Suitcase & Sandshoes: Scotland

Sunday 13th July- Glasgow

We arrived in Glasgow on Sunday 13th which was just in time for the final of the soccer World Cup between Argentina and Germany, unfortunately the wrong team won! We stayed our first time in a Jury's Inn, it's a reasonably priced chain of hotels and the experience was great, good sized rooms, free wifi, with all the required comforts for £67 (the reduced rate for the time do day it was booked)

We ate and drank at the Wetherspoons pub, an American style pub chain, that serves American food - average, drinks and lots of big flat screens. We left shortly after kickoff as really, our interest level was not there. We decided to find an off licence, buy some grog and go back to our room and do the (previous published) blogs.

Well, remembering I said it was Sunday, and our previous experience had required us to only have money to pay for said alcohol to be able to procure it, now, apparently because it was Sunday, we had to search high and low for an open premises in which to procure said drink!

After wandering, seemingly aimlessly for 30 mins or so, we found a Texeco which had cold wine, cold cider, cold mixed drinks and warm beer!...it was still on the shelf?? After suitably chastising the poor unbeknown staff, Greg settled on a bottle of red wine and Cadbury dark chocolate. Go figure! Greg diligently wrote the blog, I adding photos and published. We drifted off to sleep.

Monday 14th July - Glasgow, Fort William, Loch Ness

NO cooked breakfast today, (our choice......yay) a quite miserable day, weather wise. We packed the bags, headed to the car and went to catch the big red bus for Glasgow. Now, I know this is an industrial town, I know it was a fairly miserable day, but I thought it was a really underwhelming city! It was one of the worst hop on hop off city sightseeing bus trips ever, worse than Sydney's RTA building tours! Don't get me wrong there were interesting parts, there were a few roads closed due to commonwealth games preparations, but commentary was lacking, drivers unhelpful so guys, get your act together.

Well, after the bus, it belted down! Finally, after four weeks over here, we were experiencing the UK weather we expected! A walk around the town was cut very short, so went back to the hotel and decided to move on. In the rain, better off in a pub or a car....on this occasion, we decided we would head for the famous Loch Ness...

The drive from Glasgow northwards was impressive. Whilst we stayed on the main road this time, the outlook was mostly brilliant. To start, the highway runs along Loch Lomond, which is very scenic. So, in the rain we drove on staring in amazement at one spectacular view after another. But so much more was to come....

We drove aside Loch Etive, Loch Linnhe, Loch Lochy through Fort William, Fort Augustus and then Loch Ness. Throughout, the valleys containing these massive expanses of water are dwarfed by massive and imposing mountains. Mountains so steep that you cannot look up at them for the car. You have to stop and try to take it all in. And so, regardless of the rain and cold, we willingly joined the throng of other tourists to try to absurd the surroundings. There was even snow still on the tops of the mountains...the locals can't believe this is the case in July!!! The towns and villages along the way were simply wonderful. Brilliant. We arrived in the township of Drumnadrochit, which is about half way along Loch Ness (at its widest part, one and a half miles) and found a B&B named Woodlands, run by a fella who used to live in Australia. A little more expensive, but very nice. Dinner at the Loch Ness Clansman Restaurant, overlooking the famous stretch of water, and a couple of scotches, put the seal on a great day!