Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Road Trip Around Scotland Part 5 (Edinburgh)

On the final day morning we wakeup around 8am and was very tired from the continuous high milage road trip. But we soldier on hoping to finish our final destination of covering the city of Edinburgh.
So after having a hearty english breakfast from Travelodge Edinburgh Central hotel we packed our stuffs and checkout from the hotel.

Travelodge Edinburgh Central hotel was in the hart of Edinburgh and it was a 20 minutes walk, so rather than taking the vehicle we decided to explore the area on foot, leaving the vehicle in the car park.

Travelodge Edinburgh Central hotel 



St Giles' Cathedral Edinburgh

Scottish Bagpipe player


Near the Edinburgh Castle there was a Whisky shop call "The Scotch Whisky Experience". Although we were planning to go to see a whisky distillery tour Isle of Skye, but didn't got time to do it. So we decided to checkout "The Scotch Whisky Experience" (https://www.scotchwhiskyexperience.co.uk/).

The Scotch Whisky Experience Edinburgh

The Scotch Whisky Experience Edinburgh

Dalmore Constellation 1966 Cask 7 - very expensive(£18,500)

The Scotch Whisky Experience Edinburgh

After going though the "The Scotch Whisky Experience" shop, we continued our journey towards the Edinburgh Castle. Due to the reason that castle is situated in higher ground in middle of Edinburgh, we can see the city clearly from the castle.

Edinburgh Castle

View of Edinburgh City

View of Edinburgh City

Edinburgh Castle Guard

Edinburgh Castle Entrance

Normally Edinburgh Castle will take 2 to 3 hours to explore the whole castle. But we were in a tight schedule to go back to Stoke On Trent early on that day and avoid all the, long weekend traffic made by the holiday makers. So we decided not to go inside the castle this time and try to explore the city a bit and get ready to the long journey back to Stoke On Trent.

While we were coming back we met the Band of The Royal Regiment of Scotland, who marching towards the castle for some ceremony. Below are some clicks of them and city of Edinburgh.


The Band of The Royal Regiment of Scotland

The Band of The Royal Regiment of Scotland

The Band of The Royal Regiment of Scotland





Going for a wedding?


After having some sandwiches for lunch from a supermarket we started our long way back(250 miles) to Stoke On Trent. 
It was a nice drive back home with green grass lands and mountains.

Sheep

More sheep

More Grass land

We arrived safely at Stoke On Trent around 6 pm and it conclude our road trip around Scotland.

Enjoy!



Thursday, February 15, 2018

Road Trip Around Scotland Part 4 (Isle Of Raasay)

Following morning we waked up early morning as we need take the ferry back to the Isle of Skye. Also we got to know that on Sunday's ferry operates only twice within the day. So we hurriedly finished our breakfast and packed our bags, went to the ferry jetty that is near to the Raasay House.

It was another clear and sunny day in this picturesque mountain surrounding island, following are some photos I took.


View From Raasay House

Raasay House


Raasay House


Raasay House view from Isle of Raasay ferry jetty

Isle of Raasay ferry jetty, Vehicles queue to the morning ferry  

Isle of Raasay ferry jetty
Our main destination in todays journey is to reach Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was nearly 6 hours drive though mountains and remote areas of the Scotland.


Way to the Edinburgh

On the we stoped several places and had lunch in a roadside parking enjoying green fields surrounded by snow covered mountains.




 After long road journey we arrived at ancient city of Edinburgh around 6 pm and we were tired and hungry by that time. And also we were keen to have some spicy food for our dinner. After some google searching around we decided to go to Mezbaan South Indian restaurant (http://www.mezbaan.co.uk/) in Edinburgh. We order different dishes from Masala Dosa, Vada to Biriyani dishes as we were very hungry at the time.

Biriyani at Mezbaan south indian restaurant
After having a good spicy dinner, we went straight to Travelodge Edinburgh Central hotel that we have booked previously. After sorting out the rooms from the front desk, we went to bed dreaming of the next day exploration of ancient city of Edinburgh.

To be continued.....



    

Monday, February 12, 2018

Road Trip Around Scotland Part 3 (Isle Of Skye)

We wakeup following day around 8 am, after having breakfast, we packed up our gear and saying farewell to our friendly host of Flora Macdonald Hostel, we continued the expedition of Isle of Skye.

Flora Macdonald Hostel


Weather was on our side, with lot of sunshine, we cruise along enjoying the beautiful landscape of Isle of Skye.

Isle of Skye Landscape


Isle of Skye Landscape

We arrived at Coral Beach in Claigan, which gives a magical feel due to the white sand surround by black coloured beach and seaweed that makes the water look tropical blue. 


Coral Beach in Claigan

Coral Beach in Claigan


After spending several hours exploring the beach and sorting our lunch, we went on to our next destination Dunvegan Castle(https://www.dunvegancastle.com/).


Dunvegan Castle

Dunvegan Castle view from distance

Dunvegan Castle view from distance

Near the Dunvegan castle, there was seal boat trips, due to the popularity of boat trip over the castle  visit, we decided to go on the boat trip see some Seals.

Seal boat trip



Seals

More Seals





After the boat trip, we decided to go to the place we staying for the second night. We booked rooms in Raasay House(https://www.raasay-house.co.uk/) in Isle of Raasay. Isle of Rassay is a small island that separated from Isle of Skye and only connection between the two islands was the ferry that travel every hour.



Ferry jetty entrance
Waiting for Isle of Raasay ferry



Arrival of Isle of Raasay ferry


Everyone aboard the Isle of Raasay ferry 

Isle of Raasay ferry control room



After arriving at Raasay House we had our dinner and went straight to bed, dreaming of adventures of next day.

To be continued....