Tag Archives: Scotland

Monday, May 18 — Moving Day

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We woke at 6:00 AM. Too early? Well, for some reason it seemed rather easy to rise, perhaps because I knew we had a flight to catch.

We checked out and got our taxi easily, and then drove to the airport. I was surprised by the expense, but Dan said it was what he expected. The driver was quite nice and we understood most of what he said. There were times, though, when I was at a loss!

Getting into the airport there were a lot of people in lines. Many were school kids — we are guessing high school. They were all in matching sweatshirts with their names on the back. I wondered if they would all be on our flight. I also wondered how long it would take us to get through the line we saw since we did have to check our bags. Thankfully Dan asked at the help desk and we were told that our line was further up and there were only a few people in front of us. One of those in front had a very very red baseball cap on with someone’s name on the back of it.

For the first time on this trip we encountered a maga hat. Dan mentioned to the woman at the desk that it was the first time we had seen one and that we weren’t a part of that group. Her response? “I’m glad.” She was very friendly and clearly relieved that we weren’t maga folks. It just made me sad to see the hat. Even if one is maga it seems as if they should be savvy enough to avoid announcing it. Most countries aren’t too thrilled with the United States at the moment. Ah well.

We got through security in absolutely no time at all, and found a spot for coffee and a sweet roll. We had tons of time to wait. I’m always okay with that!

When we walked to the area where our plane was probably going to be (still not posted on the board), all those kids were there as well. I finally could see their sweatshirts and there was the name of an Aberdeenshire school, Westhill Academy, and “Valencia ‘26”. I didn’t manage to find anything else about it at the time, but I did see they weren’t going on our plane.

Finally it was time to board. This was one small plane. That group of kids probably wouldn’t have fit on to it!

We were in the second row and poor Dan’s knees were right against the seat in front — and then the young man sitting in front of him leaned his seat back. At least it was a very short flight!

I took a couple photos and Dan made a video for me since he had the window seat.

You can really see the bright yellow canola from the plane.

I pretty much spaced out and even snoozed a bit. We were on an Aer Lingus flight and even water would cost money, so never mind any drinks or food. Not that we needed them in any case.

And then we arrived.

Greetings, Ireland! Hello Dublin!

Our taxi driver was very chatty and gave us a lot of information abut the area. I could even understand most of what he said.

We arrived early to our hotel, so we dropped off our luggage and went on a walk in search of lunch. And not “not lunch” but real lunch which was fine by me since my earlier sweet roll was quite burnt. (Darn!)

We ended up in the Temple Bar area. Clearly tourist country. Our driver had told us it was a place to visit during the day even while drinks were more expensive than in other areas. He explained that there was live music and the extra cost was due to paying musicians. I’m okay with that! In the later hours it gets a bit wild and crazy (I’d already read about that as well, and one had to be careful about theft and all.)

We randomly chose a place and went upstairs (where we couldn’t hear the music at all) and ordered our meals. I had soup and Dan had fish ‘n chips. I neglected to take photos but no one really needs to see those — just use your imagination! Instead here’s a photo of Dan and his beer!

From there we did more walking in our typical random way. (The first shot is of the restaurant for lunch.)

We ended up in a shop with tons of gorgeous Aran wool sweaters as well as other wool items. Oh how tempted I was! I know it’s all about the tourists, but honestly the prices for such beautiful sweaters didn’t seem at all unreasonable and they were 100% wool. There was one long one that I drooled over. (Not literally, you’ll be relieved to read.) Still, I resisted. I wish I’d taken a photo of the green one I loved, and the men’s purple — a color I wished they’d had for women. I only took these two photos. One of the jackets and vests and the other of the fishermen’s sweaters. And who knows … maybe I’ll cave and return to buy something. They do say they are made in Ireland, and they are just so doggone beautiful.

From there we just ambled a bit.

I think we were both a bit weary from the early wake up. In addition the bag Dan was carrying was rather heavy (full of his photo gear, I think). Due to all of that we went back to the hotel to get our keys and luggage and up we went to our room. The room is spacious, and the bed is the first truly king size bed we’ve had, I think.

I looked outside our window as well.

A bit of snoozing may or may not have taken place. Just guess!

Eventually we decided to head out in the rain in search of a light bite. I did find one spot we passed rather humorous.

