Hotels & Transportation

We put over 900 miles on the rental car - only a few feet on the "wrong" side of the road.   It did take the better part of the first day to become completely comfortable with driving in the left lane, although Jackie remained frightened  of my driving efforts the entire time.  Right hand turns into parking lots and entering narrow streets with no traffic in sight were my downfall.  Oh, I did get stopped by the police after an illegal right-hand turn on a major street in Stirling. 

One warning I'll pass along - one I received via reviews on the Internet - if you drive in  Scotland, bring a GPS.   I bought a chip for my Garmin with Europe and Great Britain for this trip.  (Of course my son had to install it - I'm too old and dim)  The chip paid for itself the first day.  

We were provided a rental car.  We imagined we would get something related to a "sub-compact."  We walked out to find a mid-sized car; we thought we had the wrong one!  We loved this car and seriously discussed trying to find one here in the states.  It got well over 40 mpg, was comfortable and very easy to drive.  Loved it!  

It was called a ŠKODA.  The company has a very long history.  Their site states, "Government of the Czechoslovak Republic and the management of ŠKODA began to search for a strong foreign partner whose experience and investments would be capable of securing long-range international competitiveness of the company. In December 1990, the Government decided on cooperation with the German Volkswagen Group. The ŠKODA – Volkswagen joint venture began to operate on 16 April 1991 under the name ŠKODA, automobile a.s., becoming the fourth brand of the Volkswagen Group alongside VW, AUDI a SEAT.

We needed to drive to Edinburgh for two days.  Jackie talked to the absolutely wonderful young lady at the hotel's main desk and she suggested we take the train.  We had to drive to Stirling, about 30 minutes or so, park in a train parking lot, and walk about a block to the train station.  The first time we we purchased a ticket was a bit of a mess, but from that point on, what a terrific way to travel.  The local stations were each well laid out, clean and had great signage.

Homes adjacent to the small rail paring lot. 

We saw a great deal of beautiful country side on each trip.  The cars were very clean and well lighted.  The fellow travelers, most all commuters or on shopping trips, were very friendly and helpful.    From the train we saw fields, local housing and Sterling castle.

Getting off at Sterling, we had to walk uphill to the street, take a left and we were at the base of both close's and a primary street leading to the Royal Mile. 

If walking isn't your thing, the taxi services line up just before the walk to the street.  The one time we used the taxi is when we were going directly to the Castle.  Not wanting to walk the hill to the Royal Mile, and then perhaps 1/2 a mile to the castle, we used  a taxi.  We asked to be dropped at close to the castle as possible.  He took us the top of very last street (they are all blocked off at the Mile) closest to the castle.  We were on a long, narrow, winding street that he had to back down to get out.  Again, very friendly driver, immaculate taxi, great ride.

After the day in Edinburgh, its back to the train station to catch the train home.  It, in many ways, reminded me of the Union Station, where I caught a commuter train for four years - except this one was clean.

The station is located beneath the bridge between Old Town and New Town. 

As with any busy station, there are shops, the train schedules posted on constantly changing automated schedule board, seats for the tired, and the arrival and leaving of trains.  The only difficulty we encountered was that they "stacked" trains.  Consequently, twice we jumped on the train on the line the schedule listed, only to find out the train we wanted was either behind or in front of the train we were to catch.  You'd think after 4 years a Union Station I would have remembered. 

Trains are the best way to travel to Edinburgh! 

The hotels we stayed at were all very nice.   Two were old and one has to compensate for the age of the facilities.  One had positively awful parking problems.  All had very nice personnel and all were helpful and had good suggestions for the way to get around. 

The first hotel we was the Winnock

A panoramic view from the grounds

It had a wonderful pub called the Pcarmigan 

We ate our dinners here in the pub

The upper room served both the hotel and the pub

The bar was mid-level between the waiting area and the restaurant floor

The main eating are was down a half flight, with a large fireplace.

I was introduced to Haggis here - loved it!

The second hotel was the Royal Highland Hotel.  Again, a very old hotel in the middle of Inverness and next to a three storey set of shops and the train station.  Lovely place;  no-where to park!!

Part of its claim to fame is that its central stairway is an exact copy

of the main stairway of the Titanic!

The third hotel was the Airth Castle.  We were originally scheduled to stay in the actual castle.  However, other visitors told us the stairways were everywhere and, for us old / fat people, pretty difficult. 

So, we elected to stay in the very modern section of the hotel adjacent to the castle. 

The castle was attractive, and looking back on it we may have made an error not staying in the cattle - "We may never pass this way again."   But these were the very last days in Scotland and we had walked and climbed enough to color our judgment.

All in all, the car was terrific, travel was easy, the train was a fantastic suggestion, taxi rides were time well spent, and all the hotel stays were comfortable.  No regrets.

The ruins of a main house next to the Castle

The cemetery and ruined garden