Conquering Scotland Road-Trip Style...We Survived!!!

Well, I made it. For all you doubters out there (ahem, you know who you are) this may come as a surprise, but it's true...I lived through my first cross-country road trip. First country tackled by car--Scotland. Not only did we live, but we conquered!! There really isn't a better word to use, because (to use another cliche) we had decided to go big or go home...and yes, you guessed it, we went big. I'm not really sure how I'm going to describe the three day journey, because I know words cannot explain the scenery, the experience, or the feeling I have now having completed the trip, but I promise I will do my best. Plus, the pictures will help me out on this one. So here goes...

Day 1: We ventured off on our EPIC road trip on Friday, very very early in the morning. We all met up at the Starbucks on High Street...this is also right above the train station where we would meet our shuttle bus to the airport car rental place. Emily, who had rented the car, unfortunately missed her alarm clock at 6:30am, so Nora, Carolyn and I were forced to sip coffee while we waited for her to make it to the meeting point, but since it was raining and windy, we didn't mind staying warm for a little bit. The weather on Friday was slightly troublesome...we had woken up to rain so we just crossed our fingers it wouldn't turn into snow and decided to continue on with our plans. Once we were all together, we headed down to the airport shuttle and then to the airport. We picked up our car, packed up all of our stuff, and then reality started to sink in. We were actually doing this!! Emily was first to try driving, so I sat in front to help her navigate. We pulled out our Scotland road map (which I quickly became veryyy attached too), buckled up, took a few deep breaths, and slowly ventured onto the road. Emily took a few trips around the parking lot to figure out which side of the road we needed to be on at all times, practiced some right-hand turns, and then pulled off on the highway. I know what you're thinking--these girls are crazy--but just breathe, and stick with me. Trust me, we did alright. Of course, immediately outside the airport, there was a series of round-a-bouts, so our first real test at driving came right at the start. Emily mastered them though, and once we were on the highway, we all started to relax...just a little though. I stayed concentrated on the map while we sat back and started to take in the amazing scenery that was all around us right outside the city. It did not take long to get away from the crowded buildings of Edinburgh...in fact, maybe 5 minutes out of the airport there was vast fields, mountains in the distance, and snow covered houses scattered around. Of course, we all started taking pictures right away, and this did not stop until the end of the trip. Once we were all comfortable in the car, we turned on the radio and found our selection of Gaelic stations and BBC Scotland news stations. Incredible choices. Gaelic is definitely a different language...somehow, this shocked us, and the novelty of that station did not go away for the entire trip. We definitely continued to tune into that station (because, of course, Gaelic stations never lost service throughout Scotland) so that we could pick up some Gaelic...this did not happen, but we tried. We also just felt more authentic as we were listening to the bagpipes and Gaelic singers, so you can't blame us!

Our drive was extremely smooth for the first part of the day. Our first stop was Loch Leven...on it is the castle in which Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned. Tourists can usually get there by ferry from the parking lot, but since we decided to take this trip at the end of February, the loch was frozen, and the ferry was definitely not operating. However, we still went to see the loch, and it was stunning. Once back in the car, we headed to Pitlochery--a little town in the Perthshire region of the Highlands. When we got there, we immediately headed up to see Atholl Castle...the first real castle we would see on our trip. Doubling as a hotel, the castle sits above Pitlochery and has stunning views of the Highlands that surrounds it. We stopped in the parking lot and found a little stairwell to climb up so that we could see the views, but realized quickly we were not supposed to be up on the deck because there was a traditional dance lesson going on for people staying at the castle. So, we headed back into the town and stopped to take a driving break and eat the sandwiches we had all packed. We walked around for a little bit, bought some postcards, and stopped at an adorable chocolate and coffee shop (what combination could be better!?) Once re-charged, we headed up A9 to Inverness in hopes of getting there in time to see Loch Ness that afternoon. However, fate had other plans for us. Five minutes outside of Pitlochery, we hit a traffic jam. We thought it was a perfect opportunity to get out (all except Nora, who was driving), and take pictures and dance to the CD's we had found in Pitlochery (we ended up with a stellar collection--Michael Jackson, The Carpenters, John Denver, 50 Country Hits, a 2 sided Rock and Roll Hits mix, and a Scottish Sing-a-long) so that's what we all did. However, after about 5 minutes, we realized we definitely weren't moving, so Carolyn and I decided to walk up to the front of the line of traffic to see what the deal was. We got up to the front and talked to the police officer, who told us that the road ahead was closed due to winds and snow and it would not re-open for a couple hours, if that. We headed back to the car to relay the information, and on the way, were stopped by every single car in line...everyone wanted to know what we had found out. So, there Carolyn and I are, running from car to car, talking to Scottish families about road conditions and travel. Along the way, we met one woman who 'holidays' in Colorado, we picked up new road information along the way, and we had great conversations with people just trying to get to Inverness. It was one of the funniest experiences of my life!! So, once we got back to our car and upon the police man's suggestion, we decided to NOT give up on the trip and instead, drive up the west coast of Scotland (which was about 5 hours out of our way) to make it to Inverness. The great thing about our group was that we didn't panic--we didn't hesitate--we just went with the flow and spontaneously changed our route so that we could still make our trip happen.