I had done a search on restaurants, and then pubs, but finally I realized the best way to search was to plug in FOOD. That way I’d see even more suggestions. We walked to the closest place but it was burgers and that didn’t grab us. Then we walked a bit further to a small pub but it was so crowded and we didn’t see that they served any food at all. Another place, just a short walk away, was nearly empty and looked okay, but Dan said the one he saw on my map that was only a block or so further down was rated higher so we went to check that out. And that was the spot! It was incredibly noisy, but it seemed more like a local place and we really wanted that. They had all of one food option: toasties. Well, that was something I wanted to try in any case, and it was the small bite kind of thing we were hoping for. PLUS the prices were much more reasonable. The place was full of, primarily, younger people — perhaps college aged. I’m certain we were the oldest people there the entire time! The video I shot doesn’t really show the crowd so much: many arrived just after we did, and some of the slightly older guys had left. (Older as in older than college aged, not nearly as old as us!) You might want to turn your sound way down!

Then it was time to make our (short) way back to our hotel. I did have to stop for this little guy, though:

I mean how very encouraging is that?!

We aren’t sure what’s up for tomorrow. Maybe the immigration museum. Maybe a Guinness tour. Maybe something else. So check in tomorrow to find out! I’m really hoping we get a day without rain, but I’m going to bet that won’t be the case. S’okay — we are having a great time no matter!

And now …

Oíche mhaith!

If what I just read is true, that is pronounced “ee-hah wah” … I don’t think I’ll be speaking Irish any time soon.

It means “goodnight”!

Friday, May 15

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7:30 and time to rise ‘n shine for our 8:00 breakfast here at the Altnaharra Hotel. Sleep was fine, but I’m still adjusting to the “king size” beds here — they are a tad smaller than ours at home. You’d think kings would be larger in a country with a king. Or not.

Breakfast was nearly gone when I realized I hadn’t done my photo. Why a photo? Well, it helps me remember where we were when I go back and reminisce about a trip. So here, have the remains … and my driver as well. I’ve decided he’s Driver Dan and I’m Whimpering Wife. At least for the next couple of days. I’ll just bet he’ll be happy to be back to trains and planes!

On most of the walls in this place are prints of wildlife, fishermen, highland scenes and the like. But on this one wall …!

We got whatever we needed (cameras, and warm clothes) and went on our way. First we had to retrace our final drive from yesterday, which took over an hour. (Closer to 1 1/2 hours I think.)

Here are shots up to our first destination:

I’ve written before about the passing places. Today there was one spot where some cars were stopped and no one was moving at first. Finally the red cars started to back up. But it took a while. Turned out that the vehicle in front of them was towing a huge camper (or whatever it’s called). When he passed the second red cars they had a little chat. My bet is that Red Car had a few choice words to say about how they were all stuck, but who knows? Maybe he was admiring the gigantic thing in the back. I was just amazed that someone would bring such a thing on a one lane road like this. I’m guessing it’s not advised.

We stopped when we saw this area, which was right before the small village of Durness I think:

Then, when we hit Durness, we went in search of health food. I’d seen a sign for chocolate, after all. So we went to the area (kind of a curious little spot, including this haunted house bit and some craft stores we didn’t visit). We ordered coffees and rocky road bars. Plus, because it would have been rude not to, we chose four pieces of chocolate for later.

Between Durness and Tongue we saw these views. (Yes, Tongue! There is a village called Tongue and I need to look that up sometime to see what that name is about. Perhaps the end of a loch? Dunno!)

This is Loch Eriboll. I only shot this photo because of the curious tunnels I saw. I’ve no clue what those are about. (Not sure you can see them without enlarging the image.)

Here is Tongue:

Then we had some “not rain” as we call it, since we look at the weather and it says it’s not going to rain.

Going through the village (town?) of Thurso we purchased gas and proceeded to miss the right turn we were supposed to take, so we ended up on a lot of little country roads. It was a pretty drive, though, and I don’t think it added much more than a few minutes to our drive.

And finally, we reached today’s main destination: John ‘o Groats, here we are.

Getting out of the car was a challenge: the wind was something else. We donned our warm jackets and rain jackets, as well as our beanies. I don’t believe I’ve ever been in such wind before. Despite that, we headed out.

If you watch the video perhaps turn down the sound: I have no idea how horrendously loud it will be, nor do I know if you will even be able to hear me talk!

