July 17 – We spent much of today on the bus, since we had a long way to go from Aviemore and back again. Our destination was Inverewe, near Gruinard Bay on the northwest coast of Scotland. The drive itself was delightful, winding through hills and past clear streams and lochs. Frequent rain hardly dampened […]

July 16 – We drove north today. Our first stop was the prehistoric Clava Cairns, an important Neolithic archeological site, estimated to be 5,ooo years old. This site consists of three large cairns surrounded by standing stones. Set in a peaceful grove of trees, we pondered the mystery of this place and the people who […]

We will sleep in Aviemore again tonight, using this as our central location for day trips. Today we spent hours on the road, traveling among the hills of the Cairngorms National Park and along the Whiskey Trail. Our travels took us almost to the east coast to Aberdeen.   Our driver negotiated some tricky spots […]

Goodbye, Edinburgh! This city offers so much, we are not done with it.  But the time has come to move on to the highlands. At least the Urichs will be coming back after the tour ends, so they will be able to continue exploring. Our tour guide Tom and driver John met us at 9:00 […]

A Day On Our Own – In order to allow a little extra time in Edinburgh, a free day was planned into our schedule, so the garden part of our tour doesn’t officially start until tomorrow. After a good night’s sleep, everyone headed out to explore the Edinburgh Castle, Holyroodhouse Palace, the Royal Mile, Princes […]