The Lazy Gal's Guide to Scotland

GLASGOW LOCKDOWN INSPIRATION . . .

Okay, so you’re like me and stuck in Glasgow during a pandemic and lockdown, but pre-lockdown you loved going on road-trips around Scotland and taking photos. What do you do?

Not gonna lie, it’s a difficult one sometimes – I have spent probably hours of my time googling to try and find places to visit in Glasgow that are 1) places I have never been before and 2) places that I can actually visit, i.e. that are actually accessible and not completely closed during lockdown. And, to be honest, I did struggle to find places I hadn’t visited before. But luckily there are quite a few places you can walk, and a few places you can take nice photos, so let’s go into that.

GLASGOW MURAL TRAIL – you can pop over here for my post on some of Glasgow murals in the city centre; take a wee walk around these (you can split it over more than one visit if you want) and get some good pictures as well as some exercise! My favourite is The World’s Most Economical Taxi, found in Mitchell Street just off Argyle Street. There are also loads of murals dotted around the west end, including down at SWG3 in Finnieston, definitely worth wandering around the area and exploring!

LINN PARK – I visited here for the first time a few weeks before Christmas and couldn’t believe I’d never visited before – a beautiful southside park complete with lovely views and some good walking options. (It was extremely muddy when I visited though, so you may wish to choose your footwear accordingly)

View of the cathedral from the Necropolis

GLASGOW NECROPOLIS AND GLASGOW CATHEDRAL – you can get a great walk around the Necropolis and it makes a great vantage point for views of the Cathedral as well as views of Glasgow.

Cathkin Braes – looking out over Glasgow

CATHKIN BRAES – another place with some awesome views of Glasgow, as well as the mountains behind.

FOSSIL GROVE AT VICTORIA PARK – you might not be able to see the fossils at the moment but this wee area of Victoria Park in the west end is like a little tropical oasis.

Sunsets at Glasgow Harbour are a bit special

GLASGOW HARBOUR – a great vantage point in the west end for a sunset – as I live in Partick we often pop over here to see it.

A WALK ALONG THE CLYDESIDE in the city centre – you can get some great pictures of, and from, the various bridges. On a sunny day, the River Clyde is an absolute beaut.

UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW CLOISTERS – this is definitely worth a visit, if you haven’t already been. And even if you already have. The Cloisters have featured in many films and TV programmes, and in the winter are all lit up and so pretty!

THE FORTH AND CLYDE CANAL – you can pop along to so many parts of the canal and make a walk as long or as short as you like; Speirs Wharf is probably one of my particular favourite parts, although I still have loads of this to explore.

ASHTON LANE – nothing in it may currently be open, but it still looks very pretty – I do miss having a wee drink in Jinty McGuintys, or raclette in Brel, though.

Hopefully this helps with some inspiration if you are in the same boat as me – but if you have anywhere else to suggest please let me know in the comments!

LAZY GAL’S GUIDE TO THE BEST SCOTTISH “CUL-DE-SACS” . ..

One thing you will find a lot of in Scotland are dead-end roads. I am a massive fan of these because usually you’ll find something pretty special at the end.

Here are some of my favourites…

GLENELG – If you swing a left before Loch Duich on the way up towards Skye, you’ll find the road to Glenelg, Complete with a couple of marvellous viewpoints where you’ll see such sights as the Five Sisters of Kintail, from across the loch, you can travel down this road to get the tiny car ferry over to Skye during the summer months, while witnessing some dramatic views. Fun fact for you: Glenelg is twinned with Glenelg in Mars!

A small selection of the Glen Etive deer

GLEN ETIVE – next to Glen Coe, Glen Etive is absolutely stunning to drive through, you’re extremely likely to witness some deer en route, and the loch at the road’s end is extremely photogenic.

KINLOCH HOURN – this is apparently the longest dead end road in the UK and there’s loads of beautiful sights on the way. This is also one of the best ways to start your walk to Knoydart, a part of the Scottish mainland which is not accessible by road (that blows my mind in this day and age!).

GLEN ROY – north of Fort William and a great choice if you want a trip that’s a bit less popular than, for example, Glen Etive. We stumbled across it by accident while having an overnight stay in Roybridge last year.

LOCH ARKAIG – another hidden gem near Fort William, this is a beautiful drive along the side of the loch, and also features a bonus waterfall at the side of the road en route.

LOWER DIABAIG – featuring a trip over the Bealach na Gaoithe (The Pass of the Wind) road from Torridon, this is probably one of my absolute favourite roads; the views are absolutely incredible and it’s also where my favourite bench view can be found. Lower Diabaig is one of the most peaceful destinations I have encountered too.

It’s worth noting that not only are these roads all fascinating to drive, there are also usually walking opportunities at the end of the roads. If you are a lot less lazy than me, you can use this post as a jumpstart to research what walks you can do in each of the areas and I’m sure you will find there’s even more to these roads than met MY eyes.