Honestly, this walk was intense! But gorgeous, too.

A short time before we got back to the car Dan noted that the rain was moving toward us. We walked a bit more quickly, but we still ended up getting hit by the rain and then hail. In my face. Hail in the face hurts! I was just about to get to the parking lot when wind gusts were so strong I grabbed on to a post to keep from getting blown over! I was quite relieved to get into the car, wet though I was.

A bit later Dan said, “I can smell the sheep,” assuming it was due to the rain. I said, “No. You are smelling my pants!” I was wearing my wool pants, and yep, they smell when they get wet!

So from John o’ Groats our next destination was back to our hotel. These drives take a long time and we were done. Still, we had over 1 1/2 hours to get back. I took a few shots along the way, and had we had more time would have stopped for more, as I saw a number of monuments as we drove along our one lane road. I suspect it was about WWII, but don’t know for sure about them all.

In any case, here are just a few shots, the first from Thurso. (Dan took photos 2 and 3 from his window for me.)

We reached our hotel and made our dinner reservation, which took place shortly after. I had sea bass and Dan had salmon and all was delicious, but I forgot photos until our sticky toffee pudding so you only get dessert tonight.

Tomorrow is, again, moving day. Hmmm. Where will we go? Guess you have to tune in tomorrow to find out!

For now I will take my leave: my eyes are weary and even while it’s only 9:45PM here I doubt I’ll be able to stay awake much longer!

G’night!

Wednesday, May 13

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We are home quite late after a long day, but I’m going to do my best to write and post everything tonight. Otherwise I fear I might forget things (if I haven’t already.)

We woke to some of what I call “nothing music” on my phone. Turns out that when I put my sleep watch away it then plays the alarm on my phone. Normally it’s just the haptic thing I feel on my wrist. (One of the reasons I do like to use that watch and haptic is because if I’m sleeping on my side and my left ear is what should hear an alarm I simply won’t hear it — silly almost deaf ear!) We took a bit of time rising, but the noise below us was growing louder: we are right above the breakfast room, it seems!

We dressed and went down and Dan had the Scottish while I have the vegetarian breakfast. I neglected to take a photo of the breakfast room or our thrilling breakfast. You will have to use your imagination. But here — have a menu.

The four men behind me were in heavy garb and we heard their motorcycles later: the NC500 is a popular ride for motorcyclists, as Dan had told me.

After breakfast we went up to prepare for our drive. We will head south a bit today I think. The blogs and articles I’ve read suggest at least a week for the NC500, and some suggest even longer. I’m sure we won’t do the all of it, but we’ll certainly hit a lot of spots. (The actual map for the drive begins and ends in Inverness and we do end there since that’s where we return the car on Saturday, and we did start out from there as well: we just inserted Isle of Skye into the mix.)

The first map I set up for the car was to Gairloch.

We started out by heading down a street here we hadn’t yet been on.

From there it was out of the village, and while I’m not sure I should bother naming all the villages I’ll start by doing so. (I may run out of energy.)

Lochluichart:

Dundonnell (the small plant caught my eye … no clue what it was):

Laide:

Poolewe:

I’ve seen these “Elderly People” signs a number of places. They bug me. But sort of crack me up, too. Sure, I think an elderly woman who is hunched over should follow and hold on to the back of a man who also can’t stand up straight and must walk with a cane. Makes perfect sense.

We arrived in Gairloch, where we wanted to stop for what we now call “non-lunch”. We found this rather interesting coffee shop/bookstore. Lots of things about John Muir. A lot about Bob Marley, too. And a lot of anti-Trump things. We ordered scones (that didn’t really seem scone- like) and coffees. Then we found (finally) an actually NC500 map in the bookstore so we picked that up as well.

And now I’m confused because the next photos also say we are back in Poolewe. Hm. Maybe we did turn around for a bit. Or maybe my brain is befuddled. Or maybe both. You choose.

It started to rain while we were driving by Loch Maree. What a shock. Who knew it would rain in Scotland?!

There were lovely trees as we drove by Kinlochewe.

We stopped in what the iPhone says is Annat due to a mountain with snow on top that was lovely. It’s interesting to see the snow-topped mountains here. I also have seen several signs that say “Private Fishing”. No problem for us as we most definitely don’t fish.

