Backpacking in Britain: May 2006

Monday, May 29, 2006

Loch Ness (2)

The Loch Ness (literally Ness Lake) is well known - but in me opinion, for the wrong reasons. No monster there - well, we din see any! But the scenery was truly lovely.

The lake is huge - long and thin. Fort Augustus markes its sounthern end while Inverness is at its tip. It is the biggest body of fresh water in the UK.

The distance to drive around the lake is 70 miles!!!!!! The Lonely Planet Guide advised us to drive in the anticlockwise direction. I realised later that that was common sense, actually - if i had used mine! In the UK, cars go on the left side of the road - so if you go in an anticlockwise route, you'd be driving right next to the lake!

Urquhart Castle is there - but there's really nothing much except a total ruin and a very impressive looking trebuchet (see pics below)!

We went during winter - try not to. It got dark at 3:30pm and we were rushing around the lake to beat the sunset. If one would go in the summer, one could spend more time just sitting by the lake and taking in the wonderful atmosphere. Hey, maybe Nessie might make a guest appearance!

Here are me pics:-

6:10 pm | Permalink |

Loch Ness (1) - Edinburgh to Inverness

We started our journey to Loch Ness from Edinburgh early Christmas morn. I was hoping to reach one of the small towns for a quiant Christmas service.

The journey up north was wonderful. The morning mist was still clearing when we crossed the Fife Bridge - surreal! It was like the bridge was floating in the clouds. As i was the driver, me passengers took the pics - and until now, i still haven't obtained teh pics from them yet!!!! :-(

But here are some of the pics i took at the many stops we made:-

5:53 pm | Permalink |

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Edinburgh (3)

Down the Royal Mile we go!

Be careful, tho - esp if you are wearing heels!

Don't forget to stop by the Writers' Museum (free again!).

It houses manuscripts and memorabilia belonging to Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson.

Quotes are inscribed on the pavement outside!

Further down the road, you'll come to the Parliament Square - there you'd see the majestic St Giles Cathedral (with a statute of John Knox inside - u'd have to pay to take pics, tho), the Mercat Cross. Behind the Cathedral are the High Courts.

Don't miss the cobblestoned Heart of Midlothian - but keep your distance! Traditionally, people spit on it for luck!

Further down, you come to the City Chambers. I saw this memorial there which was similar to the one at the Taiping Lake Gardens back home!

There was this mime along the Royal Mile performing

John Knox's house is along the Royal Mile too.

There are also many shops selling nice souvenirs and oso value for money backpackers' inns along the Royal Mile.

At the other end is the Scottish Parliament. By the time i reached there, it was dark and closed. But it looked really impressive. Well, it should be - it cost in excess of 430 million pounds!!!!!!! It was a fiasco but no one was found to take the blame!

There are many other sights (like the one below - the tiny statute of Greyfriars Bobby, a Skye terrier who from 1858 to 1872 maintained a vigil over his master's grave!). Spend a few days at Edinburgh to take in all the sights. It's worth it!

Try to climb... err, walk up to Arthur's Seat just outside the town area. The pic taken above is by me old Nikon film camera in 1994. Lovely views of the town and the sunset!

Views of the Edinburgh skylines (did some effects thingy for the last 2):-

9:23 pm | Permalink |

Edinburgh (2)

The old part of the town is where the "fun" was for me! Lovely!

On the Lonely Planet's recommendation, i covered the main road in the old part of town - The Royal Mile!

It starts off at one end with the imposing Edinburgh Castle.

Edinburgh Castle

It would have been difficult for invaders to try to get into the castle from the side or the back.

As i've been in there before, and we din really have much time, we gave it a miss. But if you can afford it (time and money), spend at the very least half a day there!

From the Edinburgh castle, you can have some pretty nice views of the town, the old buildings. Loved it! :-)

Just outside the Castle, as you start to walk along the Royal Mile, there are many sights to see - the Camera Obscura, the Scotch Museum, the Highland Tolbooth Kirk. There was also this Tartan Weaving Mill and Exhibition - it was free! ;-)

There were mannequins on display...

...and real people doing the weaving!

And loads of cool stuffs on sale!

Oh, keep an eye open - you'll never know if you miss anything unexpected and interesting!

8:36 pm | Permalink |

Edinburgh (1)

Edinburgh is a beautiful place. A definately must-go for any travelers to the UK. It has everything - history, art, culture, shopping, food, sceneries and wonderful people speaking in lovely Scottish accents!

Unfortunately for us, the welcome was far from warm. We arrived by train at the very central ly located Edinburgh train station on the evening of Christmas eve. The train station was crazy - people were all getting ready to leave for their Christmas holidays, to return home or to visit some other place. Everything had that "last-minute" feel. After all, the place will "close down" for the next few days - some places even closing until the new year!

We went to get our reserved car from Europcar. Want some advice? Dun ever get your car from them. In spite of having proper reservations made weeks ago, i was told by a most unhelpful staff (his name is Barry) that there is no car for me! He was neither sympathetic nor apologetic. He just basically told me "Tough". Too bad. Yes, we know you have a reservation but sorry, we dun have a car for you! All they had for us is a Wolkswagen Transporter - a huge van without any windows on the side or back! Take it or leave it, we were told.

We had no choice. If we din take it, we'd be stuck in Edinburgh for a few days and that would ruin our plans completely - my travel mates had flight tickets booked out of Edinburgh in a few days time! Under normal circumstances, being "stuck" in Edinburgh is not a bad thing - but we were there on Christmas Eve which was a Friday and everything will be closed for the weekend and Christmas.

We took the van - reluctantly, of course. I've driven vans before but this is the biggest and broadest van i have ever driven. Take a look at it:-

I couldn't rely on the rear-view mirror since there is no rear windscreen! Parking was an absolute nightmare - thank God for patient people at Perth (that's another story).

But in the end, it din turn out that bad. I felt a little safe driving in the highlands cuz i know that the van was tough. It was powerful too - and it ran on diesel which prolly save us quite a bit of money.

So dun ever go to Europcar - altho when i returned the van, the staff was really nice and helpful - and he apologised for Barry's behaviour!

Anyways, Edinburgh. One of its uniqueness is the lay-out of the place. There is the old town and the new town - and u'd know which part of it you are in! And it is conveniently divided by the railway lines.

For the new part of town, there'll be all the nice new buildings and shopping areas. The girls had a nice time doing their post-Christmas sale shopping when we got back!

Here are some pics of the new town:-