Autumn is upon us and it’s time to cozy up indoors with a warm drink and summer vacation photos. I have been blog-crastinating about our most significant vacation this year. Over three wonderful three weeks long…surely the fodder of many posts, but where do I begin?

We eagerly counted down the days to the July 2018 Clan MacLennan Gathering in Inverness  since the last gathering in 2014. On previous Scottish vacations, we experienced a number of must do events, attractions. We have fantastic memories of Inverness, Edinburgh Fringe Fest, hiking on Isle of Skye, and Culloden Battlefield.  In 2018, besides catching up with our worldwide MacLennan relatives at the gathering and participating in a full calendar of MacLennan events, we planned in-depth local ancestry research, combing through microfilm and cemeteries, visiting ancestral towns, ferrying to the Isle of Lewis, meeting our best friends at Isle of Skye and spending a week exploring Edinburgh with them…a loaded itinerary.

But first on the agenda, was a drive on the North Coast 500. We created a list of possible attractions, ancestral destinations, distilleries, museums, scenic walks, historic ruins, boat trips, puffin watching, chocolate emporiums, anything interesting…that we might pass on the NC500. The North Coast 500 is Scotland’s Route 66. It’s a 516 mile scenic route around the north coast of Scotland, starting and stopping at Inverness Castle.

We became members of the NC500 club so that we had a cute little travel passport to get stamped as we checked off destinations. The passport comes with a map and online access with recommended places to stop along the way to see, stay, or dine.  The north coast, as of this writing is a sparsely populated area and the NC500 was launched to increase tourism. You can drive the route clockwise or counter clockwise and customize it to your interests, taking as long as you like, or bombing it out in under a week.

It’s a good 3 hour drive from Edinburgh airport to the NC500 starting point in Inverness. After landing at dinnertime, it took 2 hours to get out of the airport due to baggage claim and car rental craziness. Luckily we planned to just drive over the Firth of Forth to Clark Cottage Guest House in Dunfermline for the evening. After informing our hosts we were running late, they made dinner reservations for us next door at The Elizabethan. Dinner was delicious (read plenty of wine), and the homey restaurant popular with the locals. The Clark Guest house was 5 star, oh so comfy, and extremely reasonable, with made to order breakfast. Traveler perfection. Just a half hour drive from the airport, stopping at Clark Cottage will be our go to plan from now on when flying into Edinburgh.

Our first morning in country, energized by coffee and a full Scottish breakfast, we began the short 40 minute drive north to Scone Palace (pronounced scoon) in Perth.

Scone Palace is home of the Stone of Scone or Stone of Destiny, the coronation stone, and is the crowning place of the Kings of Scots.  Kenneth MacAlpin (traditionally known as the first King of Scots), Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Robert the Bruce, and Charles II number amongst the 38 kings of Scots inaugurated and crowned at Scone.

If you’re interested, I recommend watching the Stone of Destiny (2008) on Amazon Prime. It’s the story of Ian Hamilton, a dedicated nationalist who reignited Scottish national pride in the 1950s with his daring raid on the heart of England to bring the Stone of Scone back to Scotland.

As of this writing, the real coronation Stone is on display at Edinburgh Castle, alongside the Honours of Scotland, with a replica stone on the grounds of Scone Palace.

We toured Scone Palace, where friendly guides explained the history of the family, the historical paintings, and the collections. After the requisite fawning over art and objects, we traipsed downstairs to enjoy tea (lattes really) and buttery scones with clotted cream in the inner courtyard.

The tea room and gift shop are both first rate.

Fortified, we meandered the grounds and took photos of the chapel and the replica stone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just 45 minutes north of Scone Palace on the A9, is Pitlochry, the main tourist town for Highland Perthshire where we stopped to walk around, and a find a tasty bit of lunch. Shopping was not on the agenda, but the Honest Thistle and The Highland Soap Company were irresistible. It was too early in the trip to start filling our suitcases with treasures, but Honest Thistle had an amazing selection of talented UK designers and made in Scotland items. And really, a bar of lavender soap in the luggage keeps everything fresh…that’s my logic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our plan included stopping at the Leault Working Sheep Dogs near Aviemore, but a multi-vehicle accident rendered the sometimes two lane A9 (single carriageway) a literal parking lot. Impatient, we backtracked and attempted to take a frontage road to bypass, where we found ourselves at a standstill on a country road for a couple hours, along with hundreds of cars and one very photogenic horse. Travel rule #1: Always pack snacks and water in the car for detours.

We missed the legendary sheep dog show, but it’s on our list for next time. Once we started moving again, we passed Dahwhinnie Distillery in the Cairngorm National Park, one of our favorites and a must stop, but we’re coming back this way with friends.

Our destination was the Old Drynie House in Kilmuir, just past Inverness on the Black Isle. We arrived late in the afternoon, gingerly following a one lane winding country road, lined with deep car-consuming-culverts on each side. We worried about going back and forth at night to dinner but forged ahead and found ourselves at an oasis on the Moray Firth.

Delighted to be out of the car, we explored the majestic grounds and hiked down the leafy forest paths to the water to explore the firth and to skip stones.

 

Join us next post as we continue our Highland adventure. C’est tout!