Glencoe Area, Day 6 (4/18/26)

I'm not going to lie, getting motivated to get started on the trail was hard. It was cold, rainy, and blustery. A day like this at home? Hard pass, thankyouverymuch. BUT ... we didn't come all the way to Scotland for hiking, only to wuss out.

Once we got moving, it was an amazing "walk". Scots are a different breed, calling these hikes "walks" This was a proper hike, in weather that, at home, we would have bailed on.

The hike we choose was Coire Gabhail (The Lost Valley), and the history of the area is fascinating. This is where Clan MacDonald and the survivors of 1692 survivors of the Massacre of Glencoe hid with their cattle from the Clan Campbell. 

There was a bit of descent from the car park to the beginning of the trail. In the rain, it was slick. We were both immediately thankful for our investments in quality GoreTex hiking shoes. I was also glad that I had layers - so many layers. I started out in fleece-lined leggings, my "smartie pants" (what Jay named my waterproof outer layer), long-sleeved shirt, vest, jacket, and a raincoat. And I was still chilled.

Coire Gabhail "The Lost Valley"

Just beyond the sign marking the trail beginning was a metal set of stairs that were steep, narrow, and treacherous, but as soon as we stepped off the staircase, we knew we were in for an amazing hike.

 

Water ran right down the middle of the trail.
I had a blast, feeling like a kid stomping in puddles.

It didn't take long for me to warm up and start shedding layers. The first to go was my heavy jacket. We approached hiking in Scotland with maybe a bit too much confidence. We hike, at altitude, much farther distances than any we planned in Scotland. The Lost Valley brought us back to reality in short order.

Yes, the distances were less than what we hike at home. Yes, we were hiking basically at sea level, basically drowning in oxygen. We were not prepared for the "hill walking". The distances were short, but the elevation gain was not. I don't think we managed a single hill walk from this point forward with an elevation gain of less than 1,000 feet in a short distance.

The last time we traveled and Jay crossed a
rock path in a river, he accidentally stepped
into a deep hole and disappeared.

You can bet I watched him very carefully this
time to make sure he didn't disappear. This river
was much colder and wilder than the one in Italy.

Picking my way across the river.

The river crossing was very close to the summit, and we'd crossed a waterfall, which was cool, but I only got videos that blogger won't let me upload.

When we reached the summit, we took a moment to imagine what it would have been like to hide people and cattle up here. Our hike was a breeze compared to what they had to do. The trees that littered the valley and blocked the entrance are long gone (it was over 300 years ago, after all).

The requisite summit picture. Imagine that valley full of cattle
and people who had barely survived a massacre.

The rain had let up briefly, but was beginning again in earnest. The reviews I'd read had said that in the rain the river rises quickly and overruns the stone steps across, leaving people stranded until it recedes. I did not want to be stranded on the summit side of the river, so I insisted we head back right away, rather than exploring the valley further.

Coming down the trail with the water flowing
was one of my favorite things.

The river hadn't risen a lot by the time we got
back to it, for which I was grateful.

The little rock scramble at toward the end
of the trail.

Back at the car park!

It was a tough three miles, but worth every step, and I'm so thankful we forced ourselves to do it. Even though I've been hiking a lot in the last five years, this one hike did more for my confidence on the trail than any other I've done. I think it's because I hiked in conditions I would never hike in at home and did just fine. 

After the hike, we had to do laundry. Our B&B host recommended a little laundromat in Coal, which was wonderful! There are free-standing self-serve laundromats in the parking lots of gas stations, but he warned us away from those. They apparently are often plagued with credit card skimmers.

It was a tiny little place, and very busy, but
the laundress kept everything moving quickly.

With our clothes squared away for a few more days, we had to hunt down some food. On the way, the sun broke through the clouds and everything looked completely different.

We had great weather for the rest of the trip!

I don't recall where we ended up for food. I can picture the building and the table we sat at, but I don't remember which little village it was in. Fort William, maybe? It was there that I found my new favorite hard cider.

It was a good way to cap off a day that started hard, but ended wonderfully.

Glencoe Area, Day 5 (4/17/26)

(Cross-posted to Wilsons' Wild Ones)

Jay and I made a deal back when we first started traveling together that I get to choose a horseback riding adventure wherever we travel. I don't always choose to ride (typically on our birthiversary trips is when I bow out, because we travel with others on those trips). We've ridden in Italy, Costa Rica, and now, Scotland.

