Sheep, Sheep & More Sheep

Sheep and lambs at East Dean


"Yes? Can I help you?"

"What's that?! It's my tail!"

New & Updated Scotland Photos

Thanks to the internet I'm now able to bore, I mean reach, people across continents with photos. I've added some new shots and replaced some of the ropey ones taken on the mobile


Stream at Drumnadrochit

A few more photos of Urquhart Castle...

Views of Loch Ness from the grounds of Urquhart Castle

Southern tip of Loch Ness, near Fort Augustus

It's that viewpoint near Loch Ness again. Gone for the Athena look this time

Looking east from viewpoint

View across Cromarty Firth, approx 15 miles north of Inverness

Loch Fleet, approx 6 miles north of Dornoch

Dunrobin Castle

Heading south on the east coast road between John O'Groats and Wick

Helmsdale Harbour

Dornoch Castle Hotel. My night shots are definitely improving, now they're just badly exposed instead of hideously exposed

Dornoch Cathedral, Scotland's smallest Cathedral

Home Again

Arse!

Back to Inverness

Hmm, bit odd. Antlers 10 feet up a lamp post, Dornoch

Unfortunately we didn't have time to explore Dornoch further as we had to return the car to the cow shed by midday so we drove directly to the airport. We'd driven over 366 miles in total. We got a cab back to the city centre (courtesy of the grumpy taxi driver I mentioned in my first Scotland entry) where we dropped our bags off at the B&B and had a wander round town. Inverness itself is pleasant enough but doesn't really warrant much time being spent there. The castle is modern by castle standards. It has a small area open to the public and the rest is made up of council offices. We'd been spoilt by Urquhart!


If you ever need an official portrait of your cat, this place in Inverness looked very professional

Had a quiet day and evening in preparation for catching the 7.55am train the next morning. Had our first Scottish steak which was ok but nothing special, should have splashed out and gone to the fancy restaurant next door! (where a fillet was an extortionate £24).

We plan to return to Scotland and hope to see the west coast next time. The east coasters we spoke to admitted the west coast has superior views so they must be absolutely outstanding. Better start saving now...

Thurso to Dornoch via John O'Groats

We headed east out of Thurso stopping at Dunnet Head, the UK's most northerly point, about 10 miles away. On the road up to the Head we saw our first Highland cows (with calves for the total "aah" factor).


Ahh, bless 'em. Highland cows (a scene we'd conveniently forget later when ordering beef chow mein)

The sea and cliff views were impressive although it was a bit too windy to hang around for too long. It was definitely worth seeing though; for approximately 15 seconds we were the most northerly (and windswept) people in the UK!


Cliffs at Dunnet Head


View towards John O'Groats from Dunnett Head

10 miles on we came to John O'Groats which was a bit of a disappointment. It's basically a car park with souvenir shacks. Also, the famous John O'Groats sign post is privately owned by a photographer rather than being a public council-owned job. Don't know if I was meant to, but I did manage to snap a covert picture on my SLR from behind a kiosk!


Apparently Thamesmead is 716 miles from John O'Groats

We followed the east coast road south making brief stops at Wick, Lybster, Badbea and Helmsdale. Badbea promised an "ancient abandoned settlement" but was more like "a wall and a few random boulders".

Dornoch was our destination for that night and is a lovely little town. Our B&B was ran by someone of the old school; in by 11.30pm or request a key! Also had the decor of someone's nan's house, including toilet roll tea cosy with sinister baby's head (a toy one obviously, an actual severed baby's head would be pushing it, and far too large to fit on a toilet roll).


The Evil Keeper of the Toilet Roll

We had a wander round town and a few pints. A strange and awkward moment in one pub was being stared at intently by a man with no arms. Still, it wasn't like he could really cause much damage so we weren't unduly concerned. Had a couple of drinks in the bar of a golfing hotel where we played "Spot the Texan", it was far too easy though with their loud voices and even louder trousers.


Hmm...wall of whisky

Managed to take some night shots that evening, justifying lugging my tripod 700+ miles. Can't vouch for how the shots will turn out though, still yet to properly master night shot techniques even when sober. Really hoped to attempt some star trails but the skies were too overcast and it never seems to get properly dark during the Scottish summer!


Dornoch is great for all your second-hand gardening tool needs. Note "Dutch hoe"; do they actually mean "Dutch ho"? And what's meant by "grape", and is that in fact an actual grape stuck to the paper?

Loch Ness to Thurso

Border Vorder laid on a good breakfast (in a highly greased and fried sense of the word "good"). We abandoned our idea to take the more scenic B road route to Thurso when we realised it involved 100+ miles of single track road. We stuck to the more conventional A9.

Our first stop was Dunrobin Castle about 50 miles north of Inverness which we poked around the outside of (being too stingy to pay £6.50 each to get in). There was a good seaview round the back, luckily at this point the omni-showers were in "off" mode.


Seaview from Dunrobin Castle

The Cute Fluffy Lamb factor was high (but I doubt it's ever low in Scotland in May). If you're into such things, there's quite an impressive wind farm between Achavanich and Mybster.


ARRGGHH!!! The aliens are coming to attack us!!! Oh. It's a wind farm....

Thurso itself didn't make a great impression on arrival. Admittedly it was raining but the town itself looked drab, bleak and, well, just not pretty after what we'd been used (we're so shallow). We were served lunch in a pub by a glum woman who resembled Peter Kay in a wig (possibly the reason for her glumness).

We went out around town for a few drinks in the evening. The first 2 places weren't exactly cosy but we found a hotel bar and things picked up after that (ie we were pissed). We stumbled back to the B&B with a Chinese takeaway. Still didn't like Thurso much though (sorry to any Thursonians).


