The Scottish Highlands is a trip that we have been planning for a long time as the landscapes are one of the most beautiful in the British Isles and for a photographer like me, it was an exceptional trip. One of the problems for this trip is that the driving distance is around 10 hours to Inverness and therefore we break the trip.
Since it is a local trip for us, the only thing we needed was booking the hotel and then research about each location that we were going. The plan is to travel from London to Inverness passing via York on the way North and returning via Warrington on the way South.
York is situated north of London within England. The city was founded in 71AD by the Romans and during the middle ages grew making this a city with both constructions.
Inverness is the capital of the Scottish Highlands and it is located in the northern part of Scotland and is the northernmost city of the United Kingdom. Inverness is situated in the banks of the River Ness. This was planned as a driving trip since we live in London.
As part of my research, I check out all the most seen places of both cities and their surroundings. This particular trip was designed for photography; therefore, the most scenic route was picked to travel to Inverness and the surroundings areas. The currency for United Kingdom is the pound and it is recommended to change at the airport just after landing, as who has the time to search for it, while on the taxi on the way to your hotel the search becomes more difficult. My adventure started on Saturday 2nd June 2012.
On Day 1, we left London and drive North via A1 towards York and stopped in couple of service station on the way and have some lunch. On the arrival to the city, we reached the train station in order to explore the city wall, however, there was no access to the wall via the train station. Therefore, we decided to drive inside the city wall and find an access to the wall.
We entered the city centre via the gate situated at Station Rise via Station Road, southwest of the city. We parked the car around the access to the wall and climbed the stairs to reach the top of the wall. We walked the wall from this point until the train station and on the way back we dropped near the Lendal Bridge. The weather was perfect for photographs and took advantages of this. The Lendal Bridge crosses the River Ouse.
After the walk, we collected the car and drive via Lendal Bridge towards York Minster. York Minter belongs to the Church of England and is the 2nd largest gothic cathedral of Northern Europe which was completed in 1472.
After this visit, we continued our drive towards Clifford’s Tower and the York Castle Museum complex. Clifford’s Tower is the keep of the York Castle and was built on top of a motte. The keep was assigned as the royal chambers of Henry II during his visits to York.
After the visit to the Clifford’s Tower, we had a nice dinner at a local pub near the hotel and then went to the hotel as the next day we will continue our trip north towards Inverness.
On Day 2, we had a nice breakfast at the hotel and started our trip north. Usually during a driving trip, we have some plans but they are very flexible. In this occasion, we drive north via A19 and on our way, we spotted an advertisement for the York Bird of Prey Centre. Therefore, we decided that this could be amazing experience and we stopped for this.
The York Bird of Prey Centre has an exhibition of over 80 birds from 45 different species and additional has amazing things to like flying displays, kookaburra feeding, eagle handling and bird handling. We were able to see all the birds in exhibition while waiting for the flying display. The flying display was amazing and we were able to see a demonstration of falconry.
After this, we decided to continue our trip towards Inverness via A9 without taking any other detour, as we still have many hours in order to reach Inverness. We only made stops for landscape photography on various view points on the way and food. We arrived at night to the hotel and after a nice pub dinner we planned the next day.
On Day 3, we had a nice breakfast at the hotel and then we decided to start exploring around. We decided to start exploring Isle of Skye and our route was A82, A887 and finally A87. The route towards Isle of Skye will take us next to the Loch Ness, Loch Cluanie, Loch Duich, Loch Alsh, Inner Sound and finally the Old Man of Storr.
Considering that the expectation was beauty scenic route, we decided to take amazing landscape photographs starting from Loch Ness until arriving at Inner Sound in Isle of Skye. On our way, we stopped at various viewpoints to take amazing photographs including Eilean Donan Castle. The final stop of the route was Kyleakin where we took a wildlife cruise to see seals and jellyfish.
After an amazing wildlife cruise, we decided to hike the Old Man of Storr. The Old Man of Storr is a rocky hill located on the Trotternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye in Scotland. This location has an area perfectly suitable for 360° landscape photography.
After our hiking, we decided to climb down the mountain and had a pub dinner. On our way back, we stopped at Loch Ness to take some photographs at twilight. And finally, after an amazing day, we return to the hotel to plan the next day.
On Day 4, we had a nice breakfast and decided to go north towards John O’Groats via A9. John O’Groats is the farthest point of north of Scotland and is one end of the longest distance between the two inhabited points of mainland, and the other one is Land’s End in Cornwall (southwest).
While at John O’Groats, we found out that there was a wildlife cruise that visited the Orkney Islands in order to see seals and some bird colonies. We enjoyed our time together and saw a lot of marine animals and I took a lot of photographs.
After the wildlife cruise, we decided to continue our tour and went towards the Smoo Cave via A838. On our way to there, the sea landscapes were amazing and we stopped many times on the way to take photographs. We also enjoyed an amazing afternoon tea while sampling some Highland’s Scotch.
The Smoo Cave is a large sea cave which has a combination of freshwater and sea water and it is located in Durness in Sutherland, Highlands. The stair access for the Smoo Cave is from top and side of the hill. Therefore, we decided to trek down to the entrance of the Cave and then inside we went searching for the waterfall.
After the Smoo Cave, we decided to continue towards the Sandy beaches of the north at Durness and Balnakeil. We arrived to Balnakeil Beach around twilight and I was able to take amazing photographs. On our way back, we took A839 towards Inverness and due to the time, we decided to stop for an hour. We turned off the car and waited to see deer coming down the hill for drinking water.
After some time, we decided that it was time to go back to Inverness and planned the next day of activities.
On Day 5, we decided to change our breakfast and found a nice place to have bacon and sausage rolls. We decided that we needed to climb Ben Nevis and we travelled via A82. The easy way to reach the summit was to take the gondola from the Nevis Range Mountain Resort. Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the British Isles and it is located close to Fort William in the Scottish Highlands.
The gondola only takes you to the top rest, after that there is still a little that needs to be hiked for reaching the summit. After reaching Ben Nevis summit, we had an amazing hot chocolate and we went down via gondola.
After Ben Nevis, we decided to hike Inchree Waterfall in order to reach the best place for taking the perfect photograph.
After the waterfalls, we decided that it was time to start exploring Inverness. We returned to Inverness at twilight and decided to start with the cathedral. In front of the cathedral and from the banks of the River Ness, we were able to see the Inverness Castle and were able to take amazing photographs, as the light was awesome.
After the photographic session, we decided to have a great Scottish dinner and then go back to hotel to plan the activities to next day. However, while planning the activities for the following, I received an email from the Olympic Games committee saying that the following day I had my first rehearsal. Therefore, I decided to shorten my trip and make preparations to reach London.
On Day 6, we decided to have breakfast at the hotel and then my husband took me to train station, as the train is faster than the car. I took the train early in the morning and it was a direct train to King’s Cross. During the train trip, I was able to rest and prepared myself to have my first rehearsal and induction to the biggest experience of my life so far.
After 8 hours, I arrived to King’s Cross and then took the underground towards the rehearsal. I arrived to the rehearsal on time and after this adventure, I was very glad that I attended as I found out about the designs of our customs and what were the expectations for us.
Although, I had to cut my trip short by two days overall, we were only going to stay another day in Inverness, as we were stopping at Warrington on our way back. The time that we were able to explore the Highlands was amazing and for me the best part were the wildlife cruises. Therefore, I highly recommend to stay in Inverness while exploring the Highlands.
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