Magic in the Mountains

Hiking the West Highland Way is what drew us to Scotland. In planning for this epic adventure, we knew we wanted to spend more time in the beautiful country of Scotland after completing the trail. We decided to dedicate two weeks to this trip: the first to hike 96 miles from Milngavie to Fort William, the second to sightsee.

The first leg of our sightseeing tour kept us in Fort William before whisking us further into the Highlands in Inverness. We enjoyed several days in Inverness before boarding a train to take us to our final destination in Scotland: Edinburgh.

May 14, 2024

Scotland Day 10 (Honeymoon Part 2: Day 5)

1.) ScotRail Train from Inverness to Edinburgh

Our last night in Inverness we slept in our tent on the Ness Island Walk because our AirBnB fell through. We didn’t sleep great, but that meant it was easy to get up early and walk to the train station. Being from rural parts of the southeast US, we aren’t used to public transportation, especially trains. We couldn’t believe how easy and convenient it was to get our tickets and board the train. Our ride was boat 4 hours long and we enjoyed seeing the countryside go by.

2.) Lunch and Drinks at Albanach on the Royal Mile

We arrived in the bustling Waverley train station and exited onto an even more lively street. We used wifi to pull up our hostel on Google Maps and walked in that general direction. Once we made it to the Royal Mile, the main pedestrian street in Edinburgh, we popped into the first restaurant that caught our eye for lunch.

3.) BrightBus Sight Seeing Tour

Just like we did in Inverness, our first objective after food was to get the lay of the land around town. Thankfully our hostel let us stash our packs in the lobby prior to check in, so we got to galavant around town without our cumbersome backpacks. We found another hop on/hop off town and got a 24 hour ticket. We ended up taking the bus multiple times over the next day as a way to get around town. I really enjoyed the commentary as well and learned a lot about the history of Edinburgh!

4.) Dinner at Baba

I found a nice looking restaurant online and made dinner reservations. It was tapas style so of course we had to order multiple dishes, all of which were yummy!

5.) Dessert at Knoops

On our walk back to the hostel we passed a hot chocolate bar. We made our way inside and were overwhelmed by the variety of flavors and different “strengths” of the chocolate. My favorite part were their homemade marshmallows. We sat in the window and people watched while sipping on our luxury drinks.

6.) Accommodations at High Street Hostel

This was our first time staying at a non trail related hostel. For the price is was lovely! There was very much a community feel about the place with lots of people hanging out and socializing in the shared spaces. We weren’t super social while we were there, but we did chat with our roommates. We were on the top floor (5 flights of stairs was tiring!) in a room with 2 bunk beds, meaning there were 2 people other than us in the room. Our room was Lord of the Rings themed which was fun. Our roommates were friendly, one was from China and the other was from England. The room and bathroom facilities were all clean, a little old but very well taken care of. The staff at the hostel were also very friendly and let us stash our packs in the lobby upon arrival because we go there before check in. For a couple of thru hikers this place was great, but if you’re looking for nicer accommodations or more privacy, this might be a little too “hiker chic”.

May 15, 2024

Scotland Day 11 (Honeymoon Part 2: Day 6)

1.) Coffee at The Milkman

We woke up early and needed some caffeine to get us going. We ventured onto the Royal Mile in search of a cup of Joe. We found The Milkman online and it had good reviews so we decided to go there. It was crowded with a long line but we patiently waited to place our order at the counter. The atmosphere was light and airy, but there wasn’t much room to actually sit and enjoy our coffee. We go it to go and made our way onto the main drag to sit on a bench and people watch.

2.) More Coffee from Hideout Cafe

One cup of coffee wasn’t enough for us, and we started wondering around in search for a less crowded coffee shop. We stumbled upon Hideout Cafe which was lovely! It was cozy and the staff were friendly. We sat in a window seat for nearly an hour relaxing and enjoying pastries with our coffee before venturing down to the Grassmarket Square.

