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Published: August 5th 2007
On the 'hunt' for Nessie
We weren't really looking that hard :)If we thought it was a little cold in Ireland, we knew it was cold when we got to Scotland! With 2 nights in Edinburgh and 3 nights in Inverness it was another flat out tour of a country. We love to keep busy.
We had booked our accommodation for the whole stay so arriving was no drama. We checked into the Caledonian Backpackers Hostel on Princess Street at about 11pm. The place seemed like it used to be a huge mansion or something with its winding stairs and huge 38 bed dorms. There was also amazing artwork all over the massive walls through the corridors and in the common areas.
Breakfast was included at the hostel which was a great cheap start to our first day. We wandered to Edinburgh Castle which was amazing. There are so many things to see and you don't have to pay extra to see the crown jewels like in London! We were there in time to see the One O'clock Gun (which was more of a cannon than a gun) be fired which was pretty cool. It's been fired every day since some time in the late 1800's and was only used
Urquhart Castle
Had quite an amazing backdrop of Loch Ness in battle once, to shoot down a german zepplin bombing Edinburgh. We then wandered down the Royal Mile to Hollyrood Palace but we were too late to go in so we walked some more up to Nelson Hill where there is a mini incomplete Parthenon structure. Weird. No explanation but there was also a great view of the city from up there.
That night we took a terror tour of the city and the underground. Apparently there are a few haunted places around and it was pretty freaky going into underground chambers and hearing ghost stories after seeing the torture instruments they used to use to punish 'witches'.
The next day was still too cold and miserable to climb Arthur's Seat so we bought some lunch and went to the coach stop to get to Inverness.
Lucky for us, there weren't enough seats on the coach so Holly got to ride in the tour guide's seat up the very front of the coach for a few hours before some people got off. Inverness was FREEZING!!!!! After checking into our hostel and seeing that there was a kitchen, we headed to a supermarket, via the old ferry wharf,
World Highland Games
Some of the dancers during the opening ceremony mass highland fling to buy supplies for some cheap meals. We did eat out once though and tried haggis. Which was actually a lot like pate. Not too bad but no need to buy it again.
We couldn't have timed our trip better, the World Highland Games were on just down the road the same weekend we were there! So Saturday we spent watching pipers and dancers and caber tossers and hammer throwers and eating fairy floss and hamburgers and chips and listening to great music... Phew!
Sunday was a little more relaxed. We did a coach and boat tour of Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle. We also stopped at a Loch Ness exhibit which had some great info and was well set up but we both walked out saying "nope there's no monster". You'd think they'd leave a little mystery to it all.
That night we decided to walk to the cinemas to see what was showing. Who knew it was about 4km away? And the next movie showing in English was a 2 hour wait. So we caught a bus back and watched a dvd in the hostel living room.
Monday we flew back to Liverpool and
FAIRY FLOSS!!!
Sampling the finest... after getting a train to Warrington and having baked potatoes for lunch, we got another bus to Eileen and Angelo's and got another warm welcome home.
We've now set off to France in our van and hope to update again soon.
From Holly and Lew.
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