Loch Leven (covered in ice) and castle where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned

Nora and I...we were excited to be at Loch Leven!!

Our pit-stop in Pitlochery...talking to the cars in front of us about the road closure

Our west-coast decision turned out to be spectacular. The drive took us through Aberfeldy, Kenmore, Loch Tay, over Glencoe Pass, and finally to Inverness. The roads were much narrower than we had driven on before, so Carolyn took over driving and was a total champ. The further we got from Pitlochery, we started to realize why the other roads had been closed. There was MUCH more snow around once we got further and further into the heart of the Highlands. I was excited because our new route was going to take us right past Loch Tay, and for the first part of the day, I had been trying to convince the girls to go out of our way to make it there--I thought I had remembered someone telling me how beautiful the loch was, so I really wanted to go there...the funny thing was though, that the second we drove into Kenmore (which is a little town that sits on the edge of the loch) I remember having been there with my family on our first Scotland Roadtrip!! It was the place we'd celebrated my dad's 50th birthday, and I recognized the beautiful town immediately. So, apparently, I had been the one telling myself Loch Tay was beautiful, because I had already seen it! The loch did not disappoint though...and to see the town and the loch in the snow was spectacular. We stopped to take pictures on a road pull off when we saw 2 Highland Cows sitting right up against the fence, so we thought it'd be a perfect picture opportunity. These cows are ridiculous! They look pre-historic or something, and they are everywhere in the Highlands. I also never got sick of seeing the sheep. All of it was just so quintessential Scotland, that it never got old.

The town of Kenmore!! Right on the edge of Loch Tay...I've been here in May before!!

Loch Tay in the winter...looks a little different huh?

Me and the Highland Cows

After Loch Tay came Glencoe Pass. THIS WAS INCREDIBLE. Yes, we drove through it during a relatively snowy time, but still, it was spectacular. The snow added a different kind of beauty to the surroundings. I remember having driven through the pass in May with my family, and the green mountains were definitely beautiful, but being there surrounded by these massive peaks covered in untouched snow was magical. There was an eery, almost ominous pressence about the mountains, and the tops of the peaks were hidden by the white sky, so you couldn't always tell where the mountains ended and the sky began. There would be times though that the rugged rock-sides of the mountain would jut out, and you'd be reminded of where you were. The entire time we drove through, I was glued to the window, trying to remember the pass in my mind forever. I did think to myself many times that if I was in Colorado, there would be ski-tracks all over the peaks, which made me smile thinking about Independence Pass in June, but it was incredible to see how untouched and clean everything looked. Hopefully the pictures can show a glimpse of how cool the pass was, but I'm pretty sure it was one of those drives you had to be on to fully understand.

View from the front seat going over Glencoe Pass

Glencoe Pass again

Again...amazing

The mountains in the background don't even look real!

Me at the base of Glencoe Pass

We made it through the pass, stopped at the town at the bottom to take more pictures of the scenery, and continued on to Fort Williams and finally to Inverness. Fort Williams is where I took over the driving (AHH) and I'm happy to report that I had absolutely no disasters driving. It was a little (actually VERY) weird to get used to being on the other side of the car, and the road, especially when you make right-hand turns and have to end up on the left-side of the road. I had trouble gauging where I should keep the car on the road...not too close to the median but not on the curve. Basically, I felt like a new driver, and when it came time to pass my first car, I definitely held my breath, clenched the wheel, and experienced that rush of driving. Because we had to go so far out of our way due to the road closures, it was pretty late by the time we finally made it to Inverness, so our drive into the small city was in the dark. Yes, I drove on the other side of the road at night. And I did well! Unfortunately, we couldn't tell that we were driving past Loch Ness as we approached Inverness, but having made it to the city was our main goal, and we did it. However, we quickly realized that Inverness was a much bigger place than we had thought, and we did not have directions to our hostel specifically. So I was left to navigate the city at night, with very vague driving directions. I picked a few cars to stick behind and aimlessly drove around the city until we finally found our bearings and made it to the hostel, but it was definitely an interesting experience that I'm sure some of you will not be happy reading about. (But we did make it! Just keep telling yourselves that :) )

