Tomatin Country Inn Inverness

... off just before Aviemore onto the A938 - a completely obscure but brilliant road that took me past some beautifully untouched frosty countryside, and plenty of opportunities to pull over.



This road became the A939 soon after, and it really was so ...

... in our ears. Where was the camera when you needed it (yes, in my rucksack!). The jet was gone within seconds and I had no time at all to get the camera out of my bag.

We got back to the hostel, get showered (separately!) and then headed out to the local fish and chip shop for dinner and then to the pub next door to the hostel for a pint!

Can't get internet here tonight so I will have to upload some pictures later.

Today was a bit of a washout, in two ways actually. First, I didn't get to bed until 05:45 as I was up in the bar drinking until very late (or early, you could say). Secondly, I was woken up to a wet foot as water was pouring through the ceiling through the smoke detector and onto the end of my bed. I quickly got dressed and went down to reception and they found that someone upstairs had left a tap running and the plug in...whoops!

Aviemore, Scotland, United Kingdom peterward

... up to the room and bagged the double bed and then went into town for a walk around. Took a few pictures of Loch Ness and some of the town. Not much going on here, just a few shops for the tourists. Back to the hostel for a drink and to use the PC's so that I can upload some photos (which you may have noticed already!). Not sure what to do tomorrow???

Today is time to get back on track, I am in East Leake and I need
to get back to Scotland. Luckily Daniel doesn't wake me up too early
and although I don't set off as early as I need to, I get a good nights
sleep.
I
get my gear swapped from the Land Rover and into the BMW and get set
off at around 10:30 ...

... place so we spent quite a few hours driving on narrow winding roads until we came to Balmoral Castle, the holiday residence of the Queen. We couldn't actually see any of the castle or the grounds and the gates were locked. The visitors centre was open so we had to resort to looking at postcards of the castle. From there we headed towards the East coast of Scotland. On the way we made a brief stop at Drum Castle. This was a renovated castle, not ...

... 16 April 1746), was the final clash of the 1745 Jacobite uprising. The moor has a very sombre feel to it, and the terrain is quite marshy. Seeing the headstones of all the clans Scots that lost their lives was particularly melancholic. A side from the moor itself, which contained flags simbolizing the Jacobite's and redcoat's front lines, there is also an impressive brand new visitors centre. The centre explaining in good detail the ...

... he later related this story to a Scots couple he was told "you have to be careful in that part of Scotland". He's lucky he didn't get hit, "but then, we're not violent people". We then went on to visit Cawdor Castle and got a close up look at some Highland Cows, called Heeland Coos by the locals. Following a very interesting visit to the Glen Ord Distillery, it was back to the hotel for dinner and the night.

... cool to see the work they've done in the 3 years I've been gone. Tomorrow we plan to tour the city again...this time by taking the city tour bus...and it will be our last day in Glasgow, as Tuesday we leave for Prestwick where we will stay over night so we can catch our flight out early morning on Wednesday for Ireland. We'll be in Ireland from Wednesday thru the 10th of July (when we take a ferry to Wales). I will try my best to email as we go. I've heard from a lot ...

... and got out of the car to experience what it felt like. It was a little nippy to say the least, though the long-haired cattle grazing in the snow beside the road didn’t seem to mind.

The sun was permanently in our eyes as it plotted its course steadily sideways across the horizon, barely, timidly even, above it. Being only three days out from the winter solstice it set not long after we had lunch and a brisk amble in Inverness, where the ...