue the reminiscing. Alison and Vic, still suffering jetlag retired early back to the Poplars. We met Nala also, and as we’re missing our dogs from home, it was nice to get some poochy-love. The drinks and stories flowed freely until we had to stumble our way back to the accommodation. I still don’t know how we made it back.

It was really fantastic to see Gillian again. I hope we can catch-up again soon – this time in the Southern Hemisphere!

Day 3 –  Pitlochry and Cairngorms

We have the whole day based in Pitlochry to explore the Cairngorms.

First stop was the Queens View lookout. It has sweeping views over Loch Tummel. It’s (maybe) called the Queens view because Queen Victoria visited there in 1866. It’s also the starting point for many forest trails. Keith, Lynn, Alison and Vic ventured down to the Loch and Keith immersed his face in the Scottish water to kiss the fairies. Jane didn’t have the right footwear for the steep gravelly trail, so her and I declined that hike. It was clear that she needed to buy some hiking shoes.

Nearby was Blair Athol Castle. Blair castle is really more of a house than a castle – bit a very big house at that. It has over 40 rooms all beautifully restored with thousands of artefacts, weapons, costumes and furniture. It takes a while to visit every room, but was fascinating to see the displays. The piper outside was the highlight though.

We stopped at Bruer for a quick lunch and then walked to the Falls of Bruer. Jane and I only went so far as the lower falls, while the rest carried on to the upper falls. Again we blamed lack of good footwear.

Back to Pitlochry we found an outdoor-wear shop and bought some hiking boots for Jane. Now we won’t have any excuse to bail on the walks. We joined the rest of the team at the Old Mill Inn for dinner. That rounded out a wonderful day.

Tomorrow, we traverse the western edge on the Cairngorms to Aviemore.