Scotland

Edinburgh was the most interesting city I visited in Scotland, though most of what I saw was countryside, including traveling north past Inverness and west onto the Isle of Skye. This picture shows St. Giles Cathedral on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. The Royal mile goes through the center of the old town, connecting the 1300 year old Castle at one end (still in part occupied by the military) with the Royal Palace of Holyrood House at the other end (occupied by Britain's Royal Family when they visit Edinburgh). Most of the city's most interesting sights are along the mile between these two sites. The upper end of the Royal mile near the castle is the more interesting part, and the Castle is generally more interesting than the Holyrood House.

[Holyrood House] [Royal Mile] This is a picture along the Royal Mile, and a picture of the ruins of the 12th century Abbey of Holyrood House (adjoining the Palace of Holyrood House). England has many old ruined churches with only their walls standing, many were ruined when England's Henry VIII broke with the Catholic church. This, and all the other old ruins including Roman sites and prehistoric stone circles mean there are many of this type of sights in England.

[Oil Rig] This is one of Britain's North Sea Oil Rigs. I saw quite a few of these along the coast north of Inverness (this one is right on the shore at Invergordon). I was in this part of Scotland to visit the Ross family center at a small museum in the town of Tain, 35 miles north of Inverness.

Loch Ness is south of Inverness. I drove by here, it was a nice scenic lake, but I skipped all the touristy Loch Ness Monster stuff at Drumnadrochit (which also has Urquhart Castle, which I also skipped).

Much of Scotland is rather sparsely populated, and lightly traveled. Many of the roads in this part of the country are "single track" roads, with turn-out points every few hundred feet for you (or the other driver) to pull over if you meet an oncoming car, to allow the car to pass.

[Thistle] [Scotland] These are a couple of views west of Inverness, showing the open, barren treeless landscape that is typical of much of Scotland. The most famous, and abundant, plant is Heather, a low flowering plant which covers much of the landscape.

[Glencoe] This is Glen Coe, a valley and mountain pass north of Glasgow. This is a mountainous area, part of the Scottish Highlands. There's a visitor center here (where this picture is taken from) that tells the story of the Glen Coe Massacre in 1692. The valley from here is pretty much deserted, with nothing but empty road for quite a few miles. See, it's not true that Britain has no mountains. Even the Isle of Skye off the west coast has mountains that are quite high. On Skye, I went all the way out to Dunvegan Castle on the western part of the island.

[Loch Venachar This is the Trossachs region of Scotland, northeast of Glasgow. A lot of Scotland is thinly populated, with wide open spaces (very few trees). The Trossachs are popular with the Scots, possibly because this is one of the few ares where there are a lot of trees, nice mountains, and lakes.

Created June 9, 1996
Updated January 17, 1999
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