Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands

Hiya! We are bit behind on our posts as we have been travelling

quite a bit in the past month, however, we intend to catch up in the coming weeks

so get ready! Here are pictures and notes from our trip to

Edinburgh (pronounced Edinburra) and the Scottish Highlands. Enjoy!

On day 1, we ventured around Edinburgh city. Here is a picture of Edinburgh Castle. Edinburgh Castle is an ancient stronghold which dominates the sky-line of the city of Edinburgh from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear.

Here we are manning a cannon in Edinburgh Castle. These cannons were gifted to the

castle and have never been used in combat.

Our friends Andy and Meghan Clouser joined us for the weekend. Leah met Meghan

through the American Women's Club. They are from the Detroit area and are

a really great couple. Here is Leah and Meghan in front of the Gatehouse at the

lowest ward of the castle.

Here are Derek and Andy outside of the Gatehouse entrance with a statue of

William Wallace in the background.

And then again with the real thing. Here we are getting in battle mode.

One of the most celebrated Scots in Edinburgh is Sir Walter Scott. Leah is standing

outside of the entrance to his memorial tower. The tower is 200 feet 6 inches (61.1 m) high, and has a series of viewing decks reached by a series of narrow spiral staircases giving panoramic views of central Edinburgh and its surroundings. The highest viewing deck is reached by a total of 287 steps. Yep - we walked up them all!

Here is the Scott monument again from afar. This bagpiper was standing outside playing many traditional tunes. What an experience.

Here is a small taste of the great tunes that we were able to enjoy.

What would a trip to Scotland be without some haggis and Scotch! Derek had the haggis at dinner (we will spare you the details of the history of haggis) and here Andy and Derek enjoy some Scotch from Glen Fiddich. Not necessarily our cup of tea but as the saying goes "when in Rome..."

Even Leah got into the scotch drinking spirit. Here again with some Glen Fiddich. It was explained to us that the scotch from the Glen (or valley) is fermented using oak, hence the woody taste, whereas the Islay scotch comes from islands where there are no treas so peat moss is used for fermenting. This makes the Islay scotch much darker and earthy tasting. Glen is better in our book!

Prince's Street was a place lined with bars and restaurants. There were quite a few hen and stag parties taking place during the holiday weekend. It was a great city with a fun atmosphere. All aboard the party bus!

On day 2, we headed into the Scottish Highlands. Here is a picture of a Scottish Highland Cow named Hamish. Highlands are known as a hardy breed due to the rugged nature of their native Scottish Highlands, with high rainfall and strong winds. They both graze and browse and eat plants many other cattle avoid. The meat tends to be leaner than most beef, as highlands get most of their insulation from their thick shaggy hair rather than subcutaneous fat. The coat also makes them a good breed for cold Northern climates.

Up close and personal with Hamish! Leah has since decided that our next cat will be a Scottish Fold breed and will be named Hamish.

The scenery in the Scottish Highlands was absolutely magnificent. Derek had no idea that we would be in for such a treat. We would say that the countryside in the UK, in general, is spectacular. It is a must see. We tried to capture some of the amazing images in the next frames.

Derek and Leah at our first stop in the Highlands. We left quite early in the morning on Sunday and nothing was open in the city so our first stop was naturally a much needed coffee break!

The highlands really has it all in miniature. There are snow capped mountains, green valleys, bright blue lakes, etc. Here you can see some of the mountains and the one in the back actually still has some snow on top!

Here again is some of the contrast. From the blue skies (we were VERY lucky with the weather) down to the green grass. Everywhere we looked was a landscape photograph. This was taken through a window so please excuse the reflection.

Here again, another view of the gorgeous scenery. There are many hikes that you can schedule through the highlands. Some of the bed and breakfast places even shuttle your luggage from place to place while you hike between them during the day. We certainly hope to have the opportunity to come back and do some hiking here someday.

We haven't made this public yet so please don't let the word out. Look closely at this picture. See anything peculiar??? Yep, there she is...Nessie with a baby in tow! We took a cruise down the famous Loch Ness. It is quite a deep lake at 230 ft at the deepest point.

Scotland is littered with old castles. Again one of the things of our list to do someday is to come back and visit more of them. Here is a picture of Urquhart Castle which sits on Loch Ness. It is not known precisely when the castle was built, but records show the existence of a castle on this site from the early 1200s.

The contrast of colors is definitely a party for the eyes. It is hard to explain the overall beauty in words and a few pictures. All we can tell you is that you must plan to visit Scotland and the Highlands at some point if you are an outside adventurer. It is truly magnificent.

Here is a picture of the Forth Railway Bridge. The bridge is, even today, regarded as an engineering marvel. It was the first of it's kind to be made from steel alloy. It was opened on March 4, 1890 and is still in use today.

We hoped you enjoyed the pictures and notes. We certainly hope that we have sparked an interest for those of you that appreciate the outdoors.

Take care and God Bless, Derek and Leah.