Fàilte gu Alba

Here we are finally!  Let's celebrate this😉

And for a week already and we can say that until now, we are absolutely charmed by the place, its sceneries, its lovely and welcoming people and natural wonders. Here is a recap of our first week in kilt country:

We started off on the East coast with a nice stop in North Berwick, a charming town on the mouth of the Firth of Forth, the inlet on the North Sea that leads to Edinburgh. There we walked on the beach, watched the golfers play a round, discovered town and, met Andrina. She sells her paintings in a small cabin on the port. Her and her husband also travel with a camper van and she gave lots of great advice for our journey, including the address of a great fish and chips place that we had to put on our route. 

But before that we headed towards Edinburgh where we only stayed for a day. The city is definetly worth spending more time there but it was so crowded we didn't feel like hanging around longer. Every year in August is held the Fringe Festival, a big arts festival with numerous shows all over town and on top of that, Oasis was playing for 3 nights in a row. So all of this brought a lot of people over. We did however meet Stephen at a pub who was very chatty and gave us many recommendations of places to go to on our trip and, with pictures to support it all. Thank you Stephen 😅

So we got back on our way across the bay crossing Fife and it's charming coastal villages with of course, the must stop in Anstruther for the fish and chips recommanded by Andrina. And we weren't disapointed 😋

Our coastal escapade took us afterwards to St Andrews in the cradle of golf, but not only. According to the legend, a greek monk brought there the relics of St Andrew in the 8th century. So first was built a church, then a cathedral, pilgrims came from all over and the city became very powerful and the center of the Scottish Church. And it is the cross of St Andrew that is today on the Scottish flag. So much more that golf courses...

Then we left the sea behind us and went into the Highlands in Cairngorms National Park where, in the middle of the park is set Balmoral castle, one of the royal family's many residences. So we stopped to see if Charles wanted to invite us for tea but ... no. We had read that the castle was closed this time of the year but we understood we could still see it from the outside. So, we paid the 5£ parking fee to find ourselves in front of a gate, with a hut next to it selling coffee and a small giftshop... But luckily, Jérôme found some beautiful procini mushrooms in the forest that sort of made it up for the fact that Ol' Charles didn't want to buy his round 😉.

But we can say it's the olny downside worth talking about for this last week, except maybe for the wind that's been blowing quite strongly since we've been here. But the natural beauties of the country makes us forget it all. From the light changing over the heather-covered hills, the rivers and the forests to the animals:  the birds diving into the water at full speed to catch a fish, the sheep that you have to avoid on the road and the dozens of pheasants walking all around our van, our eyes can't get enough 😍.

And it isn't over! We still haven't eaten haggis, visited a whisky distillery nor really met any midges. Although we're not really in a hurry for that 😊.

To see the map of our journey so far and for more photos: Carte et photos

Thank you to those who left us some comments, we love to read them! Please don't forget to sign your name when you do or we don't know who they are coming from. Unless you prefer to remain anonymous...