Scotland Trip Plans.

Plans are afoot for a Scotland holiday later this year. So whereabouts are we going? Well, we are actually staying at three different places. It’s a bit of a Scotland Road Trip! I haven’t done a whole lot of research yet, so I thought I would get some ideas down here. If anyone can recommend any gems that are worth visiting in the destinations below, let me know in the comments.

Inverness & Around.

So we have two nights booked near the Capital City of the Highlands, Inverness. I know little about the city, though I hear there is a Castle 🏰 ( of course! ) and an amazing Book Shop ‘ Leakey’s ‘ that is housed in an old Gaelic Church.

Loch Ness. Picture by Edinburgh Tour Guides.

Inverness is from where the iconic tourist route the NC500 starts from. Although we are not following the NC500 , we will no doubt find ourselves stuck behind a queue of touring VW Camper vans at some point. Our trip is at the height of the tourist season, in August!

Leakey’s Bookshop in Inverness. Image from their Instagram.

Our accomodation isn’t actually in Inverness ,so maybe we won’t find ourselves there much at all. A quick shop for supplies and we may very well be drawn away to Loch Ness for some Monster Spotting or The Black Isle for some peninsula perusing. Any suggestions?

Rogie Falls is not far from our accomodation. Picture by Visit Scotland.

We will probably only have one full day here as the bulk of our holiday will be spent below….

Gairloch & Wester Ross.

My other half has always wanted to stop in a lighthouse ( Me too actually! ), so I am over the moon that he has booked us a week ……in a lighthouse! Rua Reidh Lighthouse near Gairloch in Wester Ross looks out over a Sea Loch, Loch Ewe. It’s pretty remote and by all accounts and from what I’ve seen online, down a long skinny track with high cliff drops. Oh my! The views and the wildlife here are meant to be amazing so definitely looking forward to this portion of our trip.

Rua Reidh Lighthouse. Image from website.

If we are inclined to move from our lighthouse base, we will possibly check out Loch Ewe and it’s millitary history. During World War 2 the area was used as a rendezvous point for ships in the Arctic Convoys to Russia. A museum and Wartime Trail tells the story of their dangerous journeys.

Loch Ewe Wartime Trail. Picture from website.

Our nearest civilisation ( with shops etc) is the village of Gairloch, which looks out over Loch Gairloch. In the Summer , marine life watching boat trips set off from the harbour. There are light sandy beaches in the area and a striking red sandy beach , Redpoint Beach.

Redpoint Beach. Image from The Beach Guide.

According to the National Trust For Scotlands Inverewe Gardens , the Highlands are home to the Big 5. Common Seals, Otters, Red Squirrels, Red Deer and Golden Eagle. Fingers crossed we get to see some of them. 🤗

Red Deer. Photo by The National Trust for Scotland.

Bo’ness & Falkirk.

After our stay on the west coast , we are heading back to the East Coast, our base for 2 nights is the coastal town of Borrowstounness or Bo’ness for short. Our motivation for staying here is the towns closeness to the phenomenal Kelpies monuments at nearby Falkirk. Inspired by industrial Heavy Horses and Mythical Sea Horses, ‘ The Kelpies ‘ are 100 ft tall !

The Kelpies. Image from the website.

Also at Falkirk The Falkirk Wheel looks like an incredible fête of engineering. As for Bo’ Ness , I haven’t done much research about the town. I know we are based quite near Edinburgh, so perhaps we will be enticed by Scotland’s historic Capital.

Blackness Castle. Picture via Visit Falkirk.

A Castle in the shape of a ship! Blackness Castle near Queensferry is a 15th Century Castle that is ship shaped and known as ‘ The Ship that never sailed. ‘ It just may be somewhere we can visit whilst in the area.

So there you have it. If anyone has any thoughts or recommendations please let me know in the comments.

Header Photo ~ Badachro Inn by Visit Wester Ross.

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