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Published: August 6th 2008
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It was early rise and shine to catch the bus to Stanstead Airport. The flight James and I were taking was up to Glasgow. We arrived in town at lunchtime, after a little confusion as to where to catch the bus from once at Glasgow airport.
Not long into our wonder around were we lured into a pub with the promise of £1.99 breakfast. Who can go past that, really? Of course we upgraded to the massive breakfast, but it was worth it. While in the pub, the sound of bagpipes filtered in. This would be the start of pretty much continuous bagpipe playing while in Scotland. You definitely could not be mistaken for being anywhere else in the world.
We wandered around Glasgow, but couldn't really do anything, as we were only there for a few hours, but found the main square of the town and had a lay in the sun. Two boys started busking with their bagpipes, but I don't think they were having much luck with the cash flow, so moved on. You know what they say about Scots and their money...
After another look around, we then caught the bus to take us
up to Inverness, an area that has a bit of Grant history. The bus ride was fairly long, made all the longer by an overly drunk man sitting behind us, who continued to down whiskey straight from the bottle for the entire trip. This matter was made worse by the fact that my ipod decided to go on strike again, so I had to listen to his rambling and abusing. It was also hot, and Scottish buses just aren't equipped with decent aircon. On the plus note, the views out of the window were pretty impressive! There were constant rivers and mountains, lots of heather and a few castles.
Arriving in Inverness we sort out our hostel, and went for a look around town. We found our local supermarkets and then had a look at Inverness Castle. Rather pretty, with some rather 'active' rabbit that inhabit the hill it is on. We then finished the night looking at the gift shops, sussing out how much a proper tartan kilt would actually cost...expensive, if you are wondering.
The next day we headed out to Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle. This was surprisingly closer then we imagined, so the journey
was rather quick. We entered the museum, where we got to watch a documentary about how the Grant's owned the castle, only to load it with gun powder when they couldn't be bothered defending it, and blowing most of it up. They thought if they couldn't have it, no one could. Idiots!
We wandered around castle for a while; taking snaps and I found some thistle, something that was not so rare after it was found the first time. We searched for Nessy, but no luck. We then walked to the nearby town of Drumnadrochit, which wasn't too far away and went to the enthralling Loch Ness Centre, which pretty much told us that everything is a farce and Nessy doesn't exist, but Scotland is currently moving north at the rate your thumb nail grows.
It was then time for some local drinks, and finally the bus came along. The rest of the night was spent in Inverness trying to find something to do. After looking in the shops again, a pipes band played in the main street, which was pretty cool. We then resorted to the pub.
Our final day in Inverness was spent walking to
the River Ness Islands. They were pretty and it was dog walk heaven. We then found some free museum had some lunch and ended out at the pub again. If we had of planned better we could have gone to see the Puffins on the first day and done the Castle on our half day.
Finally it was time for our bus to Edinburgh. Another long bus ride, but nowhere near as painful as the one on the way up.
Arriving in Edinburgh was amazing. It was so pretty. Think Bath, but a big city. Pretty. We found our hostel, which was in the Underbelly of the Old Town. Edinburgh used to have an upper and a lower city, it wasn't the drug haven.
We had a bit of a look around that night and got familiar with what our options were for the next day. There were a few street performers around already for the Fringe Festival that was starting the next week.
We took part in a free walking tour the next day, and got the low down on what Edinburgh used to be like. Can't say it sounded like the most pleasant or
safe place around, but it certainly has an interesting history. That afternoon we climbed up Arthur’s Seat. Of course we tackled it from the steepest angle possible, but at least it was easy to climb down. There were some nice hazy views from the top, and it always makes you feel better to see how much other people struggle with these climbs.
That night we went on a ghost tour. It wasn't scary, even when the spider was on me, but it was interesting. We got wind up torches and a pint at the end of it. We then went back to the hostel where James tried to meet up with the pub crawl, but had no luck.
The next morning we kicked it off with a quick look at a tartan factory. That was a very Scottish experience. We then headed over the road for the Scotch Whiskey tour. We got a glass of whiskey to kick it off, just what the doctor ordered at 10.15 in the morning, and the tour finished with a barrel ride through the history of whiskey. Hoorah!
We then made our way up the hill to Edinburgh Castle. This was
pretty cool. Definitely for people who are interested in wars. Out the front were huge scaffolds set up in anticipation for the Tattoo that began on August 1st.
It was then lunch time and we tried a pub opposite the Castle and it was awesome. James had haggis, which I tasted... yeah, like eating offal, and I opted for some of the best bangers and mash with gravy I have ever had.
By this time we wondered around the town a little more and went and had a drink at the cafe where Harry Potter was written. If it was winter and the trees were bare, we would have had a nice view of the school that inspired Hogwarts.
Pretty soon it was time to go, and it was back to London.
Stay tuned, as the next lot of blogs will be from Europe!
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Empem
Emily Grant
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I give up with this piece of shit computer. If you want to see the photos, come see me when I get home. Does anyone have a spare couple of grand so I can get a new one?