Farewell Scotland…
We left the coast and the ocean to explore a little of inland Britain. We also left Scotland this week to head to England, with a beautiful finale in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, which offered us two beautiful sunny days to wander through its medieval-style streets…
General statistics of the adventure so far…
Total Distance (km)
Gasoil (L)
Countries Visited
8.111 km
1.304 L
3
Inland…
18/06/2025 – Rosehearty -> Muir of Dinnet Nature Reserve
We left the coast and its cliffs for a little while, but before that, we needed our daily dose of a few puffins, guillemots, and razorbills. So, we stopped at the Bullers of Buchan, a small group of cliffs home to an impressive colony of all kinds of seabirds. Even though we see guillemots and puffins almost every day, lately, it’s always dizzying to see this bustle of activity around the cliffs, with birds constantly coming and going, diving, caring for their young, or simply resting before going fishing again… A real treat!…
From there, we walked along the cliffs to Slains Castle, the ruins of a 16th-century fortress perched on a cliff, facing Cruden Bay. The view must have been quite nice, back in the castle’s heyday…
So we then left the coast to head for the Cairngorms National Park. We will spend our first night in the park in the Muir of Dinnet reserve, a small forest bordered by two lakes, on the eastern edge of the park. This will be an opportunity to visit the Burn o’ Vat, a large cauldron carved into the rock by a river of which only a trickle remains today, but which, at the time, was powerful enough to carve a large circular hole in the rock, which can be accessed through a small passage between the rocks…
Wild…
19/06/2025 – Muir of Dinnet Nature Reserve -> Linn of Dee
A short journey to delve a little deeper into the southern part of the Cairngorms National Park and reach the Linn of Dee area, a pretty river typical of large, flat valleys, whose bed seems to widen to occupy the entire valley floor. As soon as we arrived, from the viewpoint overlooking the valley, we were able to spot a herd of about twenty deer just on the other side of the river.
The Cairngorms National Park is, in fact, a mountainous area high enough to accommodate ski slopes, and there were indeed a few patches of snow remaining on one of the peaks. The lower part is generally covered with forests or heather moors, and it is in one of these forests that we will spend the night, after hiking a few kilometres in the park. First observation: the notion of “wild” must be a little different here, and like in the United States, the hiking trails are carefully manicured paths, heavily marked and landscaped so that no one can say they tripped over a root while wandering through nature… The landscapes are certainly beautiful, but this impression of controlled, levelled nature, where every roughness has been carefully filed down, is still a little… frustrating. That said, we did manage to see a salmon (or was it a trout) leaping over the waterfalls of a small gorge to swim up the river. The aquatic environment is undoubtedly more difficult to “tame” than pine forests or heather moors… 😉
Heading south…
20-21/06/2025 – Linn of Dee -> Kenmore Hill
A “junction” stage to reach Edinburgh (tomorrow). Just a quick detour to Kenmore and its pretty lake before heading back up a bit and escaping the heatwave (a peak of 27ºC was reached today). We’re on Kenmore Hill, once again in a forest, and this one seems a little less manicured than the Cairngorms… 😜 In fact, to welcome us, a young deer was waiting for us just at the entrance to the forest…
Kenmore Hill Forest is part of the grounds of Bolfrack Manor, a charming residence available for rent for the modest sum of GBP 4,400 (for three nights, since that’s the minimum…). The forest, covering 180 hectares, has been restored to preserve an example of a Caledonian pine forest, which apparently covered Scotland before the logging industry wreaked havoc. Even though it is still young, it offers beautiful views of the surrounding area, including Loch Tay and the magnificent Taymouth Castle, and in a few decades, it will undoubtedly provide refuge for some emblematic species such as the golden eagle, the capercaillie or the grouse, typical of the Scottish moors. To us, it offered two days of rest in a place we had despaired of finding in Scotland: a small dirt parking area just big enough for 3 cars, at the end of a track of about a hundred meters, at the edge of a road so narrow and steep that the few cars that pass there go so slowly that we don’t hear them, and above all, a place where we could be alone in nature for 48 hours!… A dream!…
Capital…
22-23/06/2025 – Kenmore Hill -> Edingburgh -> Hyndlee Forest
“Every man dies, but not every man truly lives,” is said to have said Scotland’s national hero, William Wallace, who in 1297 vanquished the English army and restored his country’s freedom at the epic Battle of Sterling Bridge (any Braveheart fans in the room? 😜), before being betrayed by his own people, captured, and sentenced to death in 1305 by the same English he had vanquished a few years earlier… No, the photos you see are not of the Tower of Mordor in Lord of the Rings (any Tolkien fans in the room? 😜). This is the national monument dedicated to William Wallace, proudly standing on a hill, facing the same Sterling Bridge where he wrote a page of Scottish history.