Here are shots from Kenmore:

Arinna (assuming the iPhone is correct, but that’s the case with nearly all these images and who knows for sure?):

And we reached our next goal: Applecross. Yes, I was scared of the road, but it turned out to be mostly okay going to the place. And we say more hair coo! One even came running up to the fence, but I wasn’t yet out of the car so I missed that, as well as the running all of them did at one point. And those beasts are speedy! We also saw deer.

We thought we might get dinner in Applecross but there wasn’t much there and the one restaurant that had indoor seating had no openings at all. So instead we opted to find our way back to Ullapool. Little did I know that that was when the drive would get scary for wimpy me! I will post photos and videos below, but please know they look like a breeze. But on a skinny road with drop offs on the side and the occasional car or van coming toward you on a one lane road is SCARY. Honest! But there were also pretty views at times. So there’s that. Some of this is from the area called Kishorn, and some Sutherland and Ross

Dan indulged me and stopped (ON the road) so I could shoot this rhododendron, but I MUST get more shots of some plants, as some are so covered in flowers you can’t see anything but a big poof of color. Truly amazing. This one, though, was just so tall, so I put my phone out the window and shot looking up.

In Ledgowan we spotted a rainbow. (Later there was a double rainbow but I could easily shoot it.)

After about 1 1/2 hours we reached Ullapool. Whew. One incredibly day with scary drives and all. Dan is my driving hero!

Once we put things into our room we walked down to dinner. Nothing super special, but I told Dan he deserved his beer (and more, but he stuck to just that).

Tomorrow we again move on. We will still be doing the NC500, though. Stay tuned!

Oh … and NO stats for today. For one thing I forgot to even wear my watch but, more significantly, we simply walked very little and it’s not worth posting. So I’m not going to bother writing that I walked a measly 3,246 steps, went 1.37 miles, and climbed 3 flights. Because no one needs to know that.

Right?

G’night!

Sunday, May 10 … With Photos & Stories

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We began the day with breakfast at Redwood House. ALL that salmon they put on the plate is rather amazing. But that’s Scotland for you.

Then we readied ourselves to drive the north part of Skye, and off we went. I had set up a map and then we connected that to CarPlay. Quite handy!

I took a quick video as we headed out.

We drove first to Portree to get a few snacks since we weren’t sure what we’d find in the way of food on our drive. I’d read about the drive, about having to pay for parking at each of the places we’d visit, about the small number of bathrooms (or should I write “toilets” since that’s what they are called here for the most part), and few or no restaurants. Being as it was Sunday, I wondered if even more might be closed.

After the grocery store we started on our route. I’m getting more comfortable being on the “wrong” side of the car, and Dan is getting better at driving.

Until that huge pothole.

That really scared me! He had pulled over in the passing spot (they have these frequently on the roads here, since the roads are narrow), and at the start of that passing spot there was a hole he didn’t see and I didn’t have time to point out. (I do try to point things out sometimes, since I have his encouragement to do so.) I was just sure there would be damage, but all was well. (We did get out to check on the car.) Whew! But these potholes are one of several reasons we are encouraged to purchase insurance in Scotland!

And then … wonder of wonders! We spotted the “hairy coos”. I hadn’t expected that, since while I’d read they might be on the island I’d also seen a video of some women searching for the cows and they found it difficult to find them. Not so for us!

Next up was this little waterfall. Sweet, but when you’ve seen falls in Yosemite … well ….

One destination we knew we had to get to was The Old Man of Storr. Not that we would do the entire hike, but one never knows. We arrived, found parking (for £6 … parking isn’t exactly cheap here), and prior to starting out some sprinkling started up. We popped into the gift shop and spent a short time there, but decided, finally, to put on rain gear (including rain pants). I’m sure glad we did, although we probably would have been wiser to put everything on before the rain got harder! You can see the weather pretty clearly. Or maybe “rainily”.

Up the trail we went. It was a pretty good climb, and it really felt great to get a bit of a workout.

Photos along the way:

I wasn’t willing to do the final climb. It was just too wet, and I figured we’d done enough. I’m sure going up all the way would have been super, but I know my limits, and I also didn’t want to deal with slippery walks due to all the rain.

We then went back down a different route.

Next up was the spot below, near Lealt Falls. We saw a sign for coffee so figured we’d grab some. But first photos:

We got to the coffee/hot dog truck and they were out of hot dogs, and the coffee grinder had broken. So never mind. On to Kilt Rock.

