A Whirlwind tour of Scotland with friends from Atlanta

After over 30 years of waiting, one of my dearest friends finally managed to get herself over to Scotland!  She and her husband attended a week dance event in England and then took the train up to spend time with us.  Since there was so much to see, and she was allergic to my dog, we made the decision to treat this visit as if we were also on holiday and spend time and money travelling all over!

My friends arrived by train and were collected by us from the train station.  Leave it to Ayr to have the worst possible non-welcoming train station probably in Scotland.  Thanks to massive neglect by owners who still seem not to care about the Station Hotel, it stands shrouded in coverings and scaffolding to protect passersby.

They stayed at the Arrandale Hotel, as other friends of ours have.  It is a great little hotel within walking distance of the main part of Ayr, and it has lots of personality.  The first room they had was so cute, with period furniture and just felt perfect for the beginning of getting to know Scotland.

Fun chance to taste different Scottish gins and tonics!

One of my favourite restaurants is the Hollybush Inn, just a bit out of town and situated with farm fields behind it.  A perfect setting for an Ayrshire sunset.  We booked a table with the time of sunset in mind and asked for a table right at the window, which we got! The food was magnificent, as always, and the scenery did not disappoint.  Great way to begin!

Dessert at Hollybush Inn. Yum!

Their only day in South Ayrshire was standard fare for any of our visitors.  We are so lucky to live in a beautiful area and I never tire of showing it off!

Greenan Castle

Alan took Kenzie to the kennels while I took our friends to the beach,Burn's birthplace and local castles, ending with a visit to McLaurin Art Galleries at Rozelle House.  (Mine and Alan's photos were amongst the Ayr Photographic Society's exhibition currently on display!)  Then Alan walked to meet them and take them to our home! (I drove and got there just a bit before them!)

Burns Cottage, birthplace of Robert Burns

Cambusdoon Cricket Club, complete with a game!

One of my photos on display at McLaurin

Dunure Castle

Troon Harbour, where we had hoped to eat at the
Wee Hurrie, but it was too busy!

Fish and chips at our house!

My plans were to eat at the Wee Hurrie, the only place in my book "Where Chefs Eat" that is mentioned in Ayrshire.  It is a fish and chips shop with a difference, some of its fish just  might be lobster!  But this was an Ayr Racecourse day and everywhere was just too busy.  So we changed plans and met the rest of our family at home for basic fish and chips. As Robert Burns would say "the best laid plans gang oft agley"!

Leave it to me to make plans that are so time sensitive.  One of my specialities.  Due to the need to catch the first ferry to the Isle of Arran, my friends had to give us their suitcases to store while we went on our Scottish road trip.  We collected them after dinner and then picked up our fellow travellers early Sunday morning for the 9;45 ferry to Brodick.

Breakfast on the ferry is always good.  I got a salmon and cream cheese bagel!  It was super! Very cold out on deck but we all needed to go out there and observe Arran getting closer and closer.

First stop -  Machrie Moor Standing Stones.  This is a rather obligatory destination for my visitors.  I just love the peace and tranquility of this valley.  There are no coffee shops, no tea towels, no paid admission, nothing official. Just a lovely walk through sheep fields and a feeling of awe once you arrive.

The only other activity we had time for was a visit and tour of the Arran Distillery.  Thanks to the Chocolate And Whisky pairing event we all did after our friends did the tour, I learned why this is the only whisky I like to drink!  It all has to do with whether whisky is made with peat, such as most island whiskies, or not peated like Speyside whiskies.  Even though Arran Whisky is made on an island, it is made in a Speyside way and, hence I like it!  I must wholeheartedly recommend the Chocolate Pairing too. What fun that was!

Our friends went on the distillery tour on their own, I love it, but have done it 3 times!

The chocolate and whisky pairing was fun and used
chocolates made in Brodick!

Following this we were able to check into our guest house.  I loved the fact it was unstaffed with just written note and room numbers! The rooms were nice and it was one of the only places we got individual toiletries.  I think the world must be catching on that these single use bottles are not the way to go.  But I like to collect them for a project another friend of mine does at Christmas time for a women's shelter so I noticed when they were not available.

I had heard of a great little place with fabulous food AND live music so made reservation for us to eat there.  It is called Crofters.  I have eaten breakfast and lunch there before so I knew the food would be very good and we were not disappointed.  There is a market fish of the day and on this day it was Sea Bass and Crawfish.  My first experience of Crawfish and I would do it again!  We were a bit disappointed though that there is no live music on Sunday evenings.  Oh well. The dinner was delicious!


