Day 5, July 31st, Strontian

We left the hotel in Glasgow a little late, around 10:00. We took the M8 Motorway north and then on to the back roads towards Glen Coe. We drove along Loch Lomond on a narrow two lane road. It was interesting when meeting a bus. We stopped at the old Drover's Inn for a rest break and some coffee. This place was built in 1705 and is filled with interesting animal mounts and memorabilia. Who knew that the last wild Haggis was killed by a postal worker back in the early 1800's.


We went on from there to the Clachaig Inn for lunch. Right next to this Inn is the location where the set for Hagrid's cabin was for the Harry Potter films if you are interested. The cabin was not left in place by the film company. We had a great lunch here with a good cask ale to wash it down.


From here, the group split up. A short hike was arranged for those that wanted to go. At this point is where it started to rain. The drive from Glen Coe to Strontian was scenic even in the rain.


After a short ferry ride and more narrow, one lane roads, we got to the guest house. It is still raining as we write this at the Kilcamb Lodge Hotel on the shore of Loch Sunart. The rest of the group has just arrived. They should be plenty wet.


July 31st, 10:30pm

The rest of the group did arrive and they were indeed wet. We learned to recognize 3 different heathers; ling, bell, and cross leaf heath. We are sitting in the parlor, having just finished a 3 hour, 7 course dinner: pre-starter (melon mint shot, pickled fish, and black pudding truffle), soup (mint and pea cappuccino), starter (either scallops with pickled figs or pidgeon with ripe figs), intermediate (potato and caviar), main (salmon with crab filled ravioli, roe and sea asparagus or fillet of angus beef and oxtail truffle), pre-dessert (lemon sorbet and lemon custard) and dessert (options including triple chocolate, bread pudding, sorbet and cheeses). Oh and then coffee and mixed selection of chocolate truffles, back in the parlor. Can we really handle 3 more nights like this?

Day 4, July 30th, Edinburgh

We slept real late this morning. The music in the bar downstairs went until about midnight, but it was pretty good. We laid around watching TV and reading while listening to it. We got up a little after 8:00 and went downstairs for breakfast. We didn't know it at first, but the breakfast was complimentary whether it was juice and coffee or a full Scottish breakfast. Pleasant surprise.

Afterward, we walked the Royal Mile a little. We found the heart in the pavement in front of St. Giles and took a picture. We didn't stand on it or spit on it. A little more walking and shopping and then it was time to check out and get to the train station. By accident and because we weren't sure which train to pick and went to the ticket window, we found out that a group of 4 travels for the price of 2. For 5 pounds each, we traveled to Glasgow. We left the train station there to look for a taxi and saw the sign for the airport bus. A fellow at the bus stop said that the taxi would have cost 35 to 40 pounds, and the bus to the airport was only 4 pounds 20 each (starting to sound like a Brit or a Scot there). The bus let us off at the terminal and then it was a
3 minute walk to the hotel.

We had just checked in and were about to try calling the others, and we saw Auntie coming down the hall. We are finally all together. We all got together and went for a walk/cab ride to the Piazza Shopping Mall near Paisley Gilmore train station. There we did a little shopping and then had dinner in a restaurant called the "Last Post" which used to be the post office.

We are all back at the hotel enjoying a beer and writing up this entry. Tomorrow we leave for the Strontian Guest House near Ft. William.

Day 3, July 29th, Edinburgh

11:00 AM

We are on the train to Edinburgh, due to arrive at about 12:30. This is definitely the way to travel. It's smooth and quiet, so we are getting naps in. We had breakfast on the train. We just pulled into Newcastle and the next stop should be Edinburgh.

8:00 PM

We got in a few minutes early and then got lost immediately after leaving the train terminal. Turns out that the maps need to be 3 dimensional. The street we thought we would go down to the hotel was up on a bridge that goes over the whole terminal. We took a side street up a pretty steep angle, but it beats carrying the suitcases up stairs.

We found the Bank Hotel easily after that. It's on the Royal Mile.


The room is very entertaining with anatomical diagrams and display cases full of specimens that the doctor the room was named after might have once had.


The Bank Bar is right below our rooms. You need to leave the room key with the bartender when you go out. I suppose skeleton keys are hard to replace. One advantage of staying here is that guests have a special license - the bar closes at 1:00 AM, but we can go down any time of the night and get a pint.


We walked up to the castle and then down through the gardens and below it. Unfortunately, there were casualties in the war on the streets of London. Jack 0, streets 1. A blister on the foot. Linda had the same problem. The most seriously wounded (Jack) returned to the hotel while the others went souvenir shopping. We will probably go downstairs for a quiet beer before bed.


