Highlands and more

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Hi All,
Been a few days - been staying at B&B's with no internet the last few days.

Also, did an entry last friday, then forgot to hit the 'Publish' button at the end 😊

Surprise surprise, didn't spot Nessie, so no fame and fortune there - did find a 'fiver' on the path whilst out for a walk though, so that was a bonus.

Had a quick look at Urquhart castle on the loch (couldn't come at the 10 pounds ($25 bucks?) to actually walk into the ruins.) then travelled over to the Isle of Skye. Stopped in Kyle before we crossed over - Kyle is the equivalent of San Remo before you cross over to Phillip Is. at home - and went on a 2 hour trip on a glass bottomed boat. There's some photo's and a video here for it. Part of it was a shipwreck from a mine-transport ship that blew up in the loch in WW2. There's a clip I tried to take to illustrate how far the helm was blown off the back of the ship, to land 'on the full' over on the shoreline - must of been 200 metres away!

Drove around the coast of Skye - absolutely amazing scenery/geography - very simmilar to the North art of the South island of New Zealand. Stayed at Portree the night, enjoying some 'Real Ale' at a pub where a couple of locals were on the piano accordions, then tried to get some sleep while a bunch of Chinese stomped around the B&B 'til 1 in the morning.

It's daylight savings here, so not getting dark 'til 9pm ish.

Had a big drive yesterday down to Greenock, where a lot of Kerryn's family comes from. Checked out some family locations, and met up with a bunch of cousins, aunts and uncles last night. Had a nice dinner with them, then went to a local for a few pints.

One of Kerryn's (second?) cousins wives, Trish, was nice enough to take us for a tour of Greenock this morning, so we check out where Kerryn's Gran was born, the local lookouts, esplanades etc. It was great to have someone local to explain exactly what and where we were looking at.

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Photos

Nessie?
Yeah - it's not a ripple in the water, it's the monster - swear!

Ruins
This is Urqurhart castle on the Loch Ness

Watery view
A shot of the kelp/wreck through a window in the glass bottom boat - water was a bit stirred up unfortunately

Shipwreck
The mine carrier was about 400metres long. The fuel tanks ended up blowing up after an engine room fire. None up the 600 mines on board blew up - though they evacuated the whole town in-case, but they didn't remove the mines from the wreck for 10 years - and 14 are still unaccounted for.

Einean Donan Caslte
This one was in pretty good nick, but we were too early to have a look inside of it.

Relo's
Here's some of the relatives we met up with in Greenock. Rob, Joe, John and Anna

One of the locals
Just hangin' out off Kyle.

Greenock
Or part of it - from one of the lookouts.

Monument
In Stirling - to William Wallace (Or is it to Mel Gibson?)