The next morning was more precision timing and an early breakfast was arranged so we could catch the 8:30 ferry from Lochranza.  The Guesthouse owners were very kind in offering to cook us this early breakfast.  Then Mother Nature stepped in and caused all morning ferries to be cancelled.  This permitted us to be a bit more relaxed and enjoy breakfast at the usual time.

We also had time to visit the usual stops on Arran, such as Arran Cheese, Arran Aromatics and the Arran Brewery.  Then I felt it was time to get in line, even if we were more than 2 hours early. There were just too many people wanting and needing to leave the island, like us.

Arran Cheese

We learned that Arran Cheese'
Blue Cheese had recently been
awarded the best Scottish
Blue Cheese in the world,
and it was good too!

Arran Brewery, yes I bought some!

We seemed to make the ferry terminal in good time and patiently sat in the queue waiting for it to appear and take us off island. This timing would push us a bit, but what else could we do?  There is a legendary sandwich shop, The Sandwich Station just across the street from this terminal and I have been dying to try its gourmet sandwiches since first reading about it, but it is not open on Mondays....

And then what happened? The sign changed and no decisions on any further ferries that day would be made until after 3!  I have been in this situation before and we jumped out of line and found one, well  two, of the last hotel rooms on the island! Too bad they were at the Douglas Hotel! One of the nicest on the island and we felt so lucky!

We also returned to Crofters, since we knew the food was excellent AND there would be live music this time around!

Once again, our hosts made a valiant effort to open breakfast more than an hour early for all the people stranded on the island!

We had plenty of time to get those legendary sandwiches this time, from the Sandwich Station, but no one was interested (except me, but I was the only one who had read their reviews, such as having he best sandwiches in the world, including North America - next time I will just insist!)

Such a welcome sight! 

And this time, the ferry did leave and we were on our way to Fort Augustus!  It was a much longer drive than it should have been, and the weather was not as nice as we would have liked but Scotland is always scenic so it was not a bad way to feel rushed.

Our next stop was Inverary and its Castle in particular.  I have seen this castle within this past year and was not ready to do it again.  It is such a gorgeous one though, I was delighted our friends got to spend time there.  Alan and I just went to the coffee shop and got a scone, thinking they would take longer than they did. However, they were rushing themselves due to a bus tour just behind them, so they appeared before I was ready for lunch.  Did that matter to me? No, there is always time for soup and all the lunch places we had stopped in the past few days never had anything tempting that I was able to eat, so I made certain I got the soup I had been craving!  (food allergy so my choices are often limited)

The Vital Spark at Inveraray Harbour

On the way to Fort Augustus we drove through Glencoe but it was too misty and rainy to even tempt me to get out and take any photos. I regretted that decision the next day when we retraced our route and the chance was phenomenal!

We got to our B&B in Fort Augustus and, I believe, it was the absolute nicest place of all our lodgings.  I would highly recommend the Whitehouse B&B!

It was just a 3 minute walk to Loch Ness and the main part of Fort Augustus!  The owner suggested the Lock Inn for dinner and we headed in that direction.  Alan and I have enjoyed drinks there but not eaten. The choices were great but in the end, the men got burgers and we got the most luscious and fresh Haddock and chips I have had!

One reason I really wanted to share Fort Augustus with my friends was my fascination with the series of locks on the Caledonian Canal that cuts it in half.  However, after all the furious planning, I learned that the locks had been emptied and were undergoing refurbishment.  So I was pleasantly surprised when, on the only morning we had there, I saw all these hard hatted workmen.  I asked what was happening and they said it was the first day the locks were back in use and they were there to make certain it all went smoothly.  Looked ok to me!

Then we had to head out to Falkirk to see the Falkirk Wheel! It was a much prettier drive since the sun was out and the haze was mostly away, so this time, I did take photos of Glencoe!

Blackrock Cottage at the foot of the Buachille

It was another long day in the car, but the scenery was spectacular the whole day.  Including a short stop at Luss, on the shores of Loch Lomond.

Then Falkirk. Stayed in a MacDonald Hotel, but not in the centre of town or anything.  I was disappointed with the location, but the hotel was nice enough.  Our main goal was to see the Wheel and the Kelpies at night.



We misjudged the timing on the Wheel so I expect Alan and I might get there another time, but the Kelpies were a wonderful sight!

We all got to see the Wheel the next day and our friends took the boat ride up 79 feet and experience this wonderful canal intersection.  What a fabulous engineering accomplishment.

Then straight back to our home town and a birthday celebration at Saffy's.  This is one of my favourite restaurants and I love to take visitors here.  The front looks like it might be some sort of odd coffee shop, but it is one of the most popular restaurants in Ayr, and for good reason. The food is great and the staff are so nice.  This was the last night and a good farewell from all the people who have known my friends for years, or those they just met this time around.

All that needs to be said now is  "Haste ye back"!