The irony of Skye

We drove to the Isle of Skye.

And it rained and rained and rained and rained.

And rained and rained and rained.

And rained some more.

And then rained and rained and rained and rained and rained.

And then it rained heavier. And rained and rained and rained.

We are a 14 hour drive from London. Somehow we accidentally, on purpose ended really far up. And now we have to go back down. We were going to stop in at my friend’s town tomorrow but it’s a 10hour drive and there’s not 10 hours of sunlight in a day. So we might visit her the next night.

It’s still raining. It’s a very beautiful island though. And there are no photos as my camera is in the car and it’s raining too much for me to go and get it.

Loch Ness

From Edinburgh we headed North. In to snow storms, heavy fog, rain and ice. Tegan and I share driving. At one stage we veered off the main road to find a toilet (to no avail) and ended up on a one laned road with 20cm of snow on it. I almost ran in to three cars on separate occasions but thankfully even though the brakes weren’t working, the other cars were cautious and could veer around my snaking moves.

		Driving in a snow storm VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

After a long and scary journey (that we wouldn’t have taken had we not had accommodation booked that night), we arrived at Loch Ness. The drive was scary but it was bloody beautiful. And the Loch is amazing! It’s one long, straight lake that follows a glacial scar in the earth that follows a fault line – which is why it’s as straight as a ruler.

Our accommodation is amazing. We’re out of Inverness (the main town in the Highlands), along Loch Ness. We’re just outside a village with an unpronounceable name on a quiet road. The house is beautiful – stone and old. The triple room was too noisy due to a boiler problem, so we’ve got two rooms between the three of us which is great. We get breakfast in the morning which is a hot breakfast of local produce and home made, AMAZING raspberry jam. We asked to buy some, but it’s her own jam so we can’t. Boo!

		Cruising on Loch Ness VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We cruised along the Loch today on a fancy boat. 12 pounds each for an hour trip that wasn’t overly exciting. It was warm though, and we got to see a lovely castle and the Loch from a different perspective. We didn’t see Nessie which isn’t a surprise. It was rainy and shitty today – tomorrow will be snow. We’ve got to be flexible with our plans as the southern areas have been getting 100+mile/hour winds which is doing damage like a cyclone would. We’ll have to try and miss those, as well as the snow storms around. Sounds trickier than it is. We’ll just take it easy and stay where ever we get to. No hurry!

Edinburgh

Today I’m going to be lazy and give you a summary. We drove from Wales to Manchester along a massive highway, which meant we arrived in two hours. Awesome. Except we were off Anglesey Isle before we even realised and didn’t get to spend more time there because we weren’t there anymore! Then I needed to pee, and remembering I’m no longer in Mongolia, had to find somewhere….. Highways don’t have stops, so I pulled in to a tiny town. Drove around and around, through a caravan park with no toilets and up a hill. Stuff it – I pulled over next to a tree on a small road. Stood up and there’s a sign saying something along the lines of: follow the rules of fly fishing because there’s CCTV here to watch you. So someone in Wales has me on CCTV peeing beside the road. Bloody hell.

Manchester wasn’t super exciting but we picked up our extra passenger and drove north. A four hour drive – half of which on a lovely highway (Tegan drove); the other half on a skinny road up and over mountains. It was also very very thick fog (like, you couldn’t see the other side of the road), heavy rain and a few inches of snow on the road. Made for very slow going driving that managed to make my headache a bazillion times worse.

Our apartment in Edinburgh is lovely. It’s cheaper than a hostel during Hogmanay (the festival we’re here for) and we’ve got our own space in a proper apartment. It’s in a great location – not too close, not too far. It’s across from a supermarket too. We also got breakfast provided for the first day – so nice!

So NYE was a resting morning and then a big afternoon. I was still in the wars with my headache, slowly winning but under sufferance. The girls went off to the Walkabout, the Australian pub to celebrate Australian New Years. Ebony managed to get in under Tegan’s ID which she was very proud and excited about. I struggled up to the pub by 1pm to say ‘yay, happy new year’ but managed to get lost and make it two minutes after the New Years countdown. Bugger.

The pub was full of groups of people hanging out in their groups, taking photos of each other and making sure the photo was okay – as well as sending messages etc on their phones. It was jam packed full of drunk Aussies and it was totally not my scene, especially sober! I don’t like going places to just be at the place with the same people you’re with every other place. There’s nothing new and exciting about it. It dictates the event for everyone else as well – with groupie groups, you can’t infiltrate and just chat. Anyway, whatever. It wasn’t my scene so I was secretly glad I had a headache. I ducked in a couple of times to see the girls, and wandered around town – it is SO beautiful. I did manage to randomly run into an old friend from Mudgee, which is SO cool! He was at the Walkabout celebrating as well (okay, if I didn’t have a headache I’m sure I would have loved to be there).

