re: Highlands of Northern Scotland

I love Scotland that time of year. Here's my typical itinerary:

1. Fly into Heathrow, ride the HEX downtown.
2. Big english breakfast to break the flight drowsiness, there are ample places near Paddington (where HEX drops off) also Hawkesmoor in London City does a great breakfat.
3. Have fun in London, eat a good dinner.
4. Overnight train to Scotland. I mean this is a great way to stretch out, have some scotches and haggis in the diner car, and wake up to a stunning sunrise

I enjoy Edinburgh a lot. The smaller towns like Aberdeen and Inverness are really sleepy. You can ride the west Highland line towards Fort William and hike the giant Rannoch Moor, or you can ride toward Inverness and hike Cairngorms National Park. Aberdeen is a bit like Lafayette, lots of oil and gas and no mountains.

Also if you like Boudin, eat a lot of Haggis. I love it.