More pictures of Edinburgh tomorrow. We will probably take the 11:30 train to Glasgow tomorrow.

Day 2, July 28th, London

We slept late and headed downstairs for some coffee. We had a cup, but the waitress was miffed that we didn't want anything to eat and didn't even offer us a second cup. We met up with Sue and Linda and found a Starbucks for the real fix and a muffin.


The plan was to meet Dick and Raylene at the London Eye at 9:30, and we weren't very late. We bought our tickets and waited about 20 minutes in line to get on. It was a great ride, you can hardly tell that you are moving. They don't stop it for you to get on or off, but it moves slowly. The ride (they call it a flight) takes about 30 minutes and the views are fantastic from 135 meters up.

From there we walked past Buckingham Palace, but it was a real zoo. The changing of the guard was at 11:00, and we got there about 11:15. We could hardly move.


We walked back to the hotel and looked for the tour bus stop that was supposed to be there, but couldn't find it. We walked all the way to Victoria Station to buy tickets and get on the bus. It was a pretty good tour; we saw things that we just wouldn't have had time to see otherwise. We got off at the stop near the hotel - it turned out it was less than a block away but we somehow couldn't see the sign.

Tonight we are going to take the Tube to Temple Station to take the Hidden Pubs of Old London Town walking tour and plan to walk back to the hotel afterward.

P.S. 11:00 pm.

We just got back from the pub walking tour. We are footsore and tired, and found that the pubs stop serving food at 9:30. We found a pizza place and got something to eat, and the pub was still serving beer. The walking tour was worth every pence; the guide (Steve) was entertaining and witty. He told a lot of stories about the history of the places we visited and we did get to have a bump at each pub we stopped at. We made a bunch of new friends in the group too - as soon as we spoke we were asked where we were from. We met a couple from Boston, one from Michigan, and another from Ohio as well as several Brits.


This is the outdoor sign for the oldest pub in London. It was rebuilt after the fire of 1666 that destroyed 75% of London. Doctor Samuel Johnson, who wrote the first dictionary, was said to frequent this pub. His cat Hodge is memorialized by a statue near the pub as Dr. Johnson was quoted "That was one fine cat".

On to Edinburgh at 8:00 tomorrow from Kings Cross Station. We may sleep on the train.

Day 1, July 27th, London

We arrived in London early even with having to circle around waiting for a gate. The airport shuttle was right on the spot and got us to the hotel before 2PM. We got checked in and then immediately went for a walk. We circled around Parliament and Big Ben before walking to a pub we knew about for lunch (and something wet).

After lunch, we walked back to the London Eye, but the crowds were so bad that we decided to try that later. We walked across the Thames on a foot bridge and went to Trafalgar Square and the monument to Lord Nelson. The crowds were even worse, but the sites were worth seeing. From there, we found a back path past wonderful gardens and parks to the hotel. According to Raylene's pedometer, we walked between 7 and 8 miles.

Once back to the hotel, we refreshed ourselves and then headed downstairs to the pub for other refreshments. The London Pride, ESB, and Cheswick Bitter were fabulous. We rounded up the evening with a shot of Irish Whiskey and then up to bed.

Getting ready

We have been planning this trip for a year now, and here we are just 4 days from departure. We have made our list of things to pack and loaded it all into our bags and weighed them to be sure that we don't go over the weight limits, especially on the regional airline we will be using to go from Glasgow to Islay. We are well within limits and will have room for the goodies that we are sure to find in the many distilleries on the island.

Our itinerary:

Sunday, July 26th - Depart from Minneapolis for London at about 9:50 pm.
Monday, July 27th - Arrive in London at about 12:15 local time.
Tuesday, July 28th - Sightsee around London.
Wednesday, July 29th - Depart from London Kings Cross station for the train ride to Edinburgh.
Thursday, July 30th - Travel by train from Edinburgh to Glasgow. Meet the rest of the group there.
Friday, July 31st - Picked up by Wilderness Scotland and taken to the Strontian Guest House.
July 31st - August 3rd - Hiking and sightseeing with Wilderness Scotland.
Tuesday, August 4th - Travel from Strontian back to Glasgow.
Wednesday, August 5th - Fly from Glasgow to Islay.
August 5th - August 7th - Sightseeing on Islay.
Saturday, August 8th - Take the afternoon ferry to Kennicraig and a coach back to Glasgow.
Sunday, August 9th - Depart Glasgow for the trip home via London.