< previous
next >
Day 4: March 29, 2025
It was an earlyish start for the group as we left our Edinburgh hotel and headed west the north headed for the Highlands of Scotland! Traffic was light as it was aSaturday morning as we passed Linlithgow Palace headed for our first stop in Falkirk. The town of Falkirk is home to The Kelpies, a large public artwork which displays the strength of local Clydesdale horses, which were widely used in Scotland during the Industrial Era, as well as their connection with water spirits that are said in Scottish folklore to inhabit lochs around the country! A short drive away lay Bannockburn, which was the site of a defying battle in the Scottish Wars of Independence in 1314. Stirling Castle was the next visit, just a short drive away. Stirling is seen as the location where the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland meet and the castle sits impressively on a defensive crag. Our timing was fortuitous as up at 5he castle hundreds of pipers were gathering to mark the 900th celebration of the town’s original charter back in 1124. The group saw the start of the parade which was very impressive. We drove onto Pitlochry for lunch, a quaint Victorian town made famous by a visit by Queen Victoria in 1842. Driving further north brought us into the Cairngorm National Park where we alighted briefly at Loch Morlich. With rain in the air we headed onto our hotel in Tomintoul and dinner!