Tuesday, July 28th
Today we started our tip to Inverness. We took the train from Singer into Glasgow and then realized we'd have to sit for almost an hour. We went out and got some sausage rolls from Greggs...think I may be addicted. Once we boarded our train the only thing I could think about were the trees.
Trees upon trees upon trees! The forests were at times very rich with them, other times you could see straight through them, but it was looking through miles of tall, skinny pole trees. Every once in a while there's the glimpse of an old territory marker in the form of these small rock walls. I honestly want to know where people get all these silly rocks! there are hundreds of thousands of them I'm positive!
At times we were on level with the road and at other times we were way above it, looking down on the forests. Without warning we would pass through tunnels, lots of them, and the pressure in my ears was unbelievable. The thing about the hills/mountains is that they feel so much bigger than they are, honestly I think it's because the sky always feels so low. I'm not sure what if that makes sense, but it definitely feels like we could touch the sky. The mountains here are around 3,000 feet tall, which from sea level is pretty tall. It's amazing to think that we live back in Utah at above 4,000 feet haha. An interesting fact is that the word 'ben' stands for 'mountain' so when you think about Ben Lomond it's talking about Mountain Lomond, etc.
The farmland in Scotland is amazing! It, along with the trees, stretches miles upon miles!
Our train stopped in Perth and we had to trade trains. It was only about a 15 minute wait and then we were back on the rail to Inverness. I was tiring watching the scenery but I couldn't focus on the jigsaw puzzles I had on my iPad. It was a terrible desire to watch the scenery but then it was trying to stay awake. At one point we passed through the highest point that Scotrail travels over, although I can't remember the name and having Googled it I can't find it.
The train station in Perth.
My sweet husband was really good about carrying my bag down and up the stairs.
See what I mean about the trees? If you look in the far left, middle, you can see there were suddenly these like black fir trees...they were weird!
We arrived in Inverness and I was pleasantly surprised at how small it felt. Much smaller than any of the other cities we have visited so far. We walked the streets for a while and then grabbed dinner at a small pub. While the food was excellent, our dessert was not so great. I think my most memorable experience was going to the toilet and seeing the condom dispenser...how forward!
Inverness Castle. We didn't go up to it on purpose, but I loved the gardens.
We had to catch a taxi to our B&B as it was wayyyy out in the middle of nowhere - which is exactly what I was expecting and hoping for. I'd never been in a taxi before so once again, a new experience.
We arrived at the Antfield House and were greeted by one of our hosts, Angela. She was a bubbly lady probably in her mid-thirties. According to David her accent was from Newcastle. She showed us to our room in this super charming farmhouse. It was built in 1890 and was everything I expected, and more! I loved the room and the adjoining bathroom. It was surrounded by all the farmland you could imagine and you had to drive down a dirt road to get to it. I loved it! The neighbors had horses and donkeys and they were adorable!
A panoramic view of our room.
I loved the details in the rooms. Especially the cute wall stickers in the bathroom.
Some of the cute details in our bedroom. I loved the wallpaper actually and the bedside tables were this really pretty charcoal gray.
We went on a nice walk before going back in and talking with Angela a little bit more. We were right outside of the Antfield House when we heard this strange buzzing. We couldn't actually see it, but I think that there was a beehive in the big trees next to the road and it was really quite eerie to walk under. We found an old ruin house and some old barns on our trek.
Some more of those rock walls ;)
I was in love with the flora and fauna obviously!
The old farmhouse I'm sure!
Looking toward the Antfield House from the opposite end of the pastures.
Some of the local cattle haha
Angela was surprised to find out we didn't have a car and after realizing where we were, I was slightly doubting our choice to not rent one. She said there was a cute restaurant called the Dores Inn about 2 miles down the road who provided free shuttle service to and from the restaurant, but that we'd probably better book a table. She very generously called and booked for us and then we retreated to our room to relax for the rest of the night.
We booked a Loch cruise in order to check out Loch Ness and then I had a lovely nice bath and we went to bed. It was going to be quite the journey to get to our destination the next day!
Wednesday, July 29th
We got up and had breakfast at 8:15 which was a very nice layout of cereal, fruit, yogurt, and then a full Scottish Fry Up. Very well stuffed we packed our bag for the day and then started our walk out to the main road. Angela had said there was a city bus that would stop for you if you stuck your hand out so we headed toward it. It was very warm and surprisingly the sun was in full force! I actually stripped my jacket and was standing around in just my T-shirt. However, then the clouds started rolling in and the rain started to pour.
Looking down the road to the Antfield House. We loved it! Blue skies and all!
And it didn't let up.
Once we got in to Inverness again, we decided to catch a taxi in order to not miss our boat and because it was miserably raining. It was very nice actually, because David had assumed it was right across the bridge (and looking at Google maps, it seemed as though it was) but it wasn't.
A bridge that we drove over that opens to let the boats through on the Canal.
Our boat, the Jacobite Queen.
Rain drops on the flowers.