3.) Embracing our Inner Potter Heads at Museum Context

I can’t remember if Cade found this place online or if we just happened to walk by it, but what a fantastic store! On our bus tour the previous day one of the guides told us that the author of the beloved Harry Potter Series, JK Rowling, is from Edinburgh and many of the locations in the books are based on places around town. The Museum of Context pays homage to Harry Potter by offering three levels of Potter themed stuff to explore. There were witchy potions for purchase, tons of magic and mystical books, and lots of cute Edinburgh/Scotland themed souvenirs. We bought a book of Scottish folktales to take home and the friendly staff even stamped the book with their official store seal. I highly recommend checking this place out!

4.) Touring The Knight’s Vault

This store was easily one of Cade’s favorite stops on the whole trip. The Knight’s Vault is a sword retailer, plus they dabble in armor as well. They had all different kinds of swords and even had replicas from some of Cade’s favorite movies like Lord of the Rings. We briefly debated buying a sword as a souvenir but decided it would be hard to get through TSA…

5.) Walk Through Greyfriars Kirkyard

Since Edinburgh is such an old city, there was a lot of history to uncover. The architecture was striking and so different from what we’re used to seeing at home. On our sight seeing bus tour, the guides pointed out several cemeteries in the city, one of them being Greyfriars Kirkyard. This cemetery is famous because of Bobby, a dog who legend says kept watch over his master’s grave until the day he died.

6.) Tour and Tasting at Scotch Whisky Experience

The highlight of our time in Edinburgh was the Scotch Whisky Experience. Cade is a whisky enthusiast and we really enjoyed the touring Glengoyne Distillery on our first day on the WHW. I don’t even really like whisky, but distillery tours are fun because you get to learn more about the process. Taking part in a tasting experience is also fun for a novice whisky drinker like myself because you are told what flavor profiles to look for and ways to enhance the aromatic notes. We did the silver tour at the Scotch Whisky Experience and the best way I can describe it is like Disneyland for whisky lovers. We were guided through various interactive rooms, each one focusing on part of the distillation process. What made this experience so interesting is that instead of focusing on how one specific distillery refines their craft, the tour centered on the universal process. It was a full scenery experience! We even learned about the different whisky regions in Scotland and what flavor profiles are distinct in each region. We got the try a whisky of our choosing and ended the tour by hanging out in “the vault”, which is home to the largest private whisky collection in the world. Such a cool and memorable afternoon, I can’t recommend it highly enough!

7.) Lunch at Deacon Brodies Tavern

We found a lively but cozy pub to eat our fill.

8.) National Museum of Scotland

During lunch we had gotten on the wifi to make reservations for the evening. We needed to kill time and decided to go and check out the National Museum of Scotland. Edinburgh is full of museums, many of which are free! This was the perfect place to pass an afternoon. There were so many interesting exhibits, everything from natural history to airplanes. We even got to view Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned.

9.) Potion Making at Department of Magic

Keeping with the Harry Potter theme, Cade found a magical cocktail bar. Each drink was Harry Potter themed and we got to follow the recipe to create our own “potions”. They even served shots on dry ice so they came out smoking. It was a very fun and memorable experience!

10.) Fancy Dinner at Monteiths

We had passed by the “close” that housed Monteith’s several times throughout the day and were curious about their strange entryway. We decided to investigate and discovered the restaurant. Since it was our last night in Edinburgh we decided to splurge and treat ourselves to a fancy dinner. The food was delicious but the portion sizes were small. I guess that’s to be expected for a nicer restaurant.

May 16, 2024 Scotland Day 12 (honeymoon part 2: day 7)

1.) Breakfast Roll from Snax Cafe

We couldn’t leave Scotland without one last breakfast roll. Looking on Google Maps we were able to find a local cafe on our walk to the bus stop. Snax Cafe felt like a greasy spoon, but the roll was yummy and filling.

2.) Bus to the Airport

We used Google Maps to figure out the best way to get from the city center to the airport. Thankfully the was an airport bus that arrived with plenty of time to go through security and make our flight home.