Blog 2: Scooooootland, finding Nessie...and single malt.
As soon as we passed the English-Scottish border, the scenery dramatically changed.
We discovered later the reason was because the two countries used to be separate and then smacked into each other... And that's my geological info for you, for today....savour it.
It was a six or seven hour drive to Edinburgh from Bath, which included the brief check point at my British parent's house, Sarah and Andy's, in Purton, Wiltshire. Purton is an adorable village where I'd spent my first year overseas by myself when I was 21.
We had left Bath after brekky, with lots of people saying, ' a seven hour drive on a Sunday!??'
'We're from Australia, we don't even need to take a cut lunch!'
On the way into Scotland, with the first stop, Edinburgh, Sally, Steve and Jess were very mean to me. They gave me the camera with the arduous task of taking snaps of the signs bearing, 'Welcome to Scotland' or 'Welcome to Edinburgh'. It might have been my short attention span or that I would fall asleep randomly that made me miss each sign. So we actually have no proof we got to Scotland...except for the rest of this darn post.
We checked into our hostel, Castle Rock. The location was outstanding - just next to Edinburgh Castle. The room, however, was rather tiny. Jess had warned me that we'd have to share a double bed at some stages during the trip. This was the case here.
It was the type of room where only one person could stand up at one time, with just the one suitcase open at one time. Sharing the bed was okay, however, we both tried to avoid waking up accidentally staring at the other person closely...creepy.
My cousin, Caitlin, joined us in Edinburgh around dinner time. This was after travelling a good 12 hours from Dover via bus. I think it was the thrifty Mega Bus option. She told me the adventure involved a terrible popcorn incident. I jumped to the conclusion that a child spilt popcorn on her. But upon further questioning, it was Caitlin who was eating the popcorn and this innocent child ran past and bumped her. This meant for nine hours of the trip she was picking out popcorn strewn through her red hair. One way to keep busy during a dull trip when you've forgotten your adult colouring-in book...
Anyway, once she arrived, we enjoyed cocktails and dinner at a pub in the Grass Market, with some of us receiving the random Scottish pound notes in our change.
The night included a boogie and drinking Scottish Whisky at Caitlin's hotel. The live tunes featured every 90s song you could imagine.
We discovered later the reason was because the two countries used to be separate and then smacked into each other... And that's my geological info for you, for today....savour it.
We had left Bath after brekky, with lots of people saying, ' a seven hour drive on a Sunday!??'
'We're from Australia, we don't even need to take a cut lunch!'
On the way into Scotland, with the first stop, Edinburgh, Sally, Steve and Jess were very mean to me. They gave me the camera with the arduous task of taking snaps of the signs bearing, 'Welcome to Scotland' or 'Welcome to Edinburgh'. It might have been my short attention span or that I would fall asleep randomly that made me miss each sign. So we actually have no proof we got to Scotland...except for the rest of this darn post. We checked into our hostel, Castle Rock. The location was outstanding - just next to Edinburgh Castle. The room, however, was rather tiny. Jess had warned me that we'd have to share a double bed at some stages during the trip. This was the case here.
It was the type of room where only one person could stand up at one time, with just the one suitcase open at one time. Sharing the bed was okay, however, we both tried to avoid waking up accidentally staring at the other person closely...creepy.
My cousin, Caitlin, joined us in Edinburgh around dinner time. This was after travelling a good 12 hours from Dover via bus. I think it was the thrifty Mega Bus option. She told me the adventure involved a terrible popcorn incident. I jumped to the conclusion that a child spilt popcorn on her. But upon further questioning, it was Caitlin who was eating the popcorn and this innocent child ran past and bumped her. This meant for nine hours of the trip she was picking out popcorn strewn through her red hair. One way to keep busy during a dull trip when you've forgotten your adult colouring-in book...
Anyway, once she arrived, we enjoyed cocktails and dinner at a pub in the Grass Market, with some of us receiving the random Scottish pound notes in our change.
The night included a boogie and drinking Scottish Whisky at Caitlin's hotel. The live tunes featured every 90s song you could imagine.
