Och aye is that a big hairy haggis I see?

So we pick up the story here – Gareth and Dan are in Edinburgh and we have seen sunshine and blue sky but it still doesn’t take away from the cold. The city is a bit of a mess in places - they are doing a lot of road works for a tram system to begin in 2011.

I’ll come back to Edinburgh but have to cover other parts of the trip – I don’t want to peak too early!

I (Gareth) have been doing most of the driving as Dan’s foot has been hurting and we have set a cracking pace on the amount of distance covered on foot in all places we have been so far. The tom tom lady (the GPS map thing) (we don’t have a name for her yet) has been most helpful along the way – she can be a little frustrating tho – sometimes her instructions are overly repetitive and watch out if you miss a turn off – there is tone in her voice!!!

Back in Fort William (seems a life time away now) there was a cemetery across the road - with real life bunnies. It was very funny watching Daniel run through the cemetery (utterly respectful of course) yelling bunnies, bunnies and trying to catch them. Those Scottish people do have a sense of humour looking at the picture to the left - the cemetery! click on the image to see it bigger

Off to Loch Ness and Dan has covered that one already. I think Dan had found his calling – a clansman… Ahh McCheetah.

We had an overnighter at Aviemore where it was quite difficult to get accommodation. We rang around without luck ( I was getting a little frustrated) so enlisted the help of the local tourist information desk. We weren’t the only ones… there was a judo/karate competition in town and all accommodation was full. We did manage to get into a family B&B which was a pleasant surprise and close to the city centre. We went for a lovely dinner at the Boat Hotel at Boat on Garten (funny name!)

Next along we had lunch in a lovely (Really small) town called Dunkeld with a magnificent old cathedral and ruins! The Cathedral has both Gothic and Norman influence having being built in stages over a period of nearly 250 years between 1260 and 1501. The restored choir is the oldest part or the original church, having been completed in 1350. It contains some of the original red stone in its east gable – wow! Or as I like to state, ‘all this even before Australia was discovered!

Again there was a really old cemetery which we had to look through. I see a pattern forming here…

Note: Could the shot on the left be our next Christmas card picture?

On our way to Edinburgh we made a detour to Stirling to see Stirling castle.

With a setting of mountains, rocky crags and the winding river Forth, Stirling is ‘the brooch which clasps together the Highlands and the Lowlands'. With an amazing history it was said, ‘he who holds Stirling holds Scotland’ – advice that fired William Wallace and Robert the Bruce. Fortress, royal palace, military garrison – Stirling Castle is absolutely amazing, it still has markings in the front wall where cannons were fired at it way back when I reckon it was about 1746… It is here I did my Cher impersonation too!

So now in Edinburgh, and we, like Alicia Bridges, have been loving the nightlife, yep every bar in the on night. Last night we had a few hours in a really cool and groovy jazz bar and knocked back a nice bottle of red. We had come from Creelers for dinner where the food was amazing.

Some observations:

• Along the highway there is a lot of road kill
• Hot Breakfasts always consist of bacon, eggs, mushrooms, sausages, tomatoes and toast
• A flat white is a filtered coffee (think McDonald’s before McCafe), and tastes like dish water. To get a coffee resembling anything like what we’re used to, one must ask for a Latte
• The ‘@’ key is in a different spot on the key board
• The people in Edinburgh walk a lot faster than anywhere else we have been. We must be in holiday mode because people are pushing past us!