hi everyone,We are in Edinburgh. last night we saw the military tattoo: the mass pipebands were terrrfic, and even though we got a good dousing of rain before it started, the weather cleared just before the start.Unfortunately, i was already wet by then! (well the top half was ok!) anyway, on with the show There were thousands of people there, so we had to queue to get in and out! Quite nerve-racking, as i hate big crowds, but the kids coped really well.This passed week has been a great time for exploring Scotland. On wednesday we left vivien and mikes (our scottish hosts) for two nights on our own. Finding a camping ground wasn;t easy, most wanted you to stay a minium of three nights , and you had to pay nearly $60 just for pitching two tents with a toilet near by. We did check out some free -camping , but in the drizzle and cold it wasn't so appealing. finally we found a very nice youth hostel in Cranlarich.We ended up staying there two nights. The weather was dodgey, so we drove one day over to skye and back and down passed ForT William, it was a long day, but Nicola got her wish and we saw Lochness! (no monster unfortunately!!)The next day, we did our big hike and climbed up two big hills, called Munros. Which means they are over 3000ft. The two peaks are joined by a sadlle in the middle, so you didn't have to start at sea level again! It was spectacular scenery, and at 9 oclock, we had the place to ourselves!Friday, was probably the only clear day of the week that we were able to walk up the munroWe only met one person on the mountain, once we started to come down we met a few coming up and then down at the carpark it was verging on dangerous there was so much traffic - the roads are small and they all drive like maniacs! I was wincing a few times as these huge buses came towards us and as i was sitting on the right (we have a left-hand drive car), ...... However, we drove through some lovely patches of purple heather later in the day, with lovely little lakes.(lochs) We found a garden centre and bought some plants for our Scottish hosts, Vivien and Mike. They have looked after so well and when we returned that evening, we had our usual poisons, and dinner was already prepared. Great stuff.