After I spent a couple of days draining my wallet in London, it was time to hit the road and venture northwards. I picked up our rental car at Heathrow (which turned into a huge issue, but that is another story) and drove west through some classic English weather to the source of one of the greatest mysteries of ancient civilisation, Stonehenge.
Stonehenge is one of those things that you just have to see for yourself. I've learned about it at school, in books and in documentaries, however the size of the stones really have to be seen to be believed. It's no wonder that no one has discovered how these ancient civilisations dragged these stones 225 kilometers from Wales using 5000 year old technology. During our visit, somewhat amusingly, a man jumped over the fence and began running towards the stones only to be viciously turned around by security (not surprising). Turns out he was flying his drone (illegally) and lost sight of it behind Stonehenge and crashed it somewhere. Oops! They never found it in the time we were there.
Stonehenge
Later that day I drove to Oxford where I spent the night and part of the next day taking in the beautiful architecture of the city, the university and all of the colleges. It even snowed in the morning which really added to it all.
Speaking of snow, we ventured to the Peak District as it was on our way north and decided to climb Mam Tor. It was an experience I don't think I will ever forget. At the base of the hill the weather seemed ok, but as I climbed higher and higher it got worse and worse, the temperature dropped to -10 degrees Celsius, the stone path was covered in ice making it extremely slippery and the wind was strong enough that the snow was coming in horizontally , it was almost blizzard like conditions. I soon discovered that my hiking pants were not entirely waterproof and even my thermals underneath became soaked. My camera bag and jacket were even growing layers of ice.
Near the base of Mam Tor
My journey continued north to the Lake District, where I had some of the worst weather of the whole trip. The area itself was extremely beautiful with lakes (hence the name), hills and peaks , even in the dreary English grey. You could tell how much rain and melted snow there had been recently because all of the rivers were at least a meter too high (often covering hiking tracks up to your ankles or higher) and extremely turbulent. I spent two days exploring as much as we could but I also spent a lot of time inside watching trashy British TV waiting for the weather to change. When the weather finally cleared I was able to hike around Lake Grasmere and Rydal Water, check out Rydal Cave and climb up Loughrigg Fell for some nice views.
The mouth of Rydal Cave
Here marked the end point of our time in England as I drove to spend a night in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park in Scotland which was similar to the Lake District except there was a slight improvement with the weather.
The next morning I got up bright and early to hike to the top of Ben A'an which was quite a difficult hike as the pathway takes you steep uphill probably 90% of the way including the final section which is large steps made out of the local rock. As tough as it was, the views at the top were worth it. 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains and Loch Katrine. For all the time it took to get up, it only took a quarter of that to get back down, much easier.
Loch Katrine - The view from the Ben A'an summit
As a geology nerd and nature enthusiast, it was no question which way I would drive to our next location. I drove along the length of the Great Glen Fault through gorgeous snow-capped mountains, glacial valleys and lakes, including Loch Ness, to our port of call, Inverness. The drive was over an hour more than the usual route, but it was more than worth it, I would definitely compare it to the drive towards Milford Sound from Te Anau in New Zealand, my absolute favourite.
Glacial Valley near Glencoe
My time in Inverness was amazing, I took in the best weather on our whole trip, amazing highlands at Glen Affric, beautiful water falls at the Falls of Foyers, interesting history at an old abandoned priory and some of the best pizza I have ever had all the while returning to an apartment on the river each night.
Glen Affric
My last two nights were spent in Edinburgh, where the weather turned on me again as I summitted Arthur's Seat and explored Edinburgh Castle. Although, it was here I learned that the filming location of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Castle Doune, was only a short drive away. So I spent the final afternoon exploring the ins and outs of the castle and learning about the filming process as described by Terry Jones himself.
A 4am drive to the airport brought about the end of both my road trip and my time in Europe as I headed back to Australia.