So Inverness rapped up our first day on the road...we stayed at a hostel for the first time, and were so tired that quickly ate dinner at a close pub and then passed out. At that point of the day, the trip already felt like a dream. We couldn't believe that we had just driven up the west coast of the country, instead of the more direct route we had planned, and how well it all worked out. Being here, I have completely come around to believing that absolutely everything happens for a reason, and that in the end, things have a way of working out for the best. I know, it took me a long time to trust that, but I finally do. And this was just another example of it...we had been flexible with our plans, and our first day could not have turned out better!

Emily and me on the river in Inverness

Day 2: Saturday started off early, because due to the detour we had to take on Friday, we needed to fit in Loch Ness before we headed up north. So, that's exactly what we did, because things just seemed to have a way of working out for us. We ended up taking a ferry out on Loch Ness to Urquhart Castle, which dates all the way back to St. Columba (someone I am learning about in my Celtic Civilization class) in the 6th century. There is still an impressive structure that remains of the castle, and the ferry ride was beautiful, of course, but we did not get to see Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. We pulled up to the castle and breaked for a little bit before heading back to the car and headed off on our way up north. Again, immediately outside of Inverness, the city-like feeling disappeared and we were again surrounded by snowy mountains and wilderness. We drove towards Dornoch and were impressed at how quickly we hit the coast. It was really impressive to be in snow covered mountains one minute and then next to the ocean and sprawling green fields the next. Near Dornoch, we spotted signs for Dunnrobin Castle, so (of course) we decided to pull in. We were the only ones there!! It was like the entire castle was ours, which of course we loved, and our mass-photo shoot ensued of the gorgeous building, amazing gardens, and the view of the water. At that point, we had realized that a major plus about traveling around Scotland in February is that there are very few other people who have chosen to do that, so we were the only people at most of the touristy points we stopped at. This allowed us to imagine this entire castle was all ours, and it was so nice to just be able to do whatever we wanted without crowds of people everywhere.

Urquhart Castle from our ferry on Loch Ness

Me in front of the castle

Dunnrobin castle--completely deserted...it was all ours for the day!

Nora drove away from Dunnrobin up the east coast, and we quickly realized this was a mistake. Nora drives about 2 mph, which we all realized shortly after she proceeded to slow down to about 1 mph on the first hill we hit. SO, needless to say, we replaced Nora at the driving thing almost immediately after she started. I'm not saying any of us drove too fast, but 2mph was slightly unnecessary. Our destination for the night was Castletown, which is about 10 miles from Wick and about 5 from Thurso, so that's where we headed from Dornoch. I think this was my favorite part of the entire drive. We reached the coastline, and the highway hugged the North Sea all the way up for the rest of the drive. In every direction, there was stone walls, sheep, rolling green hills, snow covered mountains in the distance, and the stunning cliffs that dropped into the water. It was breathtaking. Trying to capture with my camera just wasn't working, so I sat back and just took it all in. We all asked each other questions about what we wanted to be when we grow-up, what our siblings were like, ect. to pass the time, and it was so nice to just be in a car with amazing friends, relaxing outside the craziness of Edinburgh. Our Michael Jackson and John Denver CD's weren't bad either. I took over driving about an hour outside Wick, and we stopped once we got there to take a break and get some food. We ended up in a little pub, watching the England vs. Ireland rugby game on a small little tv. It was surreal...here I was, in Wick, watching rugby. Crazy!! Once the game was over, we headed for Castletown...the whole rest of the drive just marveling at how remote the area was. I mean, there would be houses off by themselves on cliffs in all directions. It is absolutely beautiful and peaceful up there, but I cannot imagine living in that remote of an area.

Scotland's northeast coast

Out of the snow and into the green fields and ocean

Finally, we reached Castletown, and our hotel was not difficult to find this time. In fact, it was the only hotel in the area, and it boasted the only bar for miles. We checked in, talked to the nicest receptionist, who was also the owner, the bartender, the waitress, AND the chef, and relaxed for a little bit before heading down to the bar because that Saturday night was the monthly pub quiz for the town!!! Seriously, how lucky could we be?? Yes, we absolutely participated in the trivia night. The quiz master was probably the most Scottish man I have ever seen with the heaviest scottish accent I have ever heard, and the entire time he asked questions, he would look at our table and smile, just knowing we would get the answers wrong. Of course, the trivia was based around farming, Highland politics, and Scotland, so no, we did not win. But, it was the most incredible trivia night ever...I mean, the whole time we were there, we just kept reminding ourselves that we were in the wayyyy north of Scotland, in the smallest town ever, in the smallest pub ever, with some of the nicest people I've ever met. Wow, crazy huh?

