Scotland; Home Is Where The Heart Is
So, I figured it
made most sense to tell you a bit about my home country before I start blogging
about the other countries and places I have travelled to. Scotland is such a
beautiful country with lots of amazing places to visit, if only we had more
consistent weather that would show these sights off and encourage people to
travel around.
Ayrshire
& Arran
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| Dumfries House & Boswell House |
Starting at my
hometown Cumnock, Ayrshire offers some lovely countryside walks and places to
have lunch or even just a catch up over tea and a cake. Two of the main areas I
would recommend is Dumfries House
and Boswell's Coach House
which are surrounded by beautiful views, unique attractions such as maze
gardens, Chinese bridge and various walks. I visit most weekends with friends
to take advantage of them being right on my doorstep.
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| "Lads fishing on Ayr pier, with the sun setting over Arran" Thanks to Raymond Caruthers - Flickr |
Ayrshire has a
number of castles to visit
and is a perfect location to visit if you are a golfer, offering “more than it’s fair share of big time,
championship golf courses."
Loch Lomond & The Trossachs
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| Dawn at Loch Ard, Trossachs & Queen Elizabeth Forest Thanks to Raymond Carruthers |
A stunning place that will always be close to my heart. This was the place of my family’s annual summer holiday for at least a decade. My grandparents had an apartment in the MacDonald Forest Hills Resort located on the shores of Loch Ard and surrounded by views of Queen Elizabeth Forest, where we all travelled to spend a few weeks together and much to my delight we even got to take the dogs!
I spent most of
my days with my cousins exploring the outdoors, the trail walks through the surrounding
forest, playing the outdoor activities or in the swimming pool or one my
favourites - playing down by the loch and going out on the rowing boat.
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| Top Left to Right: Forest Hills Resort, Cousins on the Sir Walter Scott Steamship Bottom Left to Right: Loch Katrine, Family Rowing on Loch Ard |
We had days out
of the resort where we visited the nearby towns Aberfoyle and Callander. I
always remember visiting, “The Scottish Wool Centre”, in Aberfoyle as there was
always something going on around here including animal shows with sheep dogs,
ducks, miniature horses and birds of prey. On a recent trip to Aberfoyle I
visited the newly built Go Ape – Outdoor Adventure Park. It’s a fun day out but
as it’s a tree-top adventure it’s definitely not for anyone scared of heights! My memories of Callander include lots of
lovely gift shops. We also visited Loch Katrine where we enjoyed a sail on the
small historic steamship Sir Walter Scott.
Ben Nevis & Fort William
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| Ben Nevis |
At the age of
fifteen, I conquered Ben Nevis and what an experience that was! Situated in the
North West Highlands near Fort William, this is Scotland’s tallest peak. We
climbed it in the middle of summer and I can still remember how cold it was as
we reached the top – thank goodness for the emergency shelter. I would love to
do it again though, the views are unreal – the pictures don’t do it justice.
I would
definitely recommend this as a place to visit and there are many more sights to
explore in Fort William including a must for all Harry Potter fans, a journey
on the iconic Jacobite Steam Train featured in the Harry Potter films. The
train departs from Fort William and travels over the magnificent Glenfinnan
Viaduct.
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| Thanks to 96Tommy - Flickr Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) |
Find out about my visit to Toronto, Canada in my next post... look out for the next link! 😁
Excellent photographs of the Trossachs; sounds like a fantastic place for a getaway in Scotland.
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