It must be time to go home, because I hardly took any pictures today. We went to Holyroodhouse Palace this morning. It was kind of fun going back and seeing what has changed. They have recorded sections of the audio guide to talk about King Charles, absolutely no mention of Prince Harry or Prince Andrew, and the best part of the abbey ruins was shrouded in scaffolding for conservation.
Holyroodhouse Palace is a working residence of the royal family, but it also has preserved the rooms of Mary Queen of Scots and describes how her husband, Lord Darnley, formed and carried out a plan to kill her friend and secretary in Mary’s chambers. There are also examples of her embroidery on display. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take photos inside.
I’m sad that we didn’t get to walk up Arthur’s Seat, but between Irving’s knee and my ankle, it didn’t seem wise.
In the afternoon, we took a bus to Leith. We thought we might get a glimpse of the Royal Yacht Britannia, but it was hidden behind buildings with no public access. We wandered around instead, found a nice gin distillery, and walked along part of the Leith waterway.
We are now packed up and ready to go. We just learned that our flight is already delayed by 90 minutes, so we’ll see what it looks like in the morning.
It has been a great trip. The hike was a good experience and we’ve done quite a bit of exploring since. After 12 different beds in 16 days, I’m ready to stay put for a while.
The big event of the day was going to Edinburgh Castle. We didn’t go last time because there were so many people around that we thought it would be too much for the kids. As you will see in the pictures there were still too many people, but it was worth the trip.
The castle entrance
The real story of the conflict between England and Scotland frequently sounds like a work of fiction. For example, it is hard to imagine that a king might be imprisoned in another country for 14 years and still be considered the king. Some of the siege stories also sound like fiction.
We stood in line to see the “Honours of Scotland” — the sword and sceptre (the crown was removed for conservation work), and also the “Stone of Destiny” in the vault. Strangely, there was a period of more than 100 years following the treaty that unified England and Scotland when nobody knew where they were. They were eventually found in a locked chest in the castle, and Sir Walter Scott was on hand for the opening of the chest. Frankly, some of the other jewels in the vault were more interesting. We didn’t spend a lot of time in the the war museum, but it was interesting to see more about the “conquest” of India and battles in Africa, and how the presentation is shifting to both recognize the sacrifices made by soldiers and the harm that colonialism caused.
We heard and mostly saw the 1 pm gun. It was originally used to help sailors in the Firth set their clocks for navigation, but now is ceremonial.
One of the more interesting rooms in which we were allowed to take pictures was the Great Hall. It had a beautiful hammerbeam roof, and the intricately carved wooden walls were adorned with swords. I think the audio guide said more than 200 swords.
There is a truly impressive war memorial. We were not allowed to take photos out of respect, but the picture above shows an angle carved on the side of the building.
There were also great views from the castle walls.
I thought maybe this should be Irving’s room since it had his initials.
After the castle and lunch, we did a whiskey tour at the Scotch Whiskey Experience. It probably wasn’t worth the money, but they put on a good show and we did taste a few interesting whiskeys in a room with a huge whiskey collection.
We found a wonderful little restaurant called Under the Stairs. It was a small plates restaurant with creative and tasty dishes and cocktails. After dinner we went in search of a bar where there was live folk music. It took a couple of tries, but we found one and had a great time.
(I had trouble loading pictures from the camera, so there are some more I’ll try to add later.)
Before leaving Stirling we stopped at the Church of the Holy Rude, the site of the coronation of King James VI of Scotland at age 17 months. When Queen Elizabeth I died, James VI also became King James of England, and the one who commissioned the King James Bible.
The church dates from the 1400s including an original hammerbeam roof.
It also had some spectacular stained glass windows.
Due to conflicts in the leadership of the church, a wall was erected in the middle of the church to divide it in two around 1660. The church remained divided for 280 years until they finally united and took down the wall in 1935.
From the church cemetery, we could see Stirling Castle. There was a crow hopping around willing to be photographed.
Our next stop was the Falkirk Wheel, the only rotating lift lock in the world. Apparently, it requires electricity the equivalent of only 8 tea kettles to rotate once. It was pretty fun to watch it work.
Each of the circles contains a trough of water for a boat and carries it up or down.