Not everywhere was picturesque... One of the less welcoming pubs in Thurso

Loch Ness

Appears it's true what Bill Bryson says about B&B dining rooms in "Notes From A Small Island" as everyone felt compelled to eat breakfast in complete silence with only the tick tock of the clock and arrival of more toast breaking the silence.

Fully toasted up we headed to Inverness Airport (well I say "airport", I've seen it described as "a cow shed that got lucky") to collect the hire car. We drove back through the city centre to pick up the A82 to drive an anti-clockwise circuit around the Loch (for the best views according to the Lonely Planet guide).


Loch Ness. S'alright I suppose

The first proper glimpse of the Loch is hard to describe, having been aware of it for as long as I could remember it seemed unreal that we were actually there. We blamed the TV generation, whenever you're at a famous landmark it feels surreal and like you're looking at a big TV screen!

Of course had to do the touristy stuff at Drumnadrochit; see the Nessie exhibition, buy sheep shot glasses (Scotland is a haven for sheep-related merchandise), take photo of giant fibreglass Nessie, drool over the display in the Whisky Shop etc.


Giant Nessie!

Urquhart Castle looked amazing with the Loch and stormy sky behind, and a rainbow formed over the water just as we arrived which was perfect for the photos (Nessie didn't put in an appearance unfortunately, was it too much to ask that she raise a flipper to say hello after we'd traveled so far?!).


Urquhart Castle (and genuine rainbow; none of that Photoshop bollocks here petal)

This view was nothing compared to the viewpoint on the B862 on the southern side of the Loch between Glendoebeg and Whitebridge. Awesome is an overused word but it applies here in the original meaning rather than the modernised Bill & Ted "awesome dude" sense!


The viewpoint (although photos don't do it justice!)

We headed to our B&B for that night, ran by a very pleasant lady who looked a bit like Carol Vorderman around the eyes (a "Border Vorder") who owned a house with jawdropping views over the Loch. How she ever gets anything done I don't know, I put off the hoovering if Murder She Wrote is on, if I had that view I wouldn't move from the window!

Had the best meal of the holiday in the Clansman Hotel overlooking the Loch which made a memorable 30th birthday for the other half. Like a lot of Scottish drinking establishments, it had a whisky list in the same way restaurants in the rest of the UK have wine lists. Fitting for the occasion the other half had 2 shots of 15 year old whisky (15+15=30!). Unfortunately (or fortunately) I was driving so avoided inevitable over indulgence and credit card maxing out.

Scotland Bound

View over the River Ness

Ah, Scotland the Brave (or, more accurately when travelling from Eastbourne, Scotland The Bloody Far Away), Wisely we abandoned our initial plan to drive and opted for the train for a bargainous £60 each return. We'd spend that on petrol (or on a solitary sandwich at motorway services, the thieving bastards).

The total 12 hour journey passed faster than expected what with the excitement of going on holiday, great scenery and the high Cute Fluffy Lamb factor (CFL) (in the fields we passed obviously, our tickets were cheap but it didn't mean we were travelling in the livestock compartment).

A short trek through Inverness city centre prompted my other half to conclude we wouldn't be drinking in town that night. Four bouncers to each pub is a little disconcerting, especially when you have an English accent and full tourist clobber (although it appeared we were somewhat over cautious about possible anti-English sentiments. We encountered a particularly grumpy cabbie but decided he was just a miserable git rather than plotting ways to make the English suffer).

We were pleased to discover that our B&B was ran by possibly The Most Helpful Bloke In The World (who, it transpired, had spent some time living in Eastbourne). Small world blah blah.


Inverness Castle

Annoyances Part 2

3. Not keen on the enforced disclosure of star signs on this blog site. Is it really that important? I expect I'd feel differently if I wasn't the crappest star sign of them all; the one named after a fatal disease (thanks for that, astrological naming types).

Proper Bo I Tell Thee

Aren't camera phones great? Without one I wouldn't be able to take covert photos of unsuspecting strangers on trains. Check out this woman for Mel B in full on Bo Selecta mode. Fook!

Miracle in the Hole

"Nice bit of Jif will bring that up a treat...."

BIG fuss in the States when a mark said to resemble the Virgin Mary (she gets about a bit for a virgin doesn't she) appeared in a subway. Pah, to observe a true miracle of epic proportions, check out the replica map of the British Isles which appeared in our toad in the hole dish...


"It's a miracle!"

Annoyances

Now THIS is something I can embrace on a long-term basis, selected
rantings as I love a good moan. Contrary to what this may suggest I
am generally an upbeat happy person who finds humour in most
situations (regardless of appropriatness).

Things Which Are Crap (in no particular order)

1. Poor spelling/grammar/punctuation

Mis-spelt graffiti is particularly depressing. How can you fail to
spell "arse" correctly?? I have a particular obsession with
punctuation. I believe it relates to having an apostrophe in my name;
Vicki O'Pedant

2. Moronic serving suggestions

Shepherds pie...on a plate. Genius! Branston pickle "ideal of
sandwiches". Inspired; I was going to use it as wallpaper paste.
Advice clearly aimed at people who can't spell "arse".

To be continued....

Five Minute Wonder

As is my way I started all keen but soon lost interest (in precisely
one evening). I revel in bod and especially sad computer-based
activities usually though so I think it's down to my life in
Eastbourne (the anus of the south coast) not being exactly action
packed (unless dubious stalking practices around Sainsbury's count
but I'm not sure I feel confident enough to commit them to print).

However, we're soon off to Scotland for a short break so I hope to do
a diary-type blog about that. There's always something of interest
to report when we go away, usually relating to a dodgy B&B (winning
story so far - the B&B near Canterbury which doubled as a brothel
with two resident prostitutes).

Until then...keep blogging (or not)