Outlander Scotland 5 Day Immersion Tour Day 1

We greeted our group at 9am in the lobby of the Apex Grassmarket Hotel. The tour group totaled nine, which meant seven other Outlander fans were spending the week with us touring various filming locations throughout Scotland.

Hotel Pick up

They loaded our luggage into a 15-person van on a consistently cool, rainy Edinburgh day. Since it was raining, and filming crews had several streets closed for installment #9 of Fast and Furious, we used the coach to get to a good starting point for the walking tour.

Outlander Walking Tour Edinburgh

Once onto the city streets with umbrellas in hand, we visited a few of the filming locations from the third book in the Outland Series Voyager (Series EP: 305 – 307). Some of the more noteworthy stops were:

• Tweeddale Court, the transformed 18th-century marketplace where Claire is reunited with Fergus age 30’s and learns of his encounter with the redcoats that cost him his hand.
• The entrance to Madame Jeanne’s Brothel where Jamie rents a small upstairs room.
• Bakehouse Close, the set of Jamie’s (or Alexander Malcolm’s) print shop about 1766.
• and the spot where Claire’s carriage eventually arrives after her trip from Inverness.

Tayforth Travel Coach

At 11am we were back in the coach headed to The Railbridge Bistro in South Queensferry for lunch. This establishment is situated between the Queensferry Crossing, Forth Road Bridge, and Forth Bridge.

The Railbridge Bistro

We arrived at the Railbridge Bristo, a modern bar-diner serving a Scottish bistro style menu, where we dined on our pre-selected lunch of a Chicken and Bacon Club Sandwich and a serving of Macaroni & Cheese with Tandoori Chicken. Without hesitation, I recommend the latter for your choice.

Having eaten our lunch, we all admired the adoring spans of the World Heritage Forth Bridge just outside the establishment. Opening in March 1890 following a 7-year construction, its length including approach viaducts is said to be over 1-1/2 miles consisting of two spans of 1710ft each and two of 690ft. The depth below water level is listed as 91ft.

Midhope Castle (Lallybroch)

We arrived at Midhope Castle; Lallybroch the fictional family home of Jamie Fraser. As a fan of the show might imagine, arriving at Lallybroch is an unimaginable experience. We took several faraway shots from the bottom of the drive and next headed up the long path to the house.

Here we took in the serene nature of the place and its surroundings, then posed for photos under the arch and on the stairs where Claire and Jenny often sat.

On the path to Lallybroch is also the Dove Cote where Fergus hid the pistol used to shoot the Raven, hoping to protect Jamie at the cave (Series EP: 302).

Some of the more curious folks wandered throughout the trees looking for signs of Jamie’s cave. Unfortunately, they were disappointed and could not locate his hideout.

Blackness Castle (Fort William)

We arrived at Blackness Castle built in the 1440s and strolled about the grounds. Prior to entering its interior, we visited the west side ramparts for a better understanding of how CGI played an important role in transforming the whereabouts of the Firth of Forth.

CGI is used in the scene where Jamie and Claire jumped from Fort William into the waters below, after her rescue. They moved the waters from the South side of Blackness Castle to the West (filming) side (Series EP: 109).

Upon entering the Castle and going to the courtyard, we observed the spot where Jamie received the additional 100 lashes from Black Jack Randall (Series EP: 106).

This was the same location where Rodger and Brianna had also visited on their day about Scotland in modern times (Series EP: 213).

We climbed the spiral staircase to the Great Hall where we learned a bit of the real Castle’s history. We walked along the ramparts, then returned to ground level and exited the water-gate to the pier. Although it was a wind-blowing, rainy day, the Castle was a must see.

Sainsbury’s Grocery

Soon we were loaded up and traveling to Linlithgow for the Williamscraig Holiday Cottages, our residence for the rest of this week. We made a quick pit stop at Sainsbury’s Grocery, gathering extra supplies for our cottage stay. We purchased Cheese, Jacob Crackers and Granola.

Williamscraig Holiday Cottages

By 4pm, we had arrived at the remote cottages just south of the Linlithgow Golf Club. Our group occupied three of the seven cottages, two of which adjoined. These were the Beech, Eden 1 and Eden 2 cottages. There were two couples in each cottage, one set upstairs and one down. They assigned us to the Eden 1 Cottage, upstairs bedroom.

Later on we ate our evening dinner as a group, getting to know everyone a little better.

Afterwards, there was an evening event of Axe Throwing, held just outside, that was great fun.

Cruise Port: Edinburgh, Scotland

Tour Name: Outlander Scotland 5 Day Immersion Tour Day 1

Accommodations: Williamscraig Holiday Cottages

Tour Guide: Emma & Anne

Tour Operator: Mary’s Meanders