The Falkirk Wheel replaced 11 traditional lift locks when it was built.
We also walked to an old Roman fort location. It was all covered in grass, but it was fascinating to think that they know the name of the commander of the fort when it was in operation 1800 years ago. This was a far north as the Romans got.
We made one more stop before driving into Edinburgh. I had seen picture of the Kelpies and was keen to see them in person. The two 30-metre tall horses stand on either side of a traditional lift lock, but a park has been created around them.
We finally drove into Edinburgh, arriving at our flat around 4:30. After bringing our bags up, we drove the car to the parking lot where we had been instructed to leave it, and walked to dinner. Our flat is just off the Royal Mile, so we walked down it on the way home.
Today we visited Doune Castle and Stirling Castle.
Doune Castle is most famous as a setting for Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Outlander, and Game of Thrones.
It was built in the late 14th century by the Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany and the son of King Robert II of Scots. Few changes were made to the castle until the 1800’s when some restoration took place. It again fell into disrepair until its modern restoration.
The window where Prince Herbert from the swamp castle laments his lot in life.Apparently the stair where two knights die when Lancelot rushes up to save the prince. The two knights were played by the same person who just happened to be visiting the castle that day and was happy to fall over the rail.Chandelier in the 19th century Great HallThe Holy Grail — on sale
After learning about the life of a duke in the 1400s and Monty Python filming, we drove down to the center of Stirling for lunch. We happened upon Darnley Coffee House which was once the home of Lord Darnley, the second husband of Mary Queen of Scots. It was the perfect stop for a warm bowl of soup before our next castle.
Stirling Castle was the one of the most used royal residences before the union of Scotland and England and an important fortress that changed hands multiple times as a result of battles between the English and the Scots. Like every castle we have visited, there is a connection to both Mary Queen of Scots and Bonny Prince Charlie. Mary Queen of Scots spent her early childhood here and was crowned here. Bonny Prince Charlie tried but failed to capture the castle in the Jacobite wars.
Although parts of the cast were built in at least the 12th century, most of the existing buildings were built between 1490 and 1600.
The palace, built by James VContrast between the palace on the right and the great hall on the left. The great hall was completed for James IV and was the largest hall in the British Isles, until Henry VIII got jealous and built a bigger one.The original frieze (1628) in the Chapel Royal, built for the baptism of Henry, the son and heir of James VI’s son. Since James VI of Scotland became King James of England, Stirling Castle was no longer used as a royal residence.Robert the Bruce, King of Scots (1309 to 1329) who led Scotland in the first war of independence against England.
Despite being windy and rainy, we spent 3 hours at the castle because there was so much to see.
Our guest house is quite close to the castle, and we found a small pub close by for dinner and are now dry and warm.
In the morning, we headed back to the center of Oban to a cute little cafe for breakfast. The rain started not long after, so we didn’t spend much more time before pointing the car towards Aberfeldy. It rained pretty hard during the two-hour drive. We drove through Tyndrum, which was one of the places we stayed on the hike. I’m glad we didn’t have to hike for hours in the pouring rain on this stretch of the trail.
The clouds parted when we arrived in Aberfeldy for a late lunch, which we followed with l a visit to Castle Menzies (pronounced Mengus). It was a fascinating place. The oldest part of the castle was built in the 16th century, and became the ancestral home of the Clan Menzies for 500 years. A major addition was built in the 1800’s, but most of that section had to be torn down due to rot when renovations began in earnest in the 1970’s. The castle and land was sold when the last baronet Menzies died without an heir and bankrupt around 1913.
Every castle needs a ghost
Like many castles in Scotland, there is a connection to Bonny Prince Charlie, who stayed there for two nights on his way to the Battle of Culloden, where the Jacobites had their last stand.
A sword used by a Menzies family member in the Battle of Culloden.
There was lots of evidence of the restoration efforts and the bare bones of the castle. Because there was a record of what was auctioned in 1913, a few original pieces from the castle have been recovered.
Apparently, the Menzies were great curlers, since there was a case full of curling prizes. We later learned that the curling pond still exists. I’m not sure if anyone still uses it for curling.
We had just enough time after checking into our hotel to walk to the Dewar’s distillery for a small tasting flight. The walk took us along the river Tay.
