After an amazing couple of weeks with Rick and Jo in Ireland, it was sadly time to say goodbye. Rick and Jo headed home back to the heat, while us and Gail headed for Glasgow. We left Dubliln at some ungodly hour of the morning and boarded a plane that makes the Adelaide-Broken Hill REX plane look like an A380. Apparently the sub-zero temperatures weren't worrying anyone else, as it was not deemed necessary to have the heating turned on. The next day we headed off on a full day tour of Loch Ness and the Highlands with Neil, our very entertaining Scottish tour guide. We checked out the beautiful mountains of Glencoe, Loch Lomond, Urquhart Castle, and cruised Loch Ness (no Nessie sightings unfortunately) before finally heading home. A great day out!
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| Family pic at Glencoe |
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| Scouring Loch Ness for Nessie |
The next day it was time to say a sad goodbye to Gail, who was heading to Egypt for 10 days. After a month with family around, it was very strange and quiet being just the two of us again. But never to fear, we were back on the road again the next day in our trusty hire car, Myrtle. Much to our delight (?) Myrtle was a Peugeot, and the failing electronics and dodgy clutch bought back ye olde memories of Katherine's much loved Pug. With our new camera (only the third one for the trip...) we began driving around Scotland and did our fair share of hiking and wildlife spotting. Scottish wildlife consists mainly of hairy cows, hairy goats, hairy sheep and squirrels.
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| Myrtle the Pug cruising the Highlands |
Our driving tour of Scotland took in the Isle of Skye, Ullapool, Inverness, St Andrews and finally ended in Edinburgh. We were incredibly lucky to stay with some great people during our travels - in Inverness we couchsurfed with a South African girl, in St Andrews we stayed with a Scottish bio-chemist we met in Estonia, and in Edinburgh we stayed with a German couple we met in Egypt.
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| Enjoying a quiet ale with Ross and Lloyd in St Andrews |
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| Sharing my beloved FruChocs with Karina, Callum and Stephanie in Inverness |
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| Andy and Julia with our awesome haggis meal in Edinburgh |
Ross in St Andrews was nice enough to take us on a walking tour of St Andrews, where we checked out the university (where Prince William attended), the pier, the golf course (home of the British Open) and filled us in on some local quirks, including the stones you can't step on until you finish your uni degree (otherwise you are destined to fail) and Hamish McHamish the local stray cat that has been adopted by the town.
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| Getting a wet arse on the pier at St Andrews. Hamish McHamish the local cat nowhere to be found :( |
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| At the 18th hole of the St Andrews golf course |
During our travels we did quite a bit of hiking, which introduced us to a Scottish walking website that had the rather hilarious 'bog factor' index. We navigated many trails we deemed to have off-the-scale bog factor ratings, which provided endless entertainment.
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| Action shot! KG's stream crossing was far more successful than Tom's (see below...) |
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| Looking for snow at Glencoe |
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| Spot the Scotsman... |
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| About to tackle an off-the-scale bog factor walking trail... |
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| Tom's less successful stream crossing - the fall in the stream happened in front of two Chinese girls who were concerned but then rather amused by Tom's lack of coords. |
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| At the top of a 'crag' with a great view of the Highlands |
No blog post would be complete without mentioning food and drink. Andy and Julia in Edinburgh were kind enough to cook us some haggis, which was amazingly very yummy! Paired with some neeps (turnips) and tays (potatoes) and some local beers, it went down an absolute treat. Would definitely recommend it! We also had to do some whisky tasting, and headed to Dalwhinne, The Dalmore, and Glenmorangie. The quintessential Scotsman, Tom would of course taste whisky wearing his tweed old man cap and pipe, while stroking his beard.
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| Haggis and beer - yum! |
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| Checking out the product at The Dalmore whisky distillery |
In Edinburgh we of course had to do our obligatory free walking tour and visit Edinburgh Castle to see the 'Stone of Destiny'. After nearly choking on the entry price, we had a lovely time wandering around the castle in the snow while the bagpipes played in the background - so Scottish!
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| Tom outside Edinburgh Castle - at this point still smiling. This soon changed after entering the gates and finding out the admission price. Eeeek. |
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| Impromptu Spanish test during a cuppa stop using the Edinburgh guides in Espanol and English |
We are now in Zurich for a night (excitement central) before heading to New York tomorrow. The end of our European adventure has finally come, and we are totes pumped for the next leg - New York, Washington then Costa Rica and beyond!