After a short drive we found a coffee shop that actually had coffee.

Some of the houses have this great stone work:

Next we drove to Duntulm Castle.

It was tremendously windy. I couldn’t shoot flowers very well, so I thought I’d try a video. I have no clue how it will sound so perhaps turn down the volume!

Yes, I tend to like the sheep and sweet lambs.

We have to pull over at times. You can see that below if you can see the video. (Let me know if it works … I keep seeing a notice that it’s set to private but It most certainly is not!)

We drove back to Portree to see the rather well-known colorful buildings. I’m pretty sure the Redwood House (where we are staying) painted the buildings to mimic Portree. We saw some more coos there … well … stuffed ones, anyway.

As we drove for our evening meal it of course had to rain. And the sheep had to stand there looking as if they owned the road.

Our dinner … our very expensive Mother’s Day dinner … was at Monkstadt 1745 and it was delicious. I will share photos, but honestly they look rotten and it was such a fine meal!

So that’s the story of our day with photos and videos.

14,072 steps, 5.64 miles, 55 flights climbed (I’m skeptical of this last bit!)

Sunday, May 10

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We are finally home and it’s been a very long day. A good day, mind you, but so long! It’s now 10:54 and I can’t really write much because we do have to get up at a decent hour tomorrow.

I will just quickly say we did a lot of the northern part of Isle of Skye. We dealt with one whopping pothole that scared me a ton. We dealt with temperatures in the 40°s. We dealt with crazy wild winds. We dealt with rain. That’s a lot of dealing!

If I could post my photos I would. For some reason it takes time for the iPhone photos to appear on my iPad so maybe it will be tomorrow when I get them up here. I’ll wait a few minutes to see.

BUT … well … um … the best/worst story of all. Dan and I went to a fabulous (and very costly) dinner. It was about 45 minutes away from our lodging. (It’s Mother’s Day, after all … so I guess I was celebrating me or some such thing since I made the reservation. Hah!) What with the light sky it wasn’t bad getting home rather late (especially for me since I’m not behind the wheel!). When we arrived at the Redwood House (our lodging) we were busy gathering our things and I grabbed coats and the like. Suddenly Dan asks, “Where’s my bag?” That’s the bag that holds his wallet, passport, phone … you know, all that important stuff.

Uh-oh.

We looked and looked I mean we searched everywhere. Dan swore up and down (not literally swearing but you know what I mean!) Finally Dan used my phone and the FindMy app. But it was so curious. It showed that his phone was in the car. Nope. NOWHERE! I suggested it just hadn’t updated and he must have left it at the restaurant. FORTYFIVE minutes away. Sigh. I told him to try and buzz it. No sound. I finally was annoyed and said I should call the restaurant.

Gee … well … um … I was putting what I was holding into the trunk as I was preparing to give up and call when I realized there was something heavy around my neck.

Yep. Me. I was the culprit. I had picked up his bag and put it around my neck. NO clue why.

He was relieved. I was just annoyed with myself.

But I guess all’s well that ends well.

Except my pride. It ended poorly. Heh!

And darn … photos still haven’t appeared on the iPad so I guess you only get my embarrassing story and nothing else. Rats! I hope I can find a few minutes tomorrow morning to post things. So sorry!

Friday, May 8 — Our Full Day in Inverness

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Finally, sleep is pretty much normal! My “sleep score” on my phone wasn’t terrific, but for some reason the doggone watch and phone are tremendously confused about things. It seemed to now think my bedtime should be 9:00PM. It’s never been that early. Sometimes it the watch is off, sometimes not. I guess both devices have also been suffering with jet lag. Or something.

We didn’t leave our room until after 10:00. Lazy bums!

Speaking of rooms — this place, Aye Stay, is similar to a B&B, but there is not only no second B, but it appears will we never even see the owners. As I mentioned yesterday we entered the house to check in yesterday, we just looked at the list with our name and grab the correct key. Earlier, when we dropped off our luggage, I didn’t know where to put the bags so I buzzed the owners and I was just told over the speaker what to do. I think they live in part of the house, but who knows? It sounds like our supplies will be replenished (I’m hoping they replenish the little package of cookies — I tend to collect those for emergency snacks!) They don’t do much, though. It’s all very impersonal. I’m okay with that, being the introvert I am, but it just feels odd.