Do you have a favourite dead-end road?

NEIST POINT LIGHTHOUSE, ISLE OF SKYE

Over the last ten years or so, it’s been a tradition of mine to spend my birthday abroad, most recently on either a Spanish island (Ibiza) or a Greek island (Crete). However, when my 41st birthday rolled around last October, while covid cases were starting to worryingly rise again, the only question I had (apart from “how the hell am I 41 already?!”, obviously) was which island I was going to spend it on this time when I didn’t particularly feel safe to fly. So we opted for Skye for a week instead, which turned out to be a great decision!

Now, I have loads of recommendations for places to visit in Skye, and so there will probably be a good few posts about it, but my favourite day of the trip was probably the day after my birthday. It was Monday 5th October, it was sunny and probably teetering towards 20 degrees, and it actually felt like we were abroad for a good few hours.

We decided to visit Neist Point Lighthouse and we couldn’t have chosen a better day for it to be honest. Because it was October, the tourist numbers were starting to drop, but the weather conditions were just perfect for a bit of a walk!

Neist Point is one of the most westernly points of Skye and it is, in my opinion, one of the absolute best attractions not just on the island of Skye, but also in the whole of Scotland.

I’d visited Neist Point before, back in 2015 on our first trip to Skye, but that visit was definitely conducted in more of my stereotypical “lazy gal” style . . . get out the car, have a look at the view, realise it’s a longer walk than I anticipated and that I’m feeling pretty cold, get back in the car. Which is a shame, as it’s a bit of a drive to it, and if you’re going to make the effort to go there, you may as well undertake the walk to the lighthouse, right!?

So this time, we actually decided to do the walk part. And it was actually great . . . she says reluctantly.

I’m not going to lie, I was complaining A LOT. Because although I could see most of the path in front of me, it was quite a bit less straightforward than I anticipated. You go down a path with a series of steps, and then once you get to the bottom, you have to go uphill again . . . now this was the point where I stupidly thought I would be nearly at the lighthouse. But no.

Because when I got to the top of that hill, I realised I had to go downhill again . . . and then uphill again! I was knackered, it was so warm, and my shoes were leaking, and there was sheep poo all over the place . . . but the views were just incredible. It’s definitely worth the visit. And the walk.

But the return walk . . . goodness, that was quite exhausting because, remember, I don’t really do hills. I was pulling myself up the last steps using the handrail (and I’ve generally tried to avoid touching anything outside since covid became a thing but I needed the support desperately). I was so relieved when I got back to the car in one piece, but I was glad I’d actually done it!

So the verdict? It’s a tough walk in my opinion, but absolutely fine if you’re used to hills, and if you’re a bit unfit like me it’s still do-able (complaining is optional!). If you take the straightforward walk and don’t veer off the path to a cliff edge I wouldn’t say it’s particularly dangerous, but I would definitely recommend you choose a nice day for it – I don’t think I would be recommending it had I tried to do it in rainy or windy conditions . . . or ice and snow!

Oh, and I had to bin the shoes afterwards.

GLASGOW MURALS

Growing up a little south of Glasgow, I always told myself I would move to the city at some point and for the last 17 years or so I’ve called it my home.

I can’t lie though, since the pandemic started I have started to resent my surroundings and felt like Glasgow is a wee bit of a prison. It feels like there’s nowhere to go – we’re told to stay within our council areas but the Glasgow council area is actually pretty tiny when you compare it to other areas. My mum unsympathetically said to me at Christmas when I bemoaned this fact “well, you did want to live in the big smoke!”

Although there are some lovely parks to visit, more often than not you get there to discover that they’re full of loads of other folk who also are stuck in Glasgow. And given we’re meant to be avoiding other folk and socially distancing (the concept of which I am finding a lot of people still don’t understand) it makes it difficult to actually find places to travel. And, in the last few years since I realised just how bloody amazing Scotland is, I’ve went from someone who could quite happily hibernate on weekends and not leave the flat between Friday night and Monday morning, to someone who needs to get out and about (in my own lazy way obviously).

But one thing we eventually realised during this most recent lockdown is that the least busy part of the Glasgow council area actually tends to be . . . the city centre! Talk about missing the obvious, eh? And one of the coolest parts of the city centre, in my opinion, is the amazing street art.

So without the distractions of a pub calling my name and tempting me with a cold glass of chenin or twelve, or a lot of other people hanging about right where a lot of the art is situated (sadly a common issue during non-lockdown times) we decided to revisit some of the Glasgow mural trail.

You’ll find murals all over the city centre, in places such as down random lanes, on university building walls, or covering gable ends. They cover a whole host of subjects, including Glasgow’s favourite comedian Billy Connolly, who actually effectively received a hat-trick of murals for his 75th birthday a couple of years back.

