Another day trip

 We went on another day trip today. It was only 10 hours long and in a 16 passenger Sprinter van. An extremely good driver/guide.

The pickup location was 30 seconds from our hotel.

We stopped near Stirling Castle but didn't go to it. Too bad. It is supposed to be good.

Next was what was left of Doune castle. Originally it was the home of the Duke of Albany. Neat castle with a great audio guide. The castle is small and has been in quite a few television and film shows. The only one I am familiar is Monty Python Holy Grail movie.I didn't get any decent photos there.

Our next photo op was Loch Lunaig. A perfect spot for photos.

Another photo op was Kilchurn (pronounced Kill Hearn) castle ruins.

This castle has been a favourite photo location since the time of Queen Victoria.

We arrived at the highlight spot of the day. The family home (still used) by the Duke of Argyl. A stunning home with beautiful grounds, it was worth the price of admission ( and the family lives in the basement and uses the admission dollars to keep up the "house").

Next a highway viewpoint. The weather was starting to get worse but even then the scenery was magnificent.

The final stop was the cottage town of Luss. A small, beautiful town located on Loch Lomond. We particularly liked the church with the old tombstones.

Back at 1830 so we went to find a restaurant that served a local delicacy, "cullen skink" soup. We each ordered a bowl of the soup (it really is just a haddock based chowder), I had a pint of local draft beer and Caro a small glass of another local beer. With a 10% automatic tip the price was $48. Ouch! The pub was built in 1863  and it's decorations haven't changed. It was hopping busy too!

Back to London tomorrow.

Drove through Callander like we did yesterday. We didn't stop however the guide stayed that this town was where the Thomas Cook travel agency started so I found that interesting.

Tour to Glencoe and Loch Ness

 Today was a twelve hour day which started with us walking about 1.6 Kms to  the pickup location.

This tour was absolutely fantastic with both the itinerary and the driver/courier (same person). The fellow was really engaging with lots of jokes throughout the day, really informative history and a few extra stops not shown on the tour manifest. We were having such a good time that he had us singing by the time we came back into the city ( 500 miles- The Proclaimers). He said we did 350 miles today.

First off we saw Stirling Castle ( just a fly by on the highway) followed shortly afterwards by a fly by of the battle of Bannockburn.

First stop was the town of Callander- cute little town.

A photo op or two later we arrived at Glencoe. It was just as beautiful as I remember from 1980. I had wanted to show Caro the Highlands ( especially the Glencoe area). It was cool and windy but no rain.

SO MANY beautiful locations to take photos!

We arrived at Fort Augustus  (next to Loch Ness)  about 1:30 and we had chosen not to go on the on lake catamaran tour so we we had plenty of time to explore. The wind was quite strong and cool so after taking a few photos of Loch Ness we walked the small town and then went to a restaurant where we shared a plate of fish and chips.

Three boats needed to use the canal locks so we got to watch the process as they completed one of the series of locks.

A final stop ( in the dark) was at a beautiful Victorian resort of Pitlochry.

The driver suggested we try the whiskey infused ice cream which was pretty good ( but not exceptional).

As we loaded onto the bus for the last time the driver asked all of us for a  song each which he immediately downloaded and we listened to favourites of any of the passengers who chose to recommend something.

We arrived back to pouring rain but only had to walk half the distance of this morning.

Saturday

 Last night after I posted the daily blog we went to Calton Hill ( right next door to our hotel). It is "the" place to get night time photos of the old part of the city.

Today we woke up to a horrible weather day with rain and heavy fog for the first half of the day. The second half was overcast except for a micro-second around 3 PM when the sun shown.

We had tickets to enter Edinburgh Castle at 10 AM so off we went. I took the following photo beside a cannon. The city below is hazy because of the severe fog (I also like black and white photos!)

The castle was phenomenal and we took three hours to go through it. Super interesting.

Inside the castle.

I took this photo tonight while out walking the final few of the 15 kms we did today. The castle is on the hill in the background.

After seeing the 1 o'clock gun fired we left the castle and were back walking.

A shared plate of fish and chips later, we headed back on the Royal Mile to Holyrood Palace. Wow, interesting, fascinating, history loaded place. Another great place to see.

This is a photo of a photo because my photo was terrible.

A photo of a church with the castle in the background.

Tonight we decided to have a Scottish delicacy.........Burger King.

We redeemed ourselves by stopping at the local convenience store and buying a local cider ( for Caro) and a Scottish beer for me. We did the same last night but this time we chose different brands.

