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Published: January 3rd 2009
Edinburgh Castle
Chrisso and I freezing our asses off where they hold the Edinburgh Tattoo.After spending an enjoyable few days with Kat on her farm, we made the move toward Scotland.. An Army mate of mine, Chrisso, is currently working in a small town called Swindon about 90 mins west of London, so before we left the US we organised to travel Scotland with him, his girlfriend Simone and her parents.
The trip into Scotland started in fairly unspectacular fashion - we had organised to meet Chrisso in Glasgow which turned out to be about a five hour haul in the car. This doesn't sound like much for most Aussies, but when you have only seven and a bit hours daylight, it seems like you have been hauling ass in the car all day. Not surprisingly we arrived after dark once again and found our hotel. For the entire trip we've been staying in Travelodge's which are a pretty comfortable yet affordable hotel. But. one of the beauties of traveling during winter is that hotels can be pretty cheap, and Travelodge offer some pretty amazing deals. Most of the nights we booked in Scotland were just £9, and we'd even managed to get London at £19 per night - we ended up paying more
The Highlands
Nothing like we expected..... for the car to sleep at the hotel than us!! The only problem is that every room looks exactly the same, so with a little sense of de-ja-vu we settled into our room. We meet up with Chrisso shortly after and made the short walk into town to find our first Scottish pub.
One of things we noticed almost immediately was the drop in temperature compared to England. But that didn't seem to bother the young ladies who were out and about that night. Fiona couldn't believe how short the skirts were on the young Scottish lasses, mostly because they looked like tarts, but also cause it was about -5 degrees and they were still strutting their stuff in mini-skirts. We soon found a nice cozy pub and settled in and caught up with Chris and Sim over a few Scottish Ales.
The next morning we hit the road pretty early - we had about a four hour drive through the Scottish Highlands to our next stop, Loch Ness. The drive was quite spectacular; the road wound it's way along the side a one of Scotland's vast Lochs before starting the steady climb up into the wind swept
Ben Nevis
The big hill as the backdrop to the trees covered in ice. highlands. The temperature dropped sharply as we climbed, and soon we were driving amongst snow covered mountains. We were all quite surprised at how rugged the highlands were - we were expecting rolling hills, but instead we found rugged, barren mountains completely devoid of any trees. In fact there was a distinct line on the side of all the mountains where any sizable foliage abruptly stopped. It was much more barren (and cold) than any of us had expected. It left Chrisso and I wandering why the hell the Poms and spent so much time fighting the Scots for it. We figured the Romans had it right - just build a wall and let them have it! We stopped for lunch at a quaint little town called Fort Williams and enjoyed the fare of a Scottish Bakery. I had a Bridie which was a cross between a Pastie and a Pie, and Fi enjoyed the first sausage roll (that she hadn't cooked) in 2 years!
Just out of Fort Willaims lies Ben Nevis, the highest peak in the United Kingdom. Fiona and I took a short detour to go and have a look and we weren't sorry. Although it
The Commando Statue
This statue sits in the middle of nowhere in the highlands commemorates the contributions Commando's made during WWII. I had to stop.... was way too cold to consider hiking in any manner, the view was quite spectacular. The peak was covered in snow and it stood out quite distinctly from the surrounding mountains. We stopped a number of times on the drive to enjoy the amazing views of the highlands and before long it was dark and we still had a bit of driving in front of us. We pulled into a nice town called Inverness and spent the night in yet another Travelodge which was on the outskirts. Fortunately for us there was a golf club right next door, and we figured we had a bit more catching up to do after a few more beers.
Next morning we woke and headed to the town of Drumnadrochit (good luck with the pronunciation) which is the home of all kitchsy Loch Ness monster crap. We had a quick look around the town which was full of dodgy 'Nessie' gift stores full of clan paraphenalia such as kilts, mottos, emblems and histories. I would be amiss if I didn't retell the story of Ian returning from Scotland with mountains of 'Anderson' clan gifts for Matt, Kat and I only to find a
Look out Fi!!!
Ah yes, the Lame Ness Monster - illegitimate child of the Loch Ness Monster. few weeks later after some Genealogical research that our heritage is actually Irish/Norwegian and has no Scottish at all.......nice one Dad. Anyway, we decided that this place was just a little too cheesy for our tastes. The Loch itself is beautiful though - and surprisingly large at bit over 35 km long. By this stage the cold weather had had a distinctive effect upon the countryside, pretty much every ounce of liquid had frozen into ice. The entire countryside glistened with a sheen of bright white ice. It looked very distinct from snow as no surface had escaped the ice - the bare trees looked like they were made completely from christmas lights - every branch was any icy white - the whole landscape was just an icy white colour- it looked like a winter wonderland! It made for extremely cautious driving, but the scenery was just spectacular! The photos we've dried to put in just don't do it justice. That night we stayed a the rather plaid town of Aberdeen which was pretty much a stop over on the way back to Edinburgh.