It was "crappy weather" when we got there, according to our guide. And, for a Scot to call the weather crappy, you know it's not good weather. Nonetheless, we drove almost an hour to get to the stable, and there were no refunds for cancellations, so we were going.

We sat in the car, psyching ourselves up for a miserable ride.

The rain was coming down in sheets while we were signing our liability waivers and waiting for our horses to be brought around. But then, just as we headed out to mount up, someone dialed back the faucet and the downpour turned into a slight drizzle.

Just a slight drizzle.

Jay's horse, Lucy, took really good care of him
for the whole ride.

Ollie the Pokiest Pony took good care of me

Within twenty minutes of heading out, even the drizzle stopped and we had perfect riding weather for the remainder of the trek. We spent what felt like forever walking on the road, and just as I was getting ready to mentally check-out, our guide asked us if we wanted to go off trail. She must have been as bored as I was, lol.

There must be something about me that
brings out the derp ears on every horse I ride.

We spent a good bit of time riding on boggy hills, crossing little streams here and there. Our guide told us that Achnalarig Stables provided the horses for the Outlander series, which was really cool, and inspired us to start watching it when we got home.

These hills were gorgeous, and off in the distance, you can see Oban.

What I thought would be an absolute drag of a ride in the cold, driving rain turned out to be super fun and relaxing. Jay is always a bit nervous when he rides, because there's so much to think about, he never finds it relaxing. However, on Lucy, he was able to relax and enjoy the scenery and the ride, which is a big win!

After our ride, we went to Oban for lunch. It's a cute little costal town, even in the fine Scottish weather.

I spied the Highland Soap Company and insisted on going in to buy some shampoo bars. I had sniffed one in the shop at the Glencoe Visitor's Center and decided I needed one (or two). There were so many great smelling soaps and lotions in the shop that I wanted to bring the whole shop home with me. Darn those TSA liquid restrictions! I settled for two different shampoo bars.

Just a couple of doors down, we found a place for lunch, and where we could warm up. Coming from a place with next to no humidity, I find that adding even a tiny bit of humidity to the cold just chills me to the bone. I spent our time in the Glencoe area chilled through, and didn't get warm again until we got to Skye, despite wearing fleece-lined leggings and layers.

Feeling we'd accomplished enough for the day, we headed back to Ballachulish for a nap while a thunderstorm rolled through. I am certain that thunderstorm naps are the absolute best naps a person could take. 

Around six, we decided we were hungry and drove a few miles down the road to a village, whose name escapes me. The scenery was amazing, and we saw a critter that I couldn't figure out what it was. Jay and I joked that it was a delk (deer/elk). When I was a wrangler, I'd often get the question, "at what altitude does a deer become an elk?". Serious question, by the way, from many tourists. The other wranglers and I would joke that there was some magic elevation that a deer would jump over: "I'm a deer, I'm an elk, I'm a deer". And if they straddled it, it would be a delk.

At first glance, we went, "oh, look at the deer!" Then we looked again, and said, "or is that an elk?" The chest ruff looks like an elk, but it also slightly resembles a deer. Spying this critter, I looked at Jay and said, "oh my God, delk are real!" and we had a good laugh.

After some discussion, we decided it was an elk, but then we looked it up at dinner and it's a Scottish Red Deer (I'm still pretty certain it's an elk, despite what they say.)

Edinburgh/Glencoe Area, Day 4 (4/16/26)

The morning started with a train from Edinburgh to Glasgow, where we caught another train to a different part of Glasgow, to catch a bus to the airport to pick up our rental car.

Jay had reserved a small car on purpose, but when we arrived at the rental counter, we ended up with a big SUV, which was not exactly ideal. He wouldn't let me go back in and ask for a smaller car, resigned to make do with the SUV. He does all of our driving when we travel. He likes the challenge, and I enjoy being a Passenger Princess. He's driven the autobahn in Germany, Lake Como and Amalfi in Italy, and the near lawless streets in Puerto Rico, but he said Scotland was the most difficult. 

Orienting himself to a right-hand drive car,
while learning to drive on the left-hand side of the road.

