Elana and the Northern Highlands of Scotland.
I slept well, but was up early so I could make sure I was at the airport by 8 for Elana, without quite knowing how the drive would go. No problem, and I got there in plenty of time to scope things before Elana’s flight arrived (although I did mistakenly go through the paid pick up point needlessly, so had to pay the ridiculously high fee of $12 for 10 minutes, despite literally driving straight through). I found an off-airport place to wait until heard from Elana, and was able to pick her up seamlessly, after she literally breezed through immigration and customs in just a few minutes.
Then, off we went, heading more-or-less north toward Inverness, wanting to get out of the city area and on the road before figuring out exactly where we going, and stopping to get Elana something to eat and a cup of coffee. As I’ve been having trouble consistently connecting to cellular services (and therefore the Internet and the whole world), I wasn’t sure whether we’d have trouble navigating and learning about the area. But, again, all went well and my connection was better than it’s been for much of the time I’ve been here until now.
At any rate, we plugged in the address for the Airbnb we were heading to in Fortress, about 3 hours and 170 miles north (and slight west), and had an easy and enjoyable drive with nothing but wonderful scenery, that just got better and better as we entered the Cairngorms National Park, which starts about 70 miles north of Edinburgh. The Cairngorms are the mountainous heart and one of the most spectacular parts of the Scottish Highlands, and at around 1,740 square miles is the largest national park in the UK.
We made our first real stop in Kingussie, a small and historic central highland village in the Cairngorms, which – of course – was lovely, and remote. Although there’s clearly a tourist business there, it is nevertheless a small and basic village that has completely retained its character.
We continued our beautiful drive, eventually leaving the Cairngorms and soon after entering the Black Isle, the peninsula north of Inverness. En route to Fortrose, where we’re staying for the next four nights, we passed through Avoch (pronounced Aoch) on the east coast of the Black Isle and sits on the southern shore of the Moray Firth, which in turn opens into the North Sea. It’s like the set of the wonderful 1983 movie Local Hero (which was actually shot about 70 miles east of Avoch, but also on the North Sea) in that it’s a remote and quiet sitting on the edge of the sea (actually the Avoch Bay of the Moray Firth).
After spending some time on the cool and windy shore of Avoch Bay, we drove the final stretch to Fortrose, just another couple of miles along the same eastern coastline of the Black Isle, and also sitting on the southern shore of the Moray Firth. Arriving around 2:45, we were very happy to find our Airbnb was exactly as advertised, in another picturesque small village.
I’ve been pretty lucky with the places I’ve booked to stay, throughout Japan and Vietnam, and so far within this trip. All have been in excellent locations, and probably ninety-six percent have been nice or great places to stay. This was another of those.
A cute and well maintained property with plenty of room, with two large bedrooms, each with their own bathrooms, a nice living room and kitchen, and a small eating nook backing onto a nice back garden. Very nice.
Elana was really wiped out. She’d been traveling since yesterday and still on U.S. time, five hours behind local time, and pretty much awake the whole time, unable to sleep on her overnight flight, and traveling with me since 8 am this morning. She took a much needed couple of hours nap, and I blogged.
Once awake, Elana and I roughly mapped out our next couple of days in the northern highlands, and it somehow became 7 pm. Time to eat. I swear this wasn’t my idea, but Elana wanted fish and chips, and it so happens there’s a chip shop not two minutes walk from the house (there was also a chip shop in Avoch; no self-respecting community in Britain is without a chip shop), and that’s where went for our take out (take away in Britain) meal, and we continued to plan while eating.
After dinner, around 8, we took a walk, planning to head down to the shore line, which we could see from the house. But it was cold by now and the water was further than it looked, and Elana was definitely still feeling worn out, so we never made it and returned home instead. We talked a while longer, and then Elana hit the sack, and I am about to follow her example, now that I’ve finished today’s blog.
Good night.
