Scotland road trip

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Saturday 30 May 2009

Together with my husband and friends (a group of 6 people), we took a train from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh at 8:30am. It took us about 4 hours to get there however the journey passed very quickly. We were all excited to finally be on the move as we have organized the whole trip well in advanced. As things don’t always go smoothly one of our friend almost missed the train due to some problems on getting to the station, damn London underground disruptions. Luckily, exactly 1 minute prior departure she managed to jump on the train and we kissed London goodbye. Arrived in Edinburgh at 1pm and left our luggage in hostel. The hostel we chose was SmartCity hostel, a nice and friendly place with well maintained rooms and a huge lobby area where you can hang out, have a drink and meal. Also the big advantage of the hostel is its location, right in the heart of Edinburgh. We started our sightseeing tour by exploring the main street down towards Holyrood Park, Scottish Parlament, Calton Hill and Edinburgh Castle. In the evening we did pub crawling. My husband, Mac, did not join us as he needed some rest before his marathon the following day. There are plenty of awesome pubs with wide variety of whiskey; we found one that had about 250 choices on offer. We finished the night in a club called Whistle Blinkies with good old rock’n’roll life music.

Sunday 31 May 2009

Me, Mac and Marek woke up at 7am as we were heading to the start line of Edinburgh Marathon to cheer Mac up. It was his first marathon and he was a bid nervous but happy at the same time. About 17,000 runners enrolled for the event. While Mac was going through hell on the outskirts of Edinburgh the rest of the group explored the other parts of the town. We walked up the hill in the Holyrood Park and enjoyed the sunny weather. From the top of the hill you can admire the beautiful scenery of the town. In the afternoon we took a train to Musselburgh where the finish line of the Marathon was located. We were lucky to see Mac crossing the line and gave him a cheer up. What a fantastic atmosphere the event had. It doesn’t really matter who wins (well, at least for most of the guys I guess) but what matters is the fact that you are a part of this amazing event and the strength to put 100% effort towards completing the run. The atmosphere was incredibly contageus. It makes you believe you can also put an effort and do it yourself. Therefore an idea popped into our heads to complete together a 10K run this summer in London. I am pretty sure we will do it! Finished the day in a pub, where else…

Monday 1 June 2009

Monday morning we checked out from the hostel and rented a big, 7-seater car. As we planned to get to Inverness in a relaxing way, we took it easy, whenever and wherever we feel we want to stop and have a break we just did. The whole day was a proper road trip. We have started with exploring Doune Castle, a late 14th century stronghold near the village of Doune. The movie of Monthy Python and the Holy Grail was shot there. Afterwards we drove through Scottish Highlands, Ben Nevis (the highest peak of Scotland), Loch Ness via route A82; places with picturesque and breathtaking sceneries. We have managed to see Urquhart Castle only from outside as we turned up bit too late. The castle closes at 6pm. I am sure the place would have been a fascinating place to visit due to its history and magnificent surrondings. Well, maybe next time we will make sure to include it in our programme. Arrived in Inverness and checked in at the Travelodge hotel located on the outskirts of the town at about 7pm, ordered a cab that took us to the centre for a meal. We could not stop laughing as we found Marek jumping on the front seat, right next to the cab driver. We were like, what the hell he was doing there, it is not a common thing but at least the driver took it as a good joke.

Tuesday 2 June 2009

We woke up early and headed straight to Cawdor Castle. I was particularly interested to see the place because it is romantically linked by Sharkespeare with Macbeth. Magnificent fairy tales Castle where you can touch, see and sense history for yourself and let you transfer into different times. It is still a home of the Cawdor family so you can step into someone’s dining room or living room, see the family photos and experience the Scottish heritage. The visit is highly recommended if you wish to explore real Scotland. Cawdor Castle dates from the late 14th century and was built as a private fortress by the Thanes of Cawdor. After exciting visit in the castle we headed the beach near town called Nairn, which is described as “Brighton of Scotland” We just wanted to get some fresh air in the lungs and move on to another places heading from north to south along Loch Ness. We decided to take the route on the left bank for a change. There are plenty of designated areas for picnic. Empty, but a little bit bumpy road took us to Fort Augustus. The place’s main claim to fame lies in its bisection by the Caledonian Canal. To the north the canal enters Loch Ness, and within the village itself is a flight of locks that provide a fascinating place to watch the world go by. Bizarrely the town is packed with artificial Nessies (Loch Ness Monster). You will virtually find them everywhere. Next to the locks is the Caledonian Canal Heritage Centre, a place that provides info on history and operation of the Canal. From Fort Augustus we drove to Stirling, only to get some sleep in a hotel.

Wednesday 3 June 2009

We have left the hotel quite early as we needed to return our car by 11:00am in Edinburgh. We took the last stroll through the streets of the city with no particular goals. Left Edinburgh to London at 4pm.

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