Advertisement
Published: September 11th 2010
Welcome to Scotland...
...get ready laddies, here he comes!Saturday 4th September.
Well, the plane finally got off the ground at Charleroi Airport, after we where all loaded along with our bags and taxi'ed out onto the runway, we where told by our captain that "this plane is broken so we are going to use the spare one".....
....so we where all unloaded and had to (it seems) walk to the other end of the airport to be loaded again, although it was a bigger plane with more leg room....
Now, flying to Edinburgh with a plane load of Scots in their kilts can be a fun thing, but not if you have to follow them up sets of stairs....twice....and across a windy tarmac..
We finally got into the air 90 minutes late, and landed in Edinburgh with no further problems, and Lizzy and her mum Jane picked me up and drove me home where Pat (Janes other half) and another couchsurfer named Marius from Germany....who thinks he is from Dundee (long story).
....and it was straight into the Scottish culture!
We had some home made haggis for dinner, with nips and tatties!
...then cranachan for dessert! what a treat!
Sunday 5th.
Woke up this morning to porridge for
The Very Welcoming Locals...
...but who is that in the middle? breakfast! Im so imersed into Scot culture now i almost had a whisky with my brekky! After Brekky myself, Marius and Lizzy jumped into the car and drove to her brother Andrews place in Glasgow to use that as a base for a few days...Lizzy and Andrew went to visit their Gran so Marius and me jumped on the train into Glasgow to have a walk around for a few hours, and had McDonalds for lunch...more Scottish culture! We met up with Lizzy about 5-ish for a cuppa and then jumped on the underground tram to the West End and a walk around for a while and had a quick drink before stopping at the shops to buy some supplies for tomorrows trip out to Loch Lamond, and then hailed a taxi and headed back to Andrews house.
Lizzy’s dad Gerry was there so we had some dinner and a good chat and laugh before heading to our beds.
Monday 6th
Up early and out the door and on our way to Loch Lamond! The first stop was Loch Lamond Shores (just north of Balloch) and not because we got lost and ended up at the WRONG side
Jane and Pat...
...just about to serve me dinner... of the loch, but coz Lizzy wanted to show us the scenic route...
Then it was onto Balmaha where we went for a wander up Conic Hill which overlooks Milarrochy Bay for a look around at some spectacular views....then it was back down the hill and into the car and headed north up to Aberfoyle where we had some lunch by the Loch and in the Ben Lamond National Memorial Park, then onto Callander for a walk around and an ice cream...
We kept heading north in the car and stopped at Loch Lubnaig for a walk along the shoreline and some great photo opportunities...and from there we continued north to Killen to see the Falls of Dochart and a walk around the little wee village!
As it was getting onto 5pm by then, we headed back to the car and headed back to Glasgow and Andrews place (again taking the scenic route) and had some fish and chips and a curry for dinner!
Tuesday 7th
Started the drive back to Lizzys early today, and we experienced a little bit of rain...of course!
Got back and organised ourselves and then headed into Edinburgh to a WiFi cafe, which is
Haggis!
...and yes i did enjoy it! owned and run by friends of Lizzys in Leith...and the WiFi was down...bugger! had a spot of lunch (and kept out of the rain) before walking into the city to do the tourist thing again. Lizzy told her mum that we where cooking dinner that night so we did the shopping for that and heading home to prepare dinner...Lizzy did quiche and i did pasta and seafood and chorizo....
...then it was off to the pub to meet some friends of Lizzys named Stephen and Nicholas and to watch the "football" being Scotland vs Lichtenstein for the qualifier for the Euro 2012...it was a very close run thing with the game being 1 all about 10 seconds from full time before the Scots got the winner...and being in a pub full of happy drunk Scots is much more fun than being in a pub full of angry drunk Scots....
...then it was onto the Royal Oak for a bit of Scottish folk music....that was a great night!
I even bought a tshirt!
Lizzy drove in but it must of being something she ate as she wasnt in the right state to drive home...so i did...
Wednesday 8th
Just into
Edinburgh today for the tourist walk...Lizzy had a job interview so myself and Marius walked the Royal Mile up to the castle, did a tour of a kilt weavers before doing McDonalds for lunch (more culture?) and then caught the bus home.
Jane got home so we all went out for dinner and i had a great angus steak...before walking home again and a quiet chat before bed...
Thursday 9th
Up for breaky and pack my gear!
Lizzy had another interview so Marius helped me with my bags into town on the bus, and we waited at the train station for Lizzy and had a farewell cuppa before i got on the train for my 5 hour trip back to Nottingham station....then the bus to Ilkeston...my great Scot adventure was over and i didnt even get to charge the English at Bannockburn like they did in 1314!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.08s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 12; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0433s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
