Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

Tag: Scotland

What I Packed for Ireland and Scotland in Late Summer
Full disclosure: packing for a two-week trip in Ireland and Scotland gave me a fair bit of anxiety. The weather in Ireland and the UK is fairly unpredictable to start with, and on top of that I wasn’t sure if our early September trip would call for summer or fall outfits.

The temperatures for our trip ended up ranging from 55-70 degrees as the high. Most days were sunny or partly cloudy, and even when it started off with a cool morning we rarely needed all of our layers all day. My main goal was to keep our luggage very light since we were moving from eight different accommodations over the course of two weeks, so I booked a couple of places with access to a washer/dryer and planned do laundry a few times.

As far as the level of casual vs. formal, Chris and I expected to have mostly active days (tons of walking/hiking) and we wanted to eat as much pub food as possible, so jeans and casual tops were fine for us pretty much every day. I was able to wear a long-sleeve top with a scarf plus my flats for a few places when I needed to look a wee bit more polished. So here’s what I packed for fifteen days in late August and early September:
- 2 short-sleeve shirts
- 4 long-sleeve shirts
- 1 zip-up hoodie
- 1 tank top (for sleeping)
- 1 pair of lightweight hiking pants
- 1 pair of jeans
- puffer vest
- waterproof jacket
- 2 scarves
- waterproof hiking shoes
- ballet flats
- undies and socks
- baseball-type cap
- sunglasses
In case it helps to have some more details, here are a few of the specific things I packed:

1. Long-sleeve waffle henley from Eddie Bauer (similar); 2. Striped long-sleeve top from Loft; 3. and 4. Long-sleeve cotton crewneck tops from Nordstrom; 5. Warm puffer vest for layering (that I wore on so many days) from J. Crew Factory.

1. Soft and warm wool scarf; 2. Pretty patterned scarf; 3. Hat; 4. My favorite small camera bag to hold my SLR and a point-and-shoot; 5. Super comfortable North Face Ultra Fastpack GTX (similar) waterproof hiking shoes; 6. Tieks foldable leather ballet flats.

1. Comfortable and water-repellent Mountain Hardware Chockstone hiking pants; 2. Jeans; 3. Space Dye Strength Hoodie 2 from Athleta; 4. North Face Carli Jacket for the rain that we didn’t get (yay!).

All of our stuff went into my trusty Eagle Creek packing cubes and we each brought one carry-on suitcase. I ended up wearing everything I brought, and didn’t really feel like anything was missing. Of course, if room wasn’t an issue I would have liked to have more shoes just because, but the lone two (!) pairs I brought worked out well. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns about packing for either of these places!

Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of my links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you so much for reading and for your support!
December 7, 2015
Photo Friday – Mini Pot Still

A few months ago, I didn’t really even know what a pot still was, but after spending a long weekend on the Isle of Islay and learning about the whisky distilling process from several distilleries, I’m intimately familiar with the function of a pot still. And when I spotted this copper pot still decanter in the Lagavulin gift shop, I had to have it. It’s one of our most favorite souvenirs ever!

December 4, 2015
Scotland Snapshot

For the past several big trips, I’ve created “snapshot” posts with a summary of superlatives and sidebars from our travels. It’s a fun way to me to reflect back on specific moments and to include some photos that I might not have blogged previously, so to continue that tradition here is my Scotland snapshot!

Best Moment

Both Ireland and Scotland have been on our must-travel list for quite a while, so it was just awesome spending a whole week in each. And, this was my most complicated itinerary to plan so far, with multiple flights involved, two rental cars, two ferries, two trains, and eight different accommodations. I was pretty anxious that something major would go wrong and foil our plans, but everything went more smoothly than I could imagine.

As for a Scotland-specific Best Moment, I couldn’t have been happier to find a Highland cow. Chris counts the whole Islay weekend as his favorite moment. I also loved my quiet morning on Calton Hill, watching the sun rise over the city.

Worst Moment

This cringe-worthy moment is still a little fresh for me (ugh, pun not intended) and I didn’t even mention it in my post about our Islay distillery tours, but it easily wins hands-down as the Worst Moment on this trip so I suppose I have to divulge it now!