Day 3: The next morning, we woke up to an impressive breakfast provided by the hotel...and yes, the receptionist from the night before and her husband had made it. They asked us what our plans were, and after telling them we were headed to John O' Groats before heading back to Edinburgh, they reminded us to stop by Dunnet Head, which is the most northern point in main land Great Britain. Obviously wanting to go there, we set off in that direction...it turns out, we were only 5 miles away from this point, so the entire night, we were pretty far north!! We got out to Dunnet Head and again, were all by ourselves out there. I can't even explain to you what we saw when we got out there. We stepped out of the car to SUN! It was a blue-sky day and 360 degrees of absolute solitude...and the edge of the point looked straight out across to the southern tip of the Orkney Islands. On our side of the cliffs were green but we faced the Orkney Cliffs that were covered in snow. I have never seen cliffs covered in snow going into blue ocean, and it was stunning. Without anyone else being out on Dunnet Head, were were able to say with confidence that we were the most northern people in mainland Great Britain. Being out there was the craziest thing in the world. I can't begin to describe the rush of emotions that ran through my head. It all started to sink in that I had done this...I had rented a car, driven off into Scotland, and survived. I felt so incredibly accomplished, so proud of myself, so alive, so grown-up, so confident in my abilities to deal with anything in the world, and, maybe most of all, so happy and lucky that I had met friends here that allowed me to have this experience. There definitely aren't enough words to completely explain that feeling I had when I was standing there, but I know I'll never forget it.

Dunnet Head lighthouse...looking across to Orkney Islands covered in snow

Me, at the most northern point in mainland Great Britain

Me and Carolyn

Contemplating how great life is...looking at Orkney Islands

Once we left Dunnet Head, we passed the Castle Mey and John O' Groats, the whole time being mesmerized by the scenery around us. I could have stayed in that car forever, just looking at the landscape...I remember driving around with my family a few years ago, thinking the exact same thing--Scotland is one of my favorite places in the world. The drive back down the coast was just as spectacular as the way up, and this time, we had a beautiful blue-sky day to drive through. All four of us were trying to process how we were feeling on the trip back, so a lot of the time, we just sat back, listened to good music, and took in the scenery. This was interrupted frequently by all of us expressing again how we couldn't believe we had pulled this trip off, and then we would go back into silence, all lost in our thoughts again. We made it back through Pitlochery, stopping for lunch there for the 2nd time, and then cruised back to Edinburgh. Carolyn and I split the driving for the day, and I finished the drive up by getting us back to the airport safely. We took a picture in front of our car (which we named Elvis by the way) before we handed over the keys, and then we bussed back into the city. We hugged on the street corner outside the Starbucks we had started off the journey in, commenting on how long ago Friday felt and how we couldn't believe it was all over, and then all went our separate ways back to our flats.

View from the drive from Dunnett Head to John O' Groats

The fabulous four...we made it! In front of Elvis, our amazing car.

That night, I just sat in my room, thinking about the trip, and couldn't believe it had actually happened. It felt like the most incredible dream. The trip as a whole was different than any other trip I've ever taken. Again, it's hard to convey what I mean...It was definitely the most adventurous (and maybe slightly dangerous) thing I've ever decided to do. It went against what most people told me they think I should have done (and they were probably very just in their advice). But it ended up being one of the most incredible weekends, and is definitely and Abroad experience that I will never forget. One of the best parts about it also is that I'll always have the people I took the trip with to remember each moment with.

However, eventually on Sunday night, I was forced to face the reality that I had to get back into life in Edinburgh (trust me, that's not too hard...I am obsessed with this city). I watched part of the USA-Canada Hockey game and talked to some friends here that were all dieing to know if we had survived the trip. Monday I headed to the library to work on big papers I have due over the next couple of weeks, and now I get to look forward to this coming weekend...my abroad program has organized a trip for all of us to Argyll, one of the western islands of Scotland. Another weekend traveling around Scotland? Yes, I think I can handle that.

As for now, I think that is plenty of reading for one blog post. New things I did this past week? I don't even think I can list all of them but I'll try.

New Things:

--driving a car on the other side of the road

--road tripping around scotland

--staying in a hostel

--pub quiz in Castletown, Scotland

--being the most northern person in mainland Great Britain

--CONQUERING SCOTLAND!!!

Can't wait to tell you all about next weekend!

XO