Highlands

**I am going to update this with better pictures when I have time.**

 
When Matt and the boys were visiting we took a tour of the Highlands. This time I chose Discover Scotland tours and I was very impressed with the company. I would recommend them as well. 

We first stopped at the Rest and Be Thankful pass through the mountains know as the Arrochar Alps.

 The tour went through Inveraray, an 18th century planned town, which is home to Inveraray Castle (now famous for being Rose's family home in Scotland under the name Donegal in Downton Abbey). The castle was closed for the season, so we only saw it as we drove slowly by. My pictures didn't come out, but that's okay. The town itself was quiet and lovely in the early morning.

We stopped for views of Kilchurn Castle at the head of Loch Awe.

 

Then we found out that the optional whiskey distillery tour was no longer an option as they were closed but never told the tour. That was fine for us because we did not intend to do that anyway. So our driver offered a bonus stop at a church built by one of the dukes of Argyll who fancied himself an architect. That was fine until Gabe fell down the stairs. 

Our driver let people off at another castle to make up for the lack of distillery. However at that point both boys were feeling ill from the winding roads on a bus. We opted for the full two hours in Oban to have lunch and sightsee. Unfortunately, Malachi didn't quite make it all the way into town and threw up a little. He was so relieved that people were off the bus and didn't witness that. 

After lunch, we wandered Oban. Most of the shops were closed that day. We went up the hill to what is known as James' Folly, a small scale replica of the Colosseum that was never fully complete.

Only in Scotland. Hamish Hoey & Son Ltd., Joiners and Funeral Directors.

James' Folly is at the top.

Great views. Matt slipped down the hill, wound up turning around backwards and sort of skiing backwards down the slope. It was hilarious and I was too shocked to think of pulling out the camera. He managed to stay on his feet though. :) 

We ran up and back down so we wouldn't be late for the bus and the rest of the trip. We were laughing so hard at our efforts; I think we may have enjoyed this bit of the trip the most.

We passed Castle Stalker which is on its own little islet in Loch Laich. They used to be able to stop, but there have been some issues with land owners and so all he could do was drive slowly by. The castle can be seen in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

We went on to Glencoe, which I have posted about before. It never gets old or any less breathtaking with each visit.

Our driver had told us he had a surprise that the kids would really enjoy. After Glencoe he pulled off the road to a resort lodge. There were all these wild deer coming up to the car park and people were there watching them. The driver then produced a bag of carrots and said that we could feed them if we wanted since they were quite tame. As long as we moved slowly and didn't box them in, they would eat the carrots out of our hands. Both boys got to feed deer.

 

 

We then continued over the Rannoch Moor to the Drovers Inn. As the website says, "For over 300 years the Drovers has welcomed the great and the good including Rob Roy MacGregor one of Scotland's most infamous outlaws." It was a quaint, old pub where a taxidermist had gone crazy. Rumor has it the Inn is haunted; secretly I think it's just all the stuffed animals. We had time for cozy drinks and then headed back to Glasgow.