Itinerary

Day One

The dragon tree of Rosslyn Glen

Just one of the Chapel's many sacred carvings

We meet in Edinburgh and the journey begins! We visit the exquisite Rosslyn Chapel, steeped in stories of the Knights of the Crusade, starting with a walk in beautiful Rosslyn Glen. We journey into the west, stopping en route in a land painted by pre-Raphaelites to visit one of the few well documented fairy hills. We'll end the day on the west coast in the quiet town of Ceann loch Gilb, in the culturally separate Argyll.

Days Two and Three

Bronze Age astronmony explained.

A moment's reflection in a stone circle.
©Tour guest Loreen Costa.

At Dùn Add.
©Tour guest Pam Payne.

We'll spend two days exploring this rich area, one of the densest archaeological landscapes in Scotland: Gleann Cille Mhàirtin, home to an astonishing array of stone circles, cairns, henge and forts covering 6000 years. We will also visit a hidden holy well and the biggest collection of Neolithic rock art in Celtdom. While it is theoretically possible there is guide on the planet that knows the Glen better than me, it is unlikely: I lived amongst these stones for five years.

You'll get an opportunity to hike in the North Atlantic Oak Woodlands, stunningly beautiful and now recognised as ecologically significant as a powerhouse of nature. The sea views aren't bad either!

Day Four

Òban, "Gateway to the Isles".

Iona
© Tour guest Pam Payne.

You'll get some time in An t-Òban to stock up on items not available in the remoteness of the islands then we will take to the ferry across the beautiful Firth of Lorn to the wild and unspoilt Isle of Mull for a scenic drive through the mountains. We will visit the home of the Chief of Clan Maclean, Duart Castle, where I am storyteller to the chief, so if you're well behaved, I'll tell you a Tale about how the MacLeans employed witches to defeat their enemies. Another short ferry ride takes us over to the holy isle of Iona where we will stay for the next three nights. This evening we will stroll to the ruined nunnery with its sheela-na-gig.

Day Five

Iona Nunnery

Iona, Traigh Bàn

Pilgrimages are meant to be trying: weather!

Generally on Iona, the programmed activities are optional and have solo time built around them. Iona needs to be found at your pace. On our first morning we visit St Oran's chapel and the royal burial ground of Scotland's kings where we can pay our respects to the ancestors. Afterwards, we hike the pilrimage route to the "Bay of the Curragh" where Saint Columba first landed and where you might find beautiful Iona greenstones. You might choose to walk the labyrinth. After lunch there will be a free afternoon when you can visit the craft studios and bookshops in the village, or find a sandy beach on which to journal. There is the option to take to the sea by sail-boat in this sea-kingdom. This evening, there will be a formal Cèilidh of local Tales, with harp.

Day Six

Dun Ì © Jane Duffy

Making Bride's Crosses

You will learn about Iona's connection with the goddess and saint, Brighid, Brigit or Bride, and gather reeds to weave her crosses. Then we'll take a walk up the holy hill of Dun Ì to Tobar an Aois the Well of Ages, to bless them in the holy waters. This afternoon you can take an optional-extra guided tour of Iona Abbey, founded by St. Columba and lovingly restored by the Iona Community. In the evening we'll walk to a known faery hill. There will be alone-time while on Iona for journaling, integration of the pilgrimage learnings, or meditation.

Day Seven

Scotland's West Coast

Viking Land and Sea

Today we head northwards through the dramatic sea-coast of Scotland's West Coast before coming to rest amidst the Viking terriroty of the Eilean a'Cheò, the Isle of Skye. Along the way you will hear one of The Three Great Irish Sorrows, a Tale so powerful, so old that it is found from India to Ireland, yet here it is played out upon the landscape, so we will take to its stage and relive this great work of literature. The views today will be dramatic, fearsome, intimidating even, in contrast to the gentleness of Iona. Having joureyed far, we once again sleep with our feet almost in the ocean in one of the most serene and hidden places on the west coast.

Day Eight

The Cuildheain

The Warrior Goddess's territory

Today you'll see some of the Isle of Skye's most hidden and special sacred sites. If you're looking for the Fairy Pools, Fairy Glen or Neist Point, then this is not the tour for you: join the huge crowds on the many tourist busses for which Skye is now known! For today we go to hidden and largely unknown parts of the island, ones that I don't name for good reason. We will begin by in a remote glen to visit a ruined Iron Age dwelling. We'll cross the sea by boat to arrive on Eilean a'Cheò, that being the most dramatic and appropriate way to reach this Isle. Here we'll find amidst a distractingly beautiful landscape sites of ancient and early Christian pilgrimage - a Warrior Goddess, neolithic solar observation, early Celtic Christian holy wells...

Day Nine

The forests of Perthshire

The Forests of Big Tree Country

We leave the West Coast today to journey into the very heart of the Highlands. Along the way we'll find time to hike into the mountain home of the Goddess of the Storms where you can contemplate one of the oldest dieties in Europe, and perhaps meet her goats! (See the short video below). Tonight we come to rest in a pretty town named for an uruisg or water diety, Aberfeldy. We sleep in the heart of Perthshire, known as Big Tree Country.

