The day starts early in summer in London, it was light by 4:30am and that's pretty much when I woke, only managing to doze a little. I got up at 5:45am and had a quick shower, then repacked my suitcase (now a little lighter).

Crispin was super generous and dropped me at Gatwick airport on his way to work, which saved me 15 minutes of walking, a three-minute train ride to the airport and a 20 minute transfer bus from the station at South terminal to North terminal. We arrived at about 6:40am. So, many thanks to Crispin. And most grateful to being able to stay at Clare and Rigby's home last night.

Gatwick is huge. So much bigger than it used to be. And so well set up. The bag drop was quick and easy, the ATM didn't charge me for withdrawing cash, and although the line to get through security was insanely long it moved fast. I started in the line then realised I had almost a full bottle of water so I headed off to the bathroom, drinking as much as I could on the way before emptying my water bottle and heading back to the line which had increased.

But I was through security quickly and had time to find a quiet place to sit and eat some breakfast while I waited for the gate number for my flight to be allocated/displayed. I also took this time to write up my article for the dog club newsletter and sent that off to Liz.

The flight was a little bumpy out of Gatwick, but before I knew it we were beginning our decent into Glasgow, well it is only a 1hr 15min flight.
Finding the bus to Glasgow train station was easy and a very kind gentleman assisted me and another lady to find out way to our respective destinations. I found the Budget car rental office, called the number as the door was locked, super glad I bought the e-sim with calls and texts, and went through the process of hiring the car.

Up to level 5 and I headed off in a lovely little black Hyundai i20. The SatNav is great and before too long I was heading north towards Inverness.
The countryside is gorgeous, I took a few cheeky photos whilst driving but mostly enjoyed the drive. I stopped in a Layby, but it was drizzling, so only did a quick walk around the car to stretch my legs a bit. But what I really needed was a proper place to stop and use a bathroom too. A little while later there was a sign to "Ralia Café", so I made a quick decision and too the slip lane off the motorway. It was a lovely octagonal café with public toilets and a hairy coe sculpture.

Back on the motorway and before I knew it I was coming into Inverness. Arriving at our accommodation, Nanny Bambi's Highland home, located towards the end of a no through road at about 4:30pm.
This house is cute with a lovely big lounge, well equipped kitchen, two single beds in one room and a double in the other, and a dining space off the double bedroom (a little quirky but decorated so sweet), plus an outside area with BBQ and chiminea.

Kelly and Will were boarding their plane at Gatwick when I was exploring the home, so I had just under two hours before I needed to pick them up. So I set off to Tesco to buy things for dinner, some water, and snacks. I was able to prep dinner then drove up to Inverness airport to pick up Kelly and Will.

After dinner we did some planning and then headed off to bed just as it was setting getting dark at about 10:30pm.