Water, wildlife and wonders... a road trip around Scotland COMPLETED 11/6 - Page 82 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Firstly, I want to return to the title of this trip report, as you may have noticed I changed it from the pre-trip report. I don’t often do that, but I felt that water, wildlife and wonders reflected what we’d experienced this trip.
When I got back, I went through and listed all the water we visited or saw on our travels and, wow it was way more than I expected!
River Churnet
Rudyard Lake
Lake Windermere
Coniston Water
Ullswater
River Clyde
Loch Lomond
Loch Long
Firth of Clyde
Atlantic Ocean
Loch Awe
Loch Tulla
Loch Ba
Loch Achtriochtan
River Coe
Loch Leven
Loch Eil
Loch Eilt
Loch Ailort
Loch Nan Uamh
Loch Morar
Loch Hourn
Loch Lochy
Loch Oich
Loch Ness
River Ness
Loch Morlich
River Spey
River Don
Loch Aboyne
River Dee
River Fiddich
North Sea
River Tay
River Forth
River Tyne
River Humber
River Thames
And as for the wildlife, well that too was more than we expected as well. I don’t think I’ve missed anything out, but shout if we have. Out of the animals, we saw:
Bees
Chickens
Cows
Deer
Horses
Goats
Pigs
Rabbits
Sheep
Stoats
Then there were the birds, and wow, once again, we saw so many, including many of what I’d call the common garden species that I used to see in my parent’s garden many years ago. That was a sobering thought in a way that many of them just aren’t that far south in the country any longer.
Blackbirds
Blue tits
Canadian geese
Doves
Ducks
Geese
Goldfinches
Moorhens
Peacocks
Pheasants
Pigeons
Puffins
Seagulls
Sparrows
Swallows
Swans/cygnets
Swifts
Thrushes
As to the wonders, well once again, there were many of them. Firstly though, I want to start with some of the things that surprised us from this trip. We were staggered by the flowers that grow this far north, especially when we’d seen signs at Balmoral (not one of the places we visited which was the furthest north) that July is the only month of the year that they’re pretty much guaranteed not to get frost. We saw acers and pieris, both of which we’ve struggled to grow in our garden, but as we suspected and Maureen confirmed when we saw her, it’s down to the soil. Who knew? That’s certainly something we learnt.
We did our usual trick of spotting international licence plates, and although not as impressive as previous years, we did still get quite a lot…
Austria
Bulgaria
Czech Republic
Denmark
France
Germany
Great Britain
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Netherlands
New York – remember the old Aston Martin in the Cairngorms?
Poland
Scotland (unsurprisingly! )
Spain
Switzerland
Wales
However, we saw the most of Dutch and German number plates, and I mean stupid amounts. Literally, we’d see seven or eight a day and maybe one of the other countries every couple of days. Now I appreciate that the pound is doing appallingly against the Euro (that’s what happens if you vote to leave the European Union… ) but surely that should then apply to other countries like the French, Italians etc.? I could never fathom out why only those two countries were so prevalent there.
One final list for you before I turn to the final thoughts a bit more in-depth. One of the aims of this trip was to see more of Scotland, as prior to this trip, we’d visited Glasgow, and Edinburgh, and the surrounding areas, and that was it. As you’ve seen, there was so much more to the country than that. So how much of the country did we see? Well, you guys have states. We have counties in England, but Scotland complicates it, and has council areas, so there are a lot, 29 in total (I’ve excluded the islands, as obviously we didn’t go anywhere near those – if we count those, there would be 34 in total), but here’s the list of how many we visited:
Aberdeen City
Aberdeenshire
Angus
Argyll and Bute
Dumfries and Galloway
East Lothian
East Renfrewshire
City of Edinburgh
Fife
Glasgow City
Highland
Mid Lothian
Moray
Perth and Kinross
Scottish Borders
South Lanarkshire
West Dunbartonshire
If we add in the council areas we’ve visited on our previous trips, which are:
East Ayrshire
Falkirk
South Ayrshire
Stirling
West Lothian
That’s really not too shabby!
We were also surprised at how expensive some of the evening meals were that we had. Considering we live in what we believe to be an expensive part of the country, and we thought Scotland would be cheaper, we were in for a shock. It wasn’t even in cities, it was in remote locations, but I guess maybe that’s the point – there aren’t that many restaurants and they can charge what they like. However, we did find that no-one was really looking for a tip, which shocked us. We’re not that big on tipping over here (10% if you think the service is really good!), but at no point were there options left when we went to pay by credit card, which is very different to down south.
So, having said all that, let’s get on to the wonders of this trip. The first thing that springs to mind is the sheer beauty of the Lake District. I hadn’t been there since I was a child, so I didn’t know what to expect, but so many people had told me how beautiful it was, and they were not wrong. I loved getting up early that first Monday, and just standing there, admiring the view over Lake Windermere. Even better was the Steam Water Gondola allowing us to see the lakes from a very different perspective, from the water itself, and I’m so glad we did that.
