A few weeks ago, I had the good fortune to travel to Scotland for the Gentlemen of the Road Aviemore Stopover (a music festival put together by Mumford and Sons). In addition to a week in the Highlands and parts visited therefrom, we spent a few days in Edinburgh. It was an amazing trip.

We traveled by Virgin’s high speed train (it takes about 3.5 hours to travel from London to Edinburgh). We stayed in Edinburgh the first night, in a hotel at the bottom of the hill. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend staying in that location, as the top of the hill is where it’s at in Edinburgh. But it did give us an idea of what life is like in other parts of the city. We were headed up to the Highlands the next day, so we did a little window shopping and ate at Henderson’s Vegetarian Bistro, a restaurant recommended by a Scottish vegan on Instagram.

Edinburgh

Henderson’s is great, and moderately priced. It has two floors: the upper, a take away deli and shoppe; and the lower, a sit down restaurant. They have counter service, where you can order salads, desserts, and juices. You can also order cooked food there, which they bring to your table when ready. They have several cooked vegan options to choose from. They also have a pretty impressive selection of vegan desserts.

Henderson’s is known for doing breakfast especially well, but our dinners were also delicious. I had the vegan haggis and salad combo – which I was nervous about because the thought of haggis is pretty revolting – but the vegan version was similar to a spicy vegan shepherd’s pie. I chose the potato salad and beet-carrot salad combo. Both were good. Everyone at our table ordered juices, and we were all very happy with those, too. Finally, my dessert of chocolate hazelnut cake was to die for.

On the second day, we rented a car and made our way up to Aviemore. I had never driven on the right side of the car/left side of the road, so I was a bit nervous. We ended up changing to an automatic transmission car, since I hadn’t driven a manual transmission in years. I was glad we switched, but rental car prices are much higher in Europe if you want an automatic. Ironically, I had no urge to drift to the right side of the road. My biggest problem was gauging the distance from the passenger’s side of the car. After a week of driving and nearly 1,000 miles put on the car, though, I felt pretty comfortable.

Cairngorms National Park

We stayed in a vacation home in Aviemore, so when we arrived that afternoon, we did a bit of grocery shopping and made dinner at home. (Whenever I stay in a location where there is unlikely to be good vegan options, I try to stay in a vacation home so I can cook my own food.) The other thing we did was to look around at the outdoor stores, because it was much colder in the Highlands than we had expected. (In fairness, the temperatures were in line with the forecasts, but it seemed colder because it was so wet and rainy.) After buying some warmer clothes, we went to bed early.

The music festival took place our last two days in Scotland, so for the first few days, we took in the sights. The first day, we hung around the Cairngorms National Park (which surrounds Aviemore). We took the funicular to the top of Cairn Gorm mountain, the sixth highest mountain in the United Kingdom, at 1245m/4085′. It was an amazing view, and the restaurant at the top actually had a few vegan options that were good. They even sold a number of vegan energy bars, much to our surprise.

At the bottom of the mountain, we found a beautiful lake where there were a number of young duck families. We also visited the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre, where for a nominal fee, you can see a few reindeer (we even got to see a baby). You don’t have to feel guilty about the visit, either, because the organization actually helps the reindeer population in the area, and the reindeer you see in the enclosures are only there for a few hours. They take turns, bringing a few different down from the hill each day, so none of them are individually kept there for long. You can also pay a bit more and go up the hill to visit the herd in its natural habitat.

Loch Ness

The next day, we visited Inverness and took a cruise on Loch Ness that allowed us to stop at Urguhart Castle, the remnants of an ancient castle on a hill overlooking Loch Ness. Unfortunately, it was another cold and rainy day, but the cruise was still enjoyable and somehow made more moody and beautiful by the clouds hanging low over the lake. When the boat pulled up to the castle site, we were given one hour to explore the castle and visit the shoppe and restaurant. We spent most of it walking the foundation and climbing the towers of Urquhart. The cruise we took was the Freedom Cruise, out of Clansman Harbour: 1/2 hour each way, for a total of two hours altogether. It cost £19.50 for each of us (the student rate), but was well worth the cost.

Isle of Skye

The next day, we headed to the Isle of Skye, where we spent the day driving around the whole Island. We visited Portree, where we had a terrible lunch bought at a market on the town square. I suspect there was decent vegan food to be found in the town, but we were so hungry by the time we arrived that we didn’t want to wait.

After that,  we drove further South on the Northwest coast and visited Dunvegan Castle (how could we resist – it has vegan in the name), a well preserved castle furnished with period pieces and art. Even more impressive are the amazing gardens and views outside the castle. You could easily spend a full day there, exploring the castle and grounds (£9 for students for castle and gardens). We finished the day looping back over the bridge to Kyle of Lochalsh, where we got a hotel room so we could start from there the next day.

In the morning, we headed back across the bridge so we could take the ferry across from Armadale to Mallaig (£4.75 per person one way, £24.30 for the car). The drive that morning, as well as the ferry trip across the bay where Loch Nevis and Loch Hourn join the Atlantic, was absolutely breathtaking. We had to stop the car numerous times on the Isle of Skye to take photos, but the crossing and the area in the vicinity of the ports was amazing. I kept thinking throughout the trip that Scotland looked like some of my favourite parts of the US, especially Vermont and Montana. Seeing the Isle of Skye meant adding Hawaii to the list. If the most beautiful parts of those three states got together and had a baby, it would be Scotland.

