Located in the charming Cairngorms National Park, tucked away in the Scottish Highlands is an absolutely fantastic bed and breakfast. We’ve stayed in countless B&Bs over the years and while many are memorable for different reasons, a much smaller number make it to our list of the top places we have stayed. Firhall Highland Bed and Breakfast is one of those special places. We kind of wish we could move in. Permanently. Is that an option?
Read MoreWanting to stay near town and avoid a lot of driving before our long flight and trek home the following day, we spoke with the B&B’s owners to get some recommendations on local hikes. We decided on Bracklinn Falls hike, which begins just a little over a mile outside of the town of Callander.
Read MoreThe ninth day of our road trip took us out of the Corpach/Fort William area, through Glencoe Valley, to the village of Luss on Loch Lomond in the Trossachs National Park and finally to the adorable town of Callander, the last stop of our trip and where we would stay for two nights.
Read MoreAlong the route, which is 42 miles out, the train passes over Glenfinnan Viaduct, makes a short stop at the Glenfinnan station, and then passes through Arisaig and culminates in Mallaig, the end of the line and a cute coastal town. Glenfinnan, in addition to being home to the picturesque viaduct, is also where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard in Scotland, the start to his march to retake his throne that would crash down a mere eight months later at Culloden Battlefield, which we had visited earlier on this trip.
Read MoreWe had seen many people recommending this site online, and it is clearly very popular with visitors. The owners of the land have set up a large, extensive mountainside gravel parking lot which is the only real place to park. I don’t recall the exact price - it wasn’t cheap but wasn’t astronomical either. Some people try parking alongside the road to avoid paying, which given the windy nature of the roads is not the safest (in my opinion), and honestly, if this private land is being used as Scottish law permits, I think the owners should have every right to profit off of it given the significant crowds.
Read MoreOur plan for the day involved taking a roughly two hour loop road around one of the peninsulas of the Isle of Skye and doing short hikes to places of interest. This loop road around the isle that can get fairly crowded at times, and there are concerns in the area of over-tourism. In our experience, there was not anything like the traffic we have heard about, but this was certainly a fairly popular area and more populated than other parts of our trip.
Read MoreToday involved a long car ride punctuated by several stops at some amazing places; the neolithic burial mounds at Clava Cairns, Culloden Battlefield for a slice of British and Jacobite history, and Loch Ness’s famous Urquhart Castle. Looking back I can’t believe we managed to pack all of this and a four hour car ride into one day!
Read MoreNo adventure in the Cairngorms would be complete without at least one good hike. After a wonderful breakfast at our B&B we headed out to the remote Glen Feshie for an excellent day spent reveling in the Scottish countryside.
Read MoreAs a couple who enjoy the outdoors, historic spots and places (Lindsey in particular really loves castles), and interesting geology, Scotland has long been on our list of places to visit. We also both have ancestors from the country, which always piques our interest in checking out a place.
Read MoreI have always loved Ireland for its beauty, history, and accents. In the 1870s my great-great grandmother and grandfather emigrated (likely separately) from County Cork, Ireland, to San Francisco, California, where they married. So, for my first trip abroad, it’s no wonder that Ireland topped my list.
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