Merry Christmas everyone!! Edinburgh is something else during the holiday season, I feel like I'm in a movie and not real life as a winter Christmas is still such a novelty! All the films show Christmas with everyone wrapped up in their woollens and scarves and beanies as they drag around all of their christmas shopping and that exactly describes Christmas here! The christmas lights wrapped around the old buildings look INSANE and I just love how even more beautiful this city looks. 

I had an absolute blast on Christmas Day! I took the bus down to my friend Billy's house and ran through the pouring rain to his flat. I was absolutely drenched by the time I got there and used a hair dryer to get myself warm again. We had so much food and SO MUCH WINE and then more food and more wine. We later walked down to Sian's house for even more Prosecco and Cards Against Humanity before I got so knackered and drunk I could have passed out. Somehow I found a taxi at 1:30am and spent a fortune getting home. NO REGRETS.

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Crossing an item of the bucket list is always an exciting moment, and it was with great joy and relief to do so with The Old Man of Storr. To me, this is the most iconic view in all of Scotland. This bizarre alien-like landscape with these gigantic rock pinnacles piercing through the earth is what made me want to come to the Isle of Skye. But boy do you have to work for these views! It's an uphill, rocky, boggy, 719metre high climb that is probably the most exhausting thing I've ever done. The trek takes you up to the Storr and I looked over to Sarah who was relieved to have made it. Well, I was about to put our 15 year friendship on the line when I told her we weren't finished, we have to make it to the Sanctuary. Seriously, I thought she was going to punch me in the face. I would have. We had come so far, I was not going to miss out on seeing the Storr from above (the view in the above photo), so we kept going. And it was so worth it. Getting down was almost just as hard (ow my knees!) but there were no regrets. Isle of Skye had so far met and exceeded my expectations.... until we travelled to the Fairy Pools.

Sarah contemplating our friendship

Lesson learned from the Fairy Pools: if the weather is bad, don't go. Simple. But no, we were stubborn fools who ignorantly thought the Scottish rain might ease off and we could have a lovely stroll through the mountains to find the Fairy Pools. Wrong. SO WRONG. In fact the rain got worse, our moods got worse with it and to be honest we had a pretty miserable time. Did we even see the Fairy Pools? We don't know - we gave up after a good 40 minute walk and after the 40 minute walk back to the car we were soaked to our knickers. Would I do it again? You betcha, but only if the sun is shining and zero chance of rain.

The beginning of our Fairy Pool trek

Smiling on the outside, dying on the inside

Are these the fairy pools? 

ARE THESE THE BLOODY FAIRY POOLS???

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We spent the night at Kinlochleven in glamping pods. Let's just say the less said about them the better, BUT what we did discover on our little glamping pod tv was Trainspotting Live, one of the weirdest and most wonderful tv shows I've ever witnessed. It also became a theme for the trip #trainspottinglive. A show dedicated to spotting trains around the UK. And we're not talking about the Orient Express, or a steam train that's having it's first run since 1922, these are your everyday trains that I never knew were such a fascination to trainspotters. The show would cross live to someone at a train station who was getting super excited that Train no 2222 was pulling up and he can now cross that off his list. The host of the show was extremely excited for every single train spot, and even once used the phrase "well spotted Dick", which is a quote for the ages.

We started to drive out of Kinlochleven before slamming on the brakes for a photo opportunity because look at that reflection. Scotland may be a small country but it can take forever to drive from one place to another as the scenery is just too incredible to miss. Got to take those ridiculous selfies! I had just purchased a tripod and remote which was genuinely the best purchase of my life. We know we looked like right fools posing in front of our mini tripod setup but IT WAS WORTH IT.

We drove out to the Glenfinnan Viaduct to see the Hogwarts Express #trainspottinglive. Harry Potter nerds united at the top of the lookout as we watched The Jacobite steam train puff it's way over the iconic viaduct. We made it to the top of the lookout with minutes to spare - seriously if we had missed it I would have been a cranky bitch for the rest of the day, probably the rest of the year. We also had to elbow our way through the crowd to get an uninterrupted photo of the area. Though every photo I took of the viaduct features someone's gold iPhone and selfie stick, but let's not dwell on that.

We stumbled upon a castle near Fort William, the Old Inverlochy Castle. I'll admit, I had to google this one as I had completely forgotten we even went. I'm ashamed to admit but I have lost track of how many castles I've now visited. Later we past Eilean Donan Castle, but we just didn't have the time to go inside. I'll be back! 