I walked home and rested. The girls got home a bit later, chilled out, ate dinner and then headed out to the street party. Edinburgh’s massive NYE celebration. The tickets were about $25 entry and it was PACKED. It opened at 9pm. With heaps of different stages and different music. We met up with some of Tegan’s friends, walked up the very long road to another band. It took so long to get through the people that we stayed there. Again, not my choice for NYE but I’m a total party pooper when it comes to crowds of people. Especially hoards <20yo people getting shitfaced just because they can. Don’t get me wrong – it was really cool to be there and be a part of it, but I don’t need to do it again. The fire works were amazing and the castle overlooking the street was to die for. As soon as the fireworks finished at midnight, everyone was out of there! So weird. I thought that’d just be the party getting started!

Hogmanay VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Which all turned out well for us because it meant we left too – relatively sober and ready for bed. Ebony and I were home by 1am. We had an awesome night and were still home nice and early. We cooked some chicken nuggets, watched a bit of tv and went to bed. Tegan and her friends stayed out a bit longer.

Edinburgh VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Today was another sleep in day followed by the free walking tour around town. It was great. Man o man Edinburgh is amazing. It’s totally magnificent. The main road dips down from the castle at the top, so that you see houses and then the ocean. SO amazing. The weather today was spectacular as well. We learnt and saw a lot on the tour, walked home and rested.

We’ve booked two nights in a little town on Loch Ness for the next two nights – yay!!! :)

Extreme picnicking

This morning we woke up as frozen as icicles. Our heaters were turned off during the night. It was SO cold. I ate some vegemite on toast with milo while I waited for the girls to get ready (that’s right, the hostel catered for the Australians). We drove in to town to find somewhere nice for breakfast and ended up at the most kitsch little place ever. It was thoroughly adorned with christmas decorations, but not gaudily. There was mistletoe, christmas tree offcuts, holly, christmas bush… And home made gingerbread decorations – the works. It was everywhere. The staff were the kids of the chef and they were so friendly! We chatted while we ate scrummy scrambled eggs and ham on toast NOT TO SHARE because it was just THAT delicious.

Below: A motte & bailey castle on the way; a typical out-the-window view

Then we drove north. North north north. We made a detour by the ocean for no other reason than because Sally thought the ocean would make a nice stop. We went out of our way to get there but it was totally worth it! The Irish sea is a crazy mash of terrible weather, choppy & muddy water and lots of rocky shorelines. It was extremely windy but it was just awesome. Driving in to the harbour (by accident) we saw more castle ruins (driving around you see a lot). This one was awesome though. Right on the most exposed point of a cliff stands an enormous castle with all the bells and whistles. It’s mostly gone but it’s still great – mainly because of your appreciation for someone actually living there in those conditions. Lots of inside time I’d say.

		Aberystwyth Castle VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We stopped for lunch at the Olive Branch cafe, in town (Aberystwyth). It’s a little Greek restaurant that deserves a lot of credit. Out our window was the ocean. Our food – a selection of home made, delicious dips & some soup was amazing. On the way to lunch we drove past four youngsters eating fish and chips at the castle. The paper was blowing everywhere. The wind was strong enough to literally push you up the hill. Similar to extreme sports, they were practicing extreme picniking.

Heading North again we drove and drove until it was dark and we drove some more. The roads got skinnier and the hills got hillier. Lakes were more common and the trees were thicker. Fat sheep graze on hillsides in paddocks marked with thicket fences (is that a word? The fences are hedges). The sheep are so white in comparison to the landscape and they look just like sheep do in fairy tales. I always thought those sheep looked that way just because it was a cartoon version of a normal sheep – but nope. Our sheep are just different, that’s all.

After a long drive in lots of windy roads we arrived to Anglesey Isle at the very North of Wales. We’re staying in a town called Almwch in a hotel that is particularly lovely. We weren’t hungry for dinner after our late and epic lunch. Upon reading the menu for the restaurant downstairs we changed our minds. There’s nothing like food that’s actually from the area it’s grown in. The restaurant of our hotel is locally famous and uses all local ingredients. As soon as I read that, I was sold. Such a sucker for fresh/local things. Save those food miles!

I had two courses .Totally unnecessary. Totally delicious. Fig and duck terrine followed by stilton blue cheese and rocket tortellini. Delicious!

Now I’m full, showered, ready for bed. I’ve got some sleeping tablets to put me to sleep tonight and we’ve got a big local breakfast to wake up to – included in the price of our room (which is a bargain. Thanks Tegan!). Tomorrow’s a big day. We want to see a bit of the area, then we’re off to Manchester to pick up a friend and then up to Edinburgh ready for New Years Eve. We’re there for 3 nights which will be another nice rest!!!!!

