- Blackness Castle
- Stirling Castle and Bridge
- Doune Castle
- Glen Coe
- Glenfinnan
- The Isle of Skye
- Eilean Donan Castle
- Loch Ness
- Cairngorm National Park
- Pitlochry
- Dunkeld and Birnam
- St. Andrews
- The East Neuk of Fife fishing villages
This is an extended ‘Classic Tour’ offering you the chance to visit many ‘ must see’ Scottish destinations as well as getting to know local food, music, folks and ways. Time will be given also to lesser known places and stories, following in the footsteps of early travel writers, historians, storytellers, missionaries, clansfolk, militias, cattle drovers, fishers and migrants. Evenings can be spent in serene walking, contemplation, conviviality, and dining on fabulous locally sourced food and drink.
Day One: Leave Edinburgh at 8.30am for Blackness Castle, a port for Linlithgow Palace, and for many years a state prison. Straddle the mighty River Forth with a visit to Stirling Bridge, views of the Wallace Monument and Stirling Castle, visit Doune Castle, home of the Duke of Albany ‘Scotland’s Uncrowned King’, a favored dowager residence and Swamp Castle and Castle Anthrax in ‘Monty Python’s Holy Grail’. Lunch in or around Doune.
Saunter in the country of Rob Roy and follow old drovers route through Glen Dochart, a journey across Rannoch Moor and by Glen Etive, we recount the big Scottish storytelling, from Braveheart to Kidnapped to Outlander, drawing on history and legend. Plot out Skyfall locations and delve into the world of Harry Potter. We hear some lesser-known tales before arriving at the Glenfinnan Viaduct, ‘the Harry Potter Bridge’ and the virtual site of Hogwarts School. Tales of Bonnie Prince Charlie, and of fishing, journey along the Road to the Isles to Mallaig before checking in at welcome lodgings in Arisaig.
Day Two: After awaking to the sound of the sea, and a delicious home-cooked breakfast, head to Mallaig to board the ferry to the magical Isle of Skye, travel in the shadow of giants by experiencing the Tolkeinesque landscapes of the Red and Black Cuillin Mountains, walk to an Iron Age Broch (fort), tread lightly at the wonderful and enigmatic Fairy Glen (option of walk up into Castle Ewen), take in the Quirang (part of the Trotternish landslip), Kilt Rock and the Old Man of Storr; this is a day of breathtaking scenery, reading the land, and hearing a local story or two; first of two overnight stays in vibrant and colorful Portree