After an amazing Scotland trip of almost two weeks with our friends, it unfortunately had to come to an end. However, we did still manage to cram in some last moments of fun on our final day before our friends flew down from Aberdeen to London before making their longer flight back to Seattle.
Here’s everything we did on that final day, along with a little bit of what we did after that.
Dunnottar Castle
I’d paid a quick overnight visit to Aberdeen a couple of years ago. While there, I’d driven down to Dunnottar Castle which is about 25-30 minutes south of Aberdeen. It’s a ruined castle that’s in a spectacular setting, built atop a rocky outcropping and looking out to the North Sea.
You can take a self-guided tour around the ruins which I’d done during my previous visit there, so I was looking forward to Shae, Megan and Mark having the same opportunity.
Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. We’d missed a sign in the parking lot stating that the castle was closed that day due to high winds, so it wasn’t until we’d walked all the way down a steep set of steps and up the other side that we realized it was closed.
Before traipsing/hiking back to the parking lot, we popped down to the beach where there were some beautiful rock pools.
The weather was all over the place that day. One moment it was incredibly windy and drizzly, then the wind would ease up and the sun would come out. Then it would start drizzling again, followed by a little more sun, followed by a chilly wind. All within the space of about 10 minutes!
I hadn’t really dressed appropriately for quite how chilly it got, so it was nice to be able to get a hot drink afterwards from the cafe/food truck by the parking lot.
Highland Cows
A couple of days before, we’d gotten to feed Highland cows at Drumbuie Farm B & B And Quila Cridhe Tearoom which was awesome. You can never have too many Highland cows in your life though, so we had to stop the car on the way to our next destination when we spotted some Highland cows in a field. Even better, they were standing right next to the road and happily accepted Shae’s gift of a handful of grass, albeit with some major side-eye!
We only got to stop for a couple of minutes though because it was a narrow road with nowhere to pull over, so we’d simply stopped in the middle of the road. It was a quiet back road though, so no one came along in the meantime.
Aikey Brae Stone Circle
Our next destination was Aikey Brae Stone Circle, a stone circle located about 45 minutes north of Aberdeen. Dating back to the Bronze Age about 4,000 years ago, this circle has ten stones, five of which are still standing.
Well, I say “standing”, but one of them is laying down. However, that was intentional; it’s known as the recumbent stone and it was deliberately laid horizontally rather than vertically.
Shae and Megan are both big fans of the Outlander TV series, so they decided to see if they could pass through the stones to go back in time to look for Jamie Fraser.
Did it work? See for yourself in the video below:
The Cock & Bull
The weather at the stone circle was even worse than at Dunnottar Castle, so once we got Shae and Megan back from the 1700s, we were grateful to get back into the dry warmth of our car.
It was about 3pm by that point, so we decided to stop somewhere for a bite to eat. We’d snacked a little at the cafe/food truck at Dunnottar Castle earlier on, so we weren’t ravenous. However, Mark and Megan’s flight wouldn’t have them getting in to Heathrow until that evening, so they were effectively having an early dinner.
I took a look at restaurants/pubs along our route back to Aberdeen and found a place nearby that had good reviews called The Cock & Bull.
I’d taken a look at a few photos online and it looked like it would be warm and cozy inside which was what we needed after being chilled to the bone. Sure enough, it was just what we were looking for inside.
They had a decent-looking food menu, as well as some specials that day.
The Cock & Bull is dog-friendly and they even have a special dog menu you can order from for your pup! We sadly didn’t have Truffles with us during this trip; she was staying with a pet-sitter as some of the properties we’d booked weren’t dog friendly.
Here’s everything that we ordered between us. From top to bottom and left to right:
- Haggis bon bons
- Bread & olives
- Great Glen charcuterie board
- Fish & chips
- Prawn frites
- Tomato soup & homemade bread
- Sticky toffee pudding
- Boozy berry Eton mess
- Chocolate ganache with honeycomb
All of us enjoyed our meals. I wasn’t as big of a fan of the homemade bread that came with the tomato soup as it was fairly dry. That said, I think that’s how that type of bread is supposed to be – I just prefer bread that’s softer.
It was all nicely presented though and our server was very friendly and helpful.
Farewells
After finishing our meal, we sadly had to head to Aberdeen airport to drop off Mark and Megan so that they could start their journey home. This was our fourth trip traveling with them and it was just as much fun as ever; they’re fantastic traveling companions.
Dalwhinnie Distillery
Although that was the end of our trip with our friends, Shae and I still had another week to spend in Scotland. We’d gotten tickets to ride the Jacobite steam train from Fort William to Mallaig (we shared about that here), so we had a few days of downtime in Aberdeen in the meantime.
On our drive back to Fort William from Aberdeen, we stopped at Dalwhinnie Distillery for one final whisky tasting seeing as that had been the focus of this birthday trip for me.
You can pick drams from eight different types of Dalwhinnie whisky, or you can get one of three pre-selected flights that come paired with chocolates from The Highland Chocolatier.
I decided to get a whisky flight, but I’m afraid I can’t remember which one! It was either The Meeting Place which was a 15 year, Winters Gold and Distillers Edition, or The Still House which featured Distillers Edition, Distillery Exclusive and 12 year old (handfill). I may not remember which of those two flights I got, but I do remember all three of them being very good, while the chocolates were also delicious.
Saga 2025 Trip To London, Liverpool & Scotland – All The Posts
Here are links to all of the posts in this series:
- Saga 2025: Trip With Friends To London, Liverpool & Scotland – An Intro
- Saga 2025 Day 1: London – Police Station Hotel, British Museum, Dinner In Darkness & Abbey Road
- Saga 2025 Day 2: Liverpool – Cavern Club, Hard Day’s Night Hotel, Cocktails & More
- Visiting The Kelpies In Falkirk, Scotland By Day & By Night
- Saga 2025 Day 3: Falkirk – Kelpies, World’s Only Rotating Boat Lift & More
- Saga 2025 Day 4: Drive From Falkirk To Fort William – Castles, Distillery, Monument & More
- Hotel Review: Inverlochy Castle Hotel In Fort William, Scotland
- How To Watch The Jacobite Steam Train On Glenfinnan Viaduct (Harry Potter Hogwarts Express Train)
- How To Find 6 Harry Potter Filming Locations Near Fort William, Scotland
- Jacobite Steam Train Review: What It’s Like Riding The Hogwarts Express
- Saga 2025 Days 5-7: Fort William – Harry Potter, Castles, Waterfalls, Mountains, Distillery & More
- Review of The Two Byres – Vacation Home On The Isle Of Skye, Scotland (Booked Via Cottages.com With Wyndham Points)
- Talisker Cask Draw & Tasting Experience – Fun, Tasty & Strong!
- The Three Chimneys Restaurant Review
- Saga 2025 Days 8-9: Isle Of Skye – Whisky, Fairies, Castles, Waterfalls, Views & More
- A Tearoom Where You Can Feed Highland Cows? Yes Please!
- Saga 2025 Day 10: Skye To Inverness – Coos, Castles, Nessie, Another Whisky Experience & More
- Saga 2025 Day 11: Inverness To Aberdeen – Standing Stones, Pyramid, Castle & More
- Saga 2025 Day 12: Aberdeen – Time Travel, Castles, Coos & More
[…] Saga 2025 Day 12: Aberdeen – Time Travel, Castles, Coos & More […]