Wandergliding: Leaving Scotland

February 28^th, 2026

We were abruptly woken up to a strange alarm on Naomi’s phone at 6 am. She jerked upright and said something like “Oh no”. It was an alarm from the Israeli government about an impending missile attack…the US and Israel had attacked Iran and Iran was hitting back. Naomi has received these alerts before, as sadly it is a reality of being an Israeli citizen.

We fell back asleep, at least I did. At 8 am, we turned on the TV and watched the update on the BBC News. As the broadcaster was reporting from Jerusalem, an air raid siren started to wail in the background. The news anchor asked if the reporter needed to take cover, but he stated he had a few minutes. About ten seconds later, Naomi’s phone went off again…”Whoa, that’s crazy”, I thought, “We’re connected to this conflict!”

It didn’t take long for us to find out that Naomi’s flight, which was scheduled for tomorrow, had been cancelled. Originally the plan was that I was going to drop her off at Heathrow and then continue on to Weymouth (which would have been a long driving day). Now she was going to return with me to my aunt’s place and wait until El Al airlines provide her a new flight when things calmed down in the Middle East. It was a silver lining indeed.

We decided to extend our trip by one night after I confirmed with the rental company that we could keep the car another day and decided that we’d spend a night in Liverpool. I’ve never been there and it has been a long time for Naomi (the same one with her mom when she was a teenager and they went to Edinburgh). You never know what curveballs life might throw at you, and sometimes they are good ones!

Time for breakfast.

We shared a table at breakfast with a nice Scottish couple in their 50s who were celebrating their anniversary and had a nice conversation with them.

On the road again.

We stopped at the Glencoe Visitor Centre with the hopes of seeing some more Highland coos.

That structure in the distance is a traditional turf house.

Checking out the turf house.

Inside the turf house.

We stopped at the Three Sisters viewpoint (three peaks that we passed by a few days earlier) and were pleasantly surprised to find a bagpiper there.

It was chilly, but it didn't stop this piper...

He was a very friendly piper and we had a short discussion about the weather which led into climate change.

The Three Sisters.

And that little white house that we saw on our way to the Isle of Skye.

The couple that we had breakfast with mentioned a hotel and cafe passed the Three Sisters where they claimed the deer were always hanging about. Naomi was excited about that prospect, and it didn't disappoint. There were a couple of stags who couldn't care less about being close to humans. The couple did mention that if we didn't go in for a coffee, we would like get a parking ticket as there were cameras all around...so I let Naomi out to snap the following photos while I circled a few times around the parking lot.

They were photogenic.

One of the last snow capped mountains as we begin heading south towards England.

And one of the last lochs...

Some wind turbines by the highway.

Some fake sheep outside of our bed and breakfast.

The view from our room.

Our dinner spot, a short walk from the guesthouse...the George and Dragon.

It was a lovely spot, although there was uncertainty if we would get fed as the restaurant side was fully booked and we didn't have reservations...but it worked out in the end.