I am not joking when I tell you we were the ONLY tour bus at every Outlander stop all day long. Several employees at the castles said that usually they are thousands of people going through every day & there was only 6/7 of us. It was extremely sad to see these gorgeous places so empty & to think about the drop in tourism because of Covid-19. On the flip side, it was really great to be able to take awesome photos without anyone else in them. Sort of unreal. Before I dive into the stops we had on our tour with Rabbies, check out my other OUTLANDER posts from “Inverness” & Craigh na Dun.
Culross
Our first stop was the darling little town of Culross that acted as Crainsmuir in the series. We walked around and saw several different places where shooting took place. The windows were Geilles and Claire look at the boy getting nailed to the pilary, later when Claire & Geilles are condemned as witches & overlooking the water was actual an herb garden that CGI was added to look like it was in front of Castle Leoch.
Duone Castle:
Instantly recognizable as Castle Leoch. Or Winterfell. Or every single castle in Monty Python. This was so cool to pull up to because it looked 100% like the exterior of Castle Leoch. As soon as you entered the courtyard, you could see more of Castle Leoch where Jamie & Claire first arrive and are met by Ms. Fitz. (Interiors were shot elsewhere). We toured inside & got to talk to all of the employees who were full of knowledge and super excited to have tourists coming through (we were the only people there). Then we walked around the exterior and saw the little stream nearby where Lagherie tried to seduce Jamie.
Linlithgow Palace
We knew ahead of time that we wouldn’t be able to go inside Linlithgow Palace because our tour date was the only day of the week they are closed. The exterior of the palace acted as Wentworth Prison, where Claire goes to try to get Jamie released. I was actually not super bummed because it meant we got more time at our other stops instead.
Blackness Castle
I was the most impressed with Blackness Castle or Fort William to us Outlander fans. I think because Jamies lashing scene was very emotional for me to watch (after Wentworth of course). Seeing this place (empty) was incredible and definitely added to the somber feel. Blackness Castle had a little info station on the outside where you could see photos from the scenes of Randall lashing Jamie. Amazing to see this place in person.
Midhope Castle
I am not the only person in our tour group that teared up. For any Outlander fan arriving to Lallybroch is absolutely magical. This gorgeous home was only used for the exterior scenes but you can easily see it. A little extension wall, removal of the power line and it’s clear as day. There is a little livable house to the right of Midhope Castle that people live in today, man would I pay a small fortune to spend a few nights there when filming is happening. There is actually a wooded area that rumor has it is where the Dunbonnets cave entrance is & the other small building is the chicken coop were Fergus gets a gun to shoot the black crow.
Hands down probably one of my top favorite days of my entire life. I’m super glad we were able to go, that we got some amazing pictures to have as memories & that Covid gave us enough of a break so we could experience Scotland…..and for Outlander. We will definitely be back.
Our Rabbles Tour was booked HERE & if you want to see even more Outlander/Scotland – Make sure to visit my Instagram.
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