Scotland #2: a tale of two hotels

From Inverness I headed south-west, along the Great Glen, to Fort William. Fort William is the only other town of any size in the Highlands, besides Inverness, and is more or less at the foot of the Ben Nevis range. It sits on the edge of Loch Linnhe, Scotland's longest sea loch. It's an incredibly picturesque part of the world.
Accommodation in Fort William was non-existent because of the annual mountain bike World Cup - as usual, I hadn't done my homework! However, I found two hotels about 20 minutes south, along Loch Linnhe, so was able to park myself in the area for a week. I don't normally do hotel reviews but will make an exception here as the difference between the two hotels was unbelievable.
The first, the Holly Tree, was as a hotel should be: comfortable, spacious room, excellent restaurant (seafood to die for!), friendly helpful staff and great views across the loch. Well, they would have been great views if not for the low cloud blanketing everything out. I spent 2 nights/one day there and used it as a rest day basically. I pretty much spent the day in the bar area; playing on the laptop, reading and chatting with the staff. The weather was rubbish so there was no incentive to go sightseeing. The place was booked out for the rest of the week so I had to move on....
....to the Stewart Hotel, about 5 minutes down the road in a little place called Glen Duror, still on Loch Linnhe. The hotel is a couple of miles inland from the loch but still has nice views across farmland with the loch in the far distance. This place makes Fawlty Towers look good. I'd booked in for 4 nights through Expedia so it was paid for in advance. I'd have left otherwise. For the first 2 nights/3 days there was no hot water. At first, this was blamed on the Contiki coach group that was there on the first night (for using all the hot water), but later it was admitted that the boiler was broken. The lack of urgency about getting it fixed was mind boggling.
The whole time I was there my room was not cleaned once. The reason I was given was that I had the room key. Huh? When I asked why the cleaning staff didn't have a master key I was met with blank stares. As far as I could make out there is no cleaning staff.
Breakfast time was a joke. Dirty/used dishes weren't cleared away until everyone had finished and left the restaurant area. When I arrived for breakfast, about 8am, the Contiki group were just loading themselves on to their coach. The breakfast room was still full of their breakfast remains. There was literally nowhere to sit. The bar area was also littered, still, with the night before's dirty glasses. The same thing happened again the next night/morning except this time it was a coach group of French tourists. I heard someone ask for scrambled eggs, instead of the poached variety served as standard. Not possible was the reply. Not possible? Ridiculous. After the first morning I gave up on breakfast, just had cereal and coffee. Even the coffee pot had old coffee stains on it.
The owner/manager had taken off to London for the weekend and left 3 young guys in charge. They were it as far as staff goes and were totally clueless. I overheard one couple demanding a partial refund due to the lack of hot water and the breakfast situation but the "reception" guy (who'd quickly changed from being the "breakfast" guy) kept saying he wasn't authorised to give refunds. The customer demanded to speak to the manager, he wasn't there. So he demanded that he speak to him on the phone. The reception guy called him but then hung up. "He doesn't want to speak to you." Needless to say, that couple left in a fury. I also overheard, twice, the reception guy try to double charge people who'd paid in advance: here's the bill, you can pay cash please.
(I heard all this because the reception/lounge area was the only place there was a wifi signal so I was sat there with my laptop.)
I think the hotel has some sort of arrangement with coach companies who bring their coach loads in for an overnight stay. I can't imagine how else they could stay in business.

I'm not making this up.

Scotland

I've seen quite a bit of the place since my last post and should have updated more regularly, sorry.
I didn't see much of Edinburgh in the end, mainly due to the weather. Instead of sheltering in a pub in town I ventured out to Stirling, further up the Forth river, to check out the castle there. Unlike the one in Edinburgh, it wasn't closed for safety reasons. Like Edinburgh, Stirling castle sits on a rocky outcrop overlooking the surrounding area. Numerous Scottish monarchs were crowned here - Stirling was the royal capital for a long time. Most of the current structure dates to the 1500s and the Stuart kings. It's more like a collection of large houses than a castle as such. Inside, particularly the Great Hall and the chapel, was quite disappointing as the rooms are empty. No furniture, wall decorations, religious icons, weapons displays, etc.



Robert the Bruce statue in the castle grounds. The enormous Wallace monument is nearby but I didn't visit it.

I spent one very pleasant afternoon with a flickr friend, Devoran, who lives across the Forth from Edinburgh. We went into the nearby town of Aberdour and checked out the beach and the castle.



