It's THAT time again - when the League of Tullamore Travelers takes to the air and the motorcoach for their biennial travel-adventure! And YOU can come along!
This is our much-ballyhooed “best tour we've ever put together”! And folks, this is definitely the once-in-a-lifetime best tour we've ever put together. At the heart of the itinerary is a three-day excursion to the Orkney Isles - where we'll travel back in time four-to-five centuries to visit the Heart of Neolithic Orkney. Then we bookended that odyssey between pilgrimages to honor Scotland's two greatest writers… to Ayr to pay homage to Robert “The Ploughman Poet” Burns… and to Abbotsford, in the Borders, to pay homage to Sir Walter Scott. And there'll be plenty of fun times in between! AND it will be during the Summer when the sun is in the sky sixteen hours a day (which we've arranged for all you education-industry folks out there)!
You know you've been wanting and waiting to do this! Now is as good of a time as any!
The tour runs July 23rd - 31st... with such highlights as:
- nine nights accommodations in 3-star/4-star hotels as follows (or similar), with four nights (total) at the YOTEL Edinburgh Center, one night at the Best Western Palace Hotel in Inverness, three nights in the Kirkwall Hotel, and one night in the B&B HOTEL Inverness;
- full Scottish breakfast daily;
- two dinners with the group at the Kirkwall Hotel;
- admission to all scheduled attractions: the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum & Cottage, the Standing Stones of Stenness, the Ring of Brodgar, Skara Brae, Maeshowe (as availability permits), the Highland Park Distillery, Glamis Castle, Abbotsford, and Melrose Abbey;
- and sessions several nights featuring the music of TAFKAT and other interested collaborators.
All for the worth-every-penny LAND ONLY price of $4399.00!
Click to PLACE DEPOSIT - $250.00
(More information available in this tour-flyer.)
DAY 1
THURSDAY, JULY 23
Arrive in Edinburgh for a Day to Yourself
We flip the script this year, and place the free day in Edinburgh at the start of the tour rather than end. So arrange your travel-plans as leisurely as you’d like, get to the YOTEL Edinburgh (in the city-centre), drop off your luggage with them, and spend the day exploring the “Empress of the North”.
We recommend the Hop-On/Hop-Off Edinburgh Tour Bus-Pass. See Edinburgh Castle, the majestic landmark that dominates Edinburgh’s skyline, perched on an extinct volcano; the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen's official residence in Scotland; or the Royal Mile, the famous cobbled street that links the Palace and the Castle and is full of historic buildings and sites of interest. Other notable landmarks include the National Monument, Scotland's memorial to those who died fighting for the United Kingdom in the Napoleonic Wars; the Scott Monument honoring Sir Walter Scott; the Burns Monument, a tribute to Scotland's National Bard; the National Gallery; the Royal Scottish Academy; the Camera Obscura; or Greyfriar's Bobby. At some point, be sure to drop by and visit to Edinburgh's oldest public house this afternoon, the Sheep Heid Inn, established in 1360.
Dinner is on your own. Overnight at the YOTEL Edinburgh.
DAY 2
FRIDAY, JULY 24
Alloway and An Homage to Robert Burns
The model of this year’s tour was to bookend the tour between paying tribute to Scotland’s two greatest writers… the first of these writers being Robert Burns – the “Ploughman Poet” and Scotland’s national bard.
Our first full-day outing begins after a relaxed breakfast. We pile on the bus for an odyssey to Alloway to see the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum & Cottage. This amazing exhibition was envisioned by the National Trust and celebrates the enduring legacy of the “Bard of Ayrshire”.
The drive there and back will be replete with picturesque photo-ops as we traverse Midlothian, Lanark, and Ayr… so be sure to have your cameras ready.
Dinner is on your own. Overnight at the YOTEL Edinburgh.
DAY 3
SATURDAY, JULY 25
Edinburgh to Inverness
Moving day today.
On the heels of a late breakfast, we take our leave of Edinburgh (don't worry… we’ll be back) and begin our journey to Inverness – the “Capital City of the Highlands”.
Today’s expedition is a meandering drive across Fife and Perth, and into the Highlands. We sightsee along the way – with photo-stops in Pitlochry, Killiecrankie, maybe Blair Castle, and probably the Cairngorm National Park. And we have lunch along the way as well.
We should arrive in Inverness in the late-afternoon where we check into the Best Western Palace Hotel . Then the rest of the day is yours to explore the city.
Dinner is on your own. Overnight at the Best Western Palace Hotel.
DAY 4
SUNDAY, JULY 26
Inverness to Thurso, Stromness, and Kirkwall
Moving day today.
Early breakfast today before we bid farewell to Inverness (don't worry… we’ll be back). Then we begin our greatly-anticipated Orkney excursion.
We head north to Thurso at the northernmost reaches of Caithness, and arrive at its harbor of Scrabster. Once there, we take the Northlink Ferry, crossing the Pentland Firth and coming docking in Stromness on the Orkney mainland. From there, we complete our drive to the ‘capital’ town of Kirkwall.