While I'm always happy to be a Passenger Princess, I was especially so in Scotland. Sitting on the wrong side of the car, on the wrong side of the road was a bit nerve-wracking. I was also very thankful for the SatNav in the car, as there wasn't always cell service. The scenery was everything we'd expected from Scotland.

We stopped at the Glencoe Visitor's Center, which was fabulous and took a little walk around the area. There were miles of trails just in that area, but we opted for just a short loop to loosen up our legs from being in the car.

We wandered through the Turf House, which is pretty cool.

Hours after leaving Edinburgh, we reached Ballachulish, near Glencoe. Our B&B, the Fern Villa Guesthouse was adorable, and cozy. It reminded me of Mom's lodge, and was like a big hug from home.

My picture looks more ominous than pretty, now that I
look at it closely. lol

I did not take this picture in black and white,
it's just the color scheme of the bathroom.
This was probably my favorite bathroom of
the whole trip.

Our little bedroom was perfect for the few nights
we were there.

The view out our bedroom window.

Each room had an assigned table in the dining room. Since we
were staying the longest of the guests checking in, we got
the prime breakfast table overlooking the front garden.

The sitting room

The tiles on either side of the fireplace are
hand-painted and absolutely gorgeous.

I chatted with the host for quite a while, telling him about Mom's B&B, and he was interested to hear how she did things. Mom's breakfasts are family-style; everyone sits down to eat at the same time, and the same food is offered to everyone. She does make accommodations for food allergies, but otherwise, you sit and eat what is offered. Not that anyone complains. If you haven't been to Mom's B&B, you don't understand how amazing her breakfasts are.

David and Catherine, the hosts, run their breakfast a little differently. At night, each room fills out a menu card with the time they want to eat, and chooses their breakfasts for the next morning, so each breakfast is made-to-order. It's a neat system that works beautifully, but sounds like a lot of work to someone who is used to just laying out the breakfast and eating together.

The weather in Edinburgh when we left was nice, but as we moved further north, it became more typically Scottish, and the rains began. Before dinner, Jay and I headed out for a short walk, thinking we'd better get used to walking in the rain.

This slate arch is right off the highway, and only a couple of
blocks from our B&B. It's made of Ballachulish Slate and sits
right next to the quarry.

We had dinner of pizza and chips (fries) at the local diner before calling it a night. Even with hours of travel, we ended the day with over 10,000 steps.

Edinburgh, Day 1 (4/13/26)

As usual, when Jay and I travel, we hit the ground running. There's always so much to see and not enough time to see everything. We started the day with wandering the grounds at Edinburgh Castle, and ended at the Department of Magic. 

Edinburgh Castle is a must-do when visiting Edinburgh. We purchased our tickets well in advance to make sure we could get in when they opened the gates, figuring the later in the day we went, the more people would be there.

Even going early, there was a bit of a line. Nothing crazy, though.

Our hotel was right on the Royal Mile, but closer to Holyrood Palace than the Castle, so we got a good warm up on our walk to the castle. We also opted out of the guided tours and wandered through it ourselves, which was another good choice. We started at the back of the castle and worked our way back toward the gates to avoid the crowds, and that worked out pretty well.

I'm always fascinated by castle dungeons
and prisons

Barracks for the POWs

Jay demonstrating how small the door is
in the military stockade.

It's perfectly GunDiva-sized

From my time as a volunteer with my local sheriff's department,
I can tell you this is a nicer cell than our modern ones.

The Great Hall was one of my favorite places in the castle. The Crown Jewels were off-site, so they weren't there to look at, but the armor and the 500 year-old woodwork on the ceiling was astounding.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail was a staple
in my 20s, so this suit of armor made me giggle.
I immediately thought of the Knights Who Say Ni,
but when I went back to verify, this wasn't their armor.
Still, I giggled.

The best views of Edinburgh Castle, like most things, are from a distance, so once we left and headed down to Grassmarket, we got a much better picture.

We found a cute little place to eat down in Grassmarket and then continued our exploration of the areas near the Royal Mile. We found an old bookshop to explore. 

This just screamed come in and browse.

It smelled exactly as you'd expect an old bookstore to.

We spent a good bit of time perusing the bookstore. It was small, but packed to the gills. There were books that I was tempted to pick up, but books are heavy to pack in luggage, so I opted not to buy anything.

