Today, we canceled our planned morning visit to Dean Village and Water of Leith Parkway because we had to go to the pharmacy. I made an appointment for 9am at a pharmacy that was a 15-20 min drive and left the hotel at 8:30am by Uber. I met the pharmacist and explained the situation and they were very understanding. She asked us to come back in about 10-15 min while they filled the prescription. We found a cafe that offered non-dairy milk options and walked a couple of blocks down the road to grab some coffee. They also had vegan croissants and a vegan cinnamon bun that day, so we ordered those as well.
We returned to the pharmacy, picked up the prescription and returned to the hotel by tram (cheaper than Uber). We were supposed to pick up our rental car at 10:30am, so we didn't have much time. We quickly packed up all our stuff and checked out of the room. We dragged our suitcases to the Hertz car rental place which was a 12-15 min walk but it was mostly on a road on a down incline, so it wasn't too bad.
The process to rent the car took some time as we had to pick between two cars and complete the paperwork for it. We ended up with a pretty new BYD hatchback. I took some time to mentally prepare myself to drive on the left side of the road, adjusted the mirrors and seat position, got Google Maps set up and set off. Thankfully, there wasn't too much traffic because it was a weekend, so I didn't find it too difficult.
First stop was a small village called Cramond which was about 5 miles from Edinburgh. After getting a bit lost because I selected directions to some random car park (part of some surgical practice!), we made our way to a promenade that runs along the Firth of Forth. When the tide is low (which it was when we visited), the sand is exposed and people just walk there on the sand/beach. Dogs have plenty of fun because they're let off the leash and they go absolutely crazy running around and splashing in the few pools of water!
The weather was very pleasant, so we walked for about 30-40 min and then walked back to the car to get back on the road for our next stop: Stirling Castle. Stirling Castle was about 45-50 min away and we had to get on the freeway for this. I started becoming more comfortable driving by now and we made good time. We spent about 2-3 hours in Stirling Castle which was mostly ruled by Scottish rulers as opposed to Edinburgh Castle which traded hands among English and Scottish rulers over the centuries. We didn't do a guided tour here and instead relied on some headsets that we rented. Just like Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle is on top of a hill that gives it a vantage point and natural protection from potential invaders. The height also gives us nice views of the countryside. The castle is also a bit unique in terms of having sculpted statues around the exterior walls.
After finishing up with Stirling Castle, we went to Cafe Aina (Greek restaurant with many plant-based options). We had a vegan souvlaki with potato wedges and a very unique dessert which is traditionally non-vegan but the owner's mother had created a plant-based version of it. After lunch, we walked around the Stirling town's center on cobblestone streets for about 10 min and the made our way back to our car.
We got back in the car and headed to Fort William, our base for the next day and a half. The landscape and scenery changes dramatically as we enter the Highlands area with huge hills and deep valleys and windy, up-and-down roads. We made some stops on the way to just take in the views. We reached our hotel in Fort William at 7:40pm and checked in. We skipped dinner because our lunch in Cafe Aina was quite late (around 4:30pm) and heavy.
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