Blogs from Thurso, Caithness County, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

Dear All Greetings from the top of Great Britain! Yay! I made it here, to a place called Thurso, mainland Britain’s northernmost town, at the very top of this island on its northern coast, with amazing views out over the sea towards Orkney. It feels grand to be here, an important geographical place in the British Isles, and I’ve enjoyed very much spending time getting to know this most northerly mainland tip of my country. On Tuesday morning I left the Highlands, taking a 10am train from Carrbridge station, and waving farewell to the beautiful Caingorms National Park. I was heading to Inverness, for a 12-minute changeover of train, hoping that my train wasn’t going to arrive late. It didn’t, and I made the next train, a four-hour two coach ScotRail service, following the most stunning ... read more

Geo: 58.5949, -3.51911Lot of driving today, but again in beautiful weather and fascinating countryside. We loved seeing the mirror-like lochs reflecting the grand mansions, then bare hills and ranges followed by woodlands and green pastures, and heather-covered lands further north. The scenery is all that we'd hoped for!First to Oban Distillery, then to Fort William at one end of the Caledonian Canal, then along the fault line to Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle, then Thurso via Inverness and the top end of Scotland - John O'Groats.... read more

I will try to remember all of the things that have happened between our last update and now. We spent 3 fantastic nights in the Cinque Terre. We hiked the hardest part of the trail between the towns, stopped for lunch and then decided that we were done. We met a lot of fantastic people, especially Molli from Philly! We returned to Venice for our last 2 nights in Italy. On the last night we went out dancing...let me just say that I am not ok with the fact that Italian men can move their hips better than I can! Now for a little travel disaster story: So, Hannah and I got up to leave Venice and easily got our train to Milan. However, when we reached Milan we realized that we had no money for ... read more

Geo: 58.5926, -3.52461We took the ferry back to the mainland. The trip was a bit more choppy, but I focused on this blog to keep me from getting to queasy. We had abiout 30 minutes before dinner so I collected my laundry (nicely done, they even presses my undies!) and went to prepare for the morning. Since the hotel that we are staying at tomorrow has no lift or porters, we have to pack an overnight bag and have it ready in the morning. We had dinner tonight at 7:30 at the hotel's restaurant again. I had mainly sat with Barbara and Shirley (the Canadians) most of the day, so I went and sat by myself to see who I would get. I ended up sitting with the 3 sisters and a married couple (all from ... read more

Gisterenavond heb ik nog wat extra tijd gestoken in het uitpluizen van de route voor de volgende dag. Het weerbericht belooft droog weer in het noord oosten , een toenemende kans op buien in het westen. Alhoewel er serieuze twijfel is over het uiterste Noorden (op de Orkney Islands na) besluiten we het er de dag op toch maar op te wagen. Niet gaan zouden we ons later ook nog kunnen beklagen nu we relatief 'dicht' bij het uiterste Noorden zitten. Ik vrees er wel voor dat het een lange rit zal worden zonder uitblinkers en dat het voor de kinderen vooral dan een lange dag zal worden. De oostkust is naar het schijnt niet een bezienswaardige plaats. We stoppen eerst bij het Dunrobin Castle maar gaan niet verder dan de voordeur. Het oogt wel zeer ... read more