Everything from a four hour traffic delay to one of the most fun hikes I’ve ever been on, the last three full days of my trip were certainly an interesting time.
After waking up the night after the wedding, I decided that I really did want to go visit the Wallace Monument. So although it was a tiny bit out of my way, I headed back toward Stirling to visit the monument. It was well worth it. I short hike up to the top of a hill, and two-hundred and something steps, and I was able to see an absolutely breathtaking view of the surrounding landscape, in addition to learning more about William Wallace, the building of the monument, and Scotland in general.
I headed out right around 11, preparing myself for four hours of driving. The intention was to head to Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain on the British Isle and about a two hour drive from Stirling. I probably wouldn’t be able to commit to a hike up the mountain, but perhaps there were a few nice walks I could take along the base. Then, I would continue the driving, arriving at the isle of Skye sometime in the early evening. I’d have some time to see some of the sights on Skye that night before spending the majority of the next day continuing the exploration. But of course, because this trip seemed set on making things annoying for me. I got about 20 minutes from Glencoe, the gateway to Ben Nevis from the A82. I’d driven north about an hour, stopping at various viewpoints along the way. Then, I got stuck in a massive traffic jam. There had been an accident on that last stretch of the road, and they’d ended up closing the road entirely. Only, they didn’t tell anyone on the road that they’d closed the road right up until the road was actually closed. So I waited at least half an hour in this line of cars before someone who had turned around finally started signaling that the road was closed. A few more cars passing with the same message, and I finally committed to turning around. An hour back down the road the way I’d come, and as I turned off of the road and onto another major highway, they had finally indeed closed the road going up to the viewpoints I’d seen. I then had to reassess, with the best option being another two hours added to my drive. This would turn a 4 hour drive into a six hour drive, not including the drive up the closed road, the drive back down, and the wait. But I’d committed already, so another two hours it was.
(I heard this wasn’t the only MAJOR traffic delay that occurred this week. Only a day later, the road through the Highlands on the other side of the country was completely blocked going north. Thankfully, I was coming from the north to my destination that day, so I missed that delay.)
I’d intended to get to Fort William, near Ben Nevis, just before 3PM . It would have been just a bit after 3PM if I’d done the scenic stops I did along the way. Instead, I passed through the town at 7:30 PM. At this point, it wasn’t a question of whether I would stop at the mountain. My hotel stated that they had pretty strict check-in times, and with the four-hour delay, I wasn’t even sure I’d make it in time. (I ended up having my sister call to let them know I was coming, since I wasn’t able to figure out how to call on my phone.) The drive was scenic, alternating between lake views and mountain views, sometimes raining and sometimes clear. I did enjoy it, but at that point I’d been in the car with very few stops since 11AM, and I was exhausted. I took viewpoint stops sparingly, and only started to let myself relax once I actually got to the island and was only 40 minutes away from my hotel.
So, finally, right around 10:45PM, nearly 12 hours after I had started my supposed four-hour drive, I finally made it to my hotel on the Isle of Skye. I probably shouldn’t have even tried. There were places I could have stopped along the way. I was only planning to spend 24 hours on the island, and I’d already burned through about 5 hours of that. But it was so worth it.
I stayed in the town of Portree, the largest town on the island. From there, I had a pretty centralized location from which to start my next day. Unlike earlier in my trip, the end of my trip was very much designed to be “let’s just drive and see what we find.” And so, just as I had the last night once I finally reached the island and was able to slow down a bit, I did just that. I drove north, coming first to a highland cow, the first I’d seen this trip. Then, I came to a waterfall, where I climbed up the side of a muddy hill. I gave it a 50/50 chance that I fell and slid down the hill in the mud. I for sure did.
Then, after changing my pants, I drove the short distance to the highlight of the trip, the Old Man of Storr hike. This hike gave views of the breathtaking hillside, where volcanic rocks and landslides created pinnacles of rock. This hike took me a bit over two hours.
From there, I was finally in a really good mood. I continued the drive north, now determined to drive the whole of the upper part of the island before heading out. I stopped at a few more viewpoints along the way, including another few waterfalls and the ruins of an old castle (where google maps told me to go down a road that I for sure should not have gone down, and I was afraid I would have another car catastrophe, but I survived). Rounding the very tip of the island, I started back down again, stopping briefly in Portree to catch one or two more views before heading back out.
I had another long drive this day, and so I wanted to break it up a bit. I drove an hour to the Eilean Donan Castle, before continuing on to my second-to-last stop, Cairngorms National Park. The drive was (thankfully) uneventful. I arrived about 30 minutes before check-in ended, and the hotel owner was caught in the aforementioned traffic jam, so a neighboring hotel owner checked me in. I spent a bit of time before turning in for the night wandering around the town of Aviemore.
Now, as all of this was happening, I was again finishing up finals for my summer school classes, so each night between around 9PM and midnight, I was working on some sort of homework.
The next day was my last full day in Scotland. I started by checking out the Aviemore ring Cairn and Stone Circle, another Stonehenge-like, 4000-ish year old stone circle in the town. From there, I drove to Loch Garten, where I wandered around the lake and spent about an hour hiking on the trails.
I passed through a few towns on the Highland visitor’s trail, stopping periodically to take pictures. Next, I went to Castle Roy, the ruins of a fortress. I was able to both wander around the fortress and make friends with Murdo the Highland cow.
I spent yet a few more hours driving around and stopping to take photos before finally ending up at Balmoral Castle, where the British Royal family holidays each summer. I was able to walk around the gardens, getting a few really nice glimpses of the castle itself. They had a wonderful audio-guide tour, which I took full advantage of.
My afternoon finished, I headed to Edinburgh, where I would catch my flight the next morning. I’d been to Edinburgh twice before, once during my study abroad and once with my family before my Trinity graduation, so I wasn’t desperate to see anything. Instead, I used the time to grab dinner, shop, and wander the Royal Mile before finally heading to my hotel by the airport.
The final morning, I woke up, ate breakfast at my hotel, got gas for my car, and then headed back home to Chicago. Overall, it was an enjoyable trip, though the driving caused more trouble than I’ve had when travelling in the past. Still, it was wonderful to celebrate my friend’s wedding, see new places, visit places I’ve been before (I was reminiscing about my dad during the Edinburgh portion of the trip), and just generally celebrate the culture of northern England and Scotland.
That’s all for now. I’m typing this on the airplane home (yay United Wifi!). Next up, state number 49 in less than a month. Thankfully, my Alaska trip will be with my mom and sister rather than a solo trip. It’s been a long time since we took a long trip together, just for fun. I’m looking forward to it, as well as to all the other trips I’ve got coming up in the next year.
WANDERING 