Blogs from Inverness, Inverness-shire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

Said our tour guide as we left Edinburgh. It turned out later that he wasn't joking. Right. So before I start my 4-entry review of my 5-day Highland Tour, I want to get this out of the way. In the past, I've described hostels and recommended them if I thought they were good. Because I tend to go to places that don't charge as much, I feel that it's a good thing for me to pass the word on, for their benefit as much as for anyone who may be reading this. As an (extremely) amateur blogger with very small readership, I don't presume that my recommendations do much. But because of that, you can guarantee that I am not benefiting from them in any way. If I say "you should go here" I mean I ... read more

Our time in the Highlands has been mind-blowing. What a place. We had a great 3 bedroom house for 5-nights in Dornie on Loch Long, not too far from the bridge to the Isle of Skye. Dornie is a tiny village with 2 pubs, a shop and a coffee shop. We did a lot of travelling in the area. On Sunday, the first morning after our arrival, we spent time in the local castle, Eilean Donan. We then headed for a short drive down the road to Kyle of Lochalsh and Plockton. If anyone has seen the show Hamish Macbeth they may recognise the seaside scenes as the show was filmed here and it feels just like it. I could just imagine wee Jock, Hamish's dog, coming around the corner. We stood in line at the ... read more

As I sit waiting for my trip to begin my mind keeps going over the last six months and how things have changed, how I ended up planning my trip and why I am sitting here writting. If I go back to March of this year my life was heading in one direction and it was full steam ahead, I now sit here wondering what is ahead of me.... Life is so incredibly unpredictable, are our lives mapped out for us with one route through the rough and smooth or do we have various routes that each of our decision lead too? Ive made a few random decisions in these last six months some of which are huge ovbiously the selling my home, leaving the city I called home, leaving the job I saw myself going ... read more

On my last night of my 5 day tour to the highlands of Scotland and I must say, Scotland countryside is amazing. The view, scenery, not really weather, but everything about it was awesome. I'll chuck photos onto Facebook one day, probably not soon since I lost my camera stuff (inc spare battery and usb = ). First day was a long drive to Skye Island in Northwest Scotland. Very very nice place, the drive was long so we got there at like 6pm, so it was just dinner and drinks for the rest of the day. Can't remember the place we stayed, but it was small and pretty much only had one pub. It was awesome, they had two people playing a fiddle and one of those piano-thing on hands where you squeeze it and ... read more

September 6th - 9th -- Inverness Traveled again on the train from Edinburgh to Inverness. I slept for much of the way -- the rumble of the engines along with the rocking back and forth of the train just lulls me to sleep and I find it almost impossible to keep my eyes open. If someone could find a way to install this in my bedroom, I would pay dearly for it! We stayed in a lovely B&B called the Bluebell House operated by Margaret and Neil. Inverness straddles the river Ness with some lovely walking paths and bridges. All the restaurants we ate at looked out over the river. One restaurant was in fact called The River - the food was delicious! We visited a number of places including a scotch distillery. The Benromack Distillery ... read more

We drive to Inverness through heavy rain. Water cascades off the hills, streams carry mud down into plunging rivers. It takes two hours to cover the seventy-five miles. In the mobile phone shop, the two young assistants require ID in the name of Jane's company before they'll give her a new SIM card. Being on holiday, we have no business cards. Jane can show e-mails addressed to her at her company on her phone, but they need a credit card or a piece of paper. They're really sorry but they can't do anything without ID: it's for our data protection. After our drive, we're not giving up easily. There's some discussion between the assistants, who are trying to be helpful. At last they decide they can do it if Jane gives her password. Unfortunately, they don't ... read more