i decided to go on an outlander bus tour. i wanted to try it my own & use busses & trains, but there was no good way to make that work. scotland's big cities are relatively well connected by bus & train, but that is it. this bus tour did not meet my expectations, but more of that in the end. it feels less complain-y that way. the upside is i would not have been able to see central scotland without a bus tour. most people end up renting a car to see scotland north of edinburgh.
anyways, luckily the meet stop was right across the street from the hostel so that worked out well. can't miss it it with the jamie fraiser cardboard cut out in the window. these were smaller busses - 16 seaters - which was nice since i would have felt like a weirdo in one of those big coach busses. we had to drive down the royal mile for a bit which was a little stressful. after a while we got more into the green open spaces. we did not drive all the way up to the highlands, but i felt like i got a bit of a taste with the green landscapes & lochs. the whole time, the driver played a playlist of scottish artists (traditional & modern).
after an hour or so we arrived to our first stop, falkland. falkland is a small quiet village in fife that was used when filming the inverness 1940s & 1950s particularly in seasons 1-3. this was our farthest location for the day.
bruce fountain - where jamie's looks up at claire in 1940s inverness.
convenanter hotel - the baird's guesthouse that claire & frank stay in inverness after the war.
the firth of fourth
unfortunately much of our itinerary was changed (more on that later). a replacement location was the callendar house in falkirk. it looks like a chateau & has connections to to mary queen of scots. today the house is a museum & is known for its full georgian kitchen that sometimes has demonstrations. it is surrounded by a huge park used by the locals & also has old roman walls.
the callendar house
the kitchen was used to film the duke of sandringham's kitchen in season 2
we spent a lot of time here & there was not much to do. i decided to have an early lunch (this worked out well). the inside was pretty fancy & had huge windows that looked out to the park. i ended up getting a sandwich & soup special with a latte. the museum also has a gift shop where i purchased a genuine scottish wool scarf that reminded me of the colors of the fraiser tartan used in the show (gray, blue, & burgundy - though not the true colors of the fraiser clan).
a ham sandwich & squash soup in the callendar house cafe
on the bus i met an older couple from alabama & i was sort of adopted for the day. we ended up spending some time together, & particularly at this stop since there was not a lot to do. we ended up walking around the grounds & the husband, a hobbyist photographer, took some candid photos of me and his wife. i wish i could have seen them. it worked out well because he was my designated photographer for the day. traveling alone it is hard to get photos of yourself. though i hate asking & taking them, they are nice to have in hindsight. the benefits of making friends for the day.
the next stop was linlithgow palace, which was also a replacement location. the palace is from the 15th century & was used has royal housing but eventually was unused for centuries. today it is partially in ruins. as with the callendar house, it also has connections with mary queen of scots as it was where she was born.
linlithgow palace
one of the hallways was used as wentworth prison. most of the scenes were filmed on set, but here is where they filmed the scene of claire walking down the hallway and puking. there is a little sign, but it is hard to find. i had to ask one of the workers.
most of the castle is a bunch of corridors
if i remember correctly, i think this room was used for filming.
the gift shop had one of the prop swords from outlaw king & they let you touch it
next was blackness castle, a 15th century fortress looking out to the firth of forth. it has been used as a port, a state prison, & even by the army during wwi. it holds the nickname of "the ship that never sailed" because some say it looks like a ship.
blackness castle
the inner courtyard was used as fort william - particularly i think of bree & roger visiting the site where jamie is lynched
inside the ticket office was a sign about the filming of outlander. apparently locals called the police because when filming the lantern dancing scene at night, locals thought it was suspicious & maybe aliens.
some of the walls had bottles in the cement
i enjoyed walking around the property. no one was here & it was so pretty.
the last spot of the day was midhope castle, probably the most recognizable filming location for outlander. the house was built in the 1500s. i understand the family wanting to make a buck, but it did feel weird to pay for admission to just get close to the building (the building is not open to the public). other than that, there is nothing to see here except a small trail you can walk. it was still pretty busy, but as it was late in the day close to closing it was no too bad. i can imagine how crazy busy it gets midday.
the exterior of midhope castle was used as lallybroch, jamie's family home.
i then walked the trail behind the home with my adopted parents. the crazy trees with their twisted branches reminded me of angkor wat in cambodia.
we then made our way back to edinburgh and it was dinnertime. so far in my trip i had not visited a mcdonalds. i like to try the local specials since it can be different from the american menus. the burger & fries were normal, but i tried irn-bru (a scottish soda that is orange, but tastes like bubblegum) & a jaffa cake mcflurry (jaffa cake is a popular sponge cake with orange jelly chocolate).
now a review of the tour. ultimately it was not what i signed up for. part of that is not the company's fault - as it got closer to the date, i learned that we would not be visiting 2 of the locations due to filming & events. this included doune castle (castle leoch), the one museum i was looking forward to visiting & had paid admission for. on the day of, i found out we would also not be visiting culross (the village of crainesmuir). other than the falklands, these 2 locations were the ones i was the most excited for. i understand that was out of their control & notice is only given so far in advance, but at that point i felt like a discount should have been given. the tour turned into something i did not pay for. the bulk of the itinerary was changed to other locations that were not very closely tied to the show. also though the bus driver was really nice she knew nothing about the show. as this was advertised as an outlander tour, i feel like the guide should have been able to talk more about the show. instead this tour was mostly about mary queen of scots. i enjoyed learning about the history, but once again, this was not what i paid for. i was a bit disappointed & the couple sitting next to me were really upset. i am glad i still did it because it was good to get out of the city & see a bit more of scotland, but i would have taken another tour or gone through a different company if i had known.
