On Friday we had to check out of our Airbnb and start our journey back south, and eventually west.

The feelings were completely mixed. While we totally fell in love with the rugged landscape, outdoors, and people we met on Isle of Skye, we knew that we needed a bit of a break before tackling any of the island’s other challenges. We knew the Isle would have plenty left to offer if we were to come back. We were able to pack up without feeling as though we’d missed out.

For the drive back to Edinburgh, we decided a couple detours were going to be necessary. Just making the 5 hour drive back straight through seemed a waste. So we marked a couple stops for a little exploring.

Up first was Loch Ness and Castle Urquhart – which spellcheck seems to hate. An amazing structure that despite the best efforts of highland clans, Jacobites, and the English, has been mostly standing in some form since around the 1200’s. The thought and logic used to lay out and and continuously add to a structure of this type is truly astounding. Each time new threats evolved, changes were made that involved rock walls, not simple. We really enjoyed walking the grounds and learning a bit about what it took for one of these structures to stand the test of time. Sadly, it was last inhabited right before the Brits decided they didn’t want to defend it anymore and blew up their own guardhouse. Must have studied military tactics someplace in France…

We walked down to the lake through the creatively named “Water Gate,” to feel Nessie’s home and found the water surprisingly warm. There were a number of boats out and we were not so quietly wondering how many people were out searching for the beast as we were there.

Loch Ness was really serene and quite pretty. I think one of my favorite parts was that the shoreline wasn’t totally covered with vacation homes. There were some, but nothing what you would see in a similar location in the US. That made it all the more special.

During a quick lunch and unique flavors at the visitor center cafe (not overpriced like in the US), we organized our thoughts. The plan from Loch Ness was to stop and explore a little at Loch Lamond National Park, roughly another 3 hour drive, and leaving us about 90 more minutes to Edinburgh.

On our way we fell prey to what is apparently a common UK trick where someone with a large vehicle pays for the fuel from our pump instead of theirs to save money. I’m quite certain their Land Rover Defender was less fuel efficient than our Honda H-CR Hybrid. When Stretch got to the counter and was told someone had already paid, confusion ensued and it took some time for him to get it sorted, which he did brilliantly. I took the time to get coffee. I’m a huge help.

Back on the road, and now a bit tired with rain Peking the windshield, we ate a bit of crow and walked to a waterfall in the park. It was pretty, but nothing overly spectacular. But it did convince us that we wanted to just head to Edinburgh, grab some food and call it a day.

We drove straight to the flat dropped our bags, the the airport and returned the car. Finally we took the city tram from the airport to New Town and proceeded to find a spot for food.

We settled on a pub on a lively street and grabbed a table inside. It was continuing to drizzle off and on and we didn’t want to get drenched in case that changed.

Food was ordered like we hadn’t eaten in a week. The fried halloumi sticks were the highlight. Stretch has become a halloumi fan and will likely be sad to learn that it’s hard to find back in the states. He topped it off with a Beyond Meat burger and some curry chips. I went with an £11 steak, not an 11 pound steak. Stretch loved his, and I found mine to be appropriately priced compared to its quality.

A quick cab ride had us back at our flat for the night where we decided to skip setting alarms so we had time to rest, the next day would be a lot of walking in a city known for having things built on top of large hills.

We talked of missing Isle of Skye and it’s rugged landscape, but all the memories were fond and we felt like we had the right experience. There no way to simply explain the difference between the highlands and lowlands and the people, seeing it makes it quite clear: the north is a harder way of life and the people have adapted accordingly. We skipped all the whiskey tours, and missed out on playing golf. But there is no reason to think this has to be the last trip.