Blogs from Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 380

It was our first bit of travelling for a while but we had Naomi with us and we determined to have an adventure. We left the sun behind at Gatwick airport and flew up to Glasgow where the forecast was showers and the first thing the captain said when we landed was 'Crikey! I didn't expect it to be this bad'. Where we stayed dry our luggage unfortunately did not, it could have only been out in the rain for a few minutes but every part of foam in my rucksack was saturated, I ended up wearing it backwards to stop myself being soaked. It was almost midnight by the time we were in the city centre and we had managed to find Babbity Bowsters where our key had been left despite Naomi not being ... read more

Geo: 57.1431, -4.68296We began this morning at 5:45 thanks to our trusty alarm clock, Rich. After getting ourselves in order, it was off to another Scottish breakfast at Mac Donald's. (Ahem.) Stand E was only a brief walk away and while waiting for our bus we explored another really old cemetery. We saw graves of people who were buried before America declared independence. The "newest" monument in the cemetery was a statue of Abraham Lincoln. It was strange.Upon boarding the bus, we met Bill, an animated and well-versed Scotsman (kilt included), who made our day a wonderful one. We headed north from Edinburgh into the Highlands and completely trumped the Friday the 13th garbage by enjoying a SUNNY day. From a distance, we passed Stirling Castle, where William Wallace turned back the English by destroying a ... read more

Relatively speaking, I was on home soil for this trip, and acting as a tour companion for a couple who had flown in from the Far East to take in the sights and sounds of this Scottish gem which many a seasoned traveller sings the praises of. Driving to Skye from home in Yorkshire was, in terms of journey time, something akin to a long-haul flight, and it therefore came as no surprise that the first port of call on the island was to be Kyleakin, a stone's throw from Skye bridge. My newly-purchased satnav took us to the guest house's doorstep, which was as convenient as you could have asked for, and first impressions of the island were as pleasant as any member of our mini tour party could have hoped for. The B and ... read more

Geo: 55.9563, -3.48593Today, we slept in to the late hour of 8:00 a.m., getting in some much-needed sleep. We departed from the hotel and ended up at the Logie Beard Bar in the Bank Hotel for a full Scottish breakfast (buy one, get one free!). It consisted of: haggis, black pudding, beans, whole wheat toast, runny egg, sausage, "real" bacon, mushrooms, 1/2 a tomato, some weird pie-shaped piece of fried dough that we never quite understood, and "white coffee." It was goooood. Haggis consists of spices, oatmeal, and "animal bits" stuffed into the intestine of a cow. I think our haggis had already been removed from its intestine. It wasn't half bad, rather like pate.From breakfast, it was up the hill to Edinburgh Castle for a few hours learning about the history of the Scots trying ... read more

Ok. I'm sorry that I havn't written since I got back from Rome, but honestly, other than Canada Day, I really havnt been doing anything interesting other than wandering around the city looking at the shops and hanging out with Jackie, Brad and friends at night. I figured that you could all do without a daily account of the 18 different kilt shops that i visited each day with corresponding pictures that one could honestly not tell apart. Anyway, the last couple of days were actually spent doing things that are relatively interesting and are complete with equally interesting pictures. but first, i will talk about Canada Day, which was awesome. I was a little mad that I didnt get to watch the yearly fireworks show at home, but then i heard taht they really ... read more