From Cotswolds to Cardiff to Cwmbran

Boxing Day was a day of rest. We ate left overs. I went for a walk to the village nearby. I found a recently dead snake of the grey/dead variety. It was muddy and crisp but such a nice walk through the village. It was SO CUTE. A church, beautiful houses, a pub……

Boxing Day then turned in to a messy day. Whilst out for a walk, Tegan&co decided they needed to finish the alcohol. As we were departing the next day and car space is limited, it was a justifiable reason. We certainly polished off a vast majority of the alcohol but it wasn’t without event. I would post photos on here but they are rather incriminating and not so flattering. We had such a fun time. The iPod dock was turned up to blasting. We started with Christmas music (although it was wearing thin) and moved to some more recent songs. Once the grog started to kick in a bit more the music turned to country. And when Gretchen Wilson blasted out ‘Redneck Women’ there wouldn’t have been a soul in the Cotswolds that didn’t hear. The boys were introduced to country music and its drunken listeners. We just danced. And sang (okay, yelled). People got super duper drunk, started dancing with chairs above their head, patting swans and throwing chocolates. We did a test of gin: between Hendricks’ and Bombay. Hendricks’ won with the majority of votes. (it was done as properly as possible, in clean shot glasses with equal amounts of gin/tonic/cucumber, with the testers not knowing the identity of the gin)

Once the music tuned down and we began to calm down, I ate a chunk of leftover pork, others had a bit of a spew and we went to bed.

There’s nothing more fun than running around the house with your friends, drinking, laughing and dancing for no apparent reason.

Needless to say the day after Boxing Day was slower than usual. I survived my very first international driving experience. We had to drop people at the train station. Tegan was in no state so off I toddled to Kemble train station. The music was off and everyone was very quiet but we made it and I’m much more confident now. I even drove in Wales today!

We spent a long time packing up the house. Food, bags etc. I am very proud to say that we spend a total of 208 pounds on groceries over Christmas for 7 people. Add a bit extra for things we bought beforehand: some alcohol, decorations, tree, presents – and you’ve got yourself a pretty awesome Christmas for not too much! The food we ate was epic, if I do say so myself. We had SO much food but ended with relatively very little left over. There was some non-perishables that were inevitable, but all in all, not a bad bloody effort!

From the Cotswolds we drove to Cardiff in Wales. It wasn’t even a 2 hour journey. The hostel we stayed in was not amazing but we slept (mind you, I’m having lots of trouble sleeping lately……. it’s tres annoying). We’d packed some leftovers for lunch and ate in the park in Cardiff and spent the rest of the evening resting. Phew.

Today we headed back in to Cardiff to check out the Cardiff Castle. It was 11 pounds so we decided not to – instead we opted for a second breakfast. While eating my eggs eleven with bacon and mushrooms, I decided that I wanted to go in anyway, despite the crazy entry fee. So we paid and entered – which was totally in our favour because the sun actually came out!

And for the record, it was totally worth 11 pounds. It’s expensive, but it’s so cool. The curatorship, if that’s how you describe the awesome amount of information and ease of following the history is described, was awesome. It’s the same quality as the memorial at Sachsenhausen near Berlin. Of course, that was free –which was one of the more impressive features of it (meaning: it’s an amazing centre of history and memorial and curatorship and it’s free, when I would have paid $20 to see it). Nevertheless, Cardiff Castle was great. There’s not all that much left which is understandable. But the most notable of the entire area is the castle on the motte (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motte-and-bailey). It’s awesome. And old.

 

Perhaps the stupidest moment of the day was when I realised the answer to something I’ve been pondering since we went to William the Conqueror’s wall in Caen. How does the water get in to the moats? I was thinking that maybe fancy aqueducts were built to divert river water, or that maybe a spring was underneath all moats, or that a well was dug to supply the water. But no. The answer (well, my answer anyway) is the water table. Simple. I feel so stupid. When it rains as much as it does in the UK (and it DOES), of course the water table would sit practically below the topsoil (actually, it probably sits IN the topsoil because the soil’s probably fairly deep?!). Which means, when you dig a moat, you’re just digging deeper than the water table and allowing the water to sit at its natural level (or slightly risen as it’s a point of weakness per se).

Anyway. If I’m wrong, tell me. It makes sense to me though. It certainly wouldn’t happen much in Australia.

From Cardiff we decided to drive north for no reason other than it’d be cool to go to Northern Wales. We drove towards Cwmbran because it has a funny name and then on to Ebbw Vale, because it’s a place in Brisbane with an absolutely ridiculous name that now make sense. I still don’t know how to pronounce it BUT at least we know where it’s from…..

We drove on for a bit, not knowing where we were really going but hoping to find somewhere to stay. Of course everything’s full. Bah. We went in to about 8 different places to ask, called about 10 different places – to no avail. We ended up taking advice and driving near the railway. That’s all the instructions we got, but we totally stumbled upon the cheapest place in town that happened to have heaps of spare rooms. Sweet! It’s really comfortable too. Not nice, but nice vibe.

Tomorrow we’ll drive through the Brecon Beacon National Park on our way north to Anglesly. We’re staying at a cool farm stay (we think). Then we’ll head East to Manchester and north to Edinburgh for New Years Eve.