Chris and I were on the Water-to-Whisky Experience with Laphroaig, walking over a hilly pasture on the way to see the water source. I was in the back of the group pausing every so often to take photos, so I had to quicken my steps to keep up. I thought I was being careful enough with my footing, but while walking down a slope my shoe slipped on a wet patch of grass, I landed in a big pile of mud, and I slid several feet down the hill. Only it wasn’t mud.

I had smeared a thick layer of fresh cow patty all over the seat of my hiking pants, and we weren’t even half-way through the 4.5-hour tour! I had no choice but to finish the hike to the water source and sit awkwardly through lunch. Thankfully our guide was able to drop me back off at the distillery after our picnic, and I was even more thankful that Chris and I had our suitcases in the car parked at the distillery parking lot. Laphroaig even had a washing machine that I could use to launder my pants and shoes and I was able to change and meet up with the group for the rest of the tour, so it wasn’t nearly the disaster that it could have been, but it was still my least favorite moment!

Best Meal

Fact: overhead can lights don’t make it easy to take a decent iPhone snapshot (so the one I took below is pretty bad). Terrible food photography aside, the Malt Shovel Inn on Cockburn Street served my favorite meal in Scotland. Their traditional Bangers and Mash sounds perfect as I write this post on a cold and dreary day at home in Virginia.

Something We Learned

The Real Mary King’s Close tour taught us about the streets and spaces that were hidden underground in 17th century Edinburgh. I think that would have been a hard concept for me to imagine if I hadn’t seen it first-hand, and it was a fascinating tour that I highly recommend to anyone visiting the city.

We’re Thankful We Packed

Outfits with layers. Half of our days in Scotland were a little on the chilly side, and the other half we found ourselves shedding jackets and scarves. It was nice to have options while still keeping our luggage to a minimum.

We Didn’t Need To Bring

Rain gear! I would still recommend to anyone visiting the UK that they bring a rain jacket and I’d certainly never travel there without one, but we really lucked out with the weather and never needed our rain gear.

Trip Regrets

I deeply regret falling onto cow poop.

Reasons To Go Back

We only scratched the surface of Scotland. Our main goal was to see Islay and Edinburgh, and I didn’t want to squeeze much else into our one week there. I’d love to see Isle of Skye and more of the Highlands. Chris wants to cover Speyside as well, so we’ll make a return trek for sure.

Favorite Photos

Chris ranks this photo of the Laphroaig barrels in his top favorites.

And I picked a photo of Edinburgh, one of Victoria Street, and probably every single Highland cow photo we took!

December 1, 2015
The Castles and Cows of Stirling

Stirling is a super easy day trip from Edinburgh, and we simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tour Stirling Castle on a gorgeous September day. Chris and I hopped on the train Thursday morning and found ourselves in Stirling in under an hour. With colorful storefronts along curvy streets and homes that look like gingerbread houses, I found the town to be completely charming.

I came across plenty of colorful doors for my photo collection.

After walking around the town a bit and having a fantastic lunch at the No. 2 Baker St. pub (I had the Belhaven Steak & Ale pie – so good!), we headed up the hill to the castle. It’s a bit of a walk, so we easily burned off those lunchtime calories.

Guided tours and audio tours were available of the 12th century castle, but we chose to wander the grounds at our own pace armed with a map. We loved lingering over the spectacular views.

We didn’t feel like we had enough time to get over to the Wallace Monument. It’s a couple of miles from Stirling Castle, so if you want to see both you need to plan for it time-wise. There’s a great view of it from the castle though, so Chris took this beautiful photo (on the right) with a telephoto lens. We’ll have to visit it another time since I had an additional mission planned for our time in Stirling (see below).

I want to be the person who went to Stirling strictly for the rich history, magnificent castle, and culturally important monument. However, I’m the person who went to Stirling in one last-ditch attempt to find a red Highland cow on this trip to Scotland! Okay, so we did have Stirling and the castle tour on our must-see list before I realized it was my final opportunity to see the hairy coos. I’m pretty sure I drove Chris nuts during our Islay weekend, craning my neck in the car to look for them. A photographer friend of mine who had recently been to Edinburgh also took a day trip to Stirling and said she saw cows there. I didn’t want to get my hopes up because I couldn’t imagine that we’d actually find them, but we did!

