Scotland 2013: Highlands sights day 1

by | Jul 4, 2013 | International Travel

Bidding goodbye to the buses of Edinburgh, we picked up our rental car at the airport, then drove to the Falkirk Wheel. This engineering feat is a boat lift to connect the upper canal to the lower section. It is quite the sight to see. Plus, the weather could not have been nicer…

Falkirk Wheel   Falkirk Wheel in motion
l: waiting for boats; r: halfway through a rotation.

From here we headed to our B&B in Callander.

Callander

After dropping off our luggage we walked a few blocks to the old church that serves as the tourist office for some regional maps; along the way we happened to notice an ice cream stand… mint chocolate chip is a good way to start an afternoon of hikes!

From Callander we drove about 45 minutes north to Killin, home to the Falls of Dochart (really a set of rapids) with an old clan burial ground on one side, and a beautiful walking area around Loch Tay.

walls in Killin

purple   so green

Finlarig castle ruins
Finlarig castle ruins – we ignored the danger signage and didn’t touch anything

sheep!

After enjoying our walk around Killin we headed west for another hour to Kilchurn Castle. I walked through a sheep pasture to get this shot but Leandra found herself with wet feet pretty quickly, so she turned back. Waterproof shoes for the win!

Kilchurn Castle

Loch Awe
Loch Awe

Finally, we stopped at the Falls of Falloch on our way back to Callander for dinner and a good nights sleep.

Falls of Falloch
Falls of Falloch

Our Itinerary

2024 Trips

San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Valencia, Spain (Mar)
Mallorca (Apr)
Croatia (May)
Faroe Islands (Aug)
London, UK (Sept)
Bari, Italy (Sept)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)

2022 Trips

Florida (Feb)
NC Mountains (Apr)
Washington DC (Apr)
Valencia, Spain (May)
Hilton Head, SC (May)
Pacific NW (Jun)
Long Island (Jul)
Florida (Sept)
Chicago (Sept)
Poland (Sept)
NC Mountains (Nov)
Euro Xmas Markets (Dec)