Scotland

Highlights

• Rough landscapes
• Sheep
• Seafood

We squeezed everything out of a six‑month UK visa one more time, flew into Edinburgh, grabbed a car, and drove to the Isle of Skye, stopping for shaggy Highland cows and an unexpectedly stunning roadside view near Glencoe. On the way we visited the railway viaduct from the Harry Potter films, where a rather boring diesel locomotive was pulling the tourist train instead of the classic steam engine, but the scenery more than made up for it. On Skye itself it was all about harsh northern landscapes, careful hiking on tricky trails, more sheep than people, and a small number of cafés and restaurants that nevertheless served genuinely great seafood.