UK 2015 | Liverpool to Glasgow & the Scottish Highlands

The next few days were full of driving so while we didn’t do much per se, we saw a lot of the countryside and enjoyed the fall weather…I also napped a lot in the backseat. In Liverpool, we toured John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s childhood homes. Initially I wasn’t like over the moon about the tour, but the guides were so sweet and knew so much it made it quiet enjoyable. Afterwards we headed out as we wanted to get to Glasgow in plenty of time for the 2nd of Travis’ U2 concerts. This was mostly highway driving as we would call it in the US. Not too exciting but it beats driving through Kansas. We did stop at a break stop just inside Scotland and I was able to get my Wales Starbucks mug! Thanks to my mother in law!

Glasgow was a place I really wanted to spend a day exploring but by the time we arrived and got to our place, there was no time to explore, we quickly got Travis something to eat and then we walked him to the arena where they were playing. After that, we settled on eating at an Italian place we walked by, we were trying to eat local foods but it was late, we were tired, and I really love pasta. And it wasn’t just some Italian place it was run by Italians, legitimate Italians. And the food was divine.

Travis had a great time at the concert and loved the venue, even if it was blistering hot as he put it. In the morning we loaded ourselves back up for a short drive to Inverness. It’s actually not too terribly far it’s just that we kept getting distracted by the beautiful landscape, waterfalls, sheep and lochs that it was dusk by the time we reached Loch Ness just southwest of Inverness.

But it was by far one of the most stunning drives of my life. We stopped at Luss to see Loch Lomond and learned a lot about the lochs. The wind was brutal that day but it was worth the cold and wet to see the waterfalls, mountains and lochs. And there was so much color; burnt sienna, rust orange, olive green and the smokey gray sky not to mention the white crisp water from the falls. At Loch Ness we stopped for a few photos, Nessie was shy but the golden hour was upon us and I couldn’t have asked for more beautiful lighting.

After we checked into our room, we went down into town to eat some Scottish food. I had a sampler platter with pancetta, Scottish cheese, olives, rocket salad and sausages. We had hoped to see the northern lights while in Inverness, the reports were promising but the clouds hid them away. In the morning we jumped back in the car for something a little more fun, a MacAllen Distillery tour. This was one of the things Travis very much wanted to do and certainly seemed to enjoy the tour and tasting afterwards. I am not a scotch fan, I’ve tried it, tasted it, smelled it and haven’t enjoyed it. While I appreciate the process and enjoyed learning about the distillery and how to smell and taste it, it still isn’t my cup of tea. That didn’t stop me from enjoying the experience!

We stopped in a small town on our way to Aberdeen for a quick lunch, much like diner food. I had a Canadian bacon and cheese on a roll with chips and tea of course. We did see Shetland ponies, and one maybe two of those long haired Scottish cows but not a lot. At Edinburgh we dropped off the car (thank God) and we relied on other forms of transportation for the remainder of the trip. Dinner that night was at the hotel, after dinner I had a yummy toffee pudding with caramel sauce and honeycomb ice cream. I’m not a huge ice cream gal but I would eat a tub of that stuff if I could get my grubby hands on it. I really loved Scotland, maybe November isn’t the right time to see it but the cool weather, fog and rain really made it more realistic for me. I couldn’t image living there without modern technology.