Globetrotter Inn Edinburgh

... but one side has nothing - it's just bare and exposing a monstrous building left from the time when the area mined coal from under the sea. I ask a guy sat next to me what the building is used for now and he tells me that it's going to be dismantled but requires a lot of money and asbestos specialists to take it down. The coastline will look ...

... the cold again, wondering where the hell this next bus is cos it wasn't on the schedule, and some random bus pulls up. Lovely old Stagecoach, joy. Getting on, the driver's moaning about how **** it was, and we're just like oh well it'll get us there right?

"We'll see.." .. highly reassuring, mate.

No issues though, and then around 11am we pull into Edinburgh! Finally got to see the Forth Bridge, and then seeing ...

... em back! Now that's what I call a family!" Try thinking of this in a Scottish accent.

A small glass of Glenmorangie and then off for dinner. Haggis, neeps (Turnips mashed) and Tatties (Spuds mashed). Very nice and very filling.

Home to meet the family. A great welcome, some more Scottich accents and off to the Motherwell version of an RSL for a sing along. Some ...

... to say this part of it was my favorite. I love all the closes and their names, i.e. Fishmongers Close, Fleshmongers Close, Sugar House Close, Tolbooth Wynd, etc. It was fun to imagine people a couple hundred years ago living and working among those narrow passageways. I know these thoughts are heavily romanticized, and that life in the closes at that time wasn’t all that pleasant. In fact, our guide in the vaults talked about how the residents of the closes had a ...

... a bit of a relax. Dinner that night we went to a gastro pub and the boys had their second haggis of the day - this time complete with whisky sauce, neeps and taties. V traditional. I had a Scottish salmon salad and Hollie had chicken with drambuie - all v yum. Then we popped back to the hostel to put on all thermals and layers and assembled in the centre of the Old Town at 9.30pm for a ghost tour - a group of about 15 of us were led around Edinburgh by a caped guide who told us stories of ...

Arrived at Edinburgh and stayed at the Sheraton Grand. Our delux room had a direct view of the Edinburgh castle... across the street! The next day we rented a car and took off for the Highlands. I had reserved a room at a sweet B&B on the loch in Plockton. Extremely romantic. Drove to the Isle of Skye... Beautiful beyond words.