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Published: July 15th 2015
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It is an incredibly long way from Northern Wales to the highlands of Scotland. Luckily once you are off the motorway and on the local roads the scenery is stunning.
We stayed the night in Fort William, something I would out on the avoid if possible list. We didn't get much sleep due to our hotel room looking out onto a party zone. If we closed the window we couldn't breath, but if we opened it all we heard was loud drunk Scots until 2am. The UK's ability to ventilate buildings hasn't improved at all since 1995 when I first came here. Grrrr.
The next morning we managed to get out of bed and wind our way around a very 'cute' road to one of the potential places McMillan's could have been cleared from in the 1800's. Goodness knows where our branch of the family was actually cleared from, but Loch Arkiag is gorgeous. Anyone being forcibly removed from there would weep. We looked at waterfalls and mucked around on the beach, but there weren't any cafes and we had limited sustenance with us so were forced to eventually leave. The road we were on made a good cycling
track and many families were on it - something to note for any potential future visit. The population was so sparse that what appeared to be towns on the map were actually farmhouses in various states of repair.
On the way we stopped a couple of times to see Ben Nevis. While not actually being that tall at 1344m, it certainly looked impressive from all angles.
Feeling totally recovered, we ambled along Loch Lochy (which we renamed the Lakey Lake - sorry if we've upset any Scottish sensibilities) until we found Letter Finlay. It's just a small hotel with a restaurant and a beach, but the views were to die for and the food good. The service was quirky but friendly. They served almost actual green stuff and things that weren't deep fried. Unless you're Nathan and always order the fish and chips. Lakey Lake provided the perfect backdrop for the meal. We wandered down to the beach and stretched our overfed limbs until we couldn't put off climbing back into the car any longer.
The drive along Loch Ness was just as beautiful. We stopped off at a couple of places of note and had a
good look for Nessie. Nessie must have been visiting elsewhere that day as we saw no sign of her. At all. We tried to buy some touristy stuff in the Nessie gift shop but just couldn't.
Our next port of call was Inverness. It didn't seem to have changed much since I partied there mid-tour in 1995. This was unfortunate as now we had two children in tow. The place had the now familiar 'avoid the loud drunk Scottish person' feel, similar to what I suspect a lot of tourists in Wellington get when they go down town at night (cringe). We had a lovely meal at a place called the White House (excellent Polish service), but left as soon as we could in the morning.
Scotland was once again saved by food and lovely people. We should have stayed in Carr Bridge, a little town just south of Inverness that has life sorted. The locals seemed genuinely happy to be there, they spread their happiness around and knew how to cook breakfast. Samantha continued her rediscovery of porridge that began on Scout camps. And - full marks for whoever designed the toilet rooms. Then, back on the
road with our quick visit to Scotland almost over; time to marvel some more at the tall sticks on the side of the road that mark where it is when the snow falls.
After briefly stopping in some place near Perth to post excess luggage back to NZ and find lunch in a supermarket (the name escapes me), we went on to Edinburgh castle. It was just as lovely as I remember. The children like exploring castles, so we had a good look at the prisons, royal apartments, chapel, jewels, etc. There is never enough time to explore castles fully and we left wanting more. The car park was set up for the Edinburgh Tattoo, so we got some well-needed exercise climbing up and down the castle rock to the car.
We were hot, tired, hungry, slothy and generally needed a break so went off in the direction of the airport to find our hotel. It turned out to have a pool and gym. Yay! Simon and the children played in the pool while I went for a twenty minute run (and answered a question we had earlier in the day about what is a walking pace -
6km/hr). We felt the best we had in ages after that. Now, off to New York!!
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