Kilts, Haggis, Castles and Whisky

It was Boxing Day and we left for our adventures to the land of William Wallace, who now can be mistaken for Mel Gibson (because of the film Braveheart). We had an amazing trip with lots of stories to tell, so I’ll give you a brief outline of what we experienced in each place. (You can follow along with our photos)

York: Yes, I know it’s still in England! I had been to an audition in York recently and just loved it, so we went along to see the Tower and walk along the walled city at twilight.

Stirling: What a beautiful little city! After remembering all food at locals pubs finishes at about 7pm, we found a little Indian place for dinner. We stayed at a youth hostel and the next morning, we visited Stirling Castle, and enjoyed learning the history of the Empire all the way back to 1200, being reminded that Mary Queen of Scots was only 9 months old when she was crowned Queen!

Glasgow: Arriving at our hostel in the dark, we went in to a little alternative area out of the city, to a restaurant called The Ubiquitous Chip., recommended by one of Matt’s work friends. It was excellent food; Ros tried some vegetarian Haggis, and just because we were in Glasgow, we all tried some Whisky! Phew! Each of us ordered one from three different parts of Scotland. Ros tried one from the Lowlands, Matt from the Highlands and I tried a Bunnahabhain, which was perhaps the smokiest of them all, and boy, did it burn!

Oban: The road trip from Glasow to Oban was definitely one of the high points. We drove along narrow roads in to the Highlands, and either side of the road we could see snow capped mountains for miles. It was magnificent. Just when we thought we were in the middle of nowhere and only the mountains could hear us, a little village would pop up our of nowhere for a mile or two with a village hall, a pub, and sometimes a school. That night after arriving at our hostel, we found The Oban Inn. A gorgeous little pub that has been there since the 1600s and is now heritage listed.

Aviemore: Another couple of hundred miles north east to Aviemore, the scenery was fantastic. We saw some of Ben Nevis (Ben means Mountain in Gaelic), and met a couple of guys who were about to set out to climb it. Nevis is the tallest mountain in all of the UK at 4409 feet, which is only a bit over half the height of Mt Kosciusko. :)
Early to bed tonight, Ros and Matt both had picked up a nasty cold.

Visiting another couple of Castles on the way to Edinburgh, we arrived at Nikki’s parents place. We were completely blessed with Nikki’s mum’s home cooking, yum!
That night we went up to the street events in Edinburgh City. Even on Saturday, the weather was crazy. We saw a grown man struggle to control his umbrella, and a small child almost lifted off the ground because of the wind.
We were disappointed about the cancellation of Hogmanay, along with the other thousands of people in the UK who also had celebrations cancelled. We met up with Lou and Matt though along with Tash White and some others and watched the fireworks from Sydney on the television! How ironic!

Happy New Year.