Aberdour is one of the oldest castles still standing in Scotland apparently.
It wasn't really beach weather but we had fun anyway :)

I also took a cruise along the Firth of Forth to Inchcolm island where there's an old abbey.



The current abbey dates back to the 1400s but there's been an abbey there since the 1120s. It was built by Alexander I who took shelter on the island during a storm. The only person there was an old hermit and Alexander promised to build him an abbey, which he did. There's no record of whether the hermit appreciated this or not.

The Firth is dotted with small islands which provide homes for the many sea birds in these parts. Inch is the Scottish word for island. There are apparently Puffins that nest there but I didn't see any. There's also a small lighthouse, seemingly standing in the water, which provides warning about the nasty reef below it.



The cruise takes you under the Forth Rail Bridge, one of two bridges spanning the Firth of Forth, about 20 miles from Edinburgh itself.



Both bridges were marvels of engineering in their time. The rail bridge is more interesting to look at than the road bridge. I think anyway.

From Edinburgh I headed north to Inverness, via St Andrews. I don't play golf but my father does. Even so, the courses at St Andrews (there are seven of them at the Royal and Ancient) are lovely to look at. Apparently you have to book months in advance to get a game there.



Inverness is in the Highlands, at the top end of Loch Ness. The town itself is quite large but I didn't spend much time there as I did a lot of day trips to various places in the area.
John o' Groats was a must, seeing as I was at Land's End a while ago.



This end of the UK is quieter than the other end. There's no fairground/theme park for the youngsters and the old hotel is closed. The signpost (which is operated by a private photography firm) was also closed because I got there after 5pm. Across the Pentland Firth is the island of Stroma, now abandoned, and the Orkneys beyond that. You'd have to be tough to live in this area: it's cold and windy and quite isolated.



Dunnet Head, just further along the road, is actually the most northerly point of the UK mainland.

The coastal road from Inverness to John o'Groats is a very pretty drive. Coastal villages, farms and spectacular views all the way.



Many of the villages were set up during The Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries. The farmers (crofters) who'd lived in the Highlands for centuries were forcibly removed (cleared) from their farms by the landholders to make way for sheep. Many Scots left the country altogether, emigrating to places like Liverpool and the US. Consequently the Highland population decreased dramatically and has never recovered. The Clearances also helped destroy the clan system of social organisation that had ruled Scottish life for so long beforehand.
The Duke of Sutherland was probably the most ruthless of the Clearance landlords. Ironically, on a hill behind one of the towns in the Sutherland area, there's a 100 foot statue of the Duke - put there by the locals.

A visit to Inverness is not complete without a cruise on Loch Ness. The one I took lasts for 3 hours and goes down to Urquhart Castle and back. The Loch actually now forms part of the Caledonian Canal which dissects the Highlands from north-east to south-west.



It follows the Great Glen, a natural glacial fissure which crosses the country along the same line. The Canal is 62 miles long but two-thirds of it are natural lochs (Dochfour, Oich, Ness and Lochy).
Loch Ness is the largest, by volume, body of fresh water in the UK. (Loch Lomond is the biggest by surface area.) Ness' waters run to over 200 metres deep and are dark and peaty, so there are plenty of places for Nessie to hide. She hasn't shown herself to me yet.



Another day trip involved a drive through part of the Cairngorms National Park to Balmoral.



Balmoral Castle is the summer holiday residence of the Royal Family and is only open to the public from April to June. It's privately owned by the Queen, not Crown land. I think Queen Victoria bought it originally. The grounds are vast and range from woodland to manicured rose gardens. The roses are managed so that they're in bloom when the Queen and co are there and not a moment before. I noticed lots of security cameras around the grounds. The ballroom is the only room open to the public and has a display of various royal paraphenalia - dinner services, some of the Queen's outfits, paintings and such like. She apparently likes Landseer quite a lot.

I also drove along the Lecht Road which goes across the top of the Cairngorms. It's a road that's frequently closed due to snow and I could see great patches of snow on nearby mountaintops. The views are spectacular though.



The Cairngorms take their name from Cairn Gorm, one of the peaks there, and translates as the Blue Hills - though they're known colloquially as the Red Hills, so go figure. The mountains here are quite low, rising to just over 800 metres and quite rounded. There are occasional patches of pine forest, particluarly in the Dee River valleys but, for the most part, the hills are relatively bare; just heather and gorse. There are no settlements or roads either: just the main highways which skirt the edges of the area. You'd have to be keen to walk them. The only inhabitants appear to be sheep.
The hillsides are covered in a patchwork of old and new heather, created by regular controlled burnings. This is to accommodate the grouse apparently, and, no doubt, the weirdos who like to shoot them. Still, it makes for an interesting landscape.

