Meet your CCJ trip manager in the lobby of your hotel. Experience the Edinburgh TATTOO Festival featuring music, dance and precision display with the Massed Pipes and Drums, the Massed Military Bands, cultural troupes, singers and the poignant refrain of the Lone Piper against the stunning backdrop of Edinburgh Castle. The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo celebrates musicians and performers from all around the world and opens Scotland’s arms to welcome spectators from near and far to join in the fun. It is dedicated to putting on a spectacular performance each and every year with an annual audience of around 220,000. You’re in for an extraordinary performance that you will never forget! Welcome dinner with group.
Sleep: Edinburgh (B/D)

Together we begin our day’s drive to Eagle Rock in the Applecross Peninsula.  Driving up the stunning West Coast, we reach the site of the picturesque Eilean Donan (Dornie Castle), where 3 lochs meet. We will explore this 13th century fortification, with secret passages where spies lurked during the Jacobite rebellion.

From Eilean Donan Castle, you reach the luxury eco-lodge of Eagle Rock located at the tip of the rural Applecross peninsula. The Gaelic name of Applecross, "A' Chomraich” means 'The Sanctuary', and comes from the sanctified ground surrounding an ancient monastery. We climb the famous Bealach na Ba, “the pass of the cattle”, named by National Geographic as one of the 10 most spectacular drives in the world at the perfect time for sunset photos.

After check-in at Eagle Rock we will have a moment to unpack before joining together for an informal welcome dinner on the deck, featuring local seafood and organic fare.
Sleep: Eagle Rock (L/D)


Applecross is well known as a refuge: a place of utter tranquillity and beauty. It has been the site of a sacred sanctuary for thousands of years. Eagle Rock is a haven for people to immerse themselves in nature, to reconnect to each other and to relax and recharge in wilderness luxury.

Eagle Rock is an architectural award-winning luxury eco-lodge built on common grazing land, gifted to the owner by local crofters. It is known for its light and warmth, low-key comfort, handcrafted interior, phenomenal views, and a mass of local books and viewing material. It’s a perfect place to take a deep dive into the spirit and heartbeat of the wilderness and is a popular spot for small celebrations and creative retreats. The sound systems are stellar: Eagle Rock has a recording studio. The large rock which gives the house its name marks a viking raider watchfire site and, later, coronation fires, the last being for Queen Elizabeth II.

We start our day with a leisurely breakfast, and perhaps a hot tub on Eagle Rock’s infinity deck, which hangs over the strip of sea called the Inner Sound. Afterwards, a presentation on Applecross Peninsula and the surrounds of Eagle Rock itself by our host and guide, Catherine Stewart, will tap you into the spirit of the place and the people who live there. The session will help us gain a perspective on how modern rural life in the highlands works – for people who want to live in nature, in community, make a good living, and relate authentically to the wider world. Walk 20 minutes to lunch on your own at the Michelin-Starred Applecross Inn. Enjoy an afternoon Heritage Walk featuring one of the few remaining 7th century brochs (an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled dwelling). We will also see a restored Victorian-era walled garden, a Paleolithic midden, and visit Clachan, or “The Sanctuary” which shares its name with the restored church. Clachan is the first of many churches build by St Maelrubbe who is believed to have surfed into Applecross on a 14-foot stone. The church is constructed on a site with remains of pagan worship going back over 2000 years of Druidic and Mithric practices.

We will enjoy a locally-sourced Scottish supper at Eagle Rock – perhaps haggis in Drambuie, or local venison, as well as special local ‘squat lobster’ – and finish it all off with a traditional Scottish dessert called Cranachan, made with a mixture of whipped cream, whisky, honey, fresh raspberries and toasted oatmeal. After dinner, we have a whisky tasting with a local connoisseur. You will sample 6 very different whiskies, learn to distinguish between east and west coast malts, sample 12-year and 18-year versions of the same malt, learn the effects of the aging process, and much more. To understand Scotland, it’s important to know a little about the ‘amber liquid’ so dear to the heart of any true Scot!
Sleep: Eagle Rock (B/D)

After breakfast at Eagle Rock, take an easy foraging stroll through several woodland habitats with Gill Fairweather, botanist, crofter, and mum. This is a fair weather-dependent activity and will last around 2 hours. Then we will test what we learned by enjoying a foraging lunch inside a Victorian walled garden, augmented by their homegrown produce. In the afternoon we will head around the coast to the Kilbride croft where we have the chance to visit with crofters and makers of textiles. Lesley and Tom raise grey Gotland sheep and Shetland cattle between the seashore and high mountains. You will learn about the art of crofting, the traditional system of small farming in Scotland, and the process of dying of wools with natural plants. They live the modern crofting lifestyle. Master Weaver Tom, who creates everything on a hand operated loom, explains the joy and the challenge of keeping the art and skills of weaving alive. In the evening, we return to Eagle Rock for a light, catered dinner.
Sleep: Eagle Rock (B/L/D)

After breakfast at Eagle Rock, we begin a full day of nature and Scottish highland crafts and skills with incredible naturalist, Willow Lohr. She will lead us on an excursion tracking highland habitats and animals, learning about highland crafts and outdoor survival. Lunch will be back at Eagle Rock and we will continue the afternoon with Willow to end with a dinner on your own at the Walled Garden, famous for locally sourced and in-house grown food. The proprietor works on a local fishing boat bringing home prawns, squat lobsters, fish for fishcakes, crab and even the occasional octopus. The Garden’s wall is 24 foot high, and so fruit trees and flowers grow in this restored Victorian Eden, that could never survive without this protection from the wind and from the deer. Sleep: Eagle Rock (B/L)

After an early breakfast we will head out for a day trip to the Isle of Skye, visiting the Talisker distillery, the famous Skye Fairy Pools – magical waterfalls known for their vivid green and blue colors. Then to the bustling port and cultural centre of Portree, to wander the shops and see the rhythms of daily life. Lunch will be on your own in the stunning garden of the Cullin Hills Hotel which overlooks the picturesque Portree harbor. If the weather is inclement, or if the group prefers, we visit Dunvegan Castle, seat of the Clan McLeod instead of the Fairy Pools. In the late afternoon we will return to the Applecross Peninsula for dinner at the pub.
Sleep: Eagle Rock (B/D)

Today we head to the ocean, kayaking solo or in tandem for a 2-hour round trip to a small island to observe the grey seals and sea otters that feed, play and mate along the rocky shore. Qualified international outdoor guides always put safety first. We will have a guided walk on a spectacular beach made from crushed white coral. Lunch will be a buffet at Eagle rock. In the afternoon, you have time at your leisure to take advantage of the many local walks and attractions that makes Applecross so unique, or even an optional tour of the local brewery and shipyard. We will end the day and our incredible journey with delightful farewell dinner and time with Claire the bard.
Sleep: Eagle Rock (B/L/D)

Following breakfast we bid farewell to Eagle Rock and the Applecross Peninsula to drive back to Edinburgh (5 hours), where we will have a chance to repack, get a good nights sleep, and bid Scotland a "fare-well". Meals this last day on your own.
Sleep: Edinburgh (B)