Back in June, Chris, my parents, and I set off on a week-long road trip through Scotland. In this post, we’ll be sharing our adventures from the second part of our trip… We just had too many stories and photos to share to post it all in one go! (You can read about the first part of our trip here.)
On Wednesday morning, after a lovely breakfast at our wonderful Grantown-On-Spey B&B, we headed to Loch Ness and the ruins of Urquhart Castle. And before you ask, no. We didn’t see Nessie, the Lochness Monster. 😉 It was a beautiful day, so we enjoyed exploring the castle ruins, but it quickly got too hot and crowded for our liking, so after a while, we hopped back in the car, ready to find some lunch and a cold drink.
After a tasty lunch at Whistle Stop Cafe in Kinlochewe, we continued on, via a portion of the popular North Coast 500 route, to our AirBnB outside the small town of Applecross. The views on the way into Applecross were incredible!
An adorably happy and friendly dog named Hector greeted us when we arrived at our AirBnB, and after saying hello and dropping off our bags, we walked down the road to Applecross Walled Garden & Restaurant.
The gardens (apparently walled to keep the hungry deer out!) were a beautiful backdrop to our delicious and local dinner. Chris LOVED his local Applecross langoustines and my mom enjoyed her local salmon meal. Lots of fresh seafood on the menu!
On the walk back to our AirBnB, we came across a herd of deer; a charming touch to yet another perfect day in Scotland!
On Thursday, our AirBnB hosts cooked us each a full Scottish breakfast, complete with eggs, “bacon” (here in the U.K., they call it bacon, but it’s more like ham), tomatoes, mushrooms, beans, and black pudding (a traditional British breakfast food made with animal blood). When we checked out after breakfast, our host commented that Hector (the dog) was glad there was some black pudding leftover from our plates. Haha!
On our way down the driveway after checking out, I made everyone stop and wait while I got out and took some pictures of the Scottish Highland cows grazing in the field on the property. They were so shaggy and fascinating!
We then headed up over a steep and windy mountain pass with beautiful views. We pulled over (where safe to do so!) and snapped some photos (a.k.a. “Blueberry glamour shots” haha).
Our first official stop of the day was Eilean Donan Castle. Apparently, this castle was first built in the 13th century, and it was built on to over the years, as well as destroyed. In 1719, it was demolished following a bombardment, and it remained a pile of ruins for about 200 years. Then, in 1911, Lt Colonel John MacRae-Gilstrap bought the island and spent 20 years rebuilding the castle in its original style. The castle is still owned and cared for by the MacRae family, but is open to the public when the family is not hosting guests. (Source)
Next, we continued our drive over the Skye Bridge, but that’s enough for this post… Stay tuned for the next part of our adventure on the Isle of Skye!
The Navigating Newlyweds 
Your road trip looks so awesome and like you guys found such cool stops along the way! This another Lake Bled scenario, haha, where I am so happy to see what these places look like in sunshine from your photos 😂 loving reading about your adventures over the past couple months … baby C is such a world traveler arleady! ❤️
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Haha thanks, Jenn! We keep feeling so bad that we somehow end up with nicer weather than when you went haha!! Maybe this is a lesson that we should travel together more. 😉 And yes! By the time Baby Conroy is born, he/she will already have been in 10 countries! So crazy!
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