Sunday, 19th April 2009

The Globus book described today as “a day full of Highland splendor”, and that is exactly what we had. The day was warm and sunny, the sky a beautiful blue, and we saw the most magnificent mountain country, and wonderful Lochs reflecting the brilliant scenery. It is hard to find the words to describe how wonderful it all was.
We started a little later than usual, breakfast at 7.30am and on the bus for an 8.30am start and headed out of Inverness to pass by Loch Ness and start heading south towards Glasgow. As we travelled past Loch Ness, Ian our tour director, had checked out whether we would have time for some additional stops to take photos, and given that the sun was shining, and we had actually left ½ an hour earlier than usual for a Sunday, we would have time for some extra stops.
The first was a quick stop to take photos of the ruins of Urquhart Castle which was on the edge of Loch Ness. Loch Ness is 23 miles long, so we travelled past it for some time. The next stop was Fort Augustus – this was where there were some locks associated with the Caledonian Canal system, and we were fortunate to be there as the locks were being used by some boats, and the swing bridge was in action. There was a mesh model of “Nessie” near the locks which I took a photo of, and although we looked really hard, there was no sign of the “monster” in the beautiful blue waters of the Loch.
From Fort Augustus, we headed for Fort William where we arrived for an early lunch around 11.30am.
We were fortunate to be able to see Ben Nevis as we left Fort William, as the sky was beautiful and clear with no cloud to obscure our view – many photos were taken of the fantastic reflections we had as we passed Loch Linnhe on the way through Glen Coe.
Ian recounted the story about how the MacDonalds were massacred by the Campbells in 1692 in this area. Ian’s knowledge of the history of the various areas is astounding, and he presents it with a marvellous sense of humour which keeps us in stitches. It has taken the Americans a little while to catch on to his humour, but they are all laughing at his jokes now along with the rest of us.
We crossed the Rannoch Moor and eventually reached Loch Lomond where we boarded a small cruise vessel and had a view of the Loch at water level. While we were on the Loch, the bus had taken the road, and met us further down the Loch where we got back on and continued on to Glasgow where we are to spend the night.
As we drove in to Glasgow we saw some of the buildings, and then went into the hotel – a Novotel one. We have a room on the 6th floor again, and once again have been placed at the far end of the corridor. However, we have a room with a shower – no bath thank goodness, so Deb is able to take a shower again.
We went for a short walk down to the main shopping area, but being Sunday there was very little to see, and few shops still open at 5.00pm. We did find a “Boots” pharmacy, and managed to get some supplies that we are running low on – toothpaste, moisturiser, etc. We weren’t sure of what we might find in Ireland, where we will be in a couple of days time. We also picked up a book for me to read on the ferry journey to Ireland, which we have been told will take 3½ hours.
We returned to the hotel, unpacked our clothes for tomorrow, and uploaded and labled the photos, then went down for dinner in the restaurant. After this it was back to our room, for me to write up the blog, then in to bed to watch TV and sleep.
Tomorrow we leave at 8.00am to travel through the Lake District and on to Chester for a walk around the town. We cross the border into Wales where we spend the night.
The weather is supposed to be fine again, so I hope that this will be the case.
No luck with the internet – the hotel’s rates are exhorbitant, and there are no internet cafes close enough for us to use them. Will have to see what we can do in Ireland.