The next morning we signed up to a tour with New Edinburgh to be enlightened on the local history. Some modern history was intertwined within, regarding J K Rowling's involvement with the city.
This was a free tour where you just tip the tour guide at the end as payment. I've done this type of tour in various cities and it's an exceptional arrangement. The transaction is perfect - you just pay exactly what the tour guide is worth - and this one, a Welsh fellow with so much knowledge and enthusiasm for story telling, was worth a great deal.
We checked out the locations which had inspired various locations in the Harry Potter series, while viewing the architecture and features, such as the smog on some of the buildings, now heritage listed.
It was interesting to hear of Scotland's gruesome past. Such as how the wrong doers were made to pay in the most brutal way. Because gallows weren't humiliating enough, and too quick to be torturous, people were instead nailed to the city's main statue or monument, by an appendage - usually an ear, tongue or hand...usually to signify their offence. When time had been served, they had to draw themselves away from the statue. Ouch.
Probably the best fun fact discovered about the country was its mascot. When you think of Scotland, well...when I think of it anyway...I tend to think of it as fierce with plenty of Braveheart imagery and quotes. So I was surprised to find out the country's official animal was a unicorn...nice one.
After a delicious lunch of grilled fish on a bed of barley salad (we hadn't had a bad meal yet), we bid goodbye to our pals, Sally and Steve, as Jess, Caitlin and I jumped in the car to head further north. I was keen to find Nessie, in the depths of the Loch Ness and the day was getting away from us.
Heading out of the city was a bit of a task. I think our in-built Sat Nav, Tom Tom, was possessed (Oh and Jess has programmed the Sat Nav to have the Aussie voice with the phrases, "If those backseat drivers don't pipe down, we'll ditch them at the next servo"...she only wished she could be a fly on the wall for the next hirers of the car).
I'd wake here and there to enjoy the stunning scenery - and Scotland's was incredible! Now, I've never been to Canada, however, I'm going to hazard a guess and say that Scotland's terrain resembles it, with its pine trees, vast lochs / lakes, and overall stunning landscapes and mountains.
We cruised into South Laggan in the Inverness shire around 6pm, to stay at the Great Glen Hostel, which looks, or may have been an old barn house.
With a few hours left of daylight, and being a bit hungry, we headed for a local hotel for a delicious dinner and I enjoyed the best asparagus I've ever tasted (which Jess says is a very bizarre statement...).
Taking the opportunity to see EVERYTHING is integral in this whirl-wind, something like 18-city-to-visit trip, so after dinner we went for a drive to check out the countryside. It turned out to be quite creepy in the evening, because the area is rather isolated. We tried not to think about it as we got out of the car upon dusk to walk down to the lake to get some selfies with the snow capped mountain, Ben Nevis in the distance.
As the water lapped at the bank, we freaked each other out mentioning this setting was the stuff murder movies were made of...
We capped off the night's activity with a massive driving loop, complete with deer obstacles.
This morning, Jess and I woke up too early to try and go for a walk, as the icy cold Scottish rain fell upon us. I was ready to head back as soon as I had stepped out of the hostel, Jess, however, was keen to persevere, desiring pretty shots of the countryside dowsed in rain. I obliged, while sporting a disgruntled look on my face. Fortunately it wasn't long until she relented, just as the path near the road disappeared. You'd be surprised at the speed of the drivers in this neck of the woods, and the amount of water that could be splashed onto unsuspecting Aussies out and about.
We collected Caitlin who'd sensibly had a few more minutes' sleep, and headed to a cafe, kind of Quick-E-Mart type shop at Seven Heads. We needed sustenance for our morning's activity - Jet boating in Fort Augusta....while trying to find Nessie.
It was freezing, but fortunately, the skippers gave us awesome suits to wear as we exchanged small talk with the friendly fellas before jumping into the boat.
We took off slowly as a bit of a warm up to what was going to be a speedy skim over the massive Loch Ness. After travelling about 300m (which is also the depth of the Loch), the drivers casually pulled up next to a ferry where the ferry's skipper was holding out coffees for them. It was most likely their daily gag and it wasn't lost on me at all - well played lads, well played.
