Enjoy a bonnie Scottish getaway
From handsome architecture to breathtaking scenery, there’s much to be wowed by on a Scottish break, as travel editor David Wickers discovers
Before the pandemic, I was lucky enough to go on an escorted tour of Scotland, organised by Globus, which began in Glasgow, its largest city. Having assembled everyone over drinks in the hotel bar on the first evening, our excellent guide, Tara, took us on a city tour the next day, taking in the cathedral with its 12th-century roots, statues of local heroes Robert Peel, Walter Scott and Joseph Lister, and the handsome Georgian terraces and squares built by tobacco merchants. We also inspected weighty Victorian civic buildings, testimony to the wealth accrued from shipbuilding on the Clyde.
We then took the ‘low road’ north. Following the banks of Loch Lomond (still bonnie, despite the gloaming skies), we went for a boat trip, weaving between islands and along the thickly wooded shores.
On for a tour and a tipple at the family-owned Glengoyne whisky distillery, home to single malts since 1833. ‘There are only two things to add to a wee dram of our 10-year-old malt,’ said the manager. ‘And that’s either an angel’s tear or another dram!’ The last port of call of the day was Stirling’s immense castle – historic
residence of many a royal – which squats on a volcanic plug overlooking the town.
The following day, we motored through dramatic, knock-your-socks-off Highland scenery, the glens hosting wispy clouds like smoke, the mirror reflections of the lochs backed by high and heathered hills. After driving through Glencoe, where the massacre of clan Macdonald took place in 1692, we took the Road to the Isles, following in the wake of Bonnie Prince Charlie after the failed Jacobite rising.
From Mallaig, we sailed over the sea to Skye, not carrying a lad born to be king on this occasion. After seeing the distant Cuillin Hills, we returned to the mainland via the Skye Bridge and on to Inverness, pausing for an Instagram opportunity at the romantic Eilean Donan castle, before following the shores of Loch Ness (sadly, no sightings of you-know-who).
Our prime stop the following day was Culloden, the battlefield where the Jacobites were defeated in a bloody, face-to-face conflict. Onwards through the Cairngorms, the landscapes became intimidatingly wild, even on a summer’s day.
From the Granite City of Aberdeen, we visited Scone, the 19th-century palace on the site where Scottish kings were crowned, and the famous golf course of St Andrews, before a grand royal finale in Edinburgh: a handsome finish to a beautiful trip.
‘Bonnie Scotland’, a Globus premium tour, starts from £1,169pp, including B&B, three dinners and entrance fees. For more details, visit cosmos.co.uk