London, day 57: Weekend trip to the beautiful Scottish Highlands
Scotland is a fascinating and proud country, celebrated for its rich heritage and enchanting landscape. This is particular true in the Highlands. I first visited Edinburgh 6 years ago, and have always wanted to plan a return.
This is just the right trip — I’ve been so incredibly busy and exhausted for the last 2–3 weeks in London, and this trip was exactly what I needed. I’m so glad I booked this a month ago, because it’s decidedly not a trip I would go on last-minute. I also made a point to not bring my laptop, as I’m guilty of carrying it with me literally everywhere.
I define slow travel as taking things easy, not rushing to a destination, and having the opposite of a packed itinerary. Getting there truly is half the fun. As you’ll see, being on some form of transportation is a recurring motif and big part of the experience.
Friday night — travel day
Friday is the travel day. I rushed off from my last meeting at 5:30pm, grabbing documents and train tickets, and headed off to Gatwick Airport. A 30-min train ride, civilized airport experience, and 2 more phone meetings later, I am finally at the gate. I decided to stop checking emails, and trip is finally beginning.
Time check: 8pm. The 1 hr 30 min EasyJet flight flew by uneventfully in a blink of an eye. I dozed off upon take-off, and woke up after we touched down in Inverness. Man, I was tired.
Saturday — Isle of Skye
Waking up early is a beautiful experience, especially for a night owl like myself. Stepping outside, I was welcomed by a blast of fresh air — a little chilly, slightly humid, but a decidedly refreshing late summer morning. I took it all in, mindfully. What a great way to begin a trip!
Today’s destination is the Isle of Skye, a beautiful large island off the west coast of Scotland. Even within the Highlands, Skye stands out for its enchanting scenery. It’s also notoriously difficult to get to by public transit. For this trip, I joined a coach tour that departs Inverness.
Our first stop on Skye was Sligachan, seemingly out of nowhere. We had about 40 minutes to hike around. Our guide Gordon remarked, “what a cloud free and nice day it is!” Judge for yourself on the cloud-free, but we are very lucky that it’s a rare sunny day!
During the short hike, I can definitely tell by the wet land that the Highlands has no shortage of water. In fact, a drought in Skye is defined* as any two consecutive days of no rain! (*defined by our tour guide)
The wetness is what marks Scotland’s unique characteristics. It lends the land an evergreen cover, and creates conditions for bog and peat to develop. Of course, peat is one distinctive note of Scotch whisky. The Highlands are also far up in the north, similar to Oslo and Stockholm in latitude. In fact, this will be the furthest north I’ve been! It gets 20 hour days in the summer, and proportionally long nights in the winter. For its latitude, though, the weather is mild due to the warm Atlantic currents.
Anyways, I digress. After a short hike, I checked the time, it’s just past noon. It’s time for some whisky*! The pub we happened to stop by is rated one of the top whisky pubs in all of UK, and has over 300 selection of whiskys. Try picking one from this list!
I followed the our guide’s lead and had an Old Pulteney 17 — a lovely Scotch! Made me wonder if we’re stopping here for the scenery or for the pub, hmm…
(*whisky is not a typo; it’s how Scotch whisky is spelled)
Traditions: Sabbath and Island time
The more I visits islands, the more I begin to understand the concept of “island time.” Similarly, Skye also operates on its own island time. Religion and tradition are fully embedded in life here.
Take, for example, the tradition of Sabbath: historically, absolutely nothing was open on the island on Sundays because that’s the appointed day to relax. No restaurants, bakeries, or even public transportation. Children’s playground are even locked up. You are supposed to go to church, and that’s it.
Tradition morphs, slowly but surely. Luckily for me, the bus now runs on Sundays, and tourist infrastructure is starting to develop. As with elsewhere in the UK, curry has now been ingrained in the daily life. Is this a good thing? Should tradition ever change, or are they sacred and not to be messed with? That’s probably a debate better left up to philosophers and ethnologists!
Further up, more Skye scenery! We are now in the northern part of Skye, past Portree. The skyline is decorated by the Cuillin, a range of volcanic rock formations. The most famous features are Storr and the Old Man of Storr. Of course, sheep also dot the landscape, grazing on the lush terrain.
I striked up a conversation with my seatmate on the coach, Dan from Slovakia. We talked about where we’d like to live. His favorite place in the world is Austria, and mine is NYC. Dan made a comment that maybe at some point when I’m older, I’ll appreciate living closer to nature more. It sure is so relaxing to be out with nature! Can I enjoy living in a city forever?
Saturday night — Portree
I decided to stay the night in Portree (pronounced por-TREE, from its old name of Port Rich) on Skye to fully embrace this part of the world. There’s a charm to a harbor town that only has a couple of blocks of commercial activity.
After a short walk and some exploration, I sat down at a restaurant that served a surprisingly good Scottish salmon filet. I’d love to claim that I walked into it serendipitously without attempting to look places up, but the reality is there simply isn’t good enough data and review coverage in this part of the world. I was recommended to this place by the hostel reception.
After dinner, I went to a bar for some whisky and a good book. The book — Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning — was a captivating and thoughtful portrayal of the struggle for survival in a concentration camp. Not a light read, but powerful! I ended up finishing the book in one evening.
Sunday — Scenic railways
Sunday is another travel day, covering 600+ miles on bus, ferry, and trains back to London. Particularly exciting is that I’ll be traveling on two of the most scenic train rides in UK: the West Highland Line between Mallaig and Fort William, and the Deerstalker between Fort William and London.
This is where the slow travel becomes really relaxing. Nothing to worry about, just hills and lakes rolling by the window, music playing through headphones and natural sounds seeping in, I dozed off and on multiple times. It’s truly relaxing.
Fort William
The travel was split by a 7 hour stop in Fort William, where for once I didn’t plan any activities in advance. When I got off the train, I noticed a signboard indicating the next bus to Nevis Range is departing in 15 minutes. Now, I knew Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the UK and a great hiking spot, so Nevis Range would seem to be where you should go.
This may also be good time to introduce some Gaellic words:
- Gleann (Glen): valley
- Loch: lake
- Beinn (Ben): mountain peak
Oops — it turned out that Nevis Range is a ski and mountain biking resort instead! After a short deliberation, I decided to make the most of it and bought a gondola ticket to go up the mountain. This turned out to be a great idea, because the view was breathtaking, because I would never be able to hike this far up in the short time I had, and I did some great walks atop the mountain!
Sunday night — Caledonian Sleeper to London
To bring it home, I boarded the Caledonian Sleeper at Fort William at 7pm. I booked a sleeper berth for this 12 hour train ride, and lucky for me, the other bed stayed empty! This journey back south sums up all there is about the beautiful country of Scotland. This one will surely linger long in memory.
I woke up at 7am this morning, just 30 minutes outside of London. Wow, what an amazing trip!
My itinerary — How you can do it too
- Friday: easyJet 865 LGW-INV; stay overnight in Inverness
- Saturday: Wow Scotland 1-day Skye tour (get dropped off in Portree); dinner at Caledonian Cafe (walk-in only); drinks at Merchant Bar; stay overnight in Portree
- Sunday: bus to Armadale; ferry to Mallaig; West Highland Line to Fort William; bus to Nevis Range; Nevis Range gondola and walking; Caledonian Sleeper to London