On the long weekend in September, Cheryl, Noni and I hired a slek car to do some touring of what has become our home country. The Friday and Saturday nights are quiet, Noni and I watch Sex and the City again while Cheryl works. On Saturday evening after a completely lazy day I knew I needed to go for a walk otherwise I´d be as restless as anything all night! Great 2 hour walk, went down to the Water of Leith for the first time. It´s a stretch of water going through Edinburgh all the way down to the City of Leith (sister city Rio Di Janeiro. Hilarious.). beautiful scenery, many statues and footbridges along the way. I giggled as I watched a dog go fetch sticks from the water thrown by its owner. They both looked like they were having a great time. Edinburgh is raised on a hill from the water so when you walk under a bridge like the Dean Bridge, it´s a really lovely sight.
The next morning we woke up early and headed down to collect our rented car for the next two days. On Sunday the city branch of the rental company is closed so we headed to make our way down to the airport. Despite feeling a lot older these days, I take heart that I still have to pay a ýoung driver´surcharge. I suppose I should enjoy that while it lasts! Slight hitch, the lady behind the counter thinks to hire an automatic car you need to be at least 26. Having read the terms and conditions a million times before booking I know this is bull. She becomes adamentand rings a colleague who agrees with her. She talks us into getting a manual when another lady comes in and happily butts in to say the girl at the counter is wrong. And off we go!
It´s started raining now, and continues for most of the day, which means we do a lot of driving but not much sightseeing or getting out of the car to explore.
We head to Perth, Dundee, and Aberdeen. I am surprised (and shocked at my assumptions) at how big these cities are. I laugh at how Aberdeen looks all one colour - grey! Our drive from Aberdeen to Inverness is a lot less fun for me as I announce I am feeling carsick. Feel gross for half an hour before pulling over and throwing up, do it all again a few towns after. Yuck! I am instantly reminded of when i was younger on trips to port Pirie and having to pull over on the side of the road...I would never be allowed to have an iced coffee at Port Wakefield for years!
We arrive at inverness around 8.30pm and quickly decide we are ready t settle down for the ngiht. It´s another half hour travelling beside Loch Ness before we find a nice, safe, carpark to stay in at Drumnadrochit (this could be misspelled). We are with a few other cars and there is a toilet block ajoining the tourist office that opens early the next morning. I´m still feeling crampy from being sick so am happy to listen and heryl and Noni chatter away. We retire about 11.30pm. I´ve scored the backseat of our Astra which is cosy but had to put up with the seatbelt buckles jutting into me all night. I´m also amayed my legs stayed in a folded position for 7 hours. It´s cold but my sleeping bag and slipper socks do the trick. It´s now 8.10 am, Iäve been up since 7.30am to go to the toilet, where I´m chatting to the cleaner - she´s quite a talker! She saw us rock up last night. I check to make sure we wouldn´t get in trouble for staying in a place with ´No Parking Overnight´signs. She said they had to put those up as they were having trouble with caravaners emptying their waste into the toilet blocks and the chemicals stuffing up the pipes. Mmm. The girls are still fast asleep in the front, npo doubt I´ll be the first to drive this morning!
Spend the day checking out Loch Ness and surrounds in the AM, then heading back to Edinburgh to return the car about 9pm. We drive along the Lochs and the scenery i beautiful, especially when the clouds break - we had amaying bits of sunshine coming out. it swapped from rainy to sunny all through the afternoon. Wish we have time to stop in all the little quaint towns along the way but we have a lot of ground to cover. We do make a stop at gorgeous Fort William where Cheryl shows us a place to have afternoon tea and scrummy strawberry scones with clotted cream. I don´t think Australians get clotted cream, in my opinion there´s just something
weird about it. Could be the cream clogging my brain with fat, who knows...
After high tea, we took a walk along a creek that runs through the town, it´s a nice way to stretch our legs after being in the car so much.
back in the car we head through Loch Lomond National Park. It´s a fairly bland drive, the landscape doesn´t vary in this part as much as our drive earlier in the day. When our radio cuts out that doesn´t help the boredom either. Those not driving doze and awake to fighter jets letting off an almighty roar over our heads. It was like the Apocalyse coming and gave us a bit of excitement for the next half hour. A quick stp in Sitrling and we are back in Edinburgh, tired, smelly and looking forward to sleeping in a bed!
