Scotland

Thursday (Day1) - Edinburgh

We left work a bit early from work yesterday afternoon and drove all the way to Edinburgh. After over 6 hours of driving we finally arrived at about 11pm. Our hosts at the B&B had almost given up waiting for us. It seemed they had just gone to bed thinking that we weren't going to arrive when all of a sudden there was a knock on the door...

So this morning it was a bit of a challenge to get out of bed, but the smell of bacon and eggs lured us downstairs. The Scottish breakfast differed from the English one by the addition of a single pancake. We met an Australian couple at breakfast, who were doing the Auzzie thing and travelling around Europe. They were off to Ireland that afternoon.

The main item on today's agenda was the Edinburgh castle and we headed that way after breakfast. The first impressions we had of Edinburgh were 'old' and 'well kept'. There was a city centre, full of shops and fast food outlets, but we steered away from it, towards what looked liked the old town. And you couldn't miss the castle from any point around there. Once we climbed the castle hill we found we were just in time for the really funny changing of the guards. We then bought tickets and in we went. The castle is renowned for being the most windy royal residence and the weather lived up to it today also. The higher we went the colder and windier it got. We were pretty impressed how the castle was built into the rock on top of a mountain.

After leaving the castle we walked along the Castle Esplanade and then onto the Royal Mile. We then followed a walk through Edinburgh according to our Lonely Planet Guide. In the afternoon we stopped at a pub in a popular area of Edinburgh. It was a fantastic day out. Edinburgh is really worth seeing. The town around the castle is made up of narrow cobbled streets, many lined with cool shops and cafes and pubs.

In the evening we caught a bus (and met another Australian backpacker!) to a vegeterian Indian restaurant highly recommended by the Lonely Planet Guide. And we weren't disappointed.

Friday (Day2) - Edinburgh to Foyers

This morning we had to get up early despite being on holidays because breakfast was only served between 8 and 9am. I suppose that is the disadvantage of staying at a B&B, but at least we didn't waste the day in bed. We had a full cooked breakfast with the exception that Gosia skipped the baked beans and I skipped the egg.

We then went for a drive to Holyrood Palace where the Queen stays on her visits to Edinburgh. However we just drove past it since we had heard it wasn't very exciting (and it did not look it either). After a short try at shopping for sunburn cream and a hat we were on our way to Foyers which is situated on Loch Ness. The day was beautiful again with very strong sunshine however the breeze had an arctic bite to it despite the 15 degrees temperatures.

On the way to Foyers we saw the countryside changing from rolling English hills to brown mountains with snow capped peaks. Since the weather was so nice and the mountains not so tall it was hard to imagine how the snow got there. However I suppose we were just lucky with the weather. Apparently the moss and lichen make the hills appear so brown as that is all that grows on them after they were cleared of trees.

We were a bit worried about our petrol supplies since there were no petrol stations on the way until we had almost reached Fort Augustus. There we took on 30 litres of fuel. It would be interesting to read the capacity of our tank in the car manual - I think it may well be 30l !! We also bought some cool Scottish caps for our walks in the sunshine. Even Gosia bought one because she liked the curved beak - just like a baseball cap.

We saw the canal which links Loch Ness with another Loch at Fort William (where we also got a glimpse of Nessy) and then continued on our way to Foyers. From then on the road was only wide enough for one car at a time. Fortunately there were many add ons to the road which served as passing sections. We arrived in Foyers mid afternoon and first had a picnic lunch (Polish sausage roll) before going to our B&B. We then went on a walk for about 1 and a half hours to the waterfall and to Loch Ness itself. The countryside was very nice with some pine forest and lots of spongy moss on the ground. The low growing ferns were also springing out of the ground to replace the brown ones from last year.

For dinner we had red wine and cheese while watching 'Have I got news for you' (like "Good News Week"). It was then time for an earlyish night in bed.

Saturday (Day3) - Foyers

Today was a pretty lazy day apart from some walking. We drove to a nature reserve nearby and went walking in the hills overlooking Loch Ness. Most of the walk was really nice and through quite thick forset. There were parts however that were heavilly logged or had been burnt down and didn't look very nice. We got some really nice views of the lake from up there.

We had a similar picnic lunch to the day before at the tables in the park at the start of the walk. We thought we were pretty lucky to have such fantastic weather. In the afternoon we did some more walking around the Foyers. We walked to the highest point next to the town where the TV tower was and got a spectacular view of Loch Ness from there.

In the evening we walked to the local hotel for dinner. We were adventurous and tried the Scottish staple called haggis. It reminded me a lot of polish black pudding.

Sunday (Day4) - Foyers/Glasgow

After eating cooked breakfast for so many days, we decided to give it a miss this day. Instead we just had cereal at the B&B in Foyers. We had seen everything we wanted to in Foyers so we started our drive to Glasgow. Along the way we passed through some beautiful countryside. Especially nice was a steep pass through the mountains. Alongside the road was The Ridgeway walk and there were many people walking it. However we felt a bit lazy and so just drove slowly through. We ended up having a quick toasted sandwich in a country pub which was right next to another part of the Ridgeway walk. We intended to do a bit of the walk after lunch, however after crossing one field in the farm we piked and returned to the car without ever having reached the trail. I think we had done enough walking the day before.

We then continued our drive to Glasgow and ended up there late afternoon. We were staying in the middle of town so we went for a walk to see what was around. Instead of sightseeing I went shopping and bought a top while Gosia bought nothing! That meant we had to return to our accommodation to drop off the shopping before dinner. There was a lot of indecision about dinner. However after walking past half the restaurants in Glasgow we finally settled on 'Shenanigans'.

Monday (Day5) - Glasgow/Maidenhead

In the morning we were just about the first people to get up in Glasgow. After the big soccer match the previous day I think a lot of people had gone out, and so when we walked down the main street at 9am it was deserted. However there was a lot of evidence that people had been there the night before. There were heaps of take-away food wrappers and old chips lying on the pavement which we tried to ignore. It looked as though someone had gone around to all the rubbish bins and tipped then out in the mall. It was pretty disgusting. So after buying the paper we decided to check out of our accommodation and drive to do some Glasgow sight seeing. We went to the Glasgow Cathedral which was old, huge, and looked nice. We then went for a walk up to a nearby hill where there was a cemetery. From there we had a good view of Glasgow. However there was not a lot to see as the city is rather industrial.

We decided to get home as early as possible and so we left Glasgow for the trip home at about midday. The drive back was about 400miles and took about 6 hours. The traffic was heavy but it flowed well, and we only stopped once for some petrol and a snack.

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