Inverness

Our drive to Inverness (Inver or Aber: Mouth of a river i.e. Inverness and Aberdeen being towns on the mouths of the rivers Ness or Deen, repectively) was initially meant to start with a layover in a town on the way then continued the following morning so we could appreciate some of the countryside we were travelling through. This quickly changed when every small town we turned off to, with their thick fog and small windy rural roads, reminded us more of the Blair Witch Project than a safe haven to sleep. So we decided to endure the dark, narrow and windy mountainous roads all the way to Inverness. With the added obstacle of British drivers not knowing what a low beam was and Kayla's incessant "are we there yet" I survived the drive (grey hairs swiftly plucked). Our first introduction to Inverness was dinner in the BP parking lot followed by a street sleeping spot that "appeared" quiet (until some merry friday night locals banged on the van asking "anyone there"...).

The following morning we revisited our friend, BP parking lot, for breakfast and gave the car a long overdue radiator check. The results were concerning, being expert mechanics..., so we decide to book The Van in for a check. Unfortunately this couldn't be done until Monday so we were forced to indulge ourselves and book into a B&B (that's a Bed & Breakfast for those use to staying in hotels). 

While waiting for the B&B to be available we decided to check out Loch Ness. We got photos of Nessie but I forgot to take the camera cover off... honest... We turned out to become lost but lucky. On the way we saw a sign for a forest refuge we thought would be worth checking out and headed off down another Scottish windy one lane road, passing farms, mountain vistas and mad Scottish cyclists thankfully finding our way back to Inverness. It was an amazing trip. We had no idea where we were (limited google maps told us we weren't in Spain) but the leisurely drive was perfect for a Saturday morning and one of those moments you can't plan for but will never forget.

We spent our first night at the B&B and it was fantastic. We dined, wined and burped like the Scots! It was our first time since we had arrived that we could cuddle together and it made it much more special. Our dreams were filled with the plan for tomorrow where we were going to visit Glen Affric, reportedly the most beautiful glen in Scotland (and only a 15km round trip).

Our day started early with an amazing breakfast and a scenic drive past Loch Ness toward Glen Affric. After driving for ~45mintues we arrived at the  parking lot ready for our adventure. We went prepared with our ponchos on  (and one glove for Kayla... due to it being lost... the culprit is still at large) due to the incessant but delightful rain. Our walk started with wonder as we were immersed in such a variety of scenery that we had never experienced before, constantly pausing to appreciated snowy mountains, ferny gullies and to stab our walking sticks through iced over puddles. A few miles in we came to a cross road, one leading over the mountain and the other along the loch. We decided to follow the loch, based on brief google research, until a few more miles in we found the loch didn't seem to ennnndddddddd. We retraced our steps and Kayla decided that the path up and over the mountain "felt like the right path" instead of heading back the way we came. Initially this felt right as again the scenery continued to change  and finally the sun was shining.

When this new route lead us instead to an industrial logging camp we started to have doubts, even more so because we hadn't had GPS/Google maps since starting and had thought at the start of the trek that we would pick up the trail map at the end as a souvenir. We had started at 10:30am, it was now 2:30pm and it would get dark around 4pm with us not even knowing if we were heading in the right direction. Thankfully, due to the logging that was happening we were able to get a GPS signal to determine we were heading back to the car. An hour later we finally arrived back at the car park for our final surpirse.. we had parked at the wrong location as well as taken a wrong turn making our 15km walk closer to 25... What an adventure.

After a fantastic dinner and an even better sleep we woke early to take the car to the mechanics (and found Kaylas other glove). After dropping it off we spent a leisurely morning wandering Inverness city once again until we received a call to let us know the car was all OK. From here we headed to Fort Williams.

Along the way we stopped in at Urchart castle that was in many ways as inspiring as Edinburgh castle due to it's history. After a couple of hours immersed in this ruin where you could appreciate, when it was in it's prime, the amazing view the previous residents had. We continued on to Fort William, taking our time, appreciating the mountains, forests, waterfalls and rivers at every turn. The day was made as we approached Fort williams and were witness to the amazing spectacle of Ben Nevis, the tallest (and for us, snowiest) mountains in the UK.

Being Christmas eve we decided to splurge and stay in the local Cruachan hotel with a warm atmosphere and views of Ben Nevis. Happy Holidays!! We spent a relaxing christmas in the shadows of Ben Nevis in preparation for the adventures to follow.