Oddly enough, the spirit of Wallace’s (supposed) quote can also be found in the stones of Edinburgh’s old town, the capital of Scotland, composed entirely of historic buildings with a medieval feel. A very pretty city where it’s nice to stroll around, enjoying a few sunny rays (even if windy). Even though a Harry Potter madness seems to have taken over the city since the tourist board made it its main marketing argument (J.K. Rowling was apparently inspired by Edinburgh to write her books), every stone in Edinburgh seems to explain the stories of ancient heroes, famous or anonymous, from Mary King to King Arthur, who definitely truly lived before they died. Edinburgh was for us a farewell to Scotland since, after a last night near the “border”, we will cross into England tomorrow. So we took the opportunity to stop by the National Gallery, visit the (very) old town, half-buried beneath the new one, and take a short walk to Arthur’s Seat to see the city from above…
Armed protection…
24/06/2025 – Hyndlee Forest -> Northumberland National Park
So here we are in England. So yes, for those who missed the corresponding geography class, Scotland is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as are Wales and England, which, with Scotland, constitute Great Britain… Are you following?… 😜 The fact is that there is a symbolic border between Scotland and England (which some would like to see converted into something less symbolic, but that’s another story…), and there is even a rest area to admire the landscapes on each side and a large stone engraved with “England” on one side and “Scotland” on the other… Enough to make you think about the “unity” of the “United” Kingdom a little… 😉
Having barely crossed the border, we entered the Northumberland National Park, our next stop. Landscapes of green hills as far as the eye can see, a few forests here and there and, curiously, occupying the entire central part of the park, a gigantic Royal Air Force training camp, with explosions and military manoeuvres around the small grove where we had planned to sleep, and warning signs everywhere accompanied by large red flags to indicate manoeuvres were in progress… So, we had to revise our plans and find another place for our first night in Northumberland… They really take nature protection seriously in England! Calling the Royal Air Force to protect a national park is heavy stuff!…
Northumber-la-la-land…
16/06/2025 – Northumberland NP-> Lake District NP
Northumberland National Park is a bit like a French regional park. It was created to recognise the importance and aesthetic (bucolic) aspect of the vast grassy fields that cover the region’s countless hills. Here, there are no high points or “premium” sights. Just a rolling landscape, typical of the English countryside as we imagine it from abroad. All this takes nothing away from the beauty of the region, nor from the wildlife that can be observed there, because I don’t think we’ve ever seen so many rabbits and pheasants running along the roads before!
We crossed the National Park from east to west, starting with the impressive Cragside Mansion, surrounded by 690 hectares of forest, entirely built and planted by the owner, William Armstrong, and his wife, Margaret, at the end of the 19th century. After purchasing a moor covered in heather, they shaped the land to create artificial lakes, valleys and “mountains”, planted thousands of trees and shrubs, and built a huge Victorian mansion that even hosted the Prince of Wales at the time. The place looks like something out of a Jane Austen novel. Armstrong was an engineer and arms dealer (which allowed him to make his fortune and finance Cragside), and thanks to his ingenuity, he used the water from the artificial lakes and reservoirs on the property to generate electricity and boast a whole range of innovations, such as a hydraulic elevator and a rotisserie spit, a first at the time… Cragside employed 300 people at its peak, and thanks to the fantastic work of the gardeners, it is now home to the tallest Scots pine in the UK (40m)! Then we headed to the south-western end of the park for one last night before reaching our next stop: the Lake District National Park.
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What a history and geography lesson it is to follow your stories.
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