In a similar view, the cruise on Loch Ness was perhaps the highlight for me – getting out there on what was essentially a private cruise was just truly magical. I can now see why there’s so mystery about Nessie, given the water is so murky and the loch is just so huge. It really was an eye opener to be out there.
I also need to mention the Maid of the Forth cruise, as I finally got to see a puffin! I really cannot thank Laurie enough for suggesting it, as I’d never heard of it, and it was such a cool experience, and a lovely way to end our time with Mari and Raleigh.
The other highlight from this vacation were some of the amazing places we stayed in. Both lodges on the loch were superb – Loch Lomond for the lovely two bedroom suite we had, and Loch Aboyne, for the spa suite with hamman. We could happily stay in those rooms again! Kildrummy Castle Hotel was also really magical, it was just like staying in your own private castle, and what a great dinner we had there, only for the Lands of Loyal to surpass that in terms of dinner the next night. That was also a very special place to stay, and I felt so encouraged that there are amazing places like this available in the UK, and they don’t cost a fortune.
But of course the most wonderful aspect of this vacation were the great times we had with good friends. It was so lovely to see Hazel and Graeme again, and guys I hope you’re back a lot closer to home before too long, and we get to see you both more regularly. Seeing Maureen is always a joy, especially given her phenomenal enthusiasm for life, given her advancing years. If I’m half as active and healthy as her at her age (heck, if I even make it that far! ), then I’ll be happy…
And as for Mari and Raleigh, we had an absolute ball with them. We always get on so well together, and I loved seeing their reactions to things, from their love of all the dinners and food we had together to their sheer wonder at seeing some of the sights along the way. I lost count of the times Mari would grab my arm and say “this is Balmoral” or “I’m at Culloden”! Experiencing that sheer joy really made all the hard work that went into planning this vacation, and from Mark’s perspective, all the driving, very worthwhile. At least next time we do it, we’ll be cruising along from New York City to Quebec City, with no driving along twisting, and turning roads, no farm machinery… you get the idea!
Thank you for taking us along on your tour, the sites you saw were amazing and I learned a lot. I think you should have tracked how many times Mark ate sticky toffee pudding.
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Thank you for taking us along on your tour, the sites you saw were amazing and I learned a lot. I think you should have tracked how many times Mark ate sticky toffee pudding.
That is quite an impressive list - of everything! I'm really surprised the most about all the different country license plates. That is so cool, considering the UK is a big island.
I was thinking you might list the number of times Mark packed the trunk differently, but I guess it just equals the number of nights you were gone!
An amazing trip, and a real eye opener to all of Scotland. It truly deserves its own vacation, not just lumped into the rest of England. As always, thank you for sharing!!
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That is quite an impressive list - of everything! I'm really surprised the most about all the different country license plates. That is so cool, considering the UK is a big island.
I was thinking you might list the number of times Mark packed the trunk differently, but I guess it just equals the number of nights you were gone!
Yep, I think you're spot on with that one! I did keep offering to show him photos of how he'd done it the day before, but for some reason he kept saying he was fine with how he was doing it that day...
Quote:
An amazing trip, and a real eye opener to all of Scotland. It truly deserves its own vacation, not just lumped into the rest of England.
Oh my goodness, you are so right about that. It has so much to see there. We really will need to go back to do it justice.
I really enjoyed this latest adventure TR of yours! You got to see and experience so much over two weeks and better yet with some good firnds for much of it! Love those lists! That's crazy about the restaurant prices as I wouldn't expect that either.
Happy 18th Anniversary!!!!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
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What a great wrap up! I'm so glad you had such a great time on your adventure, got to see some great sights, and met up with great friends! Thanks for taking us along for the ride!
I really enjoyed this latest adventure TR of yours! You got to see and experience so much over two weeks and better yet with some good firnds for much of it! Love those lists! That's crazy about the restaurant prices as I wouldn't expect that either.
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We saw acers and pieris, both of which we’ve struggled to grow in our garden, but as we suspected and Maureen confirmed when we saw her, it’s down to the soil. Who knew? That’s certainly something we learnt. 
) 
) but surely that should then apply to other countries like the French, Italians etc.? I could never fathom out why only those two countries were so prevalent there. 
It wasn’t even in cities, it was in remote locations, but I guess maybe that’s the point – there aren’t that many restaurants and they can charge what they like. However, we did find that no-one was really looking for a tip, which shocked us. We’re not that big on tipping over here (10% if you think the service is really good!), but at no point were there options left when we went to pay by credit card, which is very different to down south. 
I really cannot thank Laurie enough for suggesting it, as I’d never heard of it, and it was such a cool experience, and a lovely way to end our time with Mari and Raleigh. 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
I think it was quite a few times! 
Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. 
Jenn
You got to see and experience so much over two weeks and better yet with some good firnds for much of it! 
Cathy
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