After the capital of Scotland, we continue at a leisurely pace towards the north. In Scotland there are several well signposted road trips, which include all imaginable sights on the way. One of these road trips is The North East 250 – short NE250 (https://www.northeast250.com). A big part of our way north, we travel on this NE250.

Since we stop every 20min to look at a building, a rock formation or something else exciting it would probably result in more than 100 mini-articles, here we summarize our experiences from Edinburgh to Inverness. We have by far not looked at all the sights of the NE250, otherwise we would probably still be there today, but still some great places have come together, which is why we have divided this article into 2 parts.

Here follows part 1:

Stirling Castle

Our first stop is in Stirling. Here there is a famous castle to visit, from which you have a wonderful view of the area around, because the castle (as often) was built on a hill.
For 16.50 pounds admission per adult person, one can freely roam throughout the castle and the surrounding gardens.
The exhibitions are mostly very nicely presented, well explained and partly even interactive for children. Unfortunately, large parts of the individual buildings were not exactly gently restored and reconstructed for Mimi’s taste. An experience, however, is that again and again people dressed up as inhabitants of the castle tell stories and funny anecdotes.

Stop in the green

On our further way more or less along the coast lies Dundee. We would like to visit the city by day. There is not enough time to walk through Dundee on the same day of our journey and so we spend the night very close to Stirling on a forest parking lot. Slowly we feel like at home on simpler pitches without infrastructure and lighting. Admittedly, it took some getting used to it. But in the meantime, we like it better away from the centers than in a noisy environment.

Dundee

This is one of the most important port cities in Scotland. At the same time, it is one of the biggest cities in the north of the UK. We quickly realize that we rather don’t get our money’s worth in the city itself. For tourists like us, the city offers really little, added that we have accidentally parked on the more central promenade, where we also find no tourist highlights. Our alternative program on this day is coffee drinking and blogging. This should be back on our program the longer the more regularly anyway. Accordingly, it is not a lost day, just different than planned.

Afterwards, we still find the sought-after beach promenade: Around the Broughty Castle there is a city quarter with some nice stores and pubs. Here we wanted to go the whole day, just found it late. Unfortunately, the cafes have closed when we arrive in the evening – instead we dodge into a pub. Friday night, pub, people! Unplanned we end up at after-work time in the pub with many Scots. The pub is very well filled, and we finish our day with quite typical pub food.

Dunnottar Castle

The Dunnottar Castle is a fortress, which was built on an offshore peninsula on over 50m high cliffs. Actually, an ideal location for an almost impenetrable fortress. Nevertheless, the castle has been attacked again and again over the centuries and has witnessed various battles. Today, only the ruins of the former castle remain.
We are content with the view from the outside and take a walk over the cliffs right next to the castle. Here we not only enjoy the view of the ruins but can also see wild seals swimming below in the bays.

Aberdeen

The roads towards the north lead us close to the coastline to Aberdeen. In this city there is a kind of old town quarter. Soon we realize, this is not an old town quarter, this is a university campus, almost made a little bit like Cambridge or Oxford. However, the area is much smaller, and we have visited this part of Aberdeen rather quickly.

We liked better the quarter Footdee behind the harbor, directly at the sea. The small quarter consists of tiny cottages from the beginning of the 19th century, which then were still a small fishing village. The small houses have been gently renovated and all of them are still inhabited today. They stand as terraced houses around two inner courtyards, similar to a perimeter block development. Small garden houses were built in the courtyards as an extension to the houses all around.

Exciting for us is also the 3.5-kilometer-long beach promenade, called Esplanade. On the one hand we stand here for the night, on the other hand we can see in the morning with pleasantly fresh 12 degrees air temperature various bathers, who bathe in the about 7 degrees cold sea as if it were pleasant 19 degrees water temperature.

Since we are (once again) on a Sunday in a city, there is not much activity in Aberdeen. Nevertheless, we walk across Aberdeen to get to know the city a little better. Somehow, we are not on the same wavelength with the city and we walk for a long time through the center of Aberdeen until we finally make a coffee stop before we decide to continue our journey.