We got there and got loaded on our boat. It was a very nice beginning to our journey. While it was raining it was still enjoyable. We headed down the Caledonian Canal out towards the Loch Ness. They were playing short history clips and it was fascinating to hear. Apparently Loch Ness actually sits on a fault line that separates the upper and lower parts of Scotland. The Loch was created by glaciers melting during the last Ice Age.
A monitor that showed the depth and the route we took.
We had to stop at one of the Locks along the way. Apparently there are 28 of these locks that work similarly to the Panama Canal. You load your boat in and the gates close, then the water rises, and you are let out on the other side. At this point we added more people to our boat and it was a little less pleasurable.
Approaching the Lock that we had to enter and where we gained more passengers.
A military jet that passed over us. It was so quick I barely caught a picture of it!
However, once we hit the open water it was a fascinating journey. The water looks slightly brown and this is because of the peat content in the Loch. Once you are 30 meters down it is actually a black abyss and there is minutely limited visibility. There have been 1000 documented sightings of the Loch Ness Monster, but most have been debunked. Because of how dark the water is and how cold the area is, the Loch stays around 6 degrees Celsius year round. It doesn't freeze over, but actually lends itself to some Ice Age creatures! There are fish in the Loch Ness that have been there since! How cool is that?
Fishermen on the Loch.
A huge house along the shores of the Loch.
Not sure what this was but it looks like an old boat!
You can see the blue sky taunting us.
Looking down the Loch and the mist was eerie.
Our tour took us to Urquhart Castle, which we'd had the option of walking around. Luckily I wasn't too bummed to not walk around it because of the rain, however we gained even MORE people and we were lucky to have our seats.
Approaching Urquhart Castle.
You can see how wet it was! We braved the top deck for a few pictures but it was pouring!
From what I read, this is the oldest part of Urquhart Castle.
Think it would've been really fun to walk around the ruins, but definitely not in the rain :(
One of my favorite stories that we heard was of a rock that was circular in shape and was known as the Fasting Stone. Apparently it is known that is you wanted to marry someone you could legally marry through the Fasting Stone and you would be married for one year and a day at which point if you wanted to separate you could or you could legalize your marriage through the local village leaders. I found that hilarious! Especially since it dated back hundreds of years! Just think of how many people nowadays would love for this to be real...yikes!
This is a mansion that Queen Victoria used to stay in. British Aristocrats used to come up and rent the place afterwards. It sold in the early 1900s for £1.2 million! That is insane amounts of money for that time period, and I can't imagine what that is now!
Another was a legend of how the Loch was formed. There once was a village that lived around a magical well. The thing was, the well always had to stay covered. If you left the cover off, it was known to produce bad things. One day a young mom was walking down to the well to get water. She left her young baby at home as she wasn't going to be long. While she was filling up she heard her baby start to cry and she rushed home to find out what was wrong. Only she forgot to cover the well back up and it bubbled up and over and began filling the valley with water. This is what, according to legend, created the Loch.
The oldest lighthouse in Scotland.
Not what David intended when he took the photo but I love it nonetheless, the rain was miserable!
Sadly we didn't see the Loch Ness Monster, although we had a beer in her honor!
We were picked up for our dinner by the owner of the restaurant...in his Jaguar!! I've never ridden in such a fancy car before, and probably won't ever again haha. We arrived and it was the cutest little restaurant, very homey!
The view from the window by our table. The rain started to clear up.
We ended up ordering an 8 oz sirloin steak with green beans and hand cut chips. Right after we put our order in, the family sitting next to us got their food. David was devastated to see them receive three platters of fish and chips...the fish was at least a foot in length and 3 inches thick! He refused to turn around for the rest of dinner.
The steak was DELICIOUS! We ordered a brownie with mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert and it was epically warm as well. After dinner we were meant to catch the shuttle back (unfortunately not the jaguar again), but needed to run down to the Lochside to get some of the sand on the shore (my mom has this habit of collecting sand from all over the place). When we got back to the shuttle we were talking to the driver and he said that we should've gotten the 20 oz T-bone steak. When we asked why and stated we couldn't have eaten it all, he said that lately their cuts have been coming in at 24-28 oz cuts, but you're only being charged for 20. Can you imagine a 28 oz steak??? That is MASSIVE!
Panoramic of Loch Ness at dusk. It was beautiful!
We arrived back at the Antfield House and worn out after our hectic day we went to bed directly.
Thursday, July 30th
I didn't sleep well and was up around 4 am, it was bright in the room!
This photo turned out more eerie than I expected. Basically I was trying to show how bright it was in our room but didn't succeed. the lightest part you see was actually how bright the entire room was!
I tried and tried to get back to sleep but it wasn't really great. We knew that today was going to be tricky to get everything together, so we got up early with the intention of calling a taxi to get in to our train that was supposed to leave at 9:41 am. We ate breakfast and forgot to call. Angela quickly called one up for us and while we waited I decided to go say hi to the donkeys and horses as they'd finally come back to our pasture. They were adorable!
