Blogs from Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 18

Half of the day was on the train from inverness to Glasgow. I had hoped to get all caught up on the blog, but only managed one entry before I could no longer keep my eyes open. For most of the journey we had the entire first-class coach to ourselves. The scenery on the way down was very beautiful through the heart of the highlands. Sleep did win out for Jerry he was so tired his eyes were burning. I nodded off here and there while trying to take in the view. Our hotel here in Glasgow is actually at the train station, but not the station which we arrived. We could have walked, but again the luggage and being tired just screamed taxi. The taxi rank was directly in front of the station, so no ... read more

A last-minute change to the itinerary, the original plan was to combine a castle and scotch tour on our way to Inverness our next city on our tour. Instead, we opted to drive along the northern coast of the top of Aberdeenshire to explore a few more potential villages for retirement summers. It was a good decision. It was another beautiful day in Scotland, we are beginning to believe it really doesn’t rain here. Before heading out of town we picked up our laundry that we had dropped off when we first got her, much cheaper and better service than our cleaners in Rhode Island. Then we drove to the Bridge o’Balgowine, up until 1827 the only northern route out of Aberdeen was over the river Don on this single-arch bridge. The first burgh as they ... read more

Now that we have the car, our days don’t have to start as early so a bit more sleep is the side benefit of that. We were up at 7 and down to breakfast at 8:30. Breakfast was the standard everything for a Full Scottish, but two types of eggs, scrambled and fried. Remember fried in the UK means sunny side up. The whether was overcast, which makes for good driving. The day started at the farthest point South of the County Angus, Dundee. Dundee is not in the running for a potential summery retirement home, but it is one of the 7 cities in Scotland and close to other places we are considering, so we did want to see what it had to offer. The attraction here was the Dundee Law. It is about a ... read more

We rearranged out Itinerary a little to allow a little extra sleep. We didn’t cut anything out, just reorganized. This allowed us to have breakfast at a leisurely pace then go up and get ready for the day. This made the first stop of the day lunch. It was back up the hill then down the other side to Victoria Street. This was Sunday, which in the UK is Sunday Roast Day, we have a Sunday Roast lunch scheduled for Glasgow, so today was just some traditional Scottish food, well at least for me. I have not built up to Haggis yet, but it is coming. Because it was Sunday, the restaurants were very busy and all running the Sunday Roast Specials. We had a 12:30 reservation at Howies. When we got there were just a ... read more

Once again, a long travel day. Up at 5:00 in a taxi to the ferry terminal by 6:15. The Stena Line departed for Cairnryan at 7:30 and we were in the Stenaplus lounge again so would order breakfast on the boat. This ferry was not near as nice as the ferry from Wales to Dublin. Much older, less seating in the lounge and staff not as pleasant. The food was ok, I had the Full Irish, Jerry had a continental. The boat was also not as clean as the first and the bathroom smelled like an outhouse. Other than that, it was a comfortable crossing even took a bit of a nap. The moment we stepped off the ferry, it was an entirely different feeling than Ireland. The sea air was fresh and clean, the country ... read more