Scotland 3 - Outlander tour

„I love you Jamie!“ With these words, our guide began today's trip with a mocking yell. As you can guess, today we are going to visit the locations where the popular TV series Outlander was filmed.

Midhope Castle alias Lallybroch

The series follows the story of Claire Randall, a married army nurse in 1945 who mysteriously finds herself transported back in time to 1743. Here she is immediately thrown into an unknown world full of danger. In this new world, she is forced by circumstances to marry Jamie Fraser, a young and romantic Scottish warrior.

In fact, it could be said that this series has made Scotland more famous than Sean Connery and William Wallace combined. All I knew about Outlander before Scotland was that it was a Netflix series. To get something out of this trip, we were given a crash course the day before on the most famous scenes from the places we would be visiting. So don't be surprised if the descriptions of the places are somewhat vague.

Since Scotland's problem is getting somewhere reasonable outside the big cities, one has only two choices. Either rent a car or take a day tour from one of the local tour operators. Since a car was considerably more expensive and no one wanted to drive it, only option number two was acceptable to us, using the services of Rabbie's travel agency.

So, to the trip itself. Departure was at 9am from Waterloo place. All the way to the place, I listen to Janet hoping that the guide will be a man in a traditional Scottish kilt. She'll get her wish today. Our guide's name was Ray, but the only thing that sticks in my mind is the nickname he was once given by American tourists, Fat Jamie. It's not entirely surprising that there are only two men in the 16-passenger van. The rest are an enthusiastic and literally horny female crew.

The first stop on our tour is Midhope Castle, aka the movie Lallybroch, aka the home of female idol and secret love Jamie Fraser. In real life, it's a simple stone house on a farm. But since capitalism works in this country, the owners have started charging £6 per person to enter the grounds. For this money, all you can do is look at the facade of the house from afar, as they won't let you in, and as we are warned by the guide, we are not supposed to move much outside either. Just a goldmine.

Midhope Castle - Žanet with our guide Ray

Midhope Castle alias Lallybroch

The next stop is Blackness Castle aka Fort William. The home of the main villain Black Jack Randall, where the more unfamiliar scene is when the idol was whipped. What stuck in my mind is the £9 entrance fee and the waterless shores of Blackness Bay.

Blackness Bay Coast

Blackness Castle alias Fort William - The Place of the Famous Scene

Blackness Castle alias Fort William

We continue to the town of Linlithgow, where the eponymous palace that served as Wentworth Prison in the series is located. Scenes were filmed inside. Due to renovations, we were unable to see inside. There is also a nice park next to the palace overlooking Loch Linlithgow. We made use of the free benches here for a picnic.

Linlithgow Palace

Adjacent park

Linlithgow

Now we have a longer crossing to the castle Duon alias Leoch, or the main seat of the Mackenzie family. The men's cast can be excited by the fact that Duon Castle also served as the backdrop for Winterfell in the Game of Thrones series. Admission is £9.50, but you get an audio guide to guide you through the castle. Of course, there must be special signage with locations and descriptions of scenes from the series.

Duon Castle

The last stop on today's tour is the village of Culross or Cranesmuir. Perhaps the most unfamiliar scene is the pillory and pierced ear scene from the first series. Then there's Geillis Duncan's house, Laoghaire MacKenzie's house and Culross Palace in whose gardens Claire and Geillis spent a lot of time picking herbs. Interestingly, in the film the houses have a blue facade, but in real life they have a white facade. No special effects were used to repaint them, but all the facades were repainted. First in blue and then back to white at the end of the filming. It was blowing hard in this village, too.

Culross - Laoghaire MacKenzie House

Culross - Geillis Duncan House

Culross

Culross Palace

Culross Palace and its gardens

Culross

Culross is the end, from there we are on our way back to Edinburgh. There we say goodbye to our guide, take a short walk for a view of the city and then return to our accommodation, again with a stop at Sainsbury's for a microwave Indian dinner. Tomorrow we move on to Inverness.

This article has been strictly supervised and edited by Janet.

Scottish-style dinner

Useful links:

Rabbie's Tours
Edinburgh Destiny Student Accommodation
More Edinburgh accommodation options