Two sweet babies trotted right over to us alongside a fence, and were just so curious about us with our cameras.

We even saw a blonde one! So with the black one that we found on Islay, plus these guys, my Highland cow obsession was quite satisfied. If only I was allowed to bring one home! (Don’t worry, I didn’t try. We really don’t have the space.)

November 23, 2015
Searching for Harry in Edinburgh: The Potter Trail Tour

As any Harry Potter fan would, I had already planned to visit The Elephant House during our time in Edinburgh, but when I came across reviews for the Potter Trail on TripAdvisor I knew we’d simply have to set aside some time to do this free 90-minute tour. We picked the 3pm tour on a Wednesday and we lucked out with a lovely day.

Our cloak-wearing guide, Richard, met the group at the Greyfriars Bobby statue, which I don’t know if I would have noticed if we hadn’t stopped there on purpose (it’s a sweet story). Richard handed out plastic wands to everyone in the group and taught us a spell to make the traffic lights turn green. We walked around the city for about 2.4 km/1.5 miles, and each time our group needed to cross a street, we gave a swish-and-flick of the wands. A little cheesy, but it made me giggle every time.

Richard’s energy and impressive knowledge of the books, movies, and of J. K. Rowling kept the group engaged and enthralled. My non-Potterhead husband didn’t feel bored, but he admits he liked the Harry Potter-inspired bar in Toronto better than the Potter Trail tour. That said, it’s a nice walk through different parts of Edinburgh and to pockets of the city you might not otherwise visit, so it’s fairly suitable for any non-fans.

Our group ranged in age from 20s – 30s. Richard was entertaining, but I don’t know if there’s enough to keep really young children interested for 90 minutes. The website suggests that if they’re old enough to read the books, they’re old enough for the tour.

Okay, so here’s a spoiler alert! If you don’t want the details of what we saw on the tour, please don’t read the rest of this post. I kind of liked being surprised at a few of the spots, but I know some people would want to know what areas are included on the tour, so I’m posting photos of most (not all) of the places where we stopped.

We started out at Greyfriars Kirkyard where we explored the cemetery to find grave markers that may have influenced a few characters’ names in the story. The cemetery itself is also thought to have inspired the graveyard scene in Goblet of Fire.

I don’t recall the exact order of our tour and your mileage may vary anyway depending on your tour guide, but other stops included a through-the-fence peek at a private school that Hogwarts might have been modeled after, potential namesake Potterow, one of the cafes (Spoon) in which Rowling penned parts of the first installment of Harry Potter, and a view of the Balmoral Hotel where she finished the last.

And of course we stopped at the other cafe in which Jo spent time writing: The Elephant House. On the tour we learned that while The Elephant House holds the spotlight and a sign in the window for being the “birthplace of Harry Potter,” that’s not exactly true since the cafe opened after the first manuscript was already well under way. But Rowling did spend time writing here, and it’s a great little cafe to pop in for lunch or tea (if you don’t mind waiting in a long queue of Harry Potter fans).

The tour didn’t stop there for long, so Chris and I returned on our own for a pastry and to take photos of the graffitied restroom. We sat at the table in the back with a view of Edinburgh Castle, and felt the presence of J.K.R.’s magic.

We ended our tour at the top of Victoria Street which may have inspired Diagon Alley.

My final thoughts? I loved this tour! I ate up all of Richard’s silly humor, and I admit I enjoyed waving a plastic magic wand at the traffic lights. It was good fun to hang out with fellow HP fans, I learned quite a few new Rowling fun-facts, and I loved the occasional trivia questions Richard quizzed us with throughout the tour. On the O.W.L. grade scale, I’d give this tour an E for Exceeds Expectations!

Can’t make it out to Edinburgh any time soon? For more inspiration, the book Harry Potter: Magical Places from the Films: Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, and Beyond and the Harry Potter Places book series have a ton of ideas on where to find other Harry Potter-related sites around the world. I’m so excited that there are several other places I still need to visit (the Glenfinnan viaduct in Scotland is hanging out at the top of my wish list). Let me know if you come up with your own tour ideas!

Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of my links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you so much for reading and for your support!

November 16, 2015