Over 2000 miles in 10 days.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Home again!
Went to New Lanark to check out the World Heritage site - a cotton mill on the River Clyde. Spent a couple of hours there before it was time for the long drive home.
Over 2000 miles in 10 days.
Over 2000 miles in 10 days.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Inveraray to Lanark
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Fort William to Inveraray
Hosts at Fort William B&B (Bardnaclavan) were very friendly
Decided to check out Neptune's Staircase again, properly this time. Luckily for us there were two boats in the canal (going upstream) so we got to see the locks in operation. And Andrew got to talking to one of them about cameras. Weather still rainy
Next stop was distillery - pretty small, didn't go through centre. Checked out the photography exhibition on in the building next door of Douglas Scott who was a climber and photographer.
Checked out Glen Nevis and Ben Nevis visitor centre for Caledonian canal book but no luck. Grace picked up another novel at 2nd place (picked up first one on Skye)
Brief stop back in town to post postcards and then on our way.
We detoured to Glencoe and tried looking for monument to the massacre but couldn't find it and it was raining so didn't want to get out of car either.
Stopped briefly at viewpoint to look at Three Sisters but was cloudy so couldn't see much.
Onwards to Inveraray - Grace slept most of the way.
Parked the car, had lunch at Brambles, then checked into Fernpoint Hotel.
Then onto Inveraray Castle which is the residence of the Duke & Duchess of Argyll. Lovely rooms especially the weapons room - loud Italian tour group ahead of us, rather annoying. Andrew bought a postcard from shop.
Back to hotel to rest before dinner. Had foreign waitress who was obviously new. TV and bed.
Decided to check out Neptune's Staircase again, properly this time. Luckily for us there were two boats in the canal (going upstream) so we got to see the locks in operation. And Andrew got to talking to one of them about cameras. Weather still rainy
Next stop was distillery - pretty small, didn't go through centre. Checked out the photography exhibition on in the building next door of Douglas Scott who was a climber and photographer.
Checked out Glen Nevis and Ben Nevis visitor centre for Caledonian canal book but no luck. Grace picked up another novel at 2nd place (picked up first one on Skye)
Brief stop back in town to post postcards and then on our way.
We detoured to Glencoe and tried looking for monument to the massacre but couldn't find it and it was raining so didn't want to get out of car either.
Stopped briefly at viewpoint to look at Three Sisters but was cloudy so couldn't see much.
Onwards to Inveraray - Grace slept most of the way.
Parked the car, had lunch at Brambles, then checked into Fernpoint Hotel.
Then onto Inveraray Castle which is the residence of the Duke & Duchess of Argyll. Lovely rooms especially the weapons room - loud Italian tour group ahead of us, rather annoying. Andrew bought a postcard from shop.
Back to hotel to rest before dinner. Had foreign waitress who was obviously new. TV and bed.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Fort William via Glenfinnan
Scottish porridge for breakfast!
Drove to Armadale and just missed the ferry. Bought tickets and wondered around local craft & pottery shops and clothing shop - Ragamuffin
Ferry to Mallaig. Only about 25 mins but had to leave car. Very windy and rough but ferry was quite big. Cafe in Mallaig for lunch. Plates too small for food!
Train station: The Jacobite waiting while passengers had lunch. Raining quite a bit. Bought postcards at info centre.
Drove through Morar and by Loch Morar. Nice beaches on river to sea. Arisaig and coastal route, Glenfinnan, raining so brief look at monument and Ura??? from a distance.
Saw Neptune Staircase - part of Caledonian canal to Loch L??? (sea)
Fort William B&B, then walked down main st looking for tea and scones. Lots of shops and whisky shop. Found nice scone! Dinner at number 4. OK food.
Drove to Armadale and just missed the ferry. Bought tickets and wondered around local craft & pottery shops and clothing shop - Ragamuffin
Ferry to Mallaig. Only about 25 mins but had to leave car. Very windy and rough but ferry was quite big. Cafe in Mallaig for lunch. Plates too small for food!
Train station: The Jacobite waiting while passengers had lunch. Raining quite a bit. Bought postcards at info centre.
Drove through Morar and by Loch Morar. Nice beaches on river to sea. Arisaig and coastal route, Glenfinnan, raining so brief look at monument and Ura??? from a distance.
Saw Neptune Staircase - part of Caledonian canal to Loch L??? (sea)
Fort William B&B, then walked down main st looking for tea and scones. Lots of shops and whisky shop. Found nice scone! Dinner at number 4. OK food.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Isle of Skye
Breakfast and then on the road. Through Portree and up coast. Stopped at Kilt Rock (waterfall and cliffs).
On to Uig, pottery shop, hotel for lunch (just ahead of tour group)
Dunvegan and back to Portree, soap shop, craft shop, clothes shops.
Weather today was misty and cold.
Back to B&B to read magazines/books and use internet.
Dinner at Indian restaurant in Kyleakin ? Was empty when we arrive, more people when we left.
On to Uig, pottery shop, hotel for lunch (just ahead of tour group)
Dunvegan and back to Portree, soap shop, craft shop, clothes shops.
Weather today was misty and cold.
Back to B&B to read magazines/books and use internet.
Dinner at Indian restaurant in Kyleakin ? Was empty when we arrive, more people when we left.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Highlands to Isle of Skye
Today was a long day of driving for us. There was low level cloud when we left Durness which hung over the Kyle of Durness as we drove past. We took a detour to Lochniver (sp?) (the coastal route) which was once again narrow and single lane.
