The Twelve Hour Tour

Saturday (Day 83): Touring the Land of Kings

Waking early, I took a bus into Edinburgh to meet our tour guide and fellow passengers - all couples, Scotland, England, Australia, India and China were represented. I was the only American. After a few pictures of the surrounding neighborhood we were off.

We traveled northwest past Linlithgow palace, birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots, and Stirling Castle. Stirling Castle was once known as the 'Key to Scotland', with its imposing position in the centre of the country.

Next, we drove past the National Wallace Monument, a 220 ft. commemoration of Scotland's great hero William Wallace, played by Mel Gibson in the Oscar-winning movie Braveheart, and the scene of Wallace's greatest triumph, the battle of Stirling Bridge, where he defeated the English army in 1297.

We had to drive away quickly as we approached Doune Castle, for fear that the French would "taunt us again." This is a privately owned castle used in the filming of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

To our south, we passed Bannockburn where, in 1314, the great Scottish warrior-king Robert the Bruce defeated the English army of Edward II, restoring independence for Scotland.

Our first stop was a short one for coffee at Callander, a 'frontier town' on the edge of the Highlands.

Crossing the Highland boundary fault line, the scenery changes quickly and dramatically, the flat fertile plains of the lowlands give way to shimmering lochs, rugged mountain tops and forest-filled glens. It's easy to forget that this was once thought of as a dangerous frontier, fought over by the fiercely territorial Highland clans.

It's in this area too, that one finds the famous train tressel that the Hogwarts Express crossed, taking Harry, Hermione, Ron and all the rest to and from wizzard school. The structure is actually called the Glenfinnan viaduct. You can ride the Hogwarts Express during a Harry Potter tour of England and Scotland. The tour takes place in July and is very expensive. The shortest is 5 days and 4 nights. Maybe some other time?

Travelling north through Breadalbane - the 'High Country of Scotland' - we climbed towards the desolation of Rannoch Moor. At an altitude of over 1000 ft., covered by heather and peat-bogs and dotted with dozens of lochs, it's a unique landscape.

The contrast was dramatic as we approached spectacular mountain scenery, specifically the majestic peak of Buachaille Etive Mor - 'the great shepherd of Etive' and then traveled down into Scotland's most famous valley, Glencoe.

Glencoe is infamous as the site of the Glencoe massacre in 1692. Following orders from King William, Scottish soldiers under the leadership of Captain Robert Campbell slaughtered men, women and children of the Macdonald clan. No one was ever punished for this crime, since the King himself had signed the order. For the film buffs, Braveheart was filmed here.

Beyond Glencoe, we entered Great Glen, a deep glacial valley. Passing through the town of Fort William, we drove under Britain's highest mountain, Ben Nevis before arriving at Fort Augustus on the southern shore of Loch Ness, yet another place of magnificent beauty.

At 23 miles long and over 700 ft. deep, it's the largest loch by volume in Scotland and contains more water than every lake in England and Wales combined! The loch is best known for the legendary sightings of the Loch Ness Monster.

Luckily for us, this was the first day of the boat cruise season. While it was cold and windy, we searched for the monster, but alas found none.

We also had lunch here. I played it safe with Fish and Chips - the best I have ever had, ever! From Loch Ness we headed south through the mountains of the Cairngorms National Park, and alongside Loch Laggan, the setting for the BBC series 'Monarch of the Glen', then over the Drumochter Pass and past 13th century Blair Castle, ancestral home of the Duke of Atholl.

We drove through the Highland resort town of Pitlochry, built on Victorian tourism and nestled amongst the mountains of Highland Perthshire, and continued south, passing through the forests of Perthshire, famous as Macbeth country, and past Perth itself. Perth was the medieval capital of Scotland, where for hundreds of years Scottish monarchs were crowned at nearby Scone Palace.

South of Perth, we drove past Loch Leven, where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned by Protestant nobles, before escaping to England where she was eventually executed by her cousin Elizabeth I. Then it was over the famous Forth Bridge and our return to Edinburgh.

To my advantage, the route took us past my hotel on the way back. Since we will be "springing forward" later tonight at 1 AM and losing an hour of sleep, I asked to disembark at my door step. After a quick Skype with the 'rents, a pot of tea in the cafe and a final bubble bath upstairs, I hit the sheets early. On the agenda tomorrow is a tour of Edinburgh Castle, a little shopping in the town center, and then a short flight back to Kensington.