Stupendous, Stunning Scotland

Friday 28th April sparked the beginning of another long weekend (May Day Holiday) so we packed our bags for Edinburgh, Scotland. With our flight delayed an hour and a queue for the rental car we arrived late at our hotel in the country's capital.

Up early on Saturday for Edinburgh Castle. Here we got to see the Crown Jewels of Scotland and great views of the city from its volcanic perch, as well as the One O'clock gun firing. A walk down the Royal Mile to Hollyrood Palace (HRM's home whilst staying in Scotland) and a hike up Arthur's seat (it's a hill). It was a physically demanding day as we also hiked up to the citys royal observatory and climbed the 293 steps to the top of the Sir Walter Scott Monument. This established a theme for the rest of the weekend - climbing up and down anything that could be climbed up or down - especially spiral stairs - we love 'em. A Scottish marching band was performing at the castle in the early evening so we were fortunate to get a listen, bagpipes and all. Very cool! At night the castle is lit up so beautifully, so our tripods and camera's a go-go, off we went to capture this fabulous landmark.

Sunday morning we were off in our little hire car, first destination St Andrews - the home of chasing little white balls around trees (also known as GOLF). We started our tour of the city with a visit to the castle and cathedral ruins and then onto the golf course. On Sunday the course is closed so you can walk around it and feel like one of the pro's. Paul & Jean, you would of loved it!

From St Andrews it was back in the Ford Focus for some Big Willy action. That's right, a stop at the Sir William Wallace monument (Braveheart) for some more spiral stairs and great views of our destination; Sterling. Here we visited Stirling Castle and were lucky to jump on at the start of a guided tour of the castle for some cool facts and a dramatic Scottish storyteller to boot.

Day three was spent in the car driving through some spectacular roundabouts and Scottish scenery; Glen Lyon. Here it's all one way roads with the occassional passing lanes, hairy cows and awesome views of the country and numerous Lochs. If you get the chance, this drive is an absolute must - some amazing sights to see if you get the chance to take your eyes off the road (as it can get a little bit hairy - and we're not talking about the cows). As we had some time to spare prior to our flights back to reality we decided to take a tour of the Rosslyn Chapel, made famous by the current bestseller "The DeVinci Code" by Dan Brown. This chapel is amazing, the stone masonry is unbelieveable. It was really cool to view what is mentioned in the book and put it all into perspective.



Overall, we thought Scotland was sensational. Edinburgh is a beautiful European city, the countryside is stunning and the people were so friendly. We will definitely be going back to Scotland, next time with the Highlands in our sights.