Why Scotland now?

Ted. Judy and I were married in May of 1977. Soon after getting hitched, we quit our jobs and backpacked around Europe for three months.

We knew we would be returning to the UK this summer to catch our ship to Norway and thought it might be fun to return to Scotland for the first time since our honeymoon. Let me reminisce for a minute.

Newly wed and excited!

Although our 1977 journey was my third trip to Europe, it was Judy's first and she decided to make the most of it by keeping a journal.  Yes, that heirloom has survived to this day although some of our photos got lost along the way.

During our wanderings back then, we spent a week in Scotland. Traveling exclusively by rail, we didn't see a lot but Judy documented everything. 

From Birmingham, our first stop in Scotland was in Glasgow. Not liking the big city very much, we immediately hopped on another train, getting off in the hamlet of Ardlui to spend a night on the shores of Loch Lomond. The next day, we rode through the incredible highlands countryside to Fort William, where we stayed the night. Judy's journal shows that we visited the West Highland Museum and went to the local cinema to see an American movie; The Silver Streak. 

The next two nights were spent in the tiny fishing village of Mallaig. Judy saved our receipt from the B&B that we stayed at as it was her birthday.

One day we took a train to nearby Glenfinnan to see the monument to Bonnie Prince Charlie and attend the local highland games. Here's a page from her journal dated August 21, 1977. 

Now, let's return to 2025. This time, since we have a car, we decided to travel the entire journey from our current base in Milngavie to Mallaig and back in one (albeit long) day. 

This time I didn't take many photos because I usually had a white knuckle grip on the steering wheel driving up those narrow roads (on the "correct" side). We did stop for breakfast at the Drover's Inn in Ardlui. 

Today, it's a popular place with hikers walking the famous West Highland Way (which didn't exist in 1977) and the sausage, bacon and egg rolls are huge and awesome!

Continuing north, we headed into the highlands and took a break to walk a bit of the West Highland Way near Glencoe.

Our next stop was Fort William which has grown into quite a tourist destination. We were pleased to see that the West Highland Museum is still there and we had a great time reminiscing with a docent who is about our age. I asked if that was the same movie theatre across the street. "Oh no," he said, "that's the new one which replaced the old one years ago."

After our brief visit it was back on the road to Mallaig; the northernmost stop on our previous trip. The "sleepy village" is booming now and we couldn't even find a parking spot so, after visiting the silvers beaches of Morar once more, we turned south for the long drive back to Milngavie. 

It was a lot of fun recreating a part of our journey from years ago. Most of that trip was spent on the continent though and we have discussed pulling Judy's journal back out and following that path some more in 2027, during the year of our 50th anniversary. If we are still around and able to travel it might be fun. We'll see...

France, 1977