WT - Scotland Trip East

Early Saturday September 24 2011 Ronnie, Shane and I headed for Scotland - we had a very rough plan of action, visit Edinburgh, Inverness, Loch Ness and the Scottish Highlands and of course as much in between as time permitted. We were to be back no later than Monday evening until Shane advised that our Tuesday appointment had been moved to Thursday which gave us an extra day since we also had a Wednesday appointment, allowing us till Tuesday evening.

Originally Louise was to come with us but unfortunately she was not feeling up to the trip as it would mean long stints in the car. (Louise has very damaged vertebra in the lower back and is quite severely incapacitated) Louise had done really well to keep up with us to this point but to push any harder could have long term adverse effects and so she opted to stay home and enjoy the trip vicariously through Shane and the blog.

Along the way to Edinburgh we enjoyed the country scenery and also stopped to take in some historic sights such as Historic York with it's famous "York Castle"

The odd snapshot from the car of various buildings in villages as we passed through - from my camera.

The following pic's taken with Ronnie's camera start in York and go through to sunset on the coast near Edinburgh.

Ronnie with York Castle in the background

 

We were only a few miles (yes miles not kilometres and the old brain is seriously taxed with the conversion) from Edinburgh when the sun set, no problem we thought.... may as well keep going and find accommodation in Edinburgh.

I have to say that I had absolutely no idea how popular Edinburgh is, there was not a room to be had at any price and I mean we were surprised to find Holiday Inn (very cheap in Canada) at 199.00 pound (in Scotland) for a single room - no vacancy, Travelodge  at 30.00 pound per person - no vacancy. Finally at about 22:00 we heard of a place, "Aaron Lodge" on the outskirts of Edinburgh that had some rooms (off the books of course) for a little cash in hand we were fixed up for the night... in the smallest digs to date (shared communal shower and toilet etc. but it was clean). The room was so small we had about 12 inches (30cm aprox) down one side of the bed which was hard against the wall on the other side.

As can be seen from the photo's taken from one end to the other of the digs, pretty small! Well! it was well after midnight before we were fed and ready for bed. I am absolutely loving this... because this is what adventure is all about.... It's not the well planned and executed events that make the best memories but rather triumph over adversity, albeit a minor inconvenience on this occasion:)