McLennan Land

We actually arrived in London from Munich, but that was only for the arvo/night before heading off early the next morning to Scotland.

This week featured a number of ties to family:

Eagerly waiting to meet us at Heathrow airport were Renees sister Kristy and their parents. I'm sure they were as excited as Renee (who was pretty much bouncing all the way on the plane trip) considering she hadnt seen her parents in 6 months or Kristy in almost 18 months! This feeling however possibly wore off quicker for them than it did for Renee who had obviously been missing friends and family. After a few hours, this is what Kristy and her parents had to resort to - in order to get a word in edgewise. :oD


The last resort for excited Renees poor family!


Yummy food at a funky stack'em up restaurant!

Not only did Renees family get to have a mini reunion, this was the first time Tim was there as part of the "family-to-be" and we were heading off together to the "Land of the Macs"....
The land of the brave; where the calls of the ancient highlands were stirring in Tims ancestory blood - causing strange desires to dance around in the cold, in a tartan skirt with no underwear, whilst blowing into a pipe covered sheeps bladder. Or maybe not. Either way there was lots of lovely scenery, some movie quality castles, and lots of mighty fine Rhodedenrums!

So, early the next morning we (the 5 of us) picked up our bags and proceeded in convoy to Stansted Airport (via london underground, then coach). This was our first intro to the famous/infamous "cheap" europe flights. This one went pretty well - largely because we had our trusty local travel agent looking after us and accompanying us all the way. (Thanks Kristy!)


Sodoku!!! Yay!! Thanks Kristy! (Christmas early!)


We picked up a fairly nice hire car (upgraded due to the one we booked had been smashed in an accident by the previous hirers!) - a diesel version of the Vaxhaul (Holden) Astra. My first drive of a small diesel and it didnt seem too bad... if even if it was a "Holden", hey Rob? ;o) Oh yeah.... I was even allowed to drive! I promised to behave myself (which I did!) and the future parents-in-law even started to relax after a few hours.

Much to the amusement of the Weston Clan, one of my fondest memories of Scotland was sitting in the back seat of the car travelling to our first town for the night. We were passing through some lovely valleys with high, rolling hills either side when I heard a low rumbling sound. At first I thought it was a motorbike creeping up on us about to overtake (there were plenty of them touring around, and I was wishing I had one instead of the car!). It it only took a few milli seconds to realise it wasnt a bike as the noise kept getting louder and louder and was coming up from behind faster than any bike rider would be able to hang on! Im sure we all ducked as a RAF Tornado jet fighter screamed overhead at less than 200ft above us. We got a great top-down view of his plane as he pulled up out of the low-level buzz, no doubt chuckling away to himself. (There were numerous other fighters cruising around at low level for the rest of the week, so I was kept happy!)

Our first stop was in Crianlarich. A very nice B&B where we had our own little cottage.
Renee and I had planned to cook for the troops since it was one of the few times we had a kitchen. Unfortunately that was limited to a basic curry as the only supermarket we could find had nothing but frozen dinners!!! pfff... Luckily a deli had enough ingredience to help us out.


A forrest walk the next morning around the surrounding hills was the scene for this shy little girl being discovered by a very interested Young lad.


Awwww... two coy young spring chickens!

After the walk it was a lesurely drive to Invergarry: Located near Loch Ness. Despite our trusty travel agent booking well in advance (and paying a deposit) we were informed (appologetically) that unfortunately they didnt have room for all of us. 'Twas all OK though as she had found us rooms at another place just down the road in Fort Augustus. We spent some time wandering round the small town surrounding the 3 stage locks where a canal enters Loch Ness, watching boats transferring up and down. An evening enjoying fish and chips on the picturesque water front was very hard to take!


Look! Locks between lochs!! (3 stage lifts for boats entering/leaving loch Ness)

The next days drive took us along the length of the famous Loch Ness. Nessie was probably on holiday as we didnt see her (/him/it). Still, there were frequent sightings throughout the few thousand gift shops. A few lovelly walks took us through dense, lush forrests; one following a small creek until it emerged out to the majestic expanse of the Loch, the other back up another creek carving an interesting path through a rocky gorge. Lunch for Tim included a once in a lifetime opportunity to try the (in)famous pommy culinary delight: A Deep Fried Mars Bar! It didnt take Tim long to realise why it was a once in a lifetime experience! Urgghh!


The forest Bobsled team.


