A Much Belated Trip Report - Scotland: The Land of Sheep, Roots, Scenery and Chippie Stands!
Mar 10th, 2008, 04:13 PM
#21
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Oh, and thanks everyone, by the way for your great comments!
Sheila - the little church is not right in Bohuntine but not too far away - it's on the main road in Roybridge. It was more than I ever could have expected! More on that later...
And no - we did not buy any kilt towels
Yes there is one shot in particular where the old man's gap is very noticeable - we took an "after" shot too, but I can't remember if I posted that one or not lol.
LC Boniti: My parents will be very happy to hear that they don't look their age. I tell them all the time but they don't believe me.
Sheila - the little church is not right in Bohuntine but not too far away - it's on the main road in Roybridge. It was more than I ever could have expected! More on that later...
And no - we did not buy any kilt towels
Yes there is one shot in particular where the old man's gap is very noticeable - we took an "after" shot too, but I can't remember if I posted that one or not lol.
LC Boniti: My parents will be very happy to hear that they don't look their age. I tell them all the time but they don't believe me.
Mar 14th, 2008, 12:33 PM
#22
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Enjoyed your trip report - we will be staying in Glasgow in August the last 2 nights of our trip before our flight back to the States - Did you find the hotel you stayed convenient for getting to the airport and also the sights of Glasgow? We have a 9 a.m. flight out on a Sunday morning.
Also, you mentioned getting tickets for the hop on and off bus ahead of time. Can you give the website.
Thanks Joanna
Also, you mentioned getting tickets for the hop on and off bus ahead of time. Can you give the website.
Thanks Joanna
Mar 22nd, 2008, 07:06 AM
#24
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Joanna - our hotel was in between the airport and the central part of Glasgow, so it was convenient for us, plus we had plenty of sights right in our neighborhood.
As for the hop on/hop off bus tour, I'll see if I can find the site. My computer died, so I lost a lot of the research I did. I may have mentioned the site in my planning thread so I'll have a look.
Next installment coming up.
As for the hop on/hop off bus tour, I'll see if I can find the site. My computer died, so I lost a lot of the research I did. I may have mentioned the site in my planning thread so I'll have a look.
Next installment coming up.
Mar 22nd, 2008, 07:13 AM
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Joanna - I booked it through www.viator.com.
Mar 22nd, 2008, 09:08 AM
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<b>Day 3: Glasgow to Portree</b>
This was a long and stressful day. We got up early and enjoyed another delicious breakfast before heading to the airport to pick up our rental car for 9am. We got on the road late because we had trouble locating where we were supposed to pick up the car. So by the time we got into the car and started on our way, we were already a little on edge. Dad was the driver since he had insurance through his VISA and I was the navigator. I had a route map and directions from AA, along with the road atlas we picked up the night before. Unfortunately, there were no directions on how to get out of the airport and on to the highway. We somehow took a wrong turn somewhere, not only taking the wrong exit out of the airport, but also going in the wrong direction on the highway. So we were lost right off the bat, coupled with the added anxiety of driving on the left for the very first time. We got ourselves turned around and eventually made it on the right path, but we lost even more time. Plus, Dad kept getting too close to the curb on my side and actually went over it a couple times. We also almost hit another car when moving into another lane. At this point my Mom who had been muttering under her breath the entire time in the back seat, finally broke down and yelled, “Why the hell did we ever come on this trip anyway! You’re going to get us all killed!”. Which made me bite my lip to keep from laughing. It was making Dad even more stressed and nervous, which I knew was likely to lead to more close calls, so I turned around and basically told her to shut up, but in a slightly nicer way. It didn’t work - she started making comments about the gas. I had noticed we had an almost empty tank but didn’t want to bring it up until my Dad was a little calmer, but now he noticed too and got even more stressed out.
We drove on for quite awhile looking for a petrol station with no luck. Then, according to my route map, we were to go through a roundabout and head to the right. We got through the roundabout and continued on, but something seemed wrong. If we had gone straight, we would have continued on a “highway-like” road, but we were on a very narrow road and it seemed we were all of a sudden in the middle of nowhere. I was quite confident we were going the right way, but also concerned we weren’t going to find a petrol station for quite some time on this route. Dad was convinced we were going the wrong way. Mom was sitting sullenly in the back still muttering under her breath from time to time. We drove a little further and came across Bonnie Breas Tea Room around 10:30. We headed in to make sure we were going the right way, and the waitress confirmed we were. However, my concerns about finding a petrol station were well-founded. She gave us directions to head back to the roundabout and head to a petrol station from there, and then back track to road we were on. We decided to stay for a cup of coffee - we definitely needed a break. I also ordered a scone with jam and clotted cream. Mmmmm - so good.
