Geo: 51.9425, 6.02767Well despite all the controversy with organising flights ive finally arrived back in the Netherlands. This time to explore more of the country and get to know my Dutch background and relatives. I touched town at Schiapol airport near Amsterdam around about two o'clock, and soon thereafter was greeted by my relatives; Jan, Joke, and Jonathan. They introduced me first hand to the terrible traffic this country has to offer, and ive just recently unpacked at their house, just near Arnhem. Ill be staying in Jojanekke's room until Sunday afternoon, when i have a flight booked for Paris. Its almost dinner time, and ill soon be meeting the third (and eldest) child of this family, Bram. Everyone seems really nice here, n im looking forward to the next few days. Ill chuck up pictures ... read more

Geo: 54.2536, -2.63181Well my extended departure from Durham, led to me being able to get one more full daytrip with Joe. We headed out to the Lake district in North West England, roughly 2 hours drive. The Lake district is kinda like a miniature and slightly different version of the beauty of Scotland. It was a different kind of impressive, more condensed and well "pretty" i suppose, than its Scotish equivalent. There are much more lakes around (hence the name) and its a much smaller, and more lush environment than Scotland.We set off around about 9.30 in the AM, our first stop being Castlerigg Stone Circle. This ancient circle was eeriely facinating, much in the same manner as Stonehenge. Its believed this circle of 30x1-2m stones, dates as far back as around 3000BC or even earlier. ... read more

Geo: 56.2147, -3.59105Eventually we arrived in our final stop on our Scotish tour, Sterling. We arrived pretty late, powering down from the north.. (and because i didnt wanna leave the highlands). Checked into a bed and breakfast and walked to town, for a fancy dinner, and a few pints. Then it was sleep, and an early rise in the morning. We had to squeeze in both Sterling Castle, and the Wallace Monument. The castle looked fairly impressive but at 8ish in the morning it was all clsoed still. we just walked around getting some good photos.Now i dont need to rant on about who William Wallace is, everyone has seen Braveheart. It was a pretty impressive tower monument with a nice Wallace/Freedom statue. So we hiked up this hill to the monument at 8.30am in the ... read more

Geo: 57.2453, -5.02335Now came the long drive down the north side of Loch ness! It took a while, but was a really nice drive, stopping at a few lookouts along the way, by Castle Urquhart (a ruined castle on the banks of the Loch), and of course, by the offical "Loch ness Monster Visitors Centre." I quite enjoyed the weird and somewhat unwholesome enthusiasm towards ensuring the whole loch ness monster myth stayed alive and well. All the stupid hype, cant help but have you gawking around looking for the damn thing. The closest thing to a ride on Nessie came in somewhat lame circumstances at the visitor centre. But ah well, that satisfied my cravings. Eventually, we came to the bottom area of the Loch, at Fort Augustus where we had a wander around and ... read more

Geo: 56.835, -3.47279A pleasant drive through the Scotish lowlands/ countryside, eventually saw us arrive in a small town called Pitlochry around about 6pm. We checked into a local bed and breakfast and then set off for a bit of exploring. Found a nice pub on the end of the town, and then stopped off for fish and chips.Finally, we found a better pub fairly close to our accomodation. Turned out to be a fairly humerous night out, due to the fact that there was Karioke playing! haha. Karioke is often funny at the best of times, but SCOTTISH karioke was really somethin.... read more