Scotland in Hindsight

I finally published the remaining posts on Scotland from my trip last Fall.  It took me almost a year to get myself that organized.  But I think now I am free to take another adventure to Europe.  In order to fully capture my trip, I thought I'd post a few last thoughts.

On my next trip to Scotland, some things I definitely want to check out include (in no particular order):

·      Visit Iona

·      Visit Island Life Museum on Skye

·      Explore Mull

·      Hike some tough mountains in the Cuillin Hills on Skye

·      Explore the outer Hebrides

·      Stay at some farm B&Bs

·      See the inside of the Mackintosh school of art in Glasgow

·      See some live music (with bagpipes, please!)

·      Try haggis

·      Do a long 'advanced' tasting at a distillery

·      Mountain bike?

·      See some other castles, such as Scone, Dunvegan (on Skye), etc.

·      Go sailing?

I also wrote very brief reviews on each of the B&Bs I stayed at.  All were at least fairly decent.  I relied a lot on my guide books and Trip Advisor.  I often booked only a couple nights in advance - I think if I'd even planned a few weeks ahead, I could have likely booked at almost all of the top recommended B&Bs in my books..

·      Garfield House Edinburgh (B) – Good breakfast, tiny room, very hot shower, great host

·      Montague House, St. Andrews (A-) – Good breakfast, very nice, helpful host, but most expensive (60 pounds)

·      Craigroyston, Pitlochry (A) – Good breakfast, sweet host, good breakfast, right in the middle of town

·      Craig Villa Guest House, Inverness (A+) – Great talkative (in a good way) host, excellent food, good location,  very nice rooms, only wish it had parking

·      Dalriada Guest House (B-), Portree – Food was just okay (sausage was not good), helpful host but gave me an uncomfortable feeling like he didn't like his job, no character to house, great views. Next time I would opt for something else, but being up on the hill is quite nice

·      Mayfield B&B (A-) Helpful and nice host, decent room (but private bathroom), solid breakfast, outside of town but did have good views of Ben Nevis

·      Kilchrenan, Oban (A-) – Very nice breakfast room, host didn’t seem terribly interested in me, but they do have sherry or whisky to welcome you, breakfast was decent, nice building and close enough to town to walk it

·      Adelaide’s Guest House, Glasgow (B-) – Very simple, but adequate, very nice hosts, big, with little character, cheap and in decent location

 

Would I go back to Scotland?  Absolutely!  Although first, I would like to tour Ireland in a similar fashion.