Heading for the Highlands

After a wonderful time in Edinburgh (I could totally stay longer), it was time to pick up our rental car. When I booked the car, it said “Edinburgh Waverley Station” – as in the main train station in town, the one I purposefully chose because it was close to our hotel and within walking distance… well, it turns out the Avis pickup was actually more like 2 miles from the hotel. After figuring that out, walking there and nearly twisting my ankle in the process… we finally got it all sorted out and we were on the road before long! Kiley (my hero) was brave enough to forge ahead in uncharted waters and figure out this backwards driving thing the UK has going on. She did a great job navigating us out of Edinburgh and into the countryside. I have to say it is pretty surreal sitting in the “drivers seat” and not having brakes or a steering wheel to go with it! It felt like we were fighting all our instincts for a while.

Our first stop of the day was the Clava Cairns, a few miles outside of the town of Inverness. These cairns are thought to be from the Bronze Age – as in, 5,000+ years old. They’re shrouded in mystery. A prehistoric stone circle located here served as the inspiration for the Outlander novels/tv show, so it was neat to see! I admittedly haven’t read the novels (they’re so dang long!) but I love the TV show.

Our next stop was just a few minutes drive away from the Clava Cairns. The Culloden Battlefield. This battlefield is historically significant to Scotland – it’s the site of the last battle of the Jacobite Rising, as well as the last battle pitched on British soil. The battle lasted only a hour and took the lives of 1,500 men, a thousand of which were Jacobites. This site also had a significant part in the Outlander story, so I was curious to see it in person! It was a beautiful sunny day, and perfect for a walk around. The battlefield is way larger than I imagined, and it was interesting to see how far each side had to go to meet each other in battle, and the landscape they were dealing with – it was boggy, overgrown, hard to traverse. In contrast, in 2024, there are nice walkable paths for tourists, though!

After wrapping up at Culloden, it was time for lunch and laundry! We put laundry off because the machines at our last accommodations seemed dodgy, and we were now in dire straits (read: no clean underwear left). We found a laundromat, figured out parking and got ‘er done just minutes before the place closed! Then we were happily on the road with our clean clothes and headed toward our B&B in Inverness. We arrived to a cute house and met the owners – an older couple that were very lovely and welcoming. They seemed a little bemused at the fact that we were both deaf. The woman asked, “So… you both are deaf?” and when we nodded in the affirmative, she just gave out a “huh!” and stared at us for a long moment, then said, “well, if there’s a fire, I’ll come in and wake you both up.” I mean, thank you?? But that was slightly amusing. At any rate, the stay was very comfortable and I would stay there again. They also cooked us a big breakfast and sent us off with a warning to be careful on the winding roads of Skye. Too right they were! I don’t think we were ready for just how winding they would be!

First, we stopped off at Loch Ness and visited the Loch Ness Center… because, why not? We were under the mistaken impression that it would be a museum that we could browse at our own leisure. Turns out, it was actually an audio/visual experience guided tour. The workers there immediately wanted to give us a refund because they didn’t have any captions or transcripts or anything that would help make this experience more accessible, and I thought for a moment they were actually gonna just tell us to leave… but they let us stay and check it out at least. It was neat, and we used a voice to text app to try and follow along. It wasn’t perfect, but we could get the gist of it. (Side note: I’m kind of tempted to go into museum studies just to learn about the industry & push for greater accessibility in museums/exhibits such as these). It was cute, anyway.

Next, we drove a few minutes to our next stop – Urquhart Castle. These castle ruins are right on the shores of Loch Ness and they have a great view. Founded in the 13th century, and largely abandoned in the 17th century, this castle has seen a lot of stuff happen. It was part of the Wars of Scottish Independence. It was raided a bunch by Scottish clans. Finally, it was destroyed to prevent its use by Jacobites. These ruins were fun to check out and explore.

We decided one castle wasn’t enough, so we headed to Eilean Donan Castle, with a pitstop for some nice scenery along the way. As we were making our way, I seriously felt like I was in a Lord of the Rings movie or something, the scenery we were seeing was unbelievable. The Eilean Donan castle actually is on an island and we had to cross a footbridge to get to it. It’s a pretty picturesque castle!

We then drove another hour and 15ish minutes to our airbnb. Super winding and narrow roads! Kiley drove like a champ. We’re staying in a tiny home behind someone’s actual house! It’s a cute little place, and actually more spacious than I was expecting. We’re here for two nights. We’re gonna explore a bunch in this region tomorrow! Here’s some photos of the Scottish landscapes!

More later!