Once we filled up our gas tank and got back on track, we continued driving along beautiful Loch Lomond. As we headed toward Glencoe, we noticed several rainbows. Most of them were very faint, but a couple of them were strong enough to photograph. It was magical. We stopped near Glencoe and ate some sandwiches we had packed for lunch. There was a lookoff just ahead so Dad and I walked up to have a look. Mom was starting to get in a better mood, but wasn’t quite there yet. We walked partway and saw this great little waterfall. We waved to Mom to come look but she passed. We noticed more people further ahead so we walked over, turned a corner and there was a much larger waterfall. It was beautiful. I took a few shots and chatted with a photographer who was travelling solo. We headed back to the car and I could tell our little walk had made a world of difference with Dad. He was actually enjoying himself and wasn’t nearly as stressed about the driving. We tried to convince Mom to come look, but it was windy and damp and she didn’t really want to go outside. Welcome to Scotland, Mom - get used to windy and damp days! I think she felt better seeing that Dad was enjoying himself, and we didn’t hear anymore mutterings the rest of the day. She briefly saw the waterfall as we drove by, and then I think she wished she had gotten out after all.
So we forged on, hoping to catch the 3:05 ferry at Mallaig that I had booked for us. The roads got scarier and scarier, particularly once we hit the single track roads. We didn’t have time for anymore stops, but I was able to see a glimpse of this and a glance at that. We were coming back to the highlands later in the trip, but we wouldn’t be coming back to the area between Fort William and Mallaig, so I tried to take in as much as I could. I’m not really a Harry Potter fan or anything (haven’t read them - keep meaning to), so it wasn’t too heartbreaking to only see a flying glimpse of the Viaduct.
We ended up getting to the ferry at 3:15, so we had to wait for the 4:25 ferry. We made it to Armadale Castle at 5pm so they let us into the museum for half price (2.50 GBP each) since they were closing at 5:30. We sped through the Clan Donald exhibits but didn’t have time for the library. We really enjoyed it even at that pace, and were pleased to see a panel on the Clan Donalds that emigrated to Cape Breton, since they would be our ancestors. The grounds and castle ruins were open until later so we were able to explore a bit. We had the whole castle grounds to ourselves and we spent awhile meandering about and I, of course, took lots of photos. It was getting quite cold by this time, so we got back in the car and headed for Portree.
We got to Ben Tianavaig B&B shortly after 7pm. Dad is a diabetic, so this was quite late for him to go without supper. We checked in and walked down to the Lower Deck for supper around 8pm. We saw fish and chips on the menu outside and ordered it immediately rather than look through the whole menu. It was a bit pricey at 8.95GBP, but we were starving and cold from walking through town looking for a place to eat. The meal was good but not great. The chips were actually quite yummy, but the fish was so-so. While at dinner, Dad stuck his hand in his jacket pocket to pull out his glasses, but instead pulled out our room key from the Kelvingrove Hotel. Oops!
We walked back to the B&B, where we had two separate rooms - mine was a twin room on the bottom floor, and theirs was a double room on the top floor. It’s a charming spot and the owners Gill and Dave are very friendly and helpful (my trip advisor review is up at http://tinyurl.com/2uz3dd. Look for lifeofmytime’s review). We told them about our key mishap and they generously offered to contact the hotel and mail it back to them. We filled out our menu cards for the next day’s breakfast and settled in our rooms, which were clean and comfortable. All the rooms are decorated in Australian themes. For some reason I had thought I was going to have a bathtub in my room, and I was a bit disappointed that it was a shower only. Mom and Dad’s room had a lovely bathroom with a tub and shower, although the shower was temporarily out of order. Gill and David were very apologetic about that, as they had to wait a few days for the part to fix it. They didn’t mind too much. I offered to switch rooms with them, but they didn’t go for that! They had a really charming and large room, so I don’t blame them. I also offered my shower to them, but they made do with the bath tub.