Tomorrow we are up early for a 12 hour trip to Glencoe and the highlands.

To Edinburgh by train

 After a fitful night of sleep we enjoyed the continental breakfast again before checking out.

We used the Tube to get us from Victoria to King's Cross railway station. We arrived in plenty of time to get our 0930 train.  At 1415 hours we arrived in Edinburgh. The trip up had been great with some wonderful city scapes (especially Durham and Newcastle). Also we were right beside the ocean for part of the trip.

We made our way up to our hotel (for the next four nights) and were extremely pleased with our room ( about three times the size of the London one). A beautiful place right below Calton Hill.

We were off exploring the Royal Mile soon after. What an amazing city!!!

 

We also explored St.Giles cathedral. It is one of the prettiest we have ever seen.

Tonight after I post this we are going out for supper. We had a wonderful day.

Tour day

 We were asleep last night at 7 PM and woke up at 0630 having been awake a couple hours in the middle of the night.

The hotel had a continental breakfast at no extra charge so after a quick bite we were out the door at 0720 and walked to the tour pick up location near Victoria station.

The bus left right on time at 0800 and an hour later we arrived at Windsor Castle to a scene of organized chaos. By the time our tour group got its tickets and we passed through security we had only an hour to tour. Caro and I skipped the lineup for the free audio guide and just hoofed to the highlight areas. These were the state apartments and St.Georges chapel.

The state apartments were wonderful and St. Georges was gorgeous. Caro had watched the Queen's funeral which took place in the chapel so she told me as much as she could regarding where the casket was etc.

The stop was wonderful but two hours too short (and the miserable weather didn't help).

On our way to Stonehenge we passed the Royal Ascot race track. Neat!

An hour and 20 minutes later we arrived at Stonehenge. Gee, it looks exactly the same as when Charlie and I came here 42 years ago! The stones are the same but the visitor centre is three kilometers away ( however there are free shuttle buses to and from). We were able to walk around the henge in 20 minutes or so.

The tour carried on towards the city of Bath going through a beautiful area called the Cotswolds (I believe). In Bath we did not go with the majority of the group as they went to the Roman Baths museum while we preferred to walk the down town. What a pleasant surprise this place was. I hadn't really expected much and we were only there because the tours to Windsor Castle and Stonehenge also went to Bath. We walked along the river bank,ate a Cornish meat pie pastry and used our time well.

The bus ride home took 2.5 hours making the day a long one at 12 hours. We were let off at a different location than our pick up spot however we are very familiar with the Tube and were soon back at Victoria station. On our way back to the hotel we picked up some snacks and relaxed for a bit before going to bed.

Back to London-Oct18/2022

We are back in London.

As a suprise for Caro on her 65th birthday I got us tickets to London and Edinburgh. Caro had regretted not seeing Windsor Castle and Edinburgh last time we were here so this was a good opportunity to go.

The flight from Calgary seemed looong!

We left Calgary at 9 P.M. and arrived at Heathrow at 12:30 noon on Wednesday. Immigration was super easy with their electronic entry system.

We picked up new Oyster cards and were soon on our way to Victoria station and then checked into our nearby hotel.

Off we went to Buckingham Palace and surrounding area but by 4 P.M. we were wiped out so we walked back.

Supper was at a nearby pub and we shared a fish platter plate. Yummy!

 

The Grizzly Run happens

Everyone was up early to go to the Canmore Nordic Centre. Actually I don't get a big thrill out of watching a mass start so I didn't go. 

Vanessa, Caro, Lisa and Beckett came back to the apartment after Nathan completed the first leg (and started the second)  as Beckett needed a nap, meanwhile Nathan carried on.

Nathan was running very quickly so Vanessa went back up to the Nordic Centre as she was going to run the third, fourth and fifth legs.

I spent the time at the apartment planning out more of the upcoming England trip.

After Beckett woke up we all went back up the Centre to watch Vanessa complete the third leg. She was really struggling and took longer than anticipated to come in. We cheered her as she returned to the transition area (for a break) and started the fourth leg. At this point we headed back for Beckett to have his second nap of the day.

Nathan informed us (by phone) that Vanessa's feet were giving her problems and she was going to stop after the fourth. As Beckett was still sleeping I stayed behind while Caro and Lisa returned to watch Vanessa come in.

Supper was at Boston Pizza after a couple other places first did not have room for us.