We had a nice dinner at the hotel. We did very little walking to give my ankle and Irving’s knee a chance to recover.
We were very grateful to sleep in a little this morning and not have to put on our hiking boots. After breakfast in the hotel, we caught a taxi to pick up our car. We drove back to the centre of town to look around a bit, but left Fort William to drive to Oban. The roads were good and Irving has a remarkable ability to drive on the left side of the road.
Our first stop in Oban was for lunch. Then we headed over to the distillery to taste some whiskey. Notice the colosseum-like structure on the hill.
McCaigs’s Tower was built by John Stuart McCaig between 1897 and 1902. He wanted to build a lasting monument to his family, and the structure was to have a central tower and statues in the arches. His death prevented the completion. We drove up (thanks to my ankle and Irving’s knee) to look around.
There were great views of the town from here.
The large ship is a ferry to the nearby islands, possibly the Isle of Mull.
After checking into our hotel which was right along the harbor, we walked back to the center to a seafood restaurant called Ee-Usk. Ee-Usk is the phonetic spelling of fish in Gaelic.
The seafood platter
We caught some nice views of the harbor and town, both to and from dinner.
We have been trying to sample the most local beer, whiskey, or gin wherever we stop. Tonight, in Kinlochleven, we had gin from this still in the restaurant.
Not the best photo of the still, but the patrons in the bar were intent on the rugby match on the television.
The weather forecast suggested that it would rain all day, getting heavier in the afternoon, so we all set out in our rain gear. Our guides did a little dancing as we gathered to give us all energy.
It was quite windy, but the rain seemed to be holding off, and after a while the clouds lifted enough that we shed our rain pants. It was a steep climb out of the town, and then a long mountain trail. The first part was made more challenging because there was a vintage motorbike rally which meant that we had to stick to one side of the trail for about the first hour or so, and put up with fumes from their engines. They were friendly and respectful of the hikers, so it was hard to be too annoyed.
The road leads ever on
We were all cheerful and reflective as we were nearing the end. I commented that every hour without rain felt like a gift.
The first part of the hike was a pretty steep climb. It was amazing how quickly Kinlochleven receded into the distance.
The pictures don’t really convey the breathtaking beauty of the mountains. It’s sad to realize that they have all been logged, but the heather and small bushes that cover them are so colourful.
I tended to be near the back of the pack either because I was taking pictures, or because I chose a bad time to take off or put on a jacket or rain pants. At least that means I got pictures of our group from time to time.
We finally rounded a corner to see the famous Ben Nevis rising above, so of course we stopped for photos.
Ben NevisThe direction of my hair gives a pretty good indication of the wind.Tracing the path
The last 4 or so kilometers were along the road leading into Fort William, but we finally reached the end. The rain started in earnest about two hours before the end. I managed to twist my ankle on the final descent thanks to the stony road. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to be too bad.
The end of the West Highland Way is at the centre of Fort William at a statue. Conveniently there is an excellent brew pub immediately behind the statue where we all had a drink before heading to the hotel to get cleaned up. They wouldn’t let me clean my glasses before the group photo.
We were both extremely satisfied at being able to finish the hike in pretty good health. Irving’s knee was giving him some grief, and he developed a big blister on one toe. I strained my ankle right near the end, but otherwise we are in pretty good shape. According to my watch, we covered 194 km in seven days (270,567 steps).
There were lots of times when it was really hard to keep going and we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into, but we gained a new appreciation for the beauty around us, and a new perspective on what we are capable of.
It’s an intimidating name for a climb, but it turned out not to be as tough as it sounded.
Last night we stayed in the Kingshouse Hotel. It was a surprise to find such a luxurious hotel with nothing else around it. There even appeared to be staff accommodations on site. The clientele couldn’t have all been hikers. It was a real treat to have a room with a great bathtub and shower, a towel heater that worked (which I used to dry hand-washed clothes), and useful places to hang clothes. The restaurant was a gourmet experience! I had a smoked salmon starter, sea-trout with green beans and potato for a main, and pineapple carpaccio for dessert. Irving had venison for his main, and everyone exclaimed about how tasty everything was. It was such a treat after a long day.
