Mom and Dad's Trip Recap: Ft. Augustus and the Highland Tourist Route

Sunday we headed back to Aberdeen and wanted to take a different route. It was another long day of driving but again worth it! Once we got back to Loch Ness we went south to Ft. Augustus before heading Northeast through the Cairngorm National Park. Ft. Augustus wasn't a planned stopped but when we figured out this was the home of the Caledonian Canal (think Panama Canal on a much smaller scale) and they were about to send the boats through, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see the amazing lock system that allows the boats to travel from Ft. William in the west to Inverness in the east.

It was pretty cool to watch and there are shops and restaurants lining the locks so you can grab a meal or a cuppa and enjoy watching the boats come through. I would like to go back and spend more time in this cute little town and of course Ryan has already researched how we can rent a boat and take it through the locks ourselves. :)

The rest of the ride back home was pretty uneventful but gorgeous none the less as we took the tourist route to Aberdeen. (note: tourist route=windy roads but beautiful scenery) Even now having seen the west coast and all of it's glorious beauty, it's the Cairngorms and Aberdeenshire that takes my breath away on almost a daily basis and will forever have my heart! I love Scotland (if you couldn't tell). :)