Great Scot!

The long weekend in Edinburgh was wicked cool. The sun shone which made every day more fun and we explored all that we could in 4 days. We rocked up to the castle and sun worshiped in Princes Gardens, shopped around, saw some bag pipers, went on a big wheel and even visited the museum and its rooftop terrace for a little bit of scottish history.

On one of our days we set off with 500 or so others in about 10 coaches from various tour companies for a Loch Ness and Highlands tour. 12 hours later we were home having toured the highlands and seen it all - one person sick in the bus (gross Si!), pretty scottish towns, rugged countryside, many lochs, many castles and Hamish the cow. Our kilt wearing scottish speaking tour guide was fantastic and told us many stories of historical significance about various fighting clans and kings and queens and a few silly jokes about the scots being superior to every other race and the english being not. A highlight as always was the cruise where we were on the look out for nessie but had to settle for another castle. It will be fab when the tram is finished to improve the photos from the main street over the castle. Very fun trip. Bring on Germany.

Great Scot! I thought I saw the Loch Ness monster, but it was just a fat tourist taking a dip.

Seriously though, you wouldn’t want to swim there. 230m at its deepest point and with water as black as coal, it’s no wonder people think a monster could live there. Although it’s no lake Taupo, it is beautiful, and the surroundings are quite picturesque, with Urquhart castle perched prominently on its shore.

The drive up to the loch was a long one, but the scenery was nice. The changing landscape reminded me of home, and the Scottish Highlands looked even more rugged and inhospitable than parts of the South Island. We passed Ben Nevis, the UK’s highest peak, lots of lochs much nicer than Loch Ness, and our tour guide filled us in on Scotland’s sordid and barbarous history.

And what a bloody history! We heard about massacres, beheadings, and highlanders fighting naked, chopping each other into little pieces. We heard a lot about William Wallace, Rob Roy, and bloody feuds with the English. It was fascinating stuff, as we drove past lush green forests and fields, stony, barren mountains, and castle after castle.

Edinburgh was a brilliant city. With cobbled streets and Edinburgh Castle perched above it, parts of the city feel positively medieval! It had lots of green space too, and everything (except the harbour) is within walking distance. The locals seemed friendly, although some of their thick Scottish accents were sometimes difficult to understand.

We were fortunate to have beautiful weather the entire time – something of a rarity in Scotland, apparently. It was a great trip, and we’re looking forward to Germany at the end of the month.

For more pics, as always click here