Blogs from Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 15

July 22 Today was a travel day in the truest sense of the word. We left our hotel at 10:15 following a late breakfast for the short trip to the ferry. We were riding the ferry from Belfast to Carinryan, Scotland. It was to be about a 2.5 hour ferry ride. This ferry was nothing like any of the ferries we are used to. This ferry was enormous! We were traveling aboard the Stena Ferry line. The ship holds cars, trucks, buses, motor homes, and tractor trailers. There are 10 decks. We were parked on deck 5 and the first bus in with at least 5 buses behind us. Up to 1,200 passengers can be accommodated. In addition to 230 cars, the ferry can also carry 300 freight vehicles. These ferries have restaurants, a movie theater, ... read more

Thursday, 21 July 2022. Day 4 on the Great Glen Way - Fort Augustus to Invermoriston. 8.2 miles 4hours 8 minutes 935 feet elevation gain. The five of us had a send off photo taken by Cath at the Loch Ness Guest House. We then set off across the busy A82 and the locks of the Caledonian Canal to the left turn on the trail past the large pay for parking lot. We climbed to a forest road which we followed for most of our trek today. The day was overcast but less than a 10% chance of rain forecast. And to be expected we had just about gotten to the forest road when the soft rains started. All stopped and donned ponchos or rain coats. I used my torn yellow plastic and Karen the nicer ... read more

Monday, 18 July 2022, Day 2 GGW Spean Bridge to Glengarry Castle Hotel. 16.95 miles, 6 hours 35 minutes walking, 2059 elevation gain. Today is one of the longest distances on the Great Glen Way (GGW). Jo and I are walking while Norma, Sandy and Karen are taking the bus. Simon and Morven at the Coire Glas B&B are most accommodating. They book tickets online for the bus. We have to wait until after the last breakfasts are served before Simon can take six people, who are walking, back to the bridge at Gairlochy where we start our next segment of this walk. Straight across the bridge and we start up the hill on a trail. We climbed a lot and walked above and along the northwest side of Loch Lochy. The path varies between mountain ... read more

Friday, 15 July 2022, and Saturday 16 July 2022. Our morning was off to a great start with the good breakfast at Myrtle Banks Guest House. Karen had an agenda for the first part of the morning. We had to be back by 1100 as we had train tickets to go to Glenfinnian. Lee and Jo knew all about the Jacobite Train that was used in the Harry Potter movies and the Glenfinnian Viaduct with its 21 spans that are shown in the movie. So at 1045 I send a note that we will met the others. I then remember our tickets are still in the room. Karen waits at the square for them and I dash back to get the tickets, meeting the four of them on the way. We reunite outside the bakery with ... read more

~Edinburgh is a beautiful city, but it doesn’t photograph well. Much of its atmosphere relies on the repetition and congruence of its architecture, which is difficult to capture in photos. ~ It’s an easy city to explore by foot since it’s fairly compact. We didn’t take the metro or light rail at all. Crossing most intersections is terrifying, though, since the double-decker buses barely fit on the road and yielding doesn’t seem to exist. At least most crosswalks tell which way to look for traffic. ~ The city center is very touristy, especially the Royal Mile, which is a repetition of whisky, Scotland, and cashmere shops. Because the annual Jazz Festival was going on, we had to stay outside the city center in Stockbridge, which allowed us to explore more local spots.... read more