Today was really just LOTS of driving.
Heading from seeing Hadrian’s Wall in Bardon Mill and traveling North to Loch Ness.
Hadrian’s Wall is another ancient wonder that was surreal to see in person. Several of our hostel companions, none of them young, are walking along the entirety of Hadrian’s Wall: 135 km!
In fact that was the greeting I received several times: ‘Are you walking?’ Once I discovered what they REALLY meant by that question, I muttered ‘no’ and felt like a wuss.
So like I said, BIG day of driving.
Thankfully the breathtaking Highland’s scenery made the length of the drive bearable.
The highways in Scotland are a lot slower than what I am used to as they transition often between dual and single carriage ways and hence the speed limits vary a great deal. Go with this expectation and then you won’t get so frustrated.
There is not much in the way of pit stops for petrol between Inverness and Perth, we discovered. We were starving!
My first impression of Loch Ness is that it is massive! Our hour long cruise with Cruise Loch Ness started as you would expect with the generic audio guide. But then the skipper had us come below out of the chilly wind.
There he showed us the boat’s sonar system (3 screens) and explained what each one showed. He began with the history of the Loch Ness monster, weeded out the hype and fraudulent photos and then brought us back to the first iconic image taken. He had us look at that image in its entirety, not just the cropped part. He told us personal stories and displayed sonar photos of his encounters with huge living beings registering on the sonar there. We were entirely transfixed! As we disembarked, I was singing ‘ I’m a believer’.
After grabbing some provisions, we came to our home for the night ‘Glamping’ at Bearnock Country Cottages.
While the latest dinner we have ever eaten (10:30 pm with our previous food intake being at 12:30!!!!! Like I said, no pit stops on that road!) was cooking, we explored the area. It really was just lovely, with a small black river gurgling past, lots of white rocks on the beach for the kids to throw. I really like the idea of these hobbit houses. £40 gets you a hobbit house which sleeps 3. We didn’t know that bedding is not provided, so we purchased sleeping bags for £2 each and used our travel pillows and travel towels.
We were in 2 units in either side of some middle aged motorcyclists from Naples who were lovely but sang with gusto late into the night.
After twice accidentally stealing our Dutch neighbor’s milk at breakfast (both times he politely retrieved it) at breakfast, we sat out near the river and enjoyed the serenity.
This is a hostel so the bathroom facilities are shared. Each toilet was self contained in its own room which was nice. Not the showers though.
Another day of driving towards Edinburgh on a road we already knew had no pit stops.
Unfortunately we bypassed stunning Highland cows and Stirling castle to go via Auchtermuchty to see the ancestral family street.
A pretty little town in the kingdom of Fife.
We had to go right off the route to find lunch and we ate at the McDonalds in Perth. The only reason this is interesting is that I think the entire high school population arrived and lined up just after we got our food. I have never seen anything like it.
We have been blessed with fantastic weather for our Highland drives. The folk we met at the hostels encountered torrential rain. From the flushed faces of the teenagers at the Perth McDonalds, I think they are actually experiencing a near heatwave at 23 degrees Celsius. It was perfect weather.
We drove through Edinburgh with little angst and were beyond thrilled to find our Old Town Airbnb house is gorgeous. It is right in the heart of the action on Grindlay St. 10 minutes walk from Edinburgh Castle. A couple blocks from 3 grocery stores.
Our sweet host had left us a welcome gift and said he will stock up the Nespresso pods while we are out today. Oh boy! Coffee!!!
We unpacked for a few days and then I went shopping for groceries. Grocery in new places is such fun, I think! Lots of different brands and products available. I spent ages perusing!
PS: I think I originally said our London digs were through Airbnb. Wrong! It was through a similar website called House Trip.
Dory the Explorer 