This horse was a snot! He kept trying to eat my jacket and my bag!
This one was much nicer, but more shy of me.
The donkeys had to see what the heck was up!
The were so cute!!
I've never actually seen a donkey any color but dark. The spotted one was rather interesting.
Unfortunately, because we called the taxi so late, he got us in to town late...by 3 minutes! I think we actually watched our train leave the station but it seemed that everyone was struggling to get going that day - including the train operators. We ended up having to wait for the next train to Edinburgh losing our pre-booked seats. The wait was an hour and then all of a sudden the train was delayed...it ended up being delayed by 20 minutes! When it arrived we ran for it and just sat in any seat we found first. After about 5 minutes a family came up and said we were in their seats. Luckily there was another lady who spoke up for us telling them to sit somewhere else because no one was able to get their assigned seats because they hadn't had time to put the tickets out.
We knew that because of the delay that we were going to miss our connection in Perth as well and were planning on going straight through to Edinburgh just to backtrack to Glasgow. In a stroke of pure luck, we pulled in to the Perth station to see that the train headed to Glasgow was not in yet! We ran for it! Apparently it had been delayed by about 3 minutes and we were able to get a seat on the train. After arriving in Glasgow it was only a 2 minute wait for the next train to Singer and then home.
We relaxed the rest of the day, I was battling a headache that I believe was caused due to dehydration. I swear I haven't been drinking nearly enough water while we've been here - in fact I've hardly drank any! I think it's because it's been so cool out that I'm not tempted to drink it. We went to bed early and were definitely looking forward to sleeping in!
Friday, July 31st
I slept in till 11:30 today and immediately started drinking water. My headache had only gotten worse over the course of the night and was pounding by now. We relaxed all day and really did nothing. We did watch a really funny movie called What We Did on Holiday (I think that's the name). It was about a family that went on holiday to Scotland and while there the grandpa dies and the kids, owing to his one last wish, bury him in an ancient viking burial with the raft and set him on fire and push him out to sea. It was actually really, really funny! I headed back to bed for a nap around 3 and then David came in to let me know he would be making dinner and then headed out to play Snooker with a friend.
We made Alfredo using the carbonara sauce that we bought the other day. It turned out great and my headache was starting to ebb. I hung out with Sam and Linda for the rest of the night and then we went to bed around 10. Not a super exciting day, but not all of them can be and I felt so much better because I got through 108 oz of water today! I think I will start really pushing myself with the water for the rest of the time we're here.
Saturday, August 1st
Today we were rewarded with another nice breakfast of potato scones, square sausage, and rolls. I have really enjoyed this breakfast and it's a nice change up from cereal. We have plans to go out with Eileen and Paul for dinner and to just get out. Today is also the day that Eileen and I are going to try haggis. Yup, for real.
The aforementioned haggis bon bons.
Super nervous to actually try this. I'm so glad Eileen did it with me as I don't know if I could've done it on my own.
We lounged about for the beginning part of the day and then Eileen and Paul came to get us around 2. We had dinner at the Dumbuck hotel, where they had had their wedding, and the food was excellent. Eileen and I ordered the haggis bon bons. I asked for just a picture, but David actually filmed it for us! Our expressions are priceless and I haven't stopped watching the video lol.
After dinner we headed down to a shopping center on the shores of Loch Lomond. We debated parking and then parked in the family parking stall to the protests of David and Eileen. Paul and I were like meh, whatev. We were hanging out at the entrance waiting for David who had stopped in at the bathroom and we were still debating the fact that we had parked in the family stall. Eileen promptly told Paul, that, technically he could be my dad, age wise. He wasn't too chuffed with that and poor Eileen had no clue what karma had in store for her.
Don't honestly know what this is, but it looked like my grandpa's Polaris four wheeler! It was a two seater and there were a couple of them :)
We wandered a bit, I was able to get a really nice rain coat and then got some ice cream (a downfall, I know). We found this game machine thing and there was a £50 note in one of the prizes. What you had to do was direct a key up to the space and if you lined it up right it would push the prize through. I think we spent £10 trying to get that stupid thing and eventually gave up because we would get soooo close to it and yet not hit it just right. We walked into a bookstore on our way out so that I could get a children's book and Eileen bought me a wee owl! It's so super cute and abnormal haha. As we were leaving the lady who ran the shop stopped me and was like, "Your mum left her penny here, I suppose I'll just put it in the charity box."
My adorable wee owl! He's got some interesting eyebrows, but I love him!
My mum?!?!?!? Really?!?! Well...once we told Eileen this Paul and David wouldn't let off. Sadly I was laughing too because of the ridiculousness of it! Eileen is about 9.5 years older than I am, definitely not mom potential! We all laughed and said that if she was my mom then I had married her brother, my uncle, and the story just got more ridiculous.
David and I tonight at Lomond Shores.
So here we are now, I'm working on my blog, everyone else is watching the national lottery. Fingers crossed haha.
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