We check into the Kirkwall Hotel, and there should be plenty of time to amble about town before our first group-dinner.
Dinner with the group and overnight at the Kirkwall Hotel.
DAY 5
MONDAY, JULY 27
Neolithic Orkney
Our first full day in Orkney is dedicated to visiting three of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites that comprise “The Heart of Neolithic Orkney” - a series of important domestic and ritual monuments built 5000 years ago in the Orkney Islands.
First we visit the Standing Stones of Stenness – what may be the earliest henge monument in the British Isles. Towering at nineteen feet, the four megaliths are all that remain of an ancient circle that was once twelve. Then, a five-minute walk brings us to another neolithic henge, the Ring of Brodgar. This 36-stone circle and henge comprises an enormous ceremonial site dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. Finally we visit Skara Brae, “Scotland's Pompeii” - a complex of ancient buildings that predate Stonehenge or even the Great Pyramids, and the best-preserved Neolithic settlement in Western Europe.
There is a modest chance (availability permitting) we visit a fourth site - Maeshowe. This monumental chambered tomb looks, from the outside, like a large grassy mound. Inside, its 10-meter-long passage brings you to a central chamber and three side cells. Whether we see it depends on the size of our group and the limitation on tours that day.
We squeeze in lunch in Stromness over the course of the day. And when all is said and done, we return to Kirkwall where you can spend the rest of the day at your leisure.
Dinner is on your own. Overnight at the Kirkwall Hotel.
DAY 6
TUESDAY, JULY 28
Highland Park Distillery
No Tullamore tour would be complete without a celebration of uisge beatha, the “water of life”. And so it is that, after a lazy breakfast, we drive the entire mile-and-a-half to tour the Highland Park Distillery – where, since 1798, the local legend has been lovingly and carefully crafted. We’re treated to an immersive introduction to both Orkney and to Highland Park’s classic collection, plus a taste of one of their special releases.
Then we return to the hotel where you’re turned loose for lunch and afternoon to yourself to sport about town. Kirkwall’s three most impressive sites are St Magnus’ Cathedral, the Bishop’s and Earl’s Palaces, and the Orkney Museum.
Dinner with the group and overnight at the Kirkwall Hotel.
DAY 7
WEDNESDAY, JULY 29
Return to Inverness
Moving day today.
After breakfast, we complete our Orkney excursion, making our final departure from the city of Kirkwall, returning to Stromness, and taking the Northlink Ferry back to Thurso's harbor of Scrabster. Once there, we make the drive south through Caithness, Sutherland, and Ross-and-Cromarty – our sole objective for the day being our return to Inverness.
Upon arriving, we check into the B&B HOTEL Inverness, and the remains of the day are yours to do with what you will. If you haven’t had enough whisky by now, consider booking an evening at MacGregor’s Bar for their epic Highland Malt Whisky Experience.
Dinner is on your own. Overnight at the B&B HOTEL Inverness.
DAY 8
THURSDAY, JULY 30
Glamis Castle - Edinburgh
Moving day today.
After breakfast, we bid farewell, once and for all, to Inverness and make our way back the way we came to Edinburgh. The journey will be replete with stretch-breaks and photo-ops at appropriately lovely views.
Our first leg ends at Aviemore on the northwest edge of the Cairngorms National Park. Our second leg ends in the village of Birnam for a two-hour stop to include some retail therapy and lunch… and maybe even a visit to Birnam Arts to see the Beatrix Potter Exhibit.
After lunch, our third leg is a short jaunt to Glamis – where we’ll tour the striking Glamis Castle of Macbethean fame. Our final leg is our return to “Auld Reekie” and the YOTEL Edinburgh – where we’ll stay for another couple nights.
Dinner is on your own. Overnight at the YOTEL Edinburgh.
DAY 9
FRIDAY, JULY 31
Abbotsford and an Homage to Sir Walter Scott
At long last we come to the final bookend of the tour - our pilgrimage to the Scottish Borders where we pay tribute to poet, novelist, and historian Sir Walter Scott at his beautiful 19th-century estate of Abbotsford.
After that magnificent visit, we’ll have lunch at the estate’s Ochiltree's Café, and then (since we’re in the neighborhood) head over to Melrose Abbey, the partly-ruined 12th-century Cistercian monastery founded by David I and the final resting place of Alexander II and the heart of Robert the Bruce.
Then we return to Edinburgh.
Dinner is on your own. Overnight at the YOTEL Edinburgh.
TRAVEL DAY
SATURDAY, AUGUST 1
Travel Day
Our final Moving Day today.
After breakfast at the hotel, there will be one coach-transfer to Edinburgh Airport for flights leaving that day. (Or take advantage of being in Scotland and tack on a few days of extra sightseeing as it suits you!)
In either case… in the true Scottish Tradition, we wish you a “Fair faw, an' haste ye back!”
