Its a Wee Bit Cold

The train ride form London to Edinburgh, Scotland seemed to take forever.  Dustin and I went through almost the entire English island and arrived in New Castle to change trains.  There is nothing special about this town except when we were crossing over the river and into the train station, a massive rainbow arched over the entire city to greet us.  The train from New Castle to Carlisle was only an hour long but felt so much longer.  We cut through the country side and followed the Hadrian's Wall line, the wall the Romans built to keep the native Scots away from them.  From Carlisle we hopped on another train and a few hours later, we finally arrived in Edinburgh.

Dustin and I immediately went to the hostel to unload our gear and relax.  After a little relaxation time, we headed onto the Royal Mile or High Street to find a pub to get dinner.  We arrived at the Mitre Pub just a block away from the Hostel.  I was surprised by the gourmet meal I had in the pub.  One would think bar food would be fried and dripping with grease but the risotto I had was similar to what I ate at Sands the night before.  The pear cider I had helped round out the meal.  After dinner we walked around a bit then headed back to the hostel.

Keeping with tradition, Dustin and I awoke early and headed for the train station to catch the train to St. Andrews.  The town of St. Andrews is more well known for being where golf was invented but people often overlook the other history that is there.  We decided to skip the golf and go straight for the castle that overlooks the bay.  There isn't much left other than some ruins and a mine shaft that you can go into.  After exploring the ruins for a little bit, Dustin and I walked over to the St. Andrews Cathedral.

The cemetery is full of old and new headstones and there are ruins of the main part of the cathedral are still standing.  We climbed the tower that gives a view of the entire city and then left the cemetery and walked out onto a pier that juts into the bay.  There wasn't much to see out there but it was a nice walk.

We walked back into town and got some lunch then headed back to Edinburgh.  We relaxed at the hostel for a bit then went walking around and got some dinner.  We went to bed early because we had a long day ahead of us on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning we had to be at the Rabbie's Trailblazers office at 8am for our tour bus.  We joined a tour that drives all throughout the Highlands and up to the southern tip of Loch Ness.  We stopped about an hour outside of Edinburgh to get some coffee and as soon as I got out of the van it started to snow.  This trend continued for the rest of the trip.  Every stop it would begin to snow a little bit.  At a few stops we saw people just walking through the country side.  Our guide, Eddy, said that since Scotland has no trespassing laws people walk all over for fun.  When we got closer to Loch Ness we went through a blizzard.  Loch Ness was not the most scenic place ever but it was still beautiful.  I think the best thing about the trip was all the small stops we made on the way to St. Augusta and on the way back.  We say mountains, snow, deer, and many Lochs.  Unfortunately, Nessie didn't grace us with her presence.  On the way back we drove through a large blizzard that finally let up when we got to the first National Park in Scotland.  Here, we walked up to a scenic overlook over a waterfall and attempted to find gold in the river but it was way too dark to see any.  The van finally arrived in Edinburgh after a long day of traveling through most of the island.

Wednesday morning, we walked up to Edinburgh castle to see where the royal families of Scotland had lived.  It was closed when we got up there so we went to the Haggis Cafe to get some breakfast.  Dustin decided to try haggis, which I think he regretted.  It looked like burned sausage and judging by the look on his face, tasted worse.  After breakfast we went back up to the castle and explored the many rooms.  The castle is full of history and ghost stories.  They have a cannon called Mons Meg that at one point was the largest cannon ever made.  We spent a few hours walking around the castle and then headed down the Royal Mile toward the Scottish Whiskey Experience.

Here, we learned about the process behind making whiskey and the difference between blended and malt whiskeys and the difference between Scottish whiskey and other whiskeys.  We did a tasting of a blended and a malt whiskey and then learned about the history of whiskey.  The tasting and process was interesting but the history was similar to a little kids carnival ride and was a terrible end to the experience.

Dustin and I walked further down the Royal Mile, all the way to the end, to Holyrood Palace.  This is where the Queen stays when she comes to visit.  We walked around the palace and throughout the garden then headed to the hostel to grab our bags and head to the airport.  Our flight for Ireland left around 8:30 p.m.  Scotland was such an amazing place and I hope to come back soon.

Scotland