I also went in search of Boleskine House, once owned by Jimmy Page and, way back by Alistair Crowley.



It's on the road that follows the eastern side of Loch Ness, just outside the town of Foyers. It's surrounded by trees so I couldn't get a good view unfortunately. Between the house and the Loch is a graveyard. Spooky!

The next stage of the Scottish adventure is Fort William, the second largest town in the Highlands (after Inverness). From there I can take the Jacobite steam train (aka the Hogwarts Express) to Mallaig and back, visit the Isle of Skye and view Ben Nevis.

PS.



It's not always cold, wet and windy in Scotland. There are occasional periods of sunshine - although it is always windy! I'm beginning to think that the only difference between summer and winter in Scotland is that in summer the trees have leaves.

Later...

Scottish money

Scotland uses Pounds Sterling like the rest of the UK but the notes are different. There's no central mint up here and the banks print their own - with notable Scots portrayed on them, no Queen. At the moment I have English notes from the Royal Mint, Royal Bank of Scotland notes and Clydesdale Bank notes. And they're all different. Interesting but confusing.

Meanwhile, it's still going to be windy today but not as bad as yesterday (I hope!). And there's another ash cloud on its way from Iceland. 400 people spent the night in Edinburgh airport due to flight cancellations through ash and wind concerns. Luckily, I'm travelling on the ground :)

Later....

Edinburgh

Well here I am in Edinburgh and it's blowing a gale. Positively gaelic! The castle is closed, the gardens are closed, the cruise boats are cancelled, the Firth of Forth bridge is closed. Holyroodhouse Palace is closed till June because the Church of Scotland has taken it over for something or other.
Hopefully the weather will improve and things will open up again!

Edinburgh looks like a really nice town. It's clean and there's a real feeling of space about the place. Today I wandered along Princes Street, alongside the gardens with the castle perched on its rock beyond them. There are statues of various Scottish notables along the edge of the gardens. The Scott Monument (Sir Walter Scott) is impressive. I'll get a decent photo later I hope.



One of the stranger sights was the tartan scaffolding outside a shop.



I sure hope the weather improves as I think I'm going to enjoy exploring this town.

Later...

Not much happening....

I'm kind of stranded at the moment. My debit card expires this month and expedia and the like won't accept it because of that. I can still get cash but am having trouble booking anywhere on the 'net. Waiting, waiting for the new card to arrive at Mum's so she can send it to me. I don't want to take off anywhere in case the old card suddenly stops working: then I'd really be stranded!

I went to Knowsley Safari Park last week. It's about 5 minutes from here. I was expecting something forlorn and tatty, being so close to the city and all. However, it's a really pleasant day out. 550 acres of grass and parkland inhabited by various animals, mostly from Africa. There are a few emus and two tigers (both asleep!) to represent the rest of the world, but mostly there are lions, deer, antelope, etc. Elephants, of course, meerkats to make you smile, white rhinos, cape buffalo, etc. It's one of those places where you stay in the car and drive through the park. I took lots of photos of course.
There's also a section where you can walk around and get closer to the elephants, meerkats and giraffes. The giraffes are kept in a separate, sheltered enclosure because apparently they get too cold out in the park and it makes them ill. Poor things.
The sun was out so the animals were all lazing and grazing out in the (relative) warmth.



These Scimitar-horned Oryx are extinct in their native habitat:



They come from North Africa and were doing fine until the advent of four-wheel drive vehicles. That made it easier for the nasties with guns to get at them. For their horns I suppose.
The preservation of endangered animals is the only real justification for zoos and parks like this.
The sealion enclosure is entertaining with the sealions performing tricks for fish. I felt a bit sorry for them having to perform like that but, as I said, it was entertaining.



I also learnt the difference between sealions and seals: the front flippers! Seals have very small ones which are of little use. Sealions have big, strong ones which they use for swimming and also for walking around on land with. And for clapping with when they've done something clever.

Because it was a public holiday, the park was quite busy. Lots of family groups having picnics, kids having fun on the fairground rides (there are the gentle type rides only), endless queues of cars crawling round the park. All in all, a pleasant day out.