Getting going again, we sailed over the waves in the most spectacular fashion - skim - jump - smack - as every bit of chiropractic or physio work on my neck was uninstated. I didn't care.
As one skipper noted, the highlands couldn't get any better visually, with such diversity in the scenery.
We observed snow capped mountains in the background, with mountain goats in the mid, the black velvety loch in the foreground, with a beautiful rainbow streaking across the valleys.
I didn't get a lot of pics unfortunately as my camera had gone dead, but the one to the left which I ripped off Caitlin's Facebook page is hilarious with Jess decked out in her gear - almost unrecognisable...actually...not recognisable at all.
We headed for the castle on the edge of the Loch Ness, with one of the skippers saying, 'we might as well arrive like we own it!' as we zoomed to the shore.
Settling in for a moment, we were delighted to
hear a story about a Nessie sighting. 'Now we're talking!' I thought to myself gazing into the black depths of the chilly water.
The story was about how the skipper had taken a pic of a cloudy shape under the water and had won a photography prize. He was convinced it was Nessie...although I wanted to find he or she for myself.
As we travelled back, I swapped front seat with Caitlin. Going against the wind, we had a few sunny moments, but it was the rainy moments that felt like acupuncture on the face, without the relaxation aspect. Cruising back to the port, we had wobbly sea legs as we got out of the boat and stumbled to the car.
As per a recommendation from the skippers, we drove up the mountain to capture just a bit more of this sensational place.
Even though the countryside was brown and bare, as winter had just finished, Scotland was showcasing itself as one of the most beautiful places I'd visited. The landscape was sparse and diverse, with mountains highlighted by waterfalls bringing life through the cracks, with gorgeous little lambs marking the beginning of spring. It was also so refreshing to see that there are still parts of the world that are not overpopulated...yet.
After a brief lunch we drove to York which would be our sleep spot. The lunch break was in Glasgow, but Jess and Caitlin don't reckon it's worth mentioning.
Our accommodation in York, the Fort Hostel seemed to be the most upper class hostel I've ever stayed in, with a bottle of water next to the towel on the bed, with ear plugs in case our neighbours were rowdy.
The manager even showed us to our room, offering to take our luggage 10 thousand times, as if we were staying in the Hilton. It was too bad we were only staying there for a mere seven hours or so, with a flight to catch which meant leaving at 5.45am in the morning.
On to more adventures - and one in Hungary.
We checked out the locations which had inspired various locations in the Harry Potter series, while viewing the architecture and features, such as the smog on some of the buildings, now heritage listed.
Probably the best fun fact discovered about the country was its mascot. When you think of Scotland, well...when I think of it anyway...I tend to think of it as fierce with plenty of Braveheart imagery and quotes. So I was surprised to find out the country's official animal was a unicorn...nice one.
After a delicious lunch of grilled fish on a bed of barley salad (we hadn't had a bad meal yet), we bid goodbye to our pals, Sally and Steve, as Jess, Caitlin and I jumped in the car to head further north. I was keen to find Nessie, in the depths of the Loch Ness and the day was getting away from us.
Heading out of the city was a bit of a task. I think our in-built Sat Nav, Tom Tom, was possessed (Oh and Jess has programmed the Sat Nav to have the Aussie voice with the phrases, "If those backseat drivers don't pipe down, we'll ditch them at the next servo"...she only wished she could be a fly on the wall for the next hirers of the car).
It was a three hour drive, but I slept for most of it...typical. My constant falling asleep made great entertainment for my fellow passengers. They took great pleasure in waking me up just as I was on the verge of falling into a deep sleep. Rude.
I'd wake here and there to enjoy the stunning scenery - and Scotland's was incredible! Now, I've never been to Canada, however, I'm going to hazard a guess and say that Scotland's terrain resembles it, with its pine trees, vast lochs / lakes, and overall stunning landscapes and mountains.
We cruised into South Laggan in the Inverness shire around 6pm, to stay at the Great Glen Hostel, which looks, or may have been an old barn house.
With a few hours left of daylight, and being a bit hungry, we headed for a local hotel for a delicious dinner and I enjoyed the best asparagus I've ever tasted (which Jess says is a very bizarre statement...).
