Our Scottish weekend with Byway, by Emma and Nicky

Emma and Nicky, from London, recently adventured up to Scotland for a long weekend break. They travelled by train, ferry and bus through the amazing landscapes of the Highlands and Islands, stopping in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Loch Lomond on the way to a yurt on a cheese farm on the Hebridean Isle of Mull. Emma has written this guest blog for us to share their Byway trip.

As the UK once again moves into the tier system and domestic travel becomes a real possibility, I’ve been reflecting on the winter holiday I recently took with my partner to Scotland, where we explored Glasgow, the Isle of Mull, Fort William, Oban and Loch Lomond with sustainable travel company, Byway.

In a year of so much uncertainty, where we had three holidays cancelled, a long weekend break had never felt so welcome. We were desperate to get away somewhere just the two of us and had always wanted to explore Scotland – so seeing Byway’s ‘Highlands and Islands’ holiday felt like the perfect escape. In early summer we booked our trip for October, hoping the pandemic would have eased by the autumn. No such luck – but Byway were on hand in all the weeks leading up to our departure date providing travel updates and recommendations and making sure we felt completely safe. We knew that our trip would be fully transferrable if travel restrictions stopped us going, but luckily we managed to take the trip in accordance with all government guidelines.

While train cancellations meant we couldn’t take the planned sleeper train up to Scotland, our replacement early-morning train was seamlessly booked by Byway and so the first day of our trip dawned early – and rainy. We made our way to Kings Cross, backpacks on, bolstered by excitement. The train took a few hours to get us up to Scotland, and the further North we got, the more we kept our eyes glued to the beautiful rambling views outside the window.

Glasgow

By the time we had our first glimpse of the sea and reached Glasgow the sun was shining, and we’d looked through our recommendations from Byway for a place to have dinner later on. Top of the recommendations came Ox & Finch, a Michelin starred restaurant about 45 minutes’ walk from our Airbnb. We still had a few hours to kill before we were hungry though, and the main attraction we’d wanted to visit in Glasgow was the Necropolis. We managed to make it there before closing time and it loomed impressive in the afternoon sunshine. Exploring the Necropolis and getting panoramic views of Glasgow was the perfect start to our trip.

As dusk fell we settled ourselves into our apartment, which was easily accessible from the centre of Glasgow, and then got ready for dinner. Ox & Finch was every bit as delicious as Byway had promised, and we got a lovely recommendation from the waitress for a gay-friendly bar called Katie’s which we decided to check out after dinner. We had a great Uber driver who was almost like a tour guide as he took us through the city – in fact, we kept remarking on how friendly everyone was that we’d met so far. As we made our way to Katie’s we looked up Scotland’s reputation for being LGBTQ+-friendly and were pleased to see it had been rated one of the most tolerant places in Europe. There were socially distanced rules at Katie’s, but that didn’t stop us having a few beers and a game of pool before curfew at 10pm when we had a merry wander back to our accommodation.

The West Highland Line

The next morning we got an early train out of Glasgow, excited to get out into the countryside and explore the famous Scottish Highlands. The train ride itself was wonderfully atmospheric, with stretches of riverside pocked by shipwrecks and mist-topped mountains in the distance.

Byway had recommended we stop off at Loch Lomond for a wander, which we did, hoods pulled up against the misty rain. We had a hot chocolate at a tiny hut down by the Loch and heard about some boat tours they would be running over the next few hours. By this time Byway had messaged us with some earlier train times to take us on to Oban, in case we didn’t want to spend too much time in the rain – but in the spirit of adventure we stuck to our original schedule and signed up for one of the boat tours instead. Cosy under cover on the boat, we drank in the beautiful views of Loch Lomond, spotting waterfalls, a small island called ‘Honeymoon Island’ and a tiny remote shepherds’ hut on the opposite shore.

Arriving back, we were getting pretty hungry for lunch, so we made our way back to the train station by way of the warm and welcoming Slanj Bar and Restaurant. Bacon sandwiches from a stall outside and a giant slice of cake inside set us up well for the next leg of our trip – the West Highland Line to Oban and from there, the Isle of Mull.

Oban

We had heard that Oban was the seafood capital of Scotland and were keen to find a place to eat – but the rain was getting heavier and we started assessing the benefits of saving our Oban exploration for our journey back in a few days’ time. So we asked Byway about some earlier ferry times to take us to the Isle of Mull, and with that sorted stress-free, we just had time for a quick drink in The Oban Inn.

Then it was onto the ferry, which was much bigger than we had expected – no small carrier boats here, these ships are the main way for the Mull islanders to reach the mainland. As Mull approached we got a renewed surge of energy, excited to see the place where we would be spending the next three days.