We discussed our options for the next day, but most of them involved driving which Dad was not a big fan of after the day we had. I was desperately hoping he’d have a change of heart because I had really been looking forward to going up the Trotternish loop to see Kilt Rock, Old Man of Storr, and particularly Duntulm Castle. We’ll see…
Next up: My obsession with getting the perfect sheep photo begins…
This was a long and stressful day. We got up early and enjoyed another delicious breakfast before heading to the airport to pick up our rental car for 9am. We got on the road late because we had trouble locating where we were supposed to pick up the car. So by the time we got into the car and started on our way, we were already a little on edge. Dad was the driver since he had insurance through his VISA and I was the navigator. I had a route map and directions from AA, along with the road atlas we picked up the night before. Unfortunately, there were no directions on how to get out of the airport and on to the highway. We somehow took a wrong turn somewhere, not only taking the wrong exit out of the airport, but also going in the wrong direction on the highway. So we were lost right off the bat, coupled with the added anxiety of driving on the left for the very first time. We got ourselves turned around and eventually made it on the right path, but we lost even more time. Plus, Dad kept getting too close to the curb on my side and actually went over it a couple times. We also almost hit another car when moving into another lane. At this point my Mom who had been muttering under her breath the entire time in the back seat, finally broke down and yelled, “Why the hell did we ever come on this trip anyway! You’re going to get us all killed!”. Which made me bite my lip to keep from laughing. It was making Dad even more stressed and nervous, which I knew was likely to lead to more close calls, so I turned around and basically told her to shut up, but in a slightly nicer way. It didn’t work - she started making comments about the gas. I had noticed we had an almost empty tank but didn’t want to bring it up until my Dad was a little calmer, but now he noticed too and got even more stressed out.
We drove on for quite awhile looking for a petrol station with no luck. Then, according to my route map, we were to go through a roundabout and head to the right. We got through the roundabout and continued on, but something seemed wrong. If we had gone straight, we would have continued on a “highway-like” road, but we were on a very narrow road and it seemed we were all of a sudden in the middle of nowhere. I was quite confident we were going the right way, but also concerned we weren’t going to find a petrol station for quite some time on this route. Dad was convinced we were going the wrong way. Mom was sitting sullenly in the back still muttering under her breath from time to time. We drove a little further and came across Bonnie Breas Tea Room around 10:30. We headed in to make sure we were going the right way, and the waitress confirmed we were. However, my concerns about finding a petrol station were well-founded. She gave us directions to head back to the roundabout and head to a petrol station from there, and then back track to road we were on. We decided to stay for a cup of coffee - we definitely needed a break. I also ordered a scone with jam and clotted cream. Mmmmm - so good.
Once we filled up our gas tank and got back on track, we continued driving along beautiful Loch Lomond. As we headed toward Glencoe, we noticed several rainbows. Most of them were very faint, but a couple of them were strong enough to photograph. It was magical. We stopped near Glencoe and ate some sandwiches we had packed for lunch. There was a lookoff just ahead so Dad and I walked up to have a look. Mom was starting to get in a better mood, but wasn’t quite there yet. We walked partway and saw this great little waterfall. We waved to Mom to come look but she passed. We noticed more people further ahead so we walked over, turned a corner and there was a much larger waterfall. It was beautiful. I took a few shots and chatted with a photographer who was travelling solo. We headed back to the car and I could tell our little walk had made a world of difference with Dad. He was actually enjoying himself and wasn’t nearly as stressed about the driving. We tried to convince Mom to come look, but it was windy and damp and she didn’t really want to go outside. Welcome to Scotland, Mom - get used to windy and damp days! I think she felt better seeing that Dad was enjoying himself, and we didn’t hear anymore mutterings the rest of the day. She briefly saw the waterfall as we drove by, and then I think she wished she had gotten out after all.
So we forged on, hoping to catch the 3:05 ferry at Mallaig that I had booked for us. The roads got scarier and scarier, particularly once we hit the single track roads. We didn’t have time for anymore stops, but I was able to see a glimpse of this and a glance at that. We were coming back to the highlands later in the trip, but we wouldn’t be coming back to the area between Fort William and Mallaig, so I tried to take in as much as I could. I’m not really a Harry Potter fan or anything (haven’t read them - keep meaning to), so it wasn’t too heartbreaking to only see a flying glimpse of the Viaduct.