My personal favourite is just off Argyle Street, opposite the staff entrance to House of Fraser and it’s called The World’s Most Economical Taxi. Not only is it extremely aesthetically pleasing, featuring a taxi floating in the air attached to balloons, it is an Instagrammers dream as you can pop into the photo and pretend to be reaching for one of the fly away balloons, or hailing the cab.

Equally instagrammable, and just a matter of metres up the street from the taxi, is the “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” mural, where a girl appears to be trying to pluck something off the street – it could be you, if you choose to pose for a picture there!

If you pop over to Renfield Lane, near Glasgow Central Station, you’ll find “Bubbles”, featuring two girls blowing bubbles on one side of the street, and a slightly confuddled looking dog on the other – this is another favourite of mine. And in the Merchant City you’ll find an absolutely massive piece of art called “Fellow Glasgow Residents” which showcases all of the lovely wildlife we humans share space with in the city! That one is almost impossible to capture in one photo.

The thing about the mural trail is that it’s ever changing – sadly, a lot of the murals ultimately end up being knocked down due to the temporary nature of their location but, on the upside, there are always new ones appearing. So while I can refer you to the mural trail’s own website for more information, please be aware that some of the murals mentioned may no longer be there.

Finding the murals is a fun way to while away some time if you’re also stuck in the city centre during lockdown . . . we spread it out over a couple of Sundays because we’re at that stage of lockdown where we are having to try and space visits to Glasgow attractions out (sob – it’s a hard time right now!)

BUT it will also be a good excuse once everything opens back up again to come in “to town” for a wee wander around the murals . . . . followed of course by a wee drink! (It has to be done!)

ISLE OF SKYE – BEST ATTRACTIONS

The Isle of Skye is obviously one of the most popular tourist destinations in Scotland, probably even the whole of the UK. The fact it’s an island which is also accessible by bridge probably contributes to its appeal but largely its appeal is that it is an absolute beauty of a place to visit. It’s full of amazing attractions, but sometimes it does seem that tourists seem to gravitate towards the same ones and so they end up way too busy – in my case this seems to be the Old Man of Storr, and the Fairy Pools.

So if you think Skye might be on your agenda at some point once lockdown ends and we’re allowed to travel again, I wanted to suggest some other places to visit on the island!

ELGOL – the road to Elgol is very dramatic and once you reach Elgol itself, the views of the mountains across the loch on a clear day are absolutely stunning (it did take us three different attempts on trips to Skye to see the views on a clear day, admittedly, but it’s worth the journey just for the road.

DUNTULM CASTLE – sadly you can no longer access the ruins of the castle itself, but it’s a small easy walk and the views over to Lewis and Harris are amazing

The mountains viewed from Glenbrittle Beach

GLENBRITTLE BEACH – if the Fairy Pools seem really busy and, like us, you are trying to avoid too many other people in the wake of a pandemic, you may wish to continue on this road along to this beautiful beach, which also has a great view of the mountains from it.

WATERNISH PENINSULA – one of the many peninsulas in Skye, the Waternish peninsula starts with the magical little Fairy Bridge, and then you can drive on until you reach the ruins of Trumpan Church, ruins with a tragic history. The road itself has amazing views too.

Coral Beach – both of these photos were taken within minutes of each other!

CORAL BEACH – a wee bit of walk from the car park but worth it . . . just make sure you keep walking after you reach the first small beach as we only realised five years after our first visit that there’s more to it than the first beach – and it’s honestly absolutely stunning!

DUNCSCAITH CASTLE – more ruins to explore on the south of the island. It’s a relatively short (but boggy) walk and the sheep have pretty much taken it over but they largely just stare while you explore.

THE QUIRAING – this landslip doesn’t seem to be quite as popular as its neighbouring Old Man of Storr but there’s plenty of (payable) parking and it’s one of my favourite places as you don’t have to walk far for unspeakably dramatic scenery. (You can also walk much further if you want, but my nerves weren’t really up to it given some of the drops to the side of the path)

NEIST POINT – I’ve got a whole separate post about Neist Point so feel free to check it out here. The walk down to the lighthouse is definitely worth a visit.

TORABHAIG DISTILLERY – not only is it a highly instagrammable little building on the south of the island, the tour is inexpensive and informative, and there’s another bonus castle ruin a short walk away. We were lucky that it was actually only about a twenty minute walk from the place we stayed last time we were there, so we didn’t even need to drive there!

Hopefully this has given you some Skye inspiration – if it is your first time there though (and this stands for anywhere in the north of Scotland really) make sure that 1) you’re familiar with passing places and how they work as you’ll find a lot of single track roads 2) don’t park like a knob and 3) remember it’s Scotland and, even in the height of summer, the weather here can be completely unpredictable!

Do you have a favourite attraction in Skye?