Our time in London seemed to be over before we even had a chance to really settle in but it left us knowing we needed to come back. It also reminded us that our time in Europe was almost over. It was a bittersweet feeling. We had really started to fall in love with Europe and this trip we had planned, dreamed about and finally made happen, was coming to an end. But not before we spent a few days in Scotland.
We had originally talked about spending time in Scotland and Ireland but after playing around with the itinerary we quickly realized it was too jam-packed and we would be moving around from place to place without really getting the chance to get a feel for the cities so we decided to end in Scotland and make Ireland a trip of its own.
We started our time in Scotland with a stay at Gleneagles where we spent the majority of our time on the grounds, walking, playing golf, soccer and yard games. We relaxed. We didn’t want to spend our last few days in Europe rushing around and wearing ourselves out, we wanted to soak it all in and Scotland was the perfect place to do this, especially since it didn’t get dark until around 10 pm so we had plenty of time to enjoy it!
I didn’t know what to expect from Gleaneagles but I thought it would be a great place to visit because Graham enjoys golf and this last part of the trip was purely about relaxing. I had two missions while here: see a Highland Cow and hike. We accomplished both in one day.
We headed out one day and told our driver we wanted to hike, something easy. He said he knew just the place and drove us to Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. He dropped us off, showed us the trail map and told us where he would meet us at the end of the trail. We set off and planned on meeting him a couple of hours later.
We were all in disbelief that we were hiking in Scotland, we just couldn’t wrap our brains around it.
We walked, talked and took in the views. We stopped for snacks and to explore streams.
We stayed on the trail and thought we were headed in the right direction but after a while I pulled out my phone to check the map and realized somewhere along the way we may have missed a turn but everyone was still happy and I was texting with our guide. We were a couple of miles off track but he said he could pick us up where ever we ended up. We weren’t that worried once we could see the road from the trail we were on above so we just kept going.
I can’t remember how many miles we ended up hiking but it was more than we had planned. Everyone stayed in good spirits though and when we look back at that hike, we think about how much fun we had being “lost” in Scotland. Also, the animal bones we happened upon at the end of the hike. I probably should have checked the trail map sooner than I did because I could have gotten us back on the right track but we were so entranced by our surroundings. It worked out in the end though. We went back to the hotel happy, hungry and full of good stories.