Looking out our window, as well as checking the weather app, I could see that we were in for another windy day with temps in the low 50°s. I’m glad that I packed my turtleneck at the last minute! It’s definitely a lot of layers day.

With few plans or ideas of what to do, we did know that first stop was coffee. Dan had found a place nearby that looked good. So after his shower and both of us getting ready, we headed out.

We both had a sweet roll (which is much tastier than a sweat roll which was what I first typed) and coffee. The Bakery was a nice little spot!

Then we walked toward the River Ness, to go visit the Ness Islands I’d read about (and where we had headed yesterday, but ended up returning before we arrived there).

The Ness Islands were lovely. While there we met a couple who chatted with us for a while, which was also lovely. They live in Scotland, although the man was originally from South Africa. They had visited the United States so we enjoyed hearing about their travels.

But back to the Islands … just gorgeous!

Saw this poster for Parsifal, too.

Then we went to the Botanic Gardens for a brief while. (Thank you, Dan, for tolerating my flower love!)

Normally we don’t eat lunch if we have a good breakfast, but while the sweet rolls were tasty we decided we should actually have a decent meal. If you can call what we chose decent! But hey, we had been to the Victorian Market yesterday and had said we’d return for lunch, so what could one do but stick to what we said.

After lunch we attempted to find a map of some areas we will be visiting. Climbing some steps, we landed at what looked to be mostly a children’s bookstore, but there was a map of all of Scotland so we did pick that up.

The bookstore is at the top of these stairs.

Then some more walking took place, passing this interesting building (I remember it from our first visit).

We had to go into Leakey’s Book Shop, having seen it mentioned numerous times.



From there we walked by The Hootananny, which had been recommended to us back in 2023 when we took our Great Glen Way Walk, so I checked and (hooray!) we could make a reservation. But that meant there wasn’t enough time to go back to our lodging for any meaningful amount of time so … okay … don’t tell anyone … we stopped at a place to have a beer. Mind you, it was merely to take up time. Honest!

Finally it was time for our dinner at Hootananny’s. The person taking us to our table was a bit harsh when I said something about the sound and my bad ear — scared me, in fact. But I guess he’s just that way. He did give us a great table, further away from the musicians. He also told us we had 1 1/2 hours to eat and then we’d have to leave the table. Fine. We could deal.

Or could we? We had placed our orders and while our drinks and appetizer arrived quickly, our dinner did not. The two women next to us got in after us and were served quickly. Hmmm.

Speaking of those women, they had just finished the Great Glen Way walk! We ended up chatting for most of the time we were there. Both live in Arizona and, now both widowed, do tons of traveling.

I finally talked to our server and asked her about our meal and my concern that we now had 20 minutes left. She assured me that we would be able to finish. Meanwhile we listened to the music. I don’t have a clue how the videos will be, but I at least recorded some bits.

And our dinners did finally arrive!

When our server returned and we ordered a dram for after our meal she did tell us we’d have to vacate the table. But by then it had been two hours so we could hardly be upset! So we got our drams and headed downstairs.

While there, some altercation must have happened, as a man was escorted out. I suspect a bit too much to drink, but who knows? I think they have pretty tight security (we saw one guy outside as we left).

We drank and listened a bit more.

I’m glad we made it to the place this time around.

Walking back to our lodging it was really quite nice out.

We spotted some people bowing on our way, and one of the players came and chatted with us a bit. Such a friendly man!

Tomorrow we move to a new destination. I’m close to packed and ready, as I like to set the next day’s clothing out the night before. We just have to go get (GULP!) our rental car. I am betting Dan does the driving as I’m not too excited about driving on the left side of the road.

Goodnight!

18,137 steps, 7.29 miles, 5 flights climbed

Thursday, May 7

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I’ll start by writing about sleep. On a train. On a top bunk.

Or maybe I’ll just write that I did a whole lot of reading through the night. I figure if I can’t sleep I may as well work on finishing my book.

But, really, the train was fine. The ride was smoother than some, and the top bunk, while needing a new mattress, worked okay. I do think, though, that it’s our last time getting this kind of room. If we do another sleeper train I’ll be seventy or older and climbing up and down a ladder that is completely upright is not an easy feat. This train has a double room and while the bed is tiny I’d just work on making myself as small as possible and share it with Dan.

