Blogs from Inverness-shire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 50

It’s Friday, May 11 and we have our hire car. First stop at the 8 step lock series lifting boats from sea level to the Calladonian Canal eventually linking with Loch Ness. We’ve reached Portree on the western side of the Isle of Skye and the vistas along the way were breathtaking. We liked the rugged scenes in Ireland when we went there, but this part of the world looks wonderful. The plan is to tour Skye for the next few days then return to Fort William for an overnight stop before we bus to Glasgow and pick up another hire can. Somebody please be kind enough to be honest and tell us if these blogs are too much and/or too often. ... read more

Day 5: Wed, May 2nd Today we checked out of Edinburgh. We picked up out Rental Car from hertz, which was a short walk from the Hotel. But, we couldn’t find our way out of the city. We just drove around in circles for an hour. It always seems like rental cars just can’t leave their city without a goodbye tour…Anyways, finally found our way out, via the A720 and stopped at a Little Chef for breakfast (ewww). Then we noticed a sign that said 3 miles to Rosalyn Chapel, so we decided to go. I didn’t know we would be so close to it, and it wasn’t on our to-do list. But I’m really glad we went. It’s such an interesting chapel. It’s unlike any chapel/abbey I’ve ever seen. That’s probably why there is so ... read more

The journey to Inverness from Glasgow is one that I enjoy. The slow-moving A9 can be frustrating to the locals who battle tourists on a daily basis, but as a tourist the drive from city to lowlands, right up to the Highlands, seeing the scenery chang, always makes me smile and appreciate how lucky I am to live in Scotland, so close to all this beauty. Also, the further North you go the stranger the place names become (personal favourites include Auchtermuchty, and the River Garry which makes me snigger like a schoolboy and make bum jokes), and the number of "brown signs" increases dramatically. One day, we plan to do a trip taking in every brown sign we see, regardless of what it is for. This will include the mysterious "Time Capsule" which we keep ... read more

Before I begin, this is also a notification to everybody that I have now posted pictures on the last three journal entries for the Great Ocean Road in Australia, Fiji, including some passable underwater ones of Talitha diving and some reef life, and our adventures in California.... But now to now... Before we left there was a discusssion 'thread' on this website about 'Returning to reality' after travelling, and people had various comments about their experiences, well as usual ours is probably a little unique... We landed in Heathrow to be met by Anne's brother. We naturally had a few wines that evening to help celebrate/commiserate, also noting that it was Annes birthday the next day, when we flew (joined by Alistair and family) to Inverness. (This was our 14th flight....)Our friend Jo kindly picked ... read more

Well Easter's arrived, I've survived a Scottish winter. Despite being repeatedly told it was a very very mild winter, I felt sufficiently cold enough to require wearing an entire wardrobe of clothes a day. With the weather warming, forecast looking promising Anna, Fergus and myself decided to head to highlands for an Easter camping break. Upon making this decision there was a rapid purchase of tent, camping stove, sleeping bag and inflatable mattress…..kneel and pray to the ebay Gods! We set of on Saturday after a brief stay in Stirling, heading toward an increasingly dark cloud, which apparently was exclusively extended over Arisaig, west coast of Scotland, on the Road to the Isles. Set up our sparkling blue tent, glad that despite being a 4 person tent, there was only two of us a dog. We ... read more