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Tis Monday night and I am sitting writing this with a big smile. Kerry and I spent the weekend (a long weekend) in Scotland. We left Durham on Saturday morning and drove up north avoiding the highways where possible, enjoying the scenery that the quieter roads had to offer. A quick stop in the small famous Scottish village of Gretna Green for lunch and we were on our way again. Gretna Green is famous for young couples eloping, read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gretna_Green. Just in case you are wondering, we left Gretna Green unmarried.
Kerry had organised for us to stay in a B&B in an area on the western coast of Scotland called Glencoe. The western coast of Scotland and in particular Glencoe had been recommended to us as the most amazing scenery in Great Britain. Read up about Glencoe here: http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/glencoe/glencoe/
We arrived at our B&B (this place) late afternoon to be given a very warm greeting from our hosts. After settling in we went for a walk to the local Loch (Loch Linnhe) and then had a feast at a nearby hotel which was very upper class!! We felt a bit uncomfortable in our Backbacking gear, but who cares.
Sunday morning started with me opening a stack of presents and cards celebrating my 25th birthday. After a breakfast fit for royalty courtesy of the B&B we spoke to the hosts about the best things to see in the local area. Armed with our road map and buster (the car) we set off in aim of exploring Western Scotland!! First stop was the Nevis range gondola, which is designed to get skiers up Aonach Mor but still operates in the summer hauling mountain bikers up the hill so that they can fall back down the hill. A 15 minute ride in the gondola and we were up the top. We were treated with a reasonably clear day which gave us a spectacular view of all the surrounding area. Next to Aonach Mor was Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in Britain (4,406 feet). There was still a bit of snow at the top of these mountains even though we are well into spring now.
After this we had a quick stop at the commando memorial tributed to the commandos of WW2. It commemorates the elite force known as the 'Commandos', which was set up in 1940 on the orders of Prime Minister Winston Churchill to harry the axis forces and regain the initiative on the part of Britain.
Back in buster we headed onto what is called Neptune's staircase which is a series of 8 small Lochs which allows boats to go from Loch Linnhe to the sea (west of Scotland). The boats must be raised a total of 19.5 metres when transitioning from the Loch to the sea. Using the Loch saves boats from having to go around the north of Scotland.
After this we drove to the far western tip of Scotland which hosts a light house for the bad old pre-gps days. On the way to this we drove along side the train line which featured in the Harry Potter movie (when the boys are flying the car next to the train). This stretch of train track has become quite famous for this reason. Getting to the western edge took quite some time as it was via a single lane road which had quite a bit of other traffic on it. The mountains around this area of Scotland are absolutely breathtaking and suprisingly the area is very undeveloped.
By the time we got back to our B&B it was about 9pm so we hit the hay not long afterwards.
This morning, after another massive breakfast, we bidded our friendly hosts goodbye to explore some more of Scotland before heading back to Durham. First stop was nearby Stalker Castle, on a very small island quite close to the mainland, and then we were off to Doune Castle, and finally Stirling Castle. We drove home via Edinburgh and have arrived home happy but weary.
Kerry and I fell in love with Scotland. We felt that we could quite easily spend up to a week on the western coast.
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