Edinburgh

Englands motorways gave way to Scotlands highways and the views just kept getting better as we drove to Edinburgh. 

On the way we had a brief stop over at the border which wasn't brief enough due to howling winds and freezing temperatures. Next we called in at Jedburgh to view a ruined cathedral and visited the tourist information where we met our first real life Scotsperson... in Scotland. Unfortunately for a brief moment we were ashamed to be Australian after over hearing another Australian laying it on a bit thick and living up to the stereotype... I've never actually thrown a shrimp on the barbie mate!

When we arrived at Edinburgh our first impressions were of streets the could have been straight out of a Charles Dickens book, cobblestone roads and  classical architecture. This was quickly overshadowed by Edinburgh castle, which was everything you would expect a castle to be. Within the castle we participated on a guided tour giving a brief history lesson of the main buildings followed by our own wanderings of each building and great views of Edinburgh city. We were lucky to see the Scottish crown jewels (no longer used) but more importantly the Stone of Scone (or Stone of Destiny). We were told that Scottish kings would sit on this bit of sandstone, during their coronation (no gold crowns etc, initially), to signify they would protect the people and the land beneath their royal bottoms. This was later stolen by the English and for many years was beneath the throne English kings and queens were coronated on. It has since been returned to the Scottish but gets taken out if a coronation takes place. Another area that was humbling was the building that is now the Scottish National War Memorial, which houses leather bound books containing the names of Scotsmen lost in the service of their country. Our 2 hour visit (we were on a parking meter time limit) came to an end far to quickly but we enjoyed every moment of it.

After this we booked into a local caravan park and finally enjoyed a hot shower followed by a bus trip back into the city on our first double decker bus. After enjoying tapas at a local Spanish restaurant, we wandered the streets, taking in this new city. The following day we revisited the city briefly but due to poor weather [Ed: and after Glenn spent 4 hours on the internet at starbucks] we headed home soon after. Attached to the caravan park was a local pub where we enjoyed our dinner next to a roaring fire while trying the local beer (Edinburgh Gold) and chatting to the locals.

Our final day in Edinburgh involved packing up camp and then having our last wander in the city. We walked the Royal Mile and checked out many shops including a tartan mill in the hopes of getting a kilt. Unfortunately the real deal is real expensive and we didn't want a cheap tourist version. From here we left Edinburgh headed for the Falkirk wheel but at the spur of the moment decided to continue on to Inverness. In hindsight this was a more stressful option due to the lack of street lighting, mountainous roads and crazy scottish drivers we had to endure on our night time (4pm...) drive north. Thankfully we arrived no worse for wear in another new city. 

Kenilworth Castle & Hadrian's wall

After finding a service station to stop and have dinner at, a nice quiet street to sleep in and another service station to have breakfast, we made our way to Kenilworth Castle.

Being our first castle we were taken back by the size, something you don't appreciate until you see it with your own eyes. We were provided with audio guides which gave us  a wealth of information. One area that is covered quite thoroughly is the differences in architecture used throughout the Castles history. For example, later additions used large windows to allow light in compared to the narrow windows used in less peaceful times. We were also informed of the various kings who lived here, what life was like on a daily basis and how the castle areas were layed out, such as the kitchens and ballrooms. Along the tour we stopped in what used to be the grand stables to enjoy a hot chocolate and listen to medieval performers playing old Christmas songs using original instruments, occasionally in latin.

After Kenilworth castle we had intended to visit various other heritage sites but discovered most were closed during the week at this time of year. So on to Hadrian's wall we went. On the way we came across a hobby craft superstore much to the delight of Kayla  and even more so after she purchased half the store. So in due course we were back on our way to the caravan park near Hadrian's wall.

After the caravan park in Bristol, the facilities here appeared to be fantastic until Kayla discovered the showers were cold and when we went to refill our water supply the water was slightly green... Nevertheless, the view was great and the weather the same, albeit cold, for this time of year. The following day we were up early to walk 6 miles of Hadrian's wall, which also turned out to be some of the highest. It was well worth it with amazing scenery, fresh air and a wall protecting us from those darned Scots! Our reward at the end was lunch at the local pub after which we had hoped to visit the nearby Roman Vindolanda fort but this was also closed. So we decided Scotland seemed like the place to be so off we went.

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