The back of the Kingshouse Hotel
Since today was a shorter one, we started a bit later with breakfast at 8. I opened the curtains in our room to completely blue sky, and we had glorious weather all day.
We paused for photos as we started in in the trail. Everyone was a little giddy with the sunshine and spectacular views.
We had a relatively short walk to the base of the hill we were to climb.
Scenic cottage at the base of the Devil’s Staircase (behind us)Going up
This picture doesn’t convey how steep this hill was. If you zoom in you can see the little dots that are people farther up the hill. I was definitely one of the last of our group to get to the top, huffing and puffing all the way, but it was honestly an enjoyable climb because the views were so spectacular.
Looking down the path we climbed
We tried to find a sheltered spot for lunch because the wind was quite cold, and then we started the long descent to sea level.
The white smudge nestled in the trees at the bottom of the valley is Kinlochleven, our destination for today. It was only about 8km from this point.
Every time we turned a corner or stopped to look backwards, the was a new vista.
I started chatting with one of the hikers who is a knitter about the potential for colourways made from what we were seeing.
I also enjoyed the variety of heather.
We arrived in Kinlochleven around 2:30, but we had a bit of a walk to get to our accommodations, so we were all a bit foot-sore. We have a 20 minute walk to dinner, which we aren’t thrilled about, but dinner is always a fun time.
Here is the Strava info for the day. Despite the steep climb, it was the second lowest elevation gain of the week.
Our guides were really cracking the whip this morning. Luggage drop-off was 7:20 so we could be at breakfast by 7:30. I had my first “full Scottish” breakfast at the Real Food Cafe: sausage, black pudding, bacon, egg, beans, tattie scone, fried mushrooms. I should have taken a picture of it. It was more than I could eat, but delicious.
Becky (our guide), April, BrianSusanna (Hungary), Kathryn (Australia), Ernie, Christine, Anne, Matthew,Tom, Laurie, Monica, Karen, Irving. Photo by Alvina, our other guide.
Perhaps the best feature of our lodging in Tyndrum was the drying room. Starting today with dry boots really made a difference.
Today we walked from Tyndrum to Kingshouse Hotel in Glencoe. It was listed as 30km, but since my watch has been measuring 2-4 km longer than the itinerary stated, I was braced for more. I thought it was going to be a little flatter, but we had a very long climb and descent towards the end of the day. The weather was glorious. I only put on my raincoat at the end of the day when rain started as we were coming into the hotel. Fortunately, since our guides were encouraging us to keep moving, we arrived at our luxurious hotel around 5pm with plenty of time to enjoy it.
It was a long day, but a pleasant one. There was lots of time to look around and take in the beautiful environment.
We spent quite a few kilometers on an old military cobblestone road that was fairly hard on the feet.
Obligatory waterfall picture Rowan tree on the leftMorning bathroom break at the Bridge of Orchy.HeatherA little bird who hopped beside me when we stopped for a break.Weather A long roadAn example of what the cobblestone road often looked like.There was a stretch of woods that looked like they might swallow you up in the darkness.
Today was an easier day, arriving Tyndrum shortly after 3pm. We spent the first half of the day climbing and the second half descending or on relatively flat trails.
The Drovers Inn, where we stayed last night, was built in 1705. The restaurant and pub really felt like they were from a time long past, with dark stone walls hung with swords, and many taxidermy specimens in the lobby.
We had a misty sort of rain most of the day which detracted from the views and sapped our energy, but we were relieved to have more time to recover at the end of the day.
As we climbed, we followed along a moss-covered stone fence. On the other side were large numbers of sheep. We even saw two dogs herding a group of sheep towards the barn at one point.
The halfway point at Crianlarich
Just before lunch, we crossed the halfway point of the West Highland Way.
On the way down, we encountered a logging operation and watched as they felled a large tree. We also passed by many areas of reforestation.
It was nice to walk at a faster pace to stretch the legs out. We passed by an old cemetery with gravestones from the 18th century and some carved slabs from the 7th or 8th century.
We crossed under an old viaduct.
Both Irving and I are pretty happy with how our bodies are holding up. I have a couple of spots on my toes that I will have to bandage tomorrow, but that is primarily due to the wet weather.
Tomorrow is the long day, so we’ll see how tired we are after that.
The Reid family 