Looking back on this now I have left Scotland, I would have liked to have gotten off the route to do a little bit more exploring. This includes the West Coast and further up in the Highlands. Of course time didn´t allow for this, but it just means I´ll have to return to see it all again another time.
The next morning we woke up early and headed down to collect our rented car for the next two days. On Sunday the city branch of the rental company is closed so we headed to make our way down to the airport. Despite feeling a lot older these days, I take heart that I still have to pay a ýoung driver´surcharge. I suppose I should enjoy that while it lasts! Slight hitch, the lady behind the counter thinks to hire an automatic car you need to be at least 26. Having read the terms and conditions a million times before booking I know this is bull. She becomes adamentand rings a colleague who agrees with her. She talks us into getting a manual when another lady comes in and happily butts in to say the girl at the counter is wrong. And off we go!
It´s started raining now, and continues for most of the day, which means we do a lot of driving but not much sightseeing or getting out of the car to explore.
We head to Perth, Dundee, and Aberdeen. I am surprised (and shocked at my assumptions) at how big these cities are. I laugh at how Aberdeen looks all one colour - grey! Our drive from Aberdeen to Inverness is a lot less fun for me as I announce I am feeling carsick. Feel gross for half an hour before pulling over and throwing up, do it all again a few towns after. Yuck! I am instantly reminded of when i was younger on trips to port Pirie and having to pull over on the side of the road...I would never be allowed to have an iced coffee at Port Wakefield for years!
We arrive at inverness around 8.30pm and quickly decide we are ready t settle down for the ngiht. It´s another half hour travelling beside Loch Ness before we find a nice, safe, carpark to stay in at Drumnadrochit (this could be misspelled). We are with a few other cars and there is a toilet block ajoining the tourist office that opens early the next morning. I´m still feeling crampy from being sick so am happy to listen and heryl and Noni chatter away. We retire about 11.30pm. I´ve scored the backseat of our Astra which is cosy but had to put up with the seatbelt buckles jutting into me all night. I´m also amayed my legs stayed in a folded position for 7 hours. It´s cold but my sleeping bag and slipper socks do the trick. It´s now 8.10 am, Iäve been up since 7.30am to go to the toilet, where I´m chatting to the cleaner - she´s quite a talker! She saw us rock up last night. I check to make sure we wouldn´t get in trouble for staying in a place with ´No Parking Overnight´signs. She said they had to put those up as they were having trouble with caravaners emptying their waste into the toilet blocks and the chemicals stuffing up the pipes. Mmm. The girls are still fast asleep in the front, npo doubt I´ll be the first to drive this morning!
Spend the day checking out Loch Ness and surrounds in the AM, then heading back to Edinburgh to return the car about 9pm. We drive along the Lochs and the scenery i beautiful, especially when the clouds break - we had amaying bits of sunshine coming out. it swapped from rainy to sunny all through the afternoon. Wish we have time to stop in all the little quaint towns along the way but we have a lot of ground to cover. We do make a stop at gorgeous Fort William where Cheryl shows us a place to have afternoon tea and scrummy strawberry scones with clotted cream. I don´t think Australians get clotted cream, in my opinion there´s just something
weird about it. Could be the cream clogging my brain with fat, who knows...After high tea, we took a walk along a creek that runs through the town, it´s a nice way to stretch our legs after being in the car so much.
back in the car we head through Loch Lomond National Park. It´s a fairly bland drive, the landscape doesn´t vary in this part as much as our drive earlier in the day. When our radio cuts out that doesn´t help the boredom either. Those not driving doze and awake to fighter jets letting off an almighty roar over our heads. It was like the Apocalyse coming and gave us a bit of excitement for the next half hour. A quick stp in Sitrling and we are back in Edinburgh, tired, smelly and looking forward to sleeping in a bed!
Looking back on this now I have left Scotland, I would have liked to have gotten off the route to do a little bit more exploring. This includes the West Coast and further up in the Highlands. Of course time didn´t allow for this, but it just means I´ll have to return to see it all again another time.
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