Glenfinnan

As we made our way back to Aviemore, we stopped for a visit at Glenfinnan, home of the Glenfinnan Viaduct (the viaduct railway bridge seen in the Harry Potter films). Interestingly, it is also home to Loch Shiel; a lovely lake whose head serves as home to the Glenfinnan Monument, erected in tribute to the brave Jacobite souls who began the Jacobite uprising in 1745 (and also seen in the Harry Potter films, as “Hogwart’s Lake,” aka “The Black Lake”). For a nominal fee, you can park at the visitor’s centre and climb to the top of a hill to see the 360 degree view of the viaduct bridge and Loch Shiel. Try to plan your trip to coincide with the twice per day passing of the old steam engine across the viaduct (we just missed it). Well worth the trip. After a stop in Fort William, home of Ben Nevis (highest mountain in the UK, at 1344m/4409′) and a pretty good whiskey shop, we headed back to Aviemore.

Duff House and the Beach

The next day, we traveled north to the coast, visiting Duff House and a couple of nice beaches. At £7.10 (no concession for students), Duff House was lovely, with period furnishings and an impressive art collection. It was hard not to imagine you had stepped into the pages of a Jane Austen novel as you made your way down up the grand staircase. The grounds were also nice; sprawling and quite empty – perfect for a picnic during which you can imagine you are head of the manor. Nearby, we visited the quaint town of Banff, and its less impressive beach. After driving a bit West, we were far more impressed with the beach at Seatown, next to Cullen. With a pair of massive stones and its very own viaduct bridge, it capped off our seaside visit very nicely.

Aviemore Stopover!

The following two days were spent at – and avoiding – the music festival. Friday’s weather was atrocious, and we only stayed for a few hours, listening to just a couple of the bands that played. We enjoyed The Very Best and King Charles very much. One nice surprise on that day was finding a great little restaurant in town, called the Mountain Cafe. It’s located on the upper floor of an outdoor store in Aviemore, and we were told that there is always a line to get in (we waited about 20 minutes). I had the full English breakfast there, and it was fantastic. The restaurant had a lot of vegan options and great views of the park, so it’s a great place to stop in an area otherwise low on vegan options.

The next day, it continued to rain, although not quite as heavily. We made our way to the festival site after buying some cheap wellies (we couldn’t believe some people were there in trainers, or worse – barefoot!) The entire grounds were ankle deep in thick, cold mud. The atmosphere didn’t stop people from having a good time, however, and there were many drunk and mud-covered fans still beaming with smiles. The lines for food and alcohol were long and dangerous (people cutting through often made no attempt to avoid splattering you with mud, or made you slip around in fear of going down yourself). But both were necessary to keep warm (I had a couple of shots of whiskey from the tent and fared pretty well).

The music was fantastic. We were well entertained by the Maccabees, Primal Scream, Honeyblood, Jack Garratt, and especially Mumford and Sons. The crowd sang along, jumped and danced to every song. The growing frenzy of enjoyment was palpable as the evening wore on, and we left before the last couple of songs, in serious fear that “good fun” would lead to a very large and very cold mud fight (we saw a few hand fulls flying at the edges of the crowd and decided it was time to leave). After a late night drive back to Edinburgh, we finally crashed and prepared for our last couple of days in Scotland.

Edinburgh Redux

On Sunday and Monday, we did a bit more of the traditional tourist activities in Edinburgh. We walked around the beautiful grounds at Princes Street Gardens and climbed up to Edinburgh Castle, although we didn’t go in because the admission price (£16.50 adult) was a bit steep considering what we’d spent the prior week. It was beautiful to see up close, anyway, and it gave a great view of the city. We walked down the Esplanade and further down the Royal Mile. After a bit of window shopping and seeing the area around University of Edinburgh (including rubbing a certain Skye Terrier’s nose at Greyfriar’s Bobby), we headed back to the hotel and ate dinner in.

Our final day in Scotland, we had breakfast back at Henderson’s and visited some antique stores and used book stores near the University. Sunday was part of the lead up to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, so we were lucky enough to meet some folks in town for that, including a writer named Cameryn Moore from the States who sat with her typewriter creating bespoke erotica for people walking by. I paid the nominal fee and had a 1/4 sheet story written for me. It was worth the money to get my own personalized smut, and more importantly, to help out a writer who’s willing to go there.

For lunch, we made our way to David Bann, which we had heard was a great veggie restaurant on St Mary’s Street. The atmosphere was upscale, although the food was not particularly expensive. Not everyone in the group was thrilled with their lunch, but I really enjoyed my vegan kofta and hot port. I would recommend eating here, but maybe just trying it for lunch, in case you agree with my companions.

Our final activity in Edinburgh was a walk down Holyrood Road to the base of Salisbury Crags. We didn’t have time to ascend to Holyrood Park, but we did stop in at Our Dynamic Earth and take a look around. Although we didn’t have time for a proper visit, we will definitely do so on our next visit, as we heard great things about the experience. On our way back to the hotel to fetch our bags, we were lucky enough to happen upon Henderson’s brand new deli on Holyrood Road (it had only been open a couple of hours when we stumbled in). So we bought delicious sandwiches and juices for the train ride home. All in all, Scotland provided a really fantastic holiday.

One final note: Scotland is a land of many rainbows – I saw more rainbows there than I’ve seen in the past couple of years combined….

(All photos are the author’s own. Do not reproduce without permission.)

Read this post and other stories on Mary’s personal blog.