The forecast predicted rain all day today, so we booked another tour with Rabbie’s (the company we will be touring with tomorrow). We took the Outlander tour, which brings you to places where they’ve filmed parts of the show Outlander, which we really like. We had a nice small group and a nice, knowledgeable driver/tour guide, Grant. We headed out about 9 am from the bus station and our first stop was Doune Castle, which was the site used for Castle Leoch in Outlander, Winterfell in the Game of Thrones and also featured in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It was big and had loads of tiny, winding stairs and was located in a very beautiful area where apparently there is a kite (the birds) viewing area. The weather was perfect, cool, windy and not rainy. Nice cloud cover made our pictures a lot nicer.
Next we drove to the town of Falkland to see a special scene (when Jaime's ghost is watching Claire from down in the street), and have lunch. We had a nice lunch and warmed up a bit in a sweet cafe. John had a stuffed potato jacket, carrot and parsnip soup and salad, and I had a chicken and pesto mayo sandwich, carrot and parsnip soup and salad. The soup was fantastic and I’d like to try making it at home.
Next stop was Midhope Castle, which was LallyBroch castle in Outlander, and I think Grant said had been featured in other movies and shows as well. It’s completely boarded up and you can’t go in, but it was cool to get photos at all the iconic places on the property.
Our final stop was Blackness Castle that is used as Fort William in Outlander and where the awful flogging scene was filmed. This one, like a lot of other castles here, was built on top of a volcano, and this is very obvious in the floors in this castle where all the lumpy lava was found in the floors and walkways in just about every room and out in the courtyard/keep area. You and to extremely careful everywhere in and around this castle because of so many cobblestone, lava and teensy winding stairs. But it was a really cool place to be, SO windy in this place as it’s right on the sea. It had glorious views of the mountain range across the Firth of Fourth waterway.
We resisted buying stuff because it was just a lot of gift stores, but I did find a couple of awesome books of folk tales and mythical creatures of Scotland that I’d like to buy once we are home. The lore here is so interesting! The Grant navigated through rush hour traffic to get us back safely to Glasgow.
We went to a couple of local pubs afterwards looking for more music sessions, but could only stay a few. Minutes for a quick dram at The Scotia and could t even get in the door the Potstill, they were absolutely packed!
Now, time for bed since we’ve got an early start with our Rabbie’s tour to Mull and Iona!
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