Inverness, Loch Ness and the Cairngorms

The second road trip my parents and I went on was up to Inverness (about 3 hours north-ish of Edinburgh). We took our time driving up, stopping at Pitlochry and Aviemore. The drive through the mountains/hills was really pretty, especially at one point where there was soft fresh snow and gorgeous light (unfortunately, having just woken up from a backseat nap, I have no idea where this was).

We stayed in Inverness for 2 nights and went on a self-guided driving tour around the area, which included a trip to Loch Ness. Coming from a part of Canada with many, many lakes, it was hard to get excited about a lake but it was pretty impressive how deep it is for its size. We didn't see any monsters (although, really, no one would believe us if we had) but we did see a stag on a small side road. We also saw a very bright rainbow reflected in the ocean (I've never seen that before!).

Sunset in Nairn

Loch Ness

Rainbow reflected in the Inverness Firth

The drive back to Edinburgh was also pretty spectacular. We took a different route through the Cairngorms and the scenery was absolutely amazing. It made me want to stick around until spring/summer so that I could go hiking through them (it's a wee bit dangerous in the winter). It's scenery that makes me feel really small, but in a good way.



Cairngorms



A hillside of deer!
(this photo would make a horrible jigsaw puzzle)

Cairngorms

I'm really grateful that my parents came to visit and took me along on their road trips - I got to see a lot of Scotland and England that I might not have gotten to see otherwise and it inspired more ideas for future trips (not that I'm really short on ideas...).