We woke at 6:30 and got dressed. Oh … that, too, is rather humorous. I didn’t want to climb down while Dan was getting dressed because there really isn’t room for the two of us to get dressed on the “ground floor”. So there I am, on my back, attempting to put clothes on. I’m sure I looked hysterically funny.

Then we went to the dining car for our breakfast. We had ordered a full Scottish, nice coffee (decaf espresso for Dan, cappuccino for me), and orange juice. As has been so very typical on this trip, something wasn’t available. This time it happened to be the coffee, because their machine wasn’t working. So we both got “coffee in a bag” … like a tea bag but filled with coffee, as you might have guessed. Not quite the same as the nicer coffees we wanted, but nothing to weep about. Publicly, anyway.

As we waited for our meal (orange juice had already arrived), a younger couple (okay, okay, nearly everyone is younger that the two of us!) sat down. They were clearly speaking American English, and I think Dan asked where they were from. “California.” “We are too! Where in California?” “San Jose.” Heh … talk about coincidences. And they live somewhat nearby. Crazy!

Our meal appeared. (Darn, I forgot to take a photo of that — all I did was this “before shot” above.) Breakfast was fine, but being as I don’t eat at that time of day I couldn’t come close to finishing mine. And yes, it included haggis. And no, I wasn’t even repulsed. (I apologize to my vegetarian and vegan friends.)

Back to our room we went, preparing for our arrival. (Below you can see the pretty view from the hallway window, and the hallway itself, looking both ways.)

It didn’t take very long.

Hello Inverness!

We opted to take a taxi to our lodging, in order to drop off luggage. It was only a bit before 9:00AM and with check-in being 4:00 we sure didn’t want to be hauling it around. We quickly dropped the luggage off at Aye Stay, which happens to be around the corner from where we stayed when we did the Great Glen Way walk.

Then it was walking time. Lots of memories!

Since we missed out on good coffee earlier we went to get that. Of course it would just be wrong to have coffee on its own, so we suffered and ordered a couple of croissants. Sometimes you just have to be brave and suffer, you know?

More walking …

I thought maybe Dan would want to take the stairs you see above. Then he could return and tell me if it was worth going up. He, however, didn’t agree with me.

We eventually reached the castle. When we did our walk in 2023 the castle was covered in fencing because it was being fixed up. Now it was looking quite nice, but I can’t say it’s the kind of castle I enjoy — it’s newer than many. I like the old and decrepit ones. (Is it maybe because I can relate to those? Hmm.) We didn’t go in. They have turned it into an experience and when I saw all the stuff in the photos at their site I knew it just wasn’t our cuppa plus it was costly. So we just walked around.

While doing that walking Dan noticed a museum below it, so after the castle we headed that way.

Well, we didn’t last long! We’d both slept (or not slept) so fitfully last night that Dan hit the wall and while I didn’t feel tired I felt like I was going to faint. (That’s more likely to my having food too early in the day, and not having enough water.) So while we didn’t plan to have lunch we headed to a restaurant just so we could sit, drink water, and eat a bit.

The restaurant wasn’t worth photos or writing about, but we were happy to spend time there.

Leaving the place, we walked more, and investigated places for dinner. We had crossed the river Ness when it began to rain so we popped into a small spot for tea (for me) and, if I’m remembering correctly, espresso for Dan. No food this time. We didn’t really even need the drinks, but it was a way to get out of the rain since we’d not brought our umbrellas.

Yes, that was silly. It’s Scotland, after all!

The rain died down so we went into a few touristy shops just to enjoy the beautiful wool clothing, then did more restaurant research, and just walked a wee bit more. (Can you hear my Scottish accent now?) I loved this busker sign …

Finally it was check-in time so we aimed toward Aye Stay, passing by an episcopal church on the way that had some trees blossoming to the side — just gorgeous.

We picked up our key (no one is at this place … you just find your room number on a board and then find the corresponding key), and found we were on the first floor. So some stair climbing ensued. I believe I counted nineteen steps. I’m glad my suitcase is small. Too bad for Dan!

Our room is quite nice, and I’m not on the top bunk!

The photo above is the view from our room.

One of us then took a nap while the other started her blogging for the day.

As we were sitting in our room the wind got pretty wild. We weren’t sure if we would go back to the city center for dinner or eat closer to “home”. I knew that if that wind continued I did not want to go over the bridge.