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I can not even begin to describe how excited I was for Sarah to come over for our Scottish road trip! We've travelled through Poland, Germany and Tasmania and I finally got to show her this awesome country I now call home. Day one was travelling through my favourite spots in Scotland - Stirling and Glencoe! We started the day with battle games at the Battle of Bannockburn. The first part of the battle involves watching an animated history of Scotland and England in the 1300s before heading inside for the next part. I LOVE a confrontation so I spent the time watching this annoying and impatient couple who had no basic listening skills or ability to take direction be scolded on multiple occasions by the staff. The entire idea of the battle games is to move to each part with your group, you can't move ahead otherwise you have no idea what the hell is going on and they just didn't get it. They ended up walking out as they didn't like being told NO. Bye Felicia.

We had a full crowd for the battle game and I wasn't given the role of Queen of Scotland (bad start) and instead I was given ownership of an army that ended up DYING FIRST. I am the sorest loser that ever was, so to be out of the game before anyone else was not ok. So I had to stand there with my faded out, crossed out army and watch as the player who was playing King (little kid, so I really shouldn't be so hard on him) moved the Scottish King out from the protection of his army which allowed the English King and his calvary to take the castle and win. Are you kidding? Protect your King!! Oh I hate losing. It's just a game, it's just a game........

Next up we headed to Stirling Castle, caught some Pokemon, posed with suits of armour, dodged the rain, played medieval dress ups before heading up to Glencoe! Glencoe is my favourite spot in all of Scotland. Heck, all of the UK. Maybe Europe? You know how some people ask if you prefer the mountains, desert or oceans? I'm a mountains girl, so the valleys and hills and rugged epic scenery is right up my alley.

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Glencoe was so beautiful I decided to go back. I started the morning at breakfast trying to work out my driving route through Glencoe when I was joined by another guest who’s name I have forgotten. Let’s call him Robert as he reminded me of Robert Langdon from Da Vinci’s Code. He wore a vest, he carried a leather satchel and he talked like his opinion was the only one worth listening to. He started chatting to me and I hate talking to strangers most of the time, but at 7.30am you have to be joking. Robert, can you shut the hell up. One thing I did get out of the conversation was about the Glencoe massacre and how I should look up while driving through to see the “Weeping Tears of the Glencoe Valley”. He was telling me this to promote his brother’s book on the matter, but I did find it interesting. After excusing myself from Robert and his spectacles, I researched it from the quiet of my room.

In 1692 King William offered the Highland clans a pardon for their part in the Jacobite rising. The Chief of Glencoe pledged allegiance to the King, but 7 days after the pledge was required to be given. 120 of the kings troops arrived in Glencoe and given hospitality by the MacDonalds, who fed and housed them for 10 days. On the eleventh day the order came through to “put all to the sword” and so began the Glencoe Massacre. 38 men, women and children were killed and many more died of exposure as they tried to escape across the mountains. This is so messed up that it inspired the Red Wedding from Game of Thrones (this massacre as well as the Black Dinner of Edinburgh Castle which I also did not know!)

After doing an hour trek to see a waterfall, I drove past the Glencoe Mountain resort that had its ski lift running. I really wanted to see some mountain views from above so I headed on up, unaware that there was a full on ski field at the very top. Skiers and snowboarders everywhere, and there’s me in jeans, handbag and non waterproof shoes looking decidedly lost and unsure what to do with myself. The ski lift operator looked me up and down and asked if I was getting off to which I replied with a defiant YES. Unsure where to go, I just walked and skidded up and away from Mr. Judgement of the Ski Lifts and decided now would be the perfect time to make good on my snowman promise to Ro and Lauren. We had been given the task of making a snowman ice-cream (long story) which I had not been able to fulfil due to lack of freezer space, so now was the perfect chance! A real snowman made out of real snow! He was small as I didn’t have gloves, my feet were wet and soaking and I was very aware of how much of a weirdo I looked like sitting by myself in the snow. Quest success!

The Weeping Valley of Glencoe

There is an information panel in front of the castle that beings with the following line:

"You are following the route of the Highways of the Sea Kingdoms."

The Sea Kingdoms!! Holy shit. Castle Stalker is one of many sea castles on the west coast of Scotland. I’ve tried to google the sea kingdoms and only a book by Alistair Moffat shows up on the topic. These sea castles were built on rocks at sea for easier access in an age where there were few easy land routes. Castle Stalker was built around 1450 and it actually looks terrifying. It looks like something out of a horror movie, and it’s most definitely haunted right?

The drive up to Aros Castle is literally a driveway to someones home. There’s a trampoline and swing set right next to the castle. Only in Scotland. The castle was built in the 13th century by the MacDougalls before it was taken over by, you guessed it, the Campbell clan. It had been described as “ruinous, old, useless and never of any strength.”