We are on a small, bumpy road, listening to “The Skye Boat Song, the theme song from Outlander. “Are we there yet, are we there yet?”. My brain is acting like a four year old girl on her way to an amusement park.
When the minibus stops, I am so excited. And there, just a few steps away from the car, I can finally see Jamie´s Lollybroch.
Or Midhope Castle as it is called in real life. If you have not seen the TV series Outlander yet, you should start watching it now. The plot sounds a bit weird, as it includes time travelling, but it is a beautiful love story combined with a touch of brutality and amazing Scottish scenery. Jamie is the main character in the series, and Lallybroch is his families home. While I was outside the castle, I pretended that I was Claire (the other main character in the Outlander series) waiting for Jamie to come home.
Midhope Castle, a.k.a. Lallybroch was the last stop on our tour. Before we got there, we saw a lot of beautiful castles, towns and nature. Our first stop was Linlithgow Palace which was the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots. In the Outlander series, it is called “Wentworth Prison”.
I can imagine that the place at the time where Mary Queen of Scots was born was a beautiful palace, but now it is more prison-like. I don´t think I would have enjoyed living here now. I would rather have done some time travelling and visited the castle in its heyday.
Our next stop was Doune Castle, which was not only used in Outlander to represent the home of Colum MacKenzie under the name “Castle Leoch”, but was also used for the location of Winterfell in Game of Thrones as well as the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Her you can actually listen to the voice of the actor Sam Heughan, who is playing Jamie Fraser in the Outlander series. Jamie´s voice…
Then we went to Culross, a small, pretty town located by the sea. A lot of scenes from Outlander were filmed here. And I really get why. I became so fascinated by the town that I for a moment imagined myself living there. This is definitely a place to visit no matter if you are an Outlander fan such as myself or a regular tourist. I would especially recommend visiting the café located close to the yellow houses- the one that uses sea shells instead of gravel for its patio.
Another place that is worth visiting is Falkland, a small town which in the Outlander series is representing Inverness in 1945. I wish I had some more time exploring this town.
The only downside is that if you want to take the best photos of the most famous Outlander location, you have to stand in the middle of a roundabout. Fortunately, there is not too much traffic there.
We travelled with Haggis Adventure for this trip. It was my classmate who found the trip, so I do not know whether it was a reason for choosing this particular travel company to other companies. What I do know, is that our driver and guide did a really good job, where we in addition to Outlander details, learned a lot about Scottish history in an entertaining way.
Ina N. Moe 
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