And no, we didn’t go over. Not because of wind, though: that had died down. But we were just taking it easy, and opted for a short walk. I ordered soup of the day (split pea) and mussels. They even brought me a bowl of water with a lemon to clean my hands after eating the mussels. That was something I’ve not had before, but it was a great addition. Both my plates were from the appetizer section. Dan ordered Chicken Balmoral. All was yummy.

Walking home the church bells began. I recorded just a bit … and do excuse the video work: we were walking and I wasn’t being very steady.

The theater near us had a poster for Marriage of Figaro. Sadly we’ll be long gone by the time they get here.

Oh … side note … I forgot to mention the games my ears play when I’m in certain environments. As I was attempting (and failing) to sleep on the train there was train noise, of course. But what my brain and ears tell me is that a radio station of rock music is playing. Later it was a crowd cheering. Sometimes just people all talking. I don’t know that that’s about my bad left ear. I tend to think it’s just my brain trying to make sense out of noise. Or maybe I’m just weird.

Stop nodding your heads, please!

I think I’ll try to remember to post walking info here. I am well aware it’s not always accurate, but it’s just fun to see what my watch thinks I did. As long as it’s high enough I’ll agree with it.
18,048 steps, 7.15 miles, 7 flights climbed

Added Some Videos!

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I had nearly forgotten that on some days I did videos. I shared them somewhere (probably Facebook?) while we were on the trip, but I know not everyone saw them. So for those who are interested, there are now videos up on May 21 and May 23. I’m guessing I have more, but as I wrote, I’m only doing a few days at a time.

UPDATE: Well, I thought I’d posted the videos, but I had neglected to hit the “DONE” button so they hadn’t posted. I think I’ve fixed that now. Hope so!

I continue, as well, to add more photos. I’m guessing that’s not of interest to most readers, but since this is my way of journaling the walk I want to add them.

Final Full Day in Edinburgh

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We had a late start due to our scheduled 9:30 breakfast. Having these breakfasts is fairly crazy for me since I normally only have a cappuccino in the morning. Today I finally went lighter — toast and a small bowl of cereal. To be honest I could have skipped the cereal!

Our first destination was New Town. This is an old area but newer than the older one. Got it? We just wandered around a bit, and eventually managed to get cappuccinos (the coffee at the hotel isn’t my fave and today I tried tea but that didn’t work for me either).

Walking more, we just sort of enjoyed the sights. We did walk to Queen Street Gardens, but apparently it’s not open to the public. Ah well!


Finally it was nearing the 1:00 entry time for the Edinburgh Castle, so we headed over in that direction. We even went in a souvenir shop, which is rare for us, but we were sort of killing time. I never really find anything I want there. What I would like the most is simply more expensive than I can handle and larger than my suitcase can handle! Yes, that wonderful Harris tweed coat … and one for Dan too.

But never mind. We don’t need them and we have no room for them.

This is the pub Jameson recommended and we returned to after the castle.


And then it was the castle. Shortly after entering we bought a light lunch on the grounds. And then we just ambled about, using the audio guided tour at time. We ended up spending over three hours there.


Nearing dinner, but not quite, we went to a pub Jameson had recommended. We thought we’d be getting dinner there as well, but they stop serving food at 4PM so never mind that. Instead we enjoyed a pint. Sitting next to us was a man in a kilt. Later a man in FULL regalia walked in and chatted for a short time with the other man. It’s really amazing to see the full dress. Dan joked with the man at the table next to us that he felt a bit underdressed. Heh.


From there we went to a pub that did serve food and I had a veggie/lentil pie and was surprised it came with no crust. Dan had the fish pie and the same went for that. I’d had a chicken one earlier this last week and it was a true “pie” so I was somewhat disappointed, but I guess “pie” doesn’t necessarily mean with crust. In any case it was delicious and much better for me than fried food!

We then went back to our hotel, via a new street to us that seemed to claim Harry Potter connections. I wonder how many cities and villages claim HP in some way or other.

This is a line to get into Mary’s Milk Bar. It’s the shortest line I saw there, as it usually stretched up the stairway.
This is where we had dinner last night. I missed this sign yesterday.
Our hotel street.
The hotel entrance. Yep, just that exciting.

Tomorrow it’s a train day, as we say goodbye to Edinburgh. Time is passing far too quickly and I’m sad about that, but I know we can’t travel forever.

G’night!