Day Ten

Visiting a stone circle © image by guest Susan Harris

An Iron Age workspace

Today, after our longer travel day yesterday, we'll spend a gentle morning at a stone circle then a reconstruted Iron-Age village, to give you a sense of daily life two thousand years ago. In the afternoon you will have an optional programme: you can take time to rest after yesterday's the long journey, to catch up on journalling, to explore the pretty wee Highland town, or you can stretch your muscles on a gorge hike amidst the beauty of the falls and hear about the local water dieties via a Gàidhlig poem.

Day Eleven

Contemplating the Beauty

The Oldest Tree in Europe?

We get remote today as we journey into two places. First is an abandoned village where a famous seeress once lived. You'll hear some of her prophetic words, translated into English. The second place is known in Gàidhlig as The Long Crooked Glen of the Stones, one of Scotland's hidden gems (which is why I don't give its map-name here) with a dense collection of sites spanning several thousand year along the glen's thirty mile length, including one of the world's great, ancient trees. We'll visit standing stones with stories around them; we'll hike up into an unmarked site of great power, hearing of David Cowan's work on ley lines and telluric energy; we'll translate local place names to uncover the early Celtic Christian settlements in the Glen.

Day Twelve

Contemplating the Beauty

The Homage to Poetry

Before leaving on our return to Edniburgh, we will head to the ancient medieval bishopric of Dunkeld to take an easy walk into an 18th Century woodland homage to Gàidhlig poetry and visit the ancient tree beneath which Scotland's most famous fiddle player would compose music for the Duke of Atholl, two artforms so imporant to the spirit of the Celt. It will make a fine place to hold our closing circle.

The Kelpies

Dunblane Cathedral

If we can squeeze in a visit to the Cathedral of Dunblane, with its 1000 year old tower, we will. A final stop will be The Kelpies, a beautiful, monumental piece of much loved public art that lifts the spirit. Perhaps this will buffer us a little as we return to "civilisation" and to our Edinburgh start-point for fond farewells.

"...the choice I made to go with you and to wait two years to do so WAS one of the best choices I have ever made. Thank you for showing me a Scotland that is rugged and soft and bold and quiet and haunting and welcoming. Thank you for taking us/me to heart and soul places by using our soles to get there. Thank you for your depth, your perception, your humor and your tolerance. Scotland without Scot would have been so very different. It is through your eyes that it/we/I came alive again, am refreshed again, am emblazoned to seek the passion of living again." Christine Yanitelli 2022.

Images taken on this tour (hover/click to enlarge)

Tour Price 2025 £2900 per person, sharing twin or double room, £3300 solo traveller, single room (Early bird price until January 2025, £3100 and £3500 from February) (XE.com currency converter)    (Tell me about deposits and balances) Book Your Tour Here FYI: Tour booking opens around September in the year before the tour. Places are filled and booking usually closes by about January in the tour year.
What's included in the tour price: Guiding on all days of the tour All transportation from / to Edinburgh our meeting point Your accommodation for all nights apart from the final night of the tour* Arranging most group dinners (and leaving one or two as 'free nights') Daily breakfasts All entrance fees to ticketed sites All applicable taxes	Not included in the above price: Your flight Lunches and evening meals** (although some are arranged for you as group meals. Food cost per week per person is about £250-390, depending on your tastes.) Travel insurance (which is recommended in light of the present airline industry issues)
*Everything you need to know about accommodation, deposits and payments is on the TnC pagewhich you should read before booking, while questions about almost everything else tour-related are answered in the FAQ sectionof the TnC page. ** I like to give guests the choice of where, when and how much to eat in the evening, if possible, hence leaving evening meals out of the tour price. In some remote locations, where choice is limited to one hostelry, I book a group dinner reservation. Guests pay for their own meals. See Meals on the FAQ page

Can't make it this year? You can be kept informed of next year's tour date and opening by joining the notification list (via Mailchimp) and selecting "Mara's Spirit of Scotland Tour". Click the button below.

Activity note

As with all our tours, they are active tours, by which I mean you'll be walking on average three miles a day, with more "hike" and less "walk". We spend most of the day on our feet (rather than in a vehicle) with the activity level ranging from strolling through towns to hiking at a good pace into remote glens or climbing rough-pathed, steep hills. A good yardstick to check whether the walking and hiking on the tour will be comfortable for you is the time of your one minute mile walk on the flat: test yourself. If you can walk a mile in 17-20 minutes, you will find the tour about right; if you always take the stairs at the office in preference to the lift, then this tour is for you; if you always use the elevator in preference to stairs, then this is not the tour for you. Seek elsewhere for a more vehicle-based tour.

Other physical requirements: Guests will carry their own luggage between vehicle and accommodation and for Iona, guests will move their own luggage from the vehicle onto the ferry and off the other side (no vehicles on Iona). In some remote places, the next toilet break might be two hours away, with only Nature's Bathroom as your fallback. When you apply for a place on the tour, you will be asked for some health and medical details. This is used confidentially by the guide to assess whether you will be comfortable on the tour.