Camera ✓. Music ✓. Car rental ✓. Husband ✓. And with that, we were off on another epic road trip through Scotland, Northern Ireland, & Ireland.
Okay, okay. It actually wasn’t that simple. There was a lot of packing, trying to figure out what to wear in a place with questionable weather, a lot of research into what hotels to stay at (requirements: nice bathroom, parking + a great view), trying to figure out GPS coordinates, ferry bookings, what was worth driving out of the way to see, where to eat, and then that long flight from Arizona to Glasgow…. But once those essentials were out of the way, our EPIC-ly epic travels commenced!
2 years ago we road tripped through England and Scotland. Scotland turned out to be one of our favorite places so we decided we were due for another trip back. Here are all the stops we made this time around:
It was quite a lot of ground to cover. So we’ll start with part of day 1, the day we landed.
After picking up our rental, driving in circles around the airport (which is exactly what we did last UK trip), we finally figured out how to get out of the airport hustle and bustle and headed to Dumbarton Castle.
Dumbarton Castle is actually one of Scotland’s epic locations –even though it doesn’t really look it with the construction going on at the moment. Once Scotland’s ancient capital, it sits atop volcanic basalt overlooking the River Clyde. It has the longest recorded history of any stronghold in the country and has changed hands through multiple sieges.
Recumbent grave-slabs dating variously from the 10th to 17th centuries.
FYI Dumbarton Castle is not a mobility friendly location. There are steps that need to be conquered in all sections of the castle. We call the castle the original stair master.
The ill-fated Mary, Queen of Scots, took refuge at Dumbarton Castle for several months in 1548 before embarking to her betrothed in France, King Francis II.
Caskets of gunpowder. The castle saw its last action in May 1941 when a German aircraft dropped bombs on Dumbarton Rock during a raid on the Clyde River.
Dumbarton Castle Overview
- Address: Castle Road, Dumbarton, Dunbartonshire, G82 1JJ
- Fees: £4.50 (adult); £2.70 (children); £3.60 (senior/military/students)
- Things to note:
- This is not a mobility friendly site. Visitors are required to traverse many stairs.
- Pets allowed: Not in the castle but there is a grassy park in front of the castle for pets & picnicking.
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