There and Back Again: A Motoring Tour of Scotland

Did you know that Scotland has a smaller population than the state of Massachusetts? In fact, if you subtracted the population of this Northern European nation from the population of Massachusetts, you would end up with an entire New Hampshire’s worth of people remaining. And yet, despite its remoteness and wee size, Scotland has managed to distinguish itself on the world stage with a greater cultural impact than many larger nations. I invite you to follow in the footsteps of my mother and me who took a holiday there over February break. Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland is one of the greatest architectural cities in the world. Row after row of stone Victorian buildings can be found interspersed with gothic churches. The city is built around two main streets, the upscale and metropolitan Price’s Street and the bustling, historical High Street. High Street is also known as “The Royal Mile” because it runs from the official royal residence at Holyrood to Edinburgh Castle, which is perched on a rocky outcropping in the middle of the city.

Despite how amazing Edinburgh is, my mother and I

were determined to see more of what Scotland had to offer. We began by renting a suitably powerful estate and setting out on a journey to the very top of Scotland and the mainland UK: Thurso and John O’ Groats. From an American perspective, five hours is not bad at all to drive from the bottom of a country to the top, and the roads in Scotland are anything but boring, full of rainbows, sheep, castles, and good drivers. While Edinburgh is busy year round, Thurso is definitely a town with an off-season, and when we arrived in the late afternoon, the town was almost deserted. But appearances can be deceiving, and at our hotel that night, we ate at the carvery there feasting on traditional roast beef, pork, and lamb with generous helpings of garlic potatoes and assorted vegetables. It was easily the greatest meal of the trip, and it was perfect after a day of mostly driving. After the night in Thurso, we headed back down the coast of the country before stopping in Ullapool, the charming coastal village pictured below.

While there, we received directions from a local innkeeper at the Riverside B&B about where to go next in order to follow the North Coast 500, a series of coastal roads that trace a line along the Scottish coast from the rolling pastures of the east coast to the dramatic mountains and cliffs in the west.

The Scottish west coast is one of the most starkly beautiful landscapes in existence; as you travel down one lane roads right through sheep pastures, you ascend craggy hills and mountains before dropping low towards the water. In some places, the water is as clear as in the Caribbean, and the lack of tree cover especially when compared to New England makes every landscape seem bigger somehow. Of special note on the west coast is the Bealach na Bà, or Pass of the Cattle, the UK’s greatest mountain road, a single-track road with a 20% gradient and over a dozen hairpin turns near Applecross.

Following our drive down the North Coast 500, my mother and I drove to Fort William, a town at the foot of the UK’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis. We stayed there for two nights, the first was in the Ben Nevis Inn, right next to the mountain, and a great place for anybody planning a hike. The next night we stayed at Inverlochy Castle which was as posh as it gets, before driving back to Edinburgh for our final night in that amazing country. I owe many thanks to all the people we met on the trip, from the rental car agents who fixed the driver’s seat in our car to all the hotel staff who gave us great recommendations on where to visit.

I would also like to thank all the restaurant servers and kitchen staff of Scotland, who were all extremely good at their jobs, from the sushi restaurant in Edinburgh to the vegan place with lapsang souchong. Everything we had to eat and drink was amazing. Finally I would like to thank my mother for doing all our driving and securing our reservations and hotels, without her none of this would be possible.