We ended up getting to the ferry at 3:15, so we had to wait for the 4:25 ferry. We made it to Armadale Castle at 5pm so they let us into the museum for half price (2.50 GBP each) since they were closing at 5:30. We sped through the Clan Donald exhibits but didn’t have time for the library. We really enjoyed it even at that pace, and were pleased to see a panel on the Clan Donalds that emigrated to Cape Breton, since they would be our ancestors. The grounds and castle ruins were open until later so we were able to explore a bit. We had the whole castle grounds to ourselves and we spent awhile meandering about and I, of course, took lots of photos. It was getting quite cold by this time, so we got back in the car and headed for Portree.
We got to Ben Tianavaig B&B shortly after 7pm. Dad is a diabetic, so this was quite late for him to go without supper. We checked in and walked down to the Lower Deck for supper around 8pm. We saw fish and chips on the menu outside and ordered it immediately rather than look through the whole menu. It was a bit pricey at 8.95GBP, but we were starving and cold from walking through town looking for a place to eat. The meal was good but not great. The chips were actually quite yummy, but the fish was so-so. While at dinner, Dad stuck his hand in his jacket pocket to pull out his glasses, but instead pulled out our room key from the Kelvingrove Hotel. Oops!
We walked back to the B&B, where we had two separate rooms - mine was a twin room on the bottom floor, and theirs was a double room on the top floor. It’s a charming spot and the owners Gill and Dave are very friendly and helpful (my trip advisor review is up at http://tinyurl.com/2uz3dd. Look for lifeofmytime’s review). We told them about our key mishap and they generously offered to contact the hotel and mail it back to them. We filled out our menu cards for the next day’s breakfast and settled in our rooms, which were clean and comfortable. All the rooms are decorated in Australian themes. For some reason I had thought I was going to have a bathtub in my room, and I was a bit disappointed that it was a shower only. Mom and Dad’s room had a lovely bathroom with a tub and shower, although the shower was temporarily out of order. Gill and David were very apologetic about that, as they had to wait a few days for the part to fix it. They didn’t mind too much. I offered to switch rooms with them, but they didn’t go for that! They had a really charming and large room, so I don’t blame them. I also offered my shower to them, but they made do with the bath tub.
We discussed our options for the next day, but most of them involved driving which Dad was not a big fan of after the day we had. I was desperately hoping he’d have a change of heart because I had really been looking forward to going up the Trotternish loop to see Kilt Rock, Old Man of Storr, and particularly Duntulm Castle. We’ll see…
Next up: My obsession with getting the perfect sheep photo begins…
Mar 22nd, 2008, 10:23 AM
#28
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lifeofmytime - Very nicely done.
I was laughing out loud when you told about your mom muttering in the back seat and finally exclaiming 'you'll get us all killed' - this is what really happens on trips. Many of us have been there done that.
Keep it coming it is a lovely read. I also enjoyed your pictures.
Sandy
I was laughing out loud when you told about your mom muttering in the back seat and finally exclaiming 'you'll get us all killed' - this is what really happens on trips. Many of us have been there done that.
Keep it coming it is a lovely read. I also enjoyed your pictures.
Sandy
Mar 22nd, 2008, 10:51 AM
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lifeofmytime, this is a great start. Thanks for posting a report. I was also obsessed with finding the perfect sheep shot, although I don't think I've gotten it in my several trips to Scotland. I guess that's a reason to go back!
Mar 26th, 2008, 04:25 AM
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I think it probably wasn't your fault you went the wrong way on leaving Glasgow airport. When we used it last year there were roadworks on the eastbound carriageway of the M8 by the airport, and on leaving we were obliged to travel west for some distance before we could turn round & head east.
Mar 27th, 2008, 04:27 AM
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Re the Glasgow airport confusion - would having an A-Z map for central Scotland/Glasgow/Edinburgh be helpful? I have an A-Z for all of Scotland which is getting ragged after using it in 2005 and a friend using it in 2006, so I was looking into buying a more specific one before our next trip.
Mar 27th, 2008, 05:13 AM
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Not sure as I've never seen anything like that - only separate A-Zs (city street atlases) for Edinburgh and Glasgow respectively and driving atlases covering the whole of Britain. A driving atlas covering the whole country will do fine (and I'd say is essential) for driving. A city A-Z is handy if you are staying in a city. Neither would have helped with the Glasgow airport problem though - that was due to temporary road/lane closures for roadworks.