The next morning we finished the drive into Scotland's capital to find it a bit
Edinburgh Castle
Fi and I in the new town admiring the view. chaotic - it was New Years Eve, and Edinburgh hosts one of the biggest street parties in the world - Hogmanay (don't have a freakin' clue what it means). We left the cars in the safety of the hotel and hoofed it into town. The city itself is dominated by Edinburgh castle which sits upon a rocky outcrop which overlooks both the old and new cities of Edinburgh (the outcrop is actually the remains of an extinct volcano). We walked through the new city which had been cordened off in preparation for the party and made our way up the hill to the castle. We didn't find the castle itself to be all that impressive compared to what we have already seen. Rather, it was more like a military barracks built behind a fortification which is not surprising seeing as it is still a functioning military barracks (which allowed us to talk our way in for free!). Afterwards we wandered down the infamous Royal Mile which is a street seemingly dedicated to pubs and shops selling Scottish tartan hats complete with fake red hair hanging out the back. There is a standing challenge for any man to walk down one
The Red Hot Chilli Piper
This piper is wearing the Royal Stuart Tartan which was also used on the last ship Fi was posted to - HMAS Stuart. side of the Royal Mile and back up the other and stopping for a pint in every pub - I believe few have ever completed it having seen the street. There must be over forty pubs crammed into this one road. On the way down the mile we found a place offerring free samples of Haggis, so never one to pass up free food I thought I'd give it a crack. I have to say, for sheep intenstines stuff with god-knows-what, it tasted pretty damn good!
We stopped into a beer shop on the way home and picked up a few beers to help warm things up before heading into the Hogmanay street party. After a couple we felt warm enough to brave the -5 degree conditions and walked into the city. It was absolutely pumping - DJ's were playing at each end of the street, and people (mostly drunk people) were everywhere. We found our way to a beer stall only to realise that the line started about 150 metres behind us, and that was enough to kill any desire for a £9 beer, so we found a good observation spot and waiting for the fireworks which were
Mmmmm Haggis
Ever wanted to eat some God-knows-what stuffed in some You-don't-want-to-know-what? being launched from the Castle. Midnight slowly wound its way around and the fireworks kicked off in impressive manner. They didn't last very long but jeez they put a lot up in a short time. As Chrisso said, it looked like the bloke holding the trigger had tripped and fell on the bloody thing! After nearly being vomitted on a couple of times we decided enough was enough and we headed back home for a night cap before retiring for 2008.
Next morning we woke a bit late to realise that our late check-out hadn't actually been booked, so with a flurry of activity we hastily packed to avoid the £20 late fee ($50 AUD). We packed that car and again headed into town to explore. Unfortunately for us not much was open so we found our way down to the second feature which dominates Edinburgh's skyline - Arthurs seat. This is another large mountain in the middle of the city, but this has been left undisturbed to provide hiking trails and parklands for all the Edinburghians. Although it was pretty cold Fi and I made the hour hike up the hill for some pretty speco veiws across the
Nice Mo Chrisso
The best Mo Chrisso has ever had on his face. city. Before too long it was just a little too chilly so we made our way back to the hotel and picked up the car. Being the tight-asses we are we moved hotels for our second night in Edinburgh to save a bit of dosh. We all found our way to a nice little pub and enjoyed our last night in the UK before heading to Paris. Not surprisingly this may have involved a few Guinness, which may had led to even more Guinness. Finally the girls had enough and said it was time to go so we jumped in the car and headed for home. We had to make a quick pitstop to pick up some cheese for breakfast and unfortunately the shop we stopped in just happen to also sell Guinness. Chrisso and I picked up some surprisingly Guinness like cheese and ended up sitting in the hotel foyer with Sim's Dad Tony drinking (cause we were in the bad books) drinking beer and eating chips. The bloke working at the counter was even kind enough to give us a bowl for our chips!!
The next morning we said our goodbyes - we had really enjoyed our
The Hogmanay!
Chrisso getting down with the fireworks in the early hours of 2009. time traveling with Chrisso, Sim and the family. Traveling with friends can certainly enrich the experience and this was definitely the case with these guys. But, Fi and I were quite excited as we were heading to the airport for our flight into Paris!
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Mylo
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Hairsuit
Nice beard and fat-boy hat, fag nuts. Have you washed your hat with sample softners yet? X-D Love to you both, can't wait to see you.