I have been following a lot of Edinburgh travel pages and watching a lot of reels, and I knew that we were arriving just before the big cherry tree bloom in the Meadows, so we walked down that way to check them out. The Meadows is a park within the city and reminded me of Washington Park in Denver.

The trees were just starting to blossom.

As we headed out of the Meadows, I saw the coolest little shed and had to stop for a couple of pictures. This is an allotment shed made entirely out of old pianos.

Inside the shed is a full-sized piano, and they hold mini-concerts here. I thought it was just a cool shed until I looked it up. Now, I'm even more in love with it.

Our meandering took us up to Candlemaker's Row, where we found the statue of Greyfriars Bobby. Bobby is said to have spent 14 years guarding his former owner's grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard. You can't see it in this picture but his nose is shiny from all of the tourists who can't keep their damn hands to themselves. The Scots hate it when tourists touch his nose, and we heard several loudly complaining about people ruining the statue. Jay and I knew from our trip prep that he was not to be touched, but not everyone knows (or cares).

Mom thinks he looks like a gargoyle here,
she's not wrong, it was a lousy angle.

From Candlemaker's Row, we found Victoria Street, said to be the street that inspired Diagon Alley, and the Elephant Room, where Harry Potter was written.

Victoria Street is certainly colorful.

Love or hate Harry Potter, Edinburgh has leaned into it. I can only imagine the boost to the tourist economy throughout the country that has been ongoing for decades.

We went back to the hotel, which was very modern on the inside, and took a brief rest before heading back out again to find dinner and go to the Department of Magic. We had the absolute worst dining experience that night. I found a pub that was near the bar we were supposed to go to, and thought it would be a good place to eat. We walked in, looked around, and realized we could just seat ourselves. Great!

No one greeted us, the bartender noticed us, but never said a word. There was a QR code on the table with which we were to order and pay. We did, and only then were we acknowledged by the staff. It was the worst customer service we experienced the entire trip. We did not exist in their world until we placed our order and paid. And on top of that, the food was mediocre at best. We finished as quickly as we could, just to get out of the uncomfortable place and chose to walk around the block until time for our reservation at the bar.

 

We'd done plenty of exploring, but not in this area, so we headed down the block, intending to just take a couple of right turns and come back around. We got to the bottom of the hill, turned right, and then turned right at the next close (a close is basically an alley). The close started off just fine and then went straight the hell up. Everything in Scotland is up, but this was up-up. Once we started, we sure weren't going to turn around and try to find another way, because, well, everything is up. Might as well just grit our teeth and plod on up.

When we got to the top, and back out on the road, I took a look
to see what the close's name was. I didn't ever want to
do that again.

This looks nice and flat. It is not. If you follow
the walkway, you'll see it looks like it just
disappears. Because it does. At that point, it
drops abruptly downhill.

I was getting tired, but I was looking forward to our last planned experience of the day: making potions at the Department of Magic. Like I mentioned earlier, Scotland, Edinburg especially, has really leaned into Harry Potter and there are so many fun things to do centered around the Harry Potter universe.

We chose to just make potions, not do any escape rooms.

This was incredibly popular, and it was recommended to get reservations in advance, so I made our reservations a month or so before our trip. I'm glad I did, because we watched a family of five get turned away, and I felt bad.

There are both cocktail and mocktail versions of the drinks, and you choose which you want when you make your reservation. We chose one of each: Jay chose to do the mocktail potion and I chose the cocktail potion. The bar decor is very heavily Harry Potter-based, though there are some generic magic-type decorations as well. We each chose which potion we wanted to make and the instructions, along with all of the ingredients were delivered to the table.

Yes, I did follow the instruction to dance
around our table.

Jay and I took turns reading each other the instructions, and building our potions step-by-step. It was silly, and a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I don't have any stills of Jay's potion, because I took videos of each step.

We had fun making our potions, but I had even more fun listening to the big family seated behind me. The kids were over the moon with the experience; their sheer exuberance made my heart happy, and gave me enough energy to plod back to the hotel.

Throughout the day, we walked a total of 17,365 steps. Between all of the walking and the time change/jet lag, we slept very well that night.

The Murphy bed at our ApartHotel (apartment/hotel) was
exactly what we needed.