Scotland

Over here the children still have a 3 term year, with a week for mid term break, 6 weeks into each term. Obviously it allows us to travel somewhere for a significant amount of time so this is when we decided to see as much of Scotland as possible.
Ian collected me from school and we travelled as far as Whitby (on east coast of Eng) for our Friday night stay. This would have to be one of the more charming English seaside resorts, with medieval streets that lead to the harbour's fishing port. We stayed at a hostel situated on a cliffside with magnificient views, facilities and grounds. The Abbey ruins next door added to the beauty of the place. From here we were really keen to walk to Robin Hood Bay, but time just didn't allow the 1 1/2 hours to do so, as we were due in Edinburgh by nightfall. So we drove down to this quaint seaside resort with heaps of atmosphere and character and soaked up the holiday mood everyone seemed to in!!
To reach Edinburgh, we travelled on any road that wasn't a main highway and enjoyed the beautiful countryside. We could walk into the city from our B&B, which is always a bonus as travelling and exercise is often difficult to accomplish!!In the morning we explored the castle, certainly a must for any visitor. We walked the Royal Mile and other side streets of interest.
On our way out to Stirling, Ian was very keen to visit Murrayfield. The security guy let us view the field and Ian sat in the stand and visualised the A B's win in September!!!! We spent two nights in Stirling as we were keen to travel out on the Fife Penninsula and look at St Andrews. St Andrews has seven golf courses but of course the Open is always played on the Old Course - quite something! If you want to have a round, you must register your name 2 days before and if it is drawn you will be able to play at £100 a round, with your own caddy provided - mind you so they should for that kind of money!! We returned to Stirling via Perth and Dundee. We visited Stirling Castle which was more "inviting" than Edinburgh - smaller and therefore easier to visualise how it was utilised, well worth the visit. One highlight was seeing the weavers in action, recreating tapestries that were originally in the great hall.The one they are working on now has been in progress for 6 years and will be completed by June this year. The "working" kitchen was amazing. On our way north is the William Wallace Monument. He defeated the English many times but was eventually captured and quarted by them!! He was protrayed by Mel Gibson in the film "Braveheart" - a must see for us, on dvd I guess! We stopped at Pitlochry and visited the smallest brewery and further up the road, the smallest privately owned distillery. What a day!!
Kingussie was a quaint little village for our overnight stay. Our B/B was opposite a pub where we splashed out on a very upmarket meal, for us that is!! Yum! Unfortunately it was raining all the next day when we travelled around the penninsula, but we managed to visit a reindeer farm ( I wanted to take a trip to feed them but my "deer" husband couldn't bear to do such a thing!) before stopping at the Cashmere factory at Elgin. Inverness was our stopping place for that evening and unfortunately the furtherest north we travelled. Time just didn't allow us to go any further.
Luckily we woke up to the sun shining in our window. We needed this as we were travelling by many of the lochs and it would have been so disappointing if we had not been able to take full advantage of the scenery they provide. Loch Ness was the first of many and it was really funny as someone once again claimed they had seen something in the water and it was reported on the news that evening! Not us anyway! We crossed the bridge to Skye and spent some time in Portree before heading back to the mainland and up to Applecross. This is a small village, popular with tourists in the summer and it is easy to see why. It is really pretty but to drive there you have to travel over a one way pass. However in saying that, the road is good and there were many passing bays every 150 mts or so. I wanted to go there as it was where my great grandparents set out from over ??? years ago. I can see why they left as the land is extremely rocky and certainly unproductive for any substantial means of income.
That evening we decided to have a barbeque somewhere handy to our accomodation spot so stopped by Loch Carron, near Stromemore. Over here you can buy little portable barbeque packs, with everything in them except the food!!!! They are all ready to light and suitable for a one off cook up! Well we duly lit it and the midgies arrived. What a pain - I read about them in our Lonely Planet later!! It was a fairly hastie b/que!
Each day we were impressed by the beauty of the country. The beautiful white stone houses nestled on the loch shores and backed by the green hills.
Our lunch stop was at Fort William and then we had a bush walk at Glencoe before stopping at Barcaldine on Loch Creran for the night. Six miles south of here is the peaceful waterfront town of Oban. Time was running out to visit it so we travelled down there for dinner and enjoyed 2 hours of Scottish entertainment as well - highland dancing, bagpipes and singing.
Glasgow was our last stop in Scotland and unfortunately we only had one day here. It is Scotland's largest city and well worth a visit as it has a feel of vibrancy about it.Our morning was taken up in the inner city, exploring in and around George Square. Later we visited the Burrell collection. Sir Burrell began collecting art pieces of all description at the age of 15 until 96, on average 2 pieces per week and donated it all to the city when he died. A top attraction.
Our last Sunday was spent driving east to reach Gorleston by early evening.
A wonderful week but not long enough. I think we say this about every place we visit!!