A castle???? in scotland??? ;o)


Fools!! The lot of them!


How Gorgeous!!!! Nice scenery too.


Enjoying fine company and views.


And the rolling hills come to an abrupt end!

We continued in the afternoon (following the driving guide Kristy had printed from the Internet) to find the Ferry across to the Isle of Skye. We went past a little, old battered sign saying "Ferry Closed" and thought nothing of it as our Internet guide said it was through here. The Internet is NEVER wrong. After arriving at a deserted Ferry crossing, we watched the little otters play in the water (I swear I heard one chuckling "pfff dopey tourists!") before deciding to head back and try and find our way to the bridge.
Arriving at our B&B around 4ish (again booked and deposit payed for) we found no-one was home apart from a lone wandering chicken. (I wanted to hypnotise it as its a great party trick that I seldom get a chance to use!) We left a note and decided to do a bit more more exploring before coming back later. An our or so later, just as we were deciding to head back and try again, Kristy gets a call saying.
"Um, Hi. About the room you booked... Well we have no room, coz um ... ummm, my husbands sick and I cant look after anyone else. You are going to have to find somewhere else." No real appology. No offer to look for somewhere else for us.
"riiiight.... Well I guess we will be back tomorrow on our way off the island to pick up the deposit." (To tell the truth, it looked pretty dodgey, so we were glad we found somewhere else for the night. - Plus to her credit she did give us back more than Kristy paid as a deposit.) We enjoyed a nice meal in the little town we ended up in (cant remember the name, sorry!) and had an evening performance of Bagpipes in the town square, thanks to the local primary school!


Little chidlers, learning to strangle cats and annoy people for generations to come! (Kidding! They sounded great!)

A drive around the top end of the isle, completing a full loop, provided some speccy scenery as many small creeks (with little waterfalls along the way) ended ubruptly over a large cliff with large drops out into the open ocean.




Where the rivers run free, from highlands to the sea.

Once back on the mainland, we carried on to Inverness (through the area once inhabited by the legendary McLennan Clan). A quaint old town with a supprisingly fast flowing river cutting through the middle of it.


Locky! Our trusty local guide and Mascot for the trip.



Our penultimate stop for Scotland saw a change in accomodation from the luxurious (for Renee and I) B&Bs to the more familiar Back Packers. This one was very nicely setup and was a good base for Pub hopping in search of food, drink and World cup soccer matches on the big screens! (oh, and of course Kareoke for Kristy)

Our final full day in Scotland took us for one final meander along a magic riverside forrest trail. Apparently this was the scene for an infamous past incident involving Stinging nettles during an emergency toilet stop for someone on the trip, but I wont mention names because she might kill me. Renee, Kristy and I greatly enjoyed our first trip to the area. ;oD


Kristy: looking for the troll under the bridge... Or maybe any local Firemen???




The walks were gorge-ous! (Tim joke!)

Also of note was the "Salmon Steps" upstream where each year Salmon return to their breeding ground. A man made series of "steps" in the water allow the Salmon to climb the now dammed river. A slight confusion in their operation had us patiently waiting and watching for Slamon to jump the series of 6 foot high walls with their series of "resting" ponds. Turns out, there are actually pipes allowing the slamon to swim up through the walls of these ponds, meaning the salmon jumping was only to be seen very occasionally in the actual river!

The trip abck to Glasgow included a stop at another small town that had a small cafe chocked full of Aussie paraphenalia! State flags, holiday posters, Vegemite and Aussie signs covered every spare space in the place. Turns out the owner was a die-hard aussie that loved Australia to death... yet wouldnt go back??? The bugger also had a very dodgy way of presenting his menu such that Rob and I ended up paying about $15 each for our pie and pastie despite Renee and Sue only paying about $5 for pretty much the same thing! ( Maybe they wont let him back in the country!!! :oD )


We like to think so, but they placed the sign a long way away! ;D

We also had to drive via Perth. Just so we could say we had been there. Tim tried recruiting (unsuccessfuly) for his motorcyle club (Perth-Street-Bikes), but there was a limited market there. (It was a relatively small town.)

The night in Glasgow consisted of a short walk through the town park swarming with shirtless yobos, looking very much like they were at Australia day pre-fireworks parties). The gothic university buildings looked very spectacular, looming on the hill almost like a sophisticated vampire's residence. A delicious Indian meal (the westernized version of course) was enjoyed by all as a wonderful finish to the week. (Thanks Kristy!)