I went camera shopping the other day. I'd read about the Canon TSE lens which has separate tilt and shift options to get rid of distortion on wide shots. I was interested to have a look as I'm sick of buildings and towers looking like they're leaning inwards. But there are none to be had in the UK because of the Japanese earthquake. Apparently lots of lenses, computer chips and other electronic bits and bobs are in short supply because of the damage and disruption caused by the earthquake. So I bought a new camera instead. The Canon 5D Mark II. My old 5D is still working fine but is old and tired and the sensor is filthy. The Mark II has automatic sensor cleaning as well as video and is just better all round. It came with the 24-105mm lens which seems to be quite nice too. The 28-135mm lens I've had on the old 5D is really worn out. If I point the camera at the ground the lens just slides out to its zoom length all by itself. It really was in need of replacement. Not sure I really needed to buy the camera to go with it though. It's really an unjustifiable expense but...what the hell, I'm happy. Cheaper than if I'd bought it at home anyway.
Of course, since I bought it it's done nothing but rain. Figures.

The plan is (as soon as my new card come through!!!) to go to Scotland for a couple of weeks. Seeing as I've recently been to Land's End I really should get to John O'Groats. :)
Then I'll tackle the continent again.
I've decided not to go home at the end of May as I haven't done all I set out to yet. I'll be here for a while longer yet.

Later....

Cornwall

First, a London snippet I forgot to mention: While Bronnie and I were wandering around Hyde Park Corner we noticed that there were an awful lot of police vehicles parked all over the place. A bit later, as we crossed into Knightsbridge, we saw the police themselves - dozens of them hanging around in various places. So, I asked one of them what was going on. She gave me just a simple two word answer: Libyan Embassy. Sure enough, there was the Libyan flag on one of the buildings. Directly across the road were a few tents and the rebel Libyan flag. Nothing seemed to be happening though.

Anyway.... I spent the last week in Cornwall, the south-west corner of England. The pointy bit. Beautiful part of the country too. I stayed in Carlyon Bay, just out of St Austell on the south coast, and reasonably central for the whole county. The sun was out for the whole week and it even got quite warm, up to the low 20sC. Haha, the locals were all wilting.
The south coast of Cornwall is on the English Channel, the north coast is on the Atlantic Ocean.
I visited a few places but it'd take a lot longer than a week to investigate all that Cornwall has to offer. St Austell is just a town but there are some lovely coves and beaches scattered along its coast. Charlestown is a cute harbour and village just around the corner. There were a couple of tall ships being worked on and there's also a shipwreck and diving museum. There's some interesting stuff in there: relics from the Titanic and the Mary Rose as well as hundreds of other objects from the many, many ships that have foundered off the Cornish coast over the centuries. It's certainly not a forgiving coastline!
Penzance and St Ives are two towns I remember from my childhood. I'm not sure if we went to both places (they're not that far apart) but I remember the wind and the ice cream. Both are still there. I tried ice cream in a few places and it varies a lot. The "made on the premises" stuff is by far the best.
Not far from Penzance is St Michael's Mount: an old abbey on a hill that is now separated from the mainland by the sea.



Centuries ago it was apparently a few miles inland, or so the story goes. It ties in with the legend of the lost land of Lyonesse, which was supposed to have been in these parts until it sank beneath the sea.
At low tide you can walk to the Mount, either across the sand or along the manmade causeway. At high tide you'd have to go by boat. I walked across the sand and up through the small harbour at the bottom of the island. The tide was starting to come in as I left so I had to take the causeway back.
Further on from Penzance is Land's End: the most westerly point of the UK mainland. It's where the Channel and the Atlantic meet.





Right at the edge is The First and Last House - a cafe/pub/refreshment place. It was closed. (In the nearby village is the original First and Last House, a proper pub.) Further up is a bigger complex with pub, restaurant, souvenir shops and kids' theme park. Kind of spoils the beauty of the coastline.
A mile or so off Land's End are the Longships; a collection of rocks with a small lighthouse. Because it was so hazy my pics didn't really turn out though. 28 miles further out are the Isles of Scilly. Apparently you can see them on a clear day.

The Lizard Peninsula is another picturesque area. Lizard Point is the UK mainland's most southerly point. Much of the peninsula's coastline is now National Trust property and the emphasis is on conservation of the area.



Kynance Cove, the next cove along, is an example of the Trust's work as the original cafe complex on the cliff has been demolished and moved down to the cove itself. Consequently, the views along the cliffs are unspoiled.