The Isle of Mull

Once we arrived at the port in Craignure, we took a prompt taxi (swiftly organized by Byway after the planned bus was cancelled) up to Tobermory. Our driver was a tour guide on his days off, so we got some great chat about the island as we ambled through it. Our accommodation was a yurt at the cheese farm a little way out of town, but our driver insisted on taking us down to the harbour and pointing out all the places we were going to need over the next few days – from the best places for breakfast to the point we’d meet our tour boat for our booked wildlife adventure.

Eventually we were up the hill and entering the cheese farm. We had a smooth self-check-in process for our yurt, which was just as cosy and practical as we had hoped after a long day of travelling. We were greeted by the most friendly cat we’ve ever seen, who promptly settled herself at the foot of our bed and made us feel right at home.

After swapping our wet clothes for dry and having a relaxing cup of tea, we headed down to the harbour and had a delicious dinner at Macgochan’s, a restaurant doubly recommended by both Byway and our lovely taxi driver. Full, happy and a few drinks down, we had a wander by the water in the dark and then made our way back to the yurt, where we made a fire in the woodburner and, when that had burned out, settled down for a very good night’s sleep.

Glengorm

Our first full day on Mull started with bacon butties at the Tobermory Scullery to set us up for the long walk we had decided to embark upon. We had heard from our driver about Glengorm Castle on the other side of the island – about five miles from Tobermory, which we felt was perfectly reasonable a distance.

We underestimated the number of hills we’d have to weather, but the walk was made worth it by the stunning views. Surrounded by birds of prey, highland cows and bushes full of chaffinches, we couldn’t have felt more in tune with nature. Pine trees everywhere put us in a real wintry mood, and by the time we reached the gates of Glengorm we were very ready for a cup of tea and a Scottish scone, served at the castle café.

The castle itself was deserted – the inside was closed, but the outside was impressive enough, and we had stunning views of the west side of the island and of the ocean. It felt like a real reward after our long walk, and bolstered us to embark on the five miles home.

Nearly two hours later, we were back in our yurt and putting together another fire in the woodburner. Then it was time to change for dinner – this time at the Mishnish, famous for its seafood. Foolishly we hadn’t booked, so the main restaurant wasn’t available to us, but we had a delicious meal of fish & chips and steak pie in the bar area.

Wildlife tour

The next day was bright and blue-skied – perfectly for the four-hour wildlife trip we had booked for the day. We made our way to the terminal with just enough time to eat a breakfast sandwich each, and then jumped onto the boat.

We had a brilliant and knowledgeable guide who told us all about the wildlife around Mull. We saw seals and harbour porpoise playing in the water nearby, and, further out, we used binoculars to see an impressive golden eagle back on the island. But the real highlight of the journey were the common dolphins, leaping through the water and coming so close to the boat we could have reached out and touched them.

I unfortunately gave in to a bout of seasickness and had to spend some time inside the covered deck, but I still had a great view and felt better in enough time to watch the dolphin pods alongside us all the way back to Tobermory. Nicky stayed outside the whole time and got some brilliant shots of the wildlife on our Nikon D3100.

Knowing it was our last night in Tobermory, we had pre-booked the Tobermory Hotel for dinner, which we’d heard great things about. I had the Angus steak (a must-have in Scotland!) and it was lobster for Nicky. We absolutely devoured our dinner, warmed by the real fire burning next to us.

Back to Oban

The next morning we said goodbye to our yurt (and the cat!) and got an early bus to Craignure to catch the ferry back to Oban. Determined this time to sample the seafood capital’s seafood, we had pre-booked Coast which came highly recommended by Byway. And the food didn’t disappoint – Nicky’s langoustines were a particular highlight.

After lunch we wandered up to McCaig’s tower, which gave us amazing views of Oban, and then it was back down to the bus stop for the next leg of our journey.

Fort William

Our coach from Oban to Fort William was cosy enough that we could have fallen asleep – but the views outside in the sunshine kept us awake. We passed mountains and forests and spotted a rainbow in the distance (Scotland said gay rights!).

We would be getting the sleeper train back to London that night, but when we arrived in Fort William it was still light and we had time to check out another Byway-recommended food spot – the award-winning Lime Tree, where we had the most delicious charcuterie, fish soup and roasted lamb. As darkness fell we paid a quick visit to the old fort, before heading to our carriage on the Caledonian sleeper train.

And home

We loved the ingenuity of our room on the sleeper – it was our first time on an overnight train and the sleep we got was so peaceful. We woke ourselves up once or twice to look out of the window – we passed by Loch Lomond, where we’d started our Highlands adventure, and loved how the lights sparkled on the Loch in the dark.

We woke up in time to see sunrise outside our window, and made use of the cabin’s shower before hauling our luggage off the train and walking back home from Kings Cross.

We felt both rejuvenated and exhausted after a long weekend full of such amazing sights and adventures. It was completely stress-free due to Byway’s planning, and their being on hand for recommendations throughout – and we can’t wait to book our next holiday. Perhaps we’ll go south next time, and check out Cornwall!