From Lochniver we headed to Ullapool where we had lunch. We sat outside for lunch and got "attacked" by wasps like when we tried having lunch at Stirling Castle except that time we move inside. This time we stayed and fought and killed a few in the process.
We went for a brief walk along the waterfront, had an ice cream and were then on our way again.
Once again we took a coastal route to ??? (which took longer) and eventually made our way to Kyle of Lochalsh and on the bridge to Skye where we were staying for the next 2 nights.
We thought our accommodation was in Broadford but using the GPS discovered it was a little further along in Ard Dorch. Hosts were photographers and had framed photos everywhere. 2 other couples and 1 lady staying too. Cloud moving in again.
Dinner at farmhouse restaurant with cheerful 'cool' waitress.
From Lochniver we headed to Ullapool where we had lunch. We sat outside for lunch and got "attacked" by wasps like when we tried having lunch at Stirling Castle except that time we move inside. This time we stayed and fought and killed a few in the process.
We went for a brief walk along the waterfront, had an ice cream and were then on our way again.
Once again we took a coastal route to ??? (which took longer) and eventually made our way to Kyle of Lochalsh and on the bridge to Skye where we were staying for the next 2 nights.
We thought our accommodation was in Broadford but using the GPS discovered it was a little further along in Ard Dorch. Hosts were photographers and had framed photos everywhere. 2 other couples and 1 lady staying too. Cloud moving in again.
Dinner at farmhouse restaurant with cheerful 'cool' waitress.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
John O'Groats
Drove up the east coast to John O'Groats. Beautiful coastline along the way. John O'Groats was a bit of an anticlimax. You had to pay to have a photo taken next to the post with distances on it and have your place of origin put on it. Lots of souvenir and craft shops, though it was fairly quiet.
We kept on driving to Dunnett Point the northernmost point on mainland Britain. Unfortunately there was a lot of cloud and as such we could not see anything. From there we drove on to Thurso where we had lunch.
Then made our way to Durness, our stop for the night, again more beautiful coastline and lochs along the way. This is also where the single lane roads started with passing places every so often.
Once we got to Durness, we made our way to the B&B, only the GPS pointed us to the wrong one but the lady was helpful and directed us to the right one. The B&B we were staying at had lots of kids which was different for a B&B (lots of kids footsteps outside our bedroom).
It was cold and starting to fog up a bit.
(not sure when we did this) Stopped at Smoo cave, there was also a tour group there who wasn't dressed for walking.
We had dinner at a seafood restaurant. We also drove to the nearby town B??? which had a nice beach and craft village. There were some crazy people swimming.
Not sure when we saw these highland cows now, but they were so cute we had to stop and take some photos!
We kept on driving to Dunnett Point the northernmost point on mainland Britain. Unfortunately there was a lot of cloud and as such we could not see anything. From there we drove on to Thurso where we had lunch.
Then made our way to Durness, our stop for the night, again more beautiful coastline and lochs along the way. This is also where the single lane roads started with passing places every so often.
Once we got to Durness, we made our way to the B&B, only the GPS pointed us to the wrong one but the lady was helpful and directed us to the right one. The B&B we were staying at had lots of kids which was different for a B&B (lots of kids footsteps outside our bedroom).
It was cold and starting to fog up a bit.
(not sure when we did this) Stopped at Smoo cave, there was also a tour group there who wasn't dressed for walking.
We had dinner at a seafood restaurant. We also drove to the nearby town B??? which had a nice beach and craft village. There were some crazy people swimming.
Not sure when we saw these highland cows now, but they were so cute we had to stop and take some photos!
Monday, August 20, 2007
Newtonmore & Loch Ness
Today we departed from the hotel and headed to Kingussie (all these Scottish names remind me of home - Highland Park which streets are obviously named after these places in Scotland!). We stopped in a carpark there briefly while Andrew made some calls.
We visited the Highlands wildlife park where we drove through the park and saw the European bison, deer .... There were some animals that could only be seen by walking so we parked the car and saw wolves, cats, otter, snowy? monkeys, owls. It was cold.
Headed towards Inverness, stopped at Culloden Moor where the battle between Bonnie Prince Charlie and the English took place. Walked through the battlefield.
In Inverness, I posted my visa application (which was going to allow me to continue living and working in the UK) after eventually finding a carpark and the post office - damn one way streets.
We decided to drive on a circuit around Loch Ness. Stopped at Fort Augustus to check out the Caledonian Canal with the locks. Saw some beautiful views, Urquhart castle.
Headed to Dornoch where we were spending the night, lots of bridges on the way. Had dessert at the local pub, nearly had Chinese takeaways as Grace was craving some but decided against it in the end.
We visited the Highlands wildlife park where we drove through the park and saw the European bison, deer .... There were some animals that could only be seen by walking so we parked the car and saw wolves, cats, otter, snowy? monkeys, owls. It was cold.
Headed towards Inverness, stopped at Culloden Moor where the battle between Bonnie Prince Charlie and the English took place. Walked through the battlefield.
In Inverness, I posted my visa application (which was going to allow me to continue living and working in the UK) after eventually finding a carpark and the post office - damn one way streets.
We decided to drive on a circuit around Loch Ness. Stopped at Fort Augustus to check out the Caledonian Canal with the locks. Saw some beautiful views, Urquhart castle.
Headed to Dornoch where we were spending the night, lots of bridges on the way. Had dessert at the local pub, nearly had Chinese takeaways as Grace was craving some but decided against it in the end.
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