Taking the opportunity to see EVERYTHING is integral in this whirl-wind, something like 18-city-to-visit trip, so after dinner we went for a drive to check out the countryside. It turned out to be quite creepy in the evening, because the area is rather isolated. We tried not to think about it as we got out of the car upon dusk to walk down to the lake to get some selfies with the snow capped mountain, Ben Nevis in the distance.
As the water lapped at the bank, we freaked each other out mentioning this setting was the stuff murder movies were made of...
We capped off the night's activity with a massive driving loop, complete with deer obstacles.
This morning, Jess and I woke up too early to try and go for a walk, as the icy cold Scottish rain fell upon us. I was ready to head back as soon as I had stepped out of the hostel, Jess, however, was keen to persevere, desiring pretty shots of the countryside dowsed in rain. I obliged, while sporting a disgruntled look on my face. Fortunately it wasn't long until she relented, just as the path near the road disappeared. You'd be surprised at the speed of the drivers in this neck of the woods, and the amount of water that could be splashed onto unsuspecting Aussies out and about.
We collected Caitlin who'd sensibly had a few more minutes' sleep, and headed to a cafe, kind of Quick-E-Mart type shop at Seven Heads. We needed sustenance for our morning's activity - Jet boating in Fort Augusta....while trying to find Nessie.
It was freezing, but fortunately, the skippers gave us awesome suits to wear as we exchanged small talk with the friendly fellas before jumping into the boat.
We took off slowly as a bit of a warm up to what was going to be a speedy skim over the massive Loch Ness. After travelling about 300m (which is also the depth of the Loch), the drivers casually pulled up next to a ferry where the ferry's skipper was holding out coffees for them. It was most likely their daily gag and it wasn't lost on me at all - well played lads, well played.
Getting going again, we sailed over the waves in the most spectacular fashion - skim - jump - smack - as every bit of chiropractic or physio work on my neck was uninstated. I didn't care.
As one skipper noted, the highlands couldn't get any better visually, with such diversity in the scenery.
We observed snow capped mountains in the background, with mountain goats in the mid, the black velvety loch in the foreground, with a beautiful rainbow streaking across the valleys.
I didn't get a lot of pics unfortunately as my camera had gone dead, but the one to the left which I ripped off Caitlin's Facebook page is hilarious with Jess decked out in her gear - almost unrecognisable...actually...not recognisable at all.
We headed for the castle on the edge of the Loch Ness, with one of the skippers saying, 'we might as well arrive like we own it!' as we zoomed to the shore.
Settling in for a moment, we were delighted to
hear a story about a Nessie sighting. 'Now we're talking!' I thought to myself gazing into the black depths of the chilly water.
The story was about how the skipper had taken a pic of a cloudy shape under the water and had won a photography prize. He was convinced it was Nessie...although I wanted to find he or she for myself.
As we travelled back, I swapped front seat with Caitlin. Going against the wind, we had a few sunny moments, but it was the rainy moments that felt like acupuncture on the face, without the relaxation aspect. Cruising back to the port, we had wobbly sea legs as we got out of the boat and stumbled to the car.
As per a recommendation from the skippers, we drove up the mountain to capture just a bit more of this sensational place.
Even though the countryside was brown and bare, as winter had just finished, Scotland was showcasing itself as one of the most beautiful places I'd visited. The landscape was sparse and diverse, with mountains highlighted by waterfalls bringing life through the cracks, with gorgeous little lambs marking the beginning of spring. It was also so refreshing to see that there are still parts of the world that are not overpopulated...yet.After a brief lunch we drove to York which would be our sleep spot. The lunch break was in Glasgow, but Jess and Caitlin don't reckon it's worth mentioning.
Our accommodation in York, the Fort Hostel seemed to be the most upper class hostel I've ever stayed in, with a bottle of water next to the towel on the bed, with ear plugs in case our neighbours were rowdy.The manager even showed us to our room, offering to take our luggage 10 thousand times, as if we were staying in the Hilton. It was too bad we were only staying there for a mere seven hours or so, with a flight to catch which meant leaving at 5.45am in the morning.
On to more adventures - and one in Hungary.
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