Whoever thought of putting a railway hotel up here back in 1902 should have taken some shares in The Balmoral. It’s still above Waverley Station, but it's got so much else good going for it.

After a great night’s sleep at The Balmoral, it was time for the gym, which opened at 7 (here was a first, the attendant needed a photo). The entire basement is devoted to wellness.

Chris Bancroft, above, is quite a guy. Hotel kid grows up to win all kinds of UK awards and scholarships, Cornell and The Newt in Somerset, when he moved north of the border to what is arguably the most charmingly eccentric hotel in Scotland, if not Europe.

The Fife Arms’ amazing art is carefully explained in an impressive tome, The Fife Arms, by Dominic Bradbury. The fuchsia-highlighted Art Deco cocktail bar, above, is Elsa’s.

Here’s a trip-to-remember. Take waterproofs, top to toe when going to Kilchoan by Dunton. Girlahead was not prepared but they loaned everything she needed.

Three of Scotland’s 282 Munros, mountain peaks above 914m, are on Knoydart Peninsula n Western Scotland.

It’s time for a traditional Scottish mansion, typically dour but, possibly uniquely, brightened up to a riotous kaleidoscope of colour within.

JA Mar Hall has 66 rooms and suites. Girlahead was in suite 4, one of two premium suites that can be joined together that are frequently used by big stars performing in Glasgow, only 25 minutes away.

Some things at the 850-acre Gleneagles, Perthshire, have never changed since the hotel was built in 1924 – it cost the Caledonian Railway Company £20,000 back then, for the statuesque building, designed by Matthew Adam.