Day 4: The Long, Rainy, and Dark Drive to the Isle of Skye… With Some Pit Stops
This morning was a horribly early morning, especially given our continued jetlag. With our flight scheduled to leave at 6AM, we had to get up early to return our rental car, get through security, and get some food from the lounge before boarding our flight. The hot breakfast food in the lounge was clutch and was definitely a good reason to get to the airport early. Thank the lord for Priority Pass!
After a quick 1.5 hour flight, we landed in cloudy, rainy Edinburgh, where we made a decision to find and lay low at an airport lounge for a couple hours to take a much-needed nap and recharge our batteries before the long trip ahead. So we napped and ate some more food before finally picking up our black Vauxhall Astra rental car (nicknamed Swanky for how much nicer it was compared to our previous Winky) and starting our slow and long road trip to the Isle of Skye, about a 256 mile, 5.5 hour nonstop drive. This time, I was the designated driver of the left side of the road.
Because the nonstop drive was going to be long and because there were many places to see in between, we made a couple of stops along the rainy drive up. We first stopped for about 15-20 minutes in Perth to briefly check out the view of St. Matthews Church of Scotland from the bridge the crossed over the river running next to town. It was windy and rainy and we didn’t end up staying very long. But despite how short the stop was, the stop was the birthplace of the UK trip’s penguin dance. To learn more, ask us! :D
After the brief stop, we continued on. The next stop was Pitlochry, a cute town further north of Perth and located right at the southern edge of Cairngorms National Park. When we got to town, the rain started to pick up a bit and was the heaviest it had been since we arrived in the UK. But to explore town, we had to endure the rain. And endure we did. With our rain jackets, we walked up and down Atholl Road in Pitolchry and looked at the cute little stone buildings and shops lining the road through Pitolchry. Eventually, because we were starting to get a little hungry and knew we needed a little warm, dry break before continuing on, we decided to sit for afternoon tea in Pitolchry.
We found a highly reviewed tearoom called Hettie’s Tearoom just a few yards away from where our car was parked and sat for a quick afternoon break with coffee and a fruit scone as we dried and warmed up. The scone with butter and jam was good to finally try in the UK, but to Cynthia, it wasn’t the best and was a bit too dry. Oh well. At least one of us enjoyed it, hahaha.
After finishing our coffee and scone, we were on the road once again. This time, with a quick (it actually wasn’t that quick) detour through Inverness to check it out. On the way to Inverness, the rain died down slightly and you could see some of the clouds lifting with a bit of the fall colors revealing themselves from the far off forests on either side of the highway. Because I wanted to try and see some of these colors, we took a quick detour drive through Kingussie without much success and immediately drove back out to the highway. It then got quickly dark outside and the rest of the drive to Inverness was tiring and sleep-inducing.
But we made it to Inverness. Finally! It was dark and cold and slightly wet in Inverness by the time we arrived. After finding a parking garage for our car, we exited the garage through the empty shopping mall that it was a part of in search of the Victorian Market down the road. The market was actually quite empty so we didn’t end up staying too long. With nothing really planned for Inverness, we explored the streets of the city and randomly made our way to the Ness River, along which we walked for a bit, taking in the evening sights and lights along the river.
By this point, Cynthia was starting to hear her stomach growl. So we stopped at a nice-atmosphered Italian restaurant next to the river called Zizzi for some quick food before hitting the road. I wasn’t hungry yet so Cynthia just ordered some Toscano soup and bruschetta for her dinner. Not bad. While finishing up Cynthia’s meal, we had a quick chat with our waitress since we were curious at her non-native British accent, and we learned that she was originally from the States and moved to Scotland due to her dad’s job at the University and that she ended up staying in town to study theater. Always nice to have a random chat with strangers and to learn a little about their history.
With Cynthia fed, I stopped by Burger King for a quick Whopper and we were on our way once again, with Cynthia taking over the driving duties for a little while I ate my BK meal. At the end of our short stop, I wasn’t sure whether making a long detour in the evening darkness to Inverness was a good idea or not given the pluses and minuses and the amount of road still left to drive to get to the Isle of Skye, but one thing I know is that Cynthia seemed to enjoy our very short stop in the cultural capital of the Scottish Northern Highlands. As long as she enjoyed it!
And the evening ended with a very long, very dark, and very lonely 2.5 hour drive to the Isle of Skye and our AirBnB. It was a very crazy, dark, foggy, and windy drive and we were so tired by the time we started the trek over. Luckily, because there were so few cars driving through the area, the drive was relatively smooth and painless. The weather conditions also calmed down a bit and ended up being mostly clear for the trip. Good thing the roads were empty for this long drive, too, because we had to figure out how to drive on the Scottish one-laned roads. But in the end, they were pretty easy to navigate.
When we finally made it to our AirBnB, our hosts were nice enough to come out and welcome us and show us around our nice and cozy AirBnB for the evening before leaving us to rest for the evening. By this point, it was pretty late. We cleaned up and snacked on some snacks before calling it a night. With a long day of planned activities for tomorrow, including early morning activities, rest was essential. ZZZZzzzzz
5 Things I Learned Today:
1. Lay-bys in Scotland are paved shoulders and/or turnoffs off the side of the main road for emergencies or stops. On some parts of highways, they occur about every 450 yards or so. At least that’s what I noticed during the first few hours of driving out of Edinburgh.
2. Scotland seems to be like England but on a smaller, less expensive scale than England. Towns seem smaller in some parts (this may be limited by my exposure). There are less cars and less traffic overall (again, may be due to my limited exposure) and life seems quieter in between towns. And things are a little cheaper. And surprisingly, so far, things in the UK overall haven’t been as expensive as I thought they’d be. That’s good.
3. Driving on the left side of the road and on the right side of the car isn’t as difficult as I imagined it to be. I think the hardest part is looking at traffic from a different perspective using different mirrors and getting a good sense of your car’s position relative to the road and relative to the cars around you. Also, another thing to get used to is the boundaries of your lane. Not being used to it, Cynthia and I found that we kept veering and swerving leftward in our lanes when driving.
4. Inverness is the cultural capital of the Scottish Northern Highlands and is steeped in history (as much of the UK is).
5. Driving through the northern highlands in Scotland in the early evening in late November is dark and lonely. There are barely any roadside lamps or street lights from Inverness to the Isle of Skye outside of the small amounts seen in towns and cities that you drive through. If you’re looking for a scenic drive, start early. And finish early. Else, you’ll just be surrounded by the lonely darkness for what seems like forever.
