high speed through the Highlands

Now we managed to not take a whole week to write a report, but only 6 days. During that time, we have driven a lot of kilometres, because right now we are already on the ferry to Holland.

The last few days we have been driving the NC500 in the Scottish Highlands. Last Sunday, after walking the ridge, we refreshed our bus at the campsite. This means filling up water, emptying and cleaning the toilet, washing up and showering.

The campsite was, as I mentioned in the last entry, in a really nice place right by the fjord. The downside? Everybody knows mosquitoes, but have you ever experienced Scottish midges? These are real pests. They look like our fruit flies, but come in swarms by the thousands. They don't sting they bite, preferably in the face. As soon as the sun was gone behind a mountain, these nasty creatures would come up from their hiding place. No chance of sitting outside for the evening.

A little before noon we left for Glenfinnan. There is the famous Glenfinnan Viaduct, best known from the Harry Potter movies. The Jacobite Express, the steam train that runs over the viaduct twice a day, was used for the Hogwarts Express. We were there at about 1:00 p.m. and learned that in about 20 minutes the train was going to cross the bridge. How lucky, we read on the Internet about other times. Together with a lot of other tourists, some of them obviously Harry Potter fans, we stood on a small hill and waited for the train to arrive. And with about 10 minutes delay the train chugged over the viaduct and blew two whistles. Right opposite the viaduct is the large Loch Shiel, the lake which was near the castle during the movies. Very beautiful, and worth a visit.

After an overpriced lunch we drove on to Loch Ness, to a small place called Fort Augustus. On the shore of the lake we first looked for the monster of Loch Ness. So, with a little imagination you can see it 😉. In the village itself, we went for a little walk and watched how they let the small boats from the river into the lake through different locks. Then later in the afternoon, we drove until we were hungry. That place was also on a fjord. Or lake. Actually, it was the sea in the shape of a lake. If you look at the map of West Scotland, you know why we were sometimes a little confused.

On Monday, we really started with the North Coast 500. We have heard, or read, that this is a new tourist route. But we must not take it literally. The roads have been there for a long time, they just made something touristy out of it with all the signs, plaques, public toilets etc. The roads themselves leave a lot to be desired. They were narrow and full of potholes. But apart from that, we were just excited about this country! The Western Highlands are really special in terms of scenery. On the one hand, you feel like you're in an alpine area, on the other hand, you're going around a bend and you're right back at the sea. Often, around every bend and every hill, a whole new landscape would emerge. What we also found brilliant, was the touristy things. Many public (and very clean) toilets, with the camper you could basically stand free, no matter where you wanted. There were no height restrictions and at many stations there was also fresh drinking water to fill up for free. In Ireland, it was actually quite the opposite, which sometimes made it difficult to find parking for the night. Scotland is definitely friendlier.

We really spent the day driving down the coast. We stopped at some beautiful places to marvel at the nature and take pictures. In Ullapool we took a longer break and had a nice coffee. Somewhere in a place without a name we stopped to walk for 5 minutes to a waterfall in a small gorge.

After the stop at the Kylesku bridge to cook our dinner we drove all the way up to the north and stayed there in a nice quiet place. There we experienced a nice sunset.

On Tuesday, too, we had to do kilometres. On Monday, we covered about 210 kilometres, on Tuesday as well. Why do we hurry so quickly and hardly take time to experience something? Originally, Sarah didn't want to go to Scotland at all, but from Ireland straight to England, crossing there as fast as possible to get to Scandinavia as fast as possible. Partly because she knew that Scotland would definitely be worth a longer visit than just passing through, which would delay the arrival in Scandinavia. But Lukas was able to persuade her to spend a few days there, but not too long. It was a good idea, we were both really excited, and probably not the last time in Scotland.

So, on Tuesday we just went along the coast, stopped in a few places like Dunnet Head, the northernmost point of the British mainland. There we saw another puffin. The next stop was at Sinclaire Castle, a ruin built right on a rock by the sea and one of UNESCO's best protected sites.

That day was the first time we both realised that we were getting a little tired of travelling, discovering and experiencing something new all the time. Please don't get us wrong, it's incredibly fun and we don't want to miss a second. But we've been on the road for over a month and we've been somewhere different every day. Maybe we just needed a short break. So, we went to a restaurant near Inverness to get a nice dinner. From there it was less than an hour to the city of Inverness, where we went on Wednesday morning. There is a large sports centre with gym, indoor pool and sauna. Here we relaxed for a few hours and then drove to Edinburgh in the afternoon. That's how fast we explored the Highlands.

We liked the city of Edinburgh. It was also fascinating that it was built on different levels. It also has a very old history. In the evening we had dinner there, wandered the streets and had a good night's drink in a pub.

On Thursday morning we took part in a 2-hour free walking tour, which took us through the old town and from which we learned a lot of history.

After that, we had to drive eight hours south. We went to Harwich to catch the ferry to Holland today. We looked at different options, from where to take which ferry to where. And this one seemed to be the best one, despite the long journey.

If everything works out, we should be in Amsterdam in seven hours.