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Published: June 21st 2010
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15/4/2010
After four days of work at our new home of Stoke-on-Trent we picked up our hire car and headed for Scotland. With our new Sat Nav we enjoyed the bliss of not getting confused at Englands giant six- way round- a-bouts (and we thought Lavy's 5ways was bad!). We arrived at Gretna Green apparently famous for its underage and quicky weddings. No we weren't getting married. We stopped the night at Grenta Hall a 1700's mansion perched up on a hill overlooking the lush Scottish countryside. With luxury's of a double bed with a real doona and TV a significant upgrade on our current nurses accommodation we settled in for an early night.
After a hearty Scottish breaky (just like an English one) we hit the road bound for St. Andrew's. Despite the 'volcanic ash' cancelling flights throughout the UK, we cruised along under brilliant blue skies and sunshine. Past the outskirts of Glasgow, Stirling and Edinburgh we arrived in Dundee and checked into our quaint B&B Marlee House. Then onto St. Andrew's the home of golf for Jez's Birthday present. A round on the 'New Course', one of the oldest New Courses in the world. We passed fields
of golf courses until we arrived at St.Andrew's we browsed the golf shop picking up a couple balls for the round and Jez a new glove. We collected our hire clubs just a couple sets of authentic Calloway's (which Jez quickly fell in love with!) unfortunately there weren't to be part of the present. We enjoyed a couple sanga's in the sun and watched the hundreds of tourists take their hand to the 'pitch and putt' course. We watched a couple groups tee off before us and soaked up the atmosphere. Before long it was time for us to tee off, both nervous we were happy to stay on the green. We marvelled at the huge pot bunkers both glad to dodge them on the first green. After a few scratchy shots on the front nine, Jez played a brilliant 39 on the back nine finishing with 85 for the day. The chilly breeze had picked up a notch but overall we were estatic that the weather had held out. We concluded our St. Andrews experience with a beer in the club rooms overlooking the course. Afterwards we drove into St. Andrews town past the part assembled grandstands in preparation
for the upcoming 2010 British Open, past the university and rows of beautiful old buildings. We stopped at the pub for a pint. Taking a gamble we went with Lonely Planets recommendation of 'The Vine' for dinner. After a very welcoming reception we enjoyed a delicious three course meal, starting with pork belly and crab tart, followed by grilled seafood platter and finally amazing white chocolate fondue and berry cheesecake. Highly recommended! After perhaps slightly overindulging we called it a night.
After a fantastic sleep we rose to freshly baked pancakes and berry's for breaky thanks to our lovely hosts putting us in good stead for the next part of our road trip to Inverness. After a slight detour to fill up we travelled through the Carnagorm National Park. We passed straight through Inverness to Drumnadrochit. We wound our way along the shores of the the famous Loch Ness stopping for lunch at the restaurant. We then made our way to Urquhart Castle perched percariously on the end of the Loch. The icy breeze changed our plans for a meander into the highlands instead we stopped to watch a local game of Shinty. Shinty is a Scottish cross between
hockey and the Irish's Hurling. After a impressive goal by the local Drumnadrochit we continued on our way to Inverness passing over the famous Caledonian Canel (previously used to allow ships through the centre of Scotland).
We parked the car and wandered along the river, past the many churches to the foot of the Inverness Castle. Back to the car we set out in search of our B&B Antfield House. We plugged the post code into our sat nav failing to read the websites instructions not to use a Sat nav as it would lead us down a random bumpy farm track and not to the B&B. Needless to say we ended up down that bumpy track much to the curosisty of the resident cows. Fortunately with just enough laptop battery and internet reception we managed to get back to the main road and to our B&B.
This time a gorgeously furnished farmhouse, our lovely host Karla recommended the local pub just down the road and booked ahead for us. After catching up on the latest of the Volcanic ash sagar (the only news of any interest to the BBC) we headed to local for dinner. Carly decided to sample
some whiskey in true Scottish style to quickly remind herself that she doesn't actually like whiskey.
We shared a delicious farmers platter for starter and a fish and scallops for main. Back to the B&B Carly jumped at the opportunity for a relaxing bath.. .feeling a little worse for wear after her first round of 18 whilst Jez settled in with a movie.
We regretfully packed up our stuff into the car disappointed that the travelling couldn't continue any longer. After another delicious Scottish breaky we hit the road back to Stoke. It was freezing despite the sunny blues skies and as we made our back through the Carnagorms covered in a fresh layer of snow making for a beautiful setting. We battled to find a spot to pull over with a view, with every parking lane severely obscured by tree's. Eventually settling for a quick snap out the window.. it was beautiful you'll just have to believe us! We continued on to Stirling, drizzling rain, freezing cold with an icy wind and miles ahead of us we stopped briefly for a shot of the Stirling Castle and carried on. With just a quick lunch stop we passed through
the beautiful green countryside, past the stone fences, tiny villages, old farmhouses and dozens of spring lambs. Making it back to the industrial township of Stoke in time to do a quick shop and washing in preparation for the working week.
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