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We made it to Inverness at about 9 o’clock at night, and easily found the hostel. This was such a nice place! Everything inside was brand new, and we got a really great deal on our room. We had paid for an 8-bed room, but ended up in only a 4-bed room. And even better, the first night, we were the only two in there! It was really nice. We crashed pretty early, ready to start exploring the next day.
Our original plan for Inverness was to rent bikes and ride around the countryside and the coast. We had read about this online and it sounded like a really nice idea. But, we were a little early for bike riding, and nobody rented them yet. That’s only a summer time thing apparently. We ended up at the tourist information center, and asked what they recommended we do. To our surprise, Loch Ness was only 20 minutes down the road, and we could take a bus and boat ride along it! We signed up for that for the afternoon, and spent the morning exploring the city. We went to a Kilt maker’s shop, and walked along the River Ness.
Bill really wanted to get some pictures of the Scottish coast, so we pulled out our map and started off. We failed to notice that the route we had chosen was through the industrial part of town, so the scenery was far from lovely. But it got us to the coast, and we got some really pretty pictures. Scotland is a beautiful place. I would love to go back some time and see more of it.
By the time we had finished our walk to the coast and back, about 4 miles total, we were just in time to catch our bus to Loch Ness. Our tour guide was this great Scottish guy named Donald, who was really enthusiastic about his job. He was constantly cracking jokes and trying out the few bits of foreign languages he knew on the other tourists. We got to see the countryside some more before arriving at the dock, where we boarded a boat that would take us around the lake.
The boat ride was really nice. It was about a half an hour long, and we got to see such beautiful views. I know I keep saying it, but the pictures don’t do it justice. Scotland is just a gorgeous place! No sightings of Nessie, the monster though…
Our boat ride ended at Urquhart Castle. It was the old ruins of a castle that was used from the 12th to the 15th century. It was continually being seiged and rebuilt, and the ruins are now a museum of sorts. We got to walk around and climb up into what’s left of the tall tower and the rest of the castle. In the Visitor’s Center we watched a movie about the history of the castle, which was actually really interesting. The place has a lot of history, and is a really cool place.
From the castle we took the bus back into the center of the city, with more jokes from Donald, and more pretty views. Donald really knew a lot about the area, and had some great stories to tell about the places we were driving by. He was born in Inverness, so he’s got a lot to tell!
For our last night in Inverness we checked out a local restaurant and then headed back to the hostel. After making sure our things were all packed up, we hung out in the living room and then went to bed.
This morning we got up and checked out of our room. The staff at the hostel were nice enough to let us leave our stuff there while we went and grabbed some breakfast in town before we had to catch the bust to the airport. Breakfast was delicious! We found a tiny French café, and each ordered a homemade waffle. Mine was covered in warm apricot jam, and Bill’s had bananas, toffee syrup, and vanilla ice cream on top! We weren’t really sure if they were supposed to be breakfasts or desserts, but they were delicious anyways! We both thought it was funny that we had found this yummy little French place in the middle of the Scottish Highlands. J
We got to our bus in plenty of time, and made it to the airport just fine. We’ve learned our lesson! Now we’re just hanging out, waiting for our plane to arrive. From here we’ll go to Luton Airport, then take a bus to Stansted, England. Both places are just outside of London, and where the tiny planes we’re taking fly in and out of. We’ll spend the night in Stansted, right near the airport, then catch a flight tomorrow morning to Tours, France!
Our internet access so far has been a pay as you go thing at the hostels. We haven’t had wireless yet to be able to post pictures or entries. So we’re keeping a Word Document journal, and we’ll post it all when we can!
Love
Cassie and Bill
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