Mullion Cove, on the western coast of the peninsula, is a little fishing harbour.



It's also maintained by the National Trust and they've had to spend several hundred thousand pounds keeping the harbour walls intact. The sea can get pretty wild.

The main places I visited on the north coast are St Ives and Tintagel.
There's a roundabout as you enter the St Ives area and you can go left or right to get to the town according to the signs. To the left it says "St Ives (Day visits)"; to the right it says "St Ives (Ignore your satnav)". That's really what the sign says. Go left! The town is a maze of narrow, one way streets and dead ends that spread up the steep hills from the coast. The harbour/beach area is very busy though: a mecca for tourists. The sun was out so the beach was busy.



Tintagel is a lovely little town. Its claim to fame is, of course, the ruins of the castle up on the cliff. It's supposed to have been King Arthur's castle. There's not much of it left now.
The coastline is really picturesque though.



Apart from the more touristy places, Cornwall is awash with tiny fishing villages and harbours along the coast and farming villages inland. I really only touched the surface while I was there.
I was amused by the names of some of the places though: Gweek, Shortlanesend, Mousehole, Inwardleigh; just a few examples. The highland areas around Bodmin are moorland, not unlike Yorkshire and parts of Ireland. I saw some wild ponies up there but stupidly didn't stop to take a photo. Many of the inland place names begin with Tre, which translates from Cornish as "farm". Tresillian sticks in my mind as it has one of the best looking pubs I've ever seen:



Traditionally, Cornwall has more in common with Brittany and the Celtic lands than with the rest of England. I saw quite a few Celtic crosses, the first since Ireland. The Cornish flag, black with a white cross, was also common. I think there's a fair amount of support for an independent Cornwall in the county. I'm not sure that's an economically viable option though. There used to be a lot of tin and china clay mining but now there's not much of either. There are a few quarries still and lots of fishing. I think the main earner now though is tourism.

Anyway...I had a lovely week down there. The weather was great and the scenery even better. Another place I'd love to go back to.

Later....



PS. On the way back north I stopped at the Ironbridge in Coakbrookdale, Telford in Shropshire. The world's oldest iron bridge, built 1777-79. I went for a little 40 minute cruise along the Severn River, Britain's longest river. A nice break in the journey.

London

Whirlwind two days in London with my friend Bronnie from home.
I drove down on Monday: 3 hours from Liverpool to London, then another hour to drive the 10 miles through London to the hotel, right near the BBC. Madness. I'd booked a room in the same hotel Bronnie was in so we didn't have to waste any time meeting up. Fun couple of days.
Basically we hopped on and off the double-decker tour bus and wandered around being tourists. Bronnie got so excited when we saw Big Ben I thought she was going to fall out of the bus! Big Ben is the name of the 13 ton bell by the way, not the tower itself; that's St Stephen's something or other.
We wandered through Covent Garden, Soho (some nice guitar shops there!!), Knightsbridge, Chinatown, the West End, Piccadilly Circus (which is basically a roundabout), up and down Regent St, Oxford St, Carnaby St, etc.
Parliament and Big Ben, Westminster (though not inside), Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park Corner, Harrods and Harvey Nichols, a Thames cruise up to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.
We had to do the Ab Fab thing and have a champagne in Harvey Nics. The doorman (yes, they have doormen) held the door open for us and I said "Hi, I'm Patsy and this is my friend Eddie." He had no clue what I was on about. None at all. How sad. Anyway... 30 pounds for the 2 glasses of house champers. We didn't stay for a second glass. It was cool to sit there in the rooftop cafe, sip champers and chat away.



London is better than I was expecting. It's noisy and crowded but not in an unpleasant kind of way. I'll definitely go back, stay a bit longer and investigate some of the treasures more thoroughly.

Yesterday morning I dragged Bronnie over to the Kensington/Holland Park area.... Melbury Road in particular. Number 29. Jimmy Page's house. I took my stalker photos :) Nice house!! I laughed at the brick holding the gate open. Sadly there was no sign of Jimmy.



Then I dropped Bronnie off at Buckingham Palace and headed out of town via the Albert memorial in Kensington Gardens; directly opposite the Royal Albert Hall. I've got lots of London pics but have yet to upload them. Coming soon to a Flickr near you.

Currently in Bournemouth on my way to Cornwall for a few days. Hoping desperately that the weather improves again.

Later...