Scotland - A weekend away

After an unsurprising organisational blunder saw me having to purchase a second plane ticket and Brigitte having to spend a night in Edinburgh by herself, I finally made my way North and we got our long weekend underway. It started off with a ghost tour through the streets of Edinburgh which, whilst informative and entertaining, was hardly pant-wettingly terrifying. Edinburgh is a pretty cool place though.

The next day we drove our little hire-focus to Aberfeldy in Perthshire where we did some white water rafting. I've also discovered that this sport requires balance, strength and both personal and team co-ordination. Sounds right up my alley I thought to myself. Turns out I don't really listen to directions all that well though. Meh. After a thinly veiled marriage proposal from one of the locals we made our way to a local B&B before missing dinner (if you've not eaten by 8PM in these parts it's crisps and coke for dinner).

Me in a make-shift submarine (probably paddling backwards)

The next day it was off to a local mountain called The Schiehallion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiehallion). This took a bit of effort to firstly find and secondly to climb. I had two broken toes and B had wet trainers. We soldiered on though over what seemed miles of a very steep and loose bolder field before reaching the summit. On the assent it was in turns sunny, hot, raining, hailing, snowing and very windy.

The Mountain was Grouse

The lamb ran when he saw me coming...must have thought me a kiwi.

We then drove to Fort William for the night and had a quick look around the area at the base of Ben Nevis the following morning. We then headed south-east to a little town called Callander which was pleasant and even had a chocolate shop so it ticked most of the boxes.

On our final day we headed to Loch Katrine to take a steam boat cruise with, as it turned out, a load of French school kids. I could tell they were french from their skinny leg jeans, tussled mops of hair and propensity for wearing stripey tops. The fact they were also speaking French was a lesser clue. The trip was nice if a little cold and the scenery very picturesque as always.

Brigitte hiding behind Sir Walter.

It was then of to Castle Stirling where we had a tour guided by a very enthusiastic guide and took in the history of Castle Stirling. It's actually a very interesting castle and, like most of the UK, has a fairly fascinating past. After that is was back in the car to Edinburgh and the airport.

Egypt Dive Trip - Inflate The Donkey 09

A dive trip to Egypt had been in the very initial stages of planning for at least 6 months ('who would fancy a dive holiday' at the pub and an email formally stating the same question). This didn't prevent us from organising both flights and accommodation two weeks before we left however. And it was awesome. Planning for holidays is over rated based on this experience.

After some 8AM breakfast beers and an uneventful flight (with a few beers to break up the monotony) JB and I arrived in Egypt where we knew G-Rock would be arriving 1 hour later. That was however all we knew. No phone number. No flight details. After sitting around for a bit at the terminal managed to get her number and determine she was at the terminal. Well, a terminal, just not ours.

Then in a taxi to the hotel that I had booked through two emails two emails and not given any credit card details. Turns out it was a privately owned apartment in a Hotel complex. And it was ace. And cheap. Result. Drinking heavily to celebrate.

The next day the three of us were chilling out at the hotel pool hoping I-Rock would find first the hotel and then us given his phone wasn't working. He ended up wandering around the hotel complex until he was eventually drawn to my dulcet tones like a sailor to a Siren. More celebratory drinks for all. And sunbathing. Then sunscreen. And more drinking.

The next day was our first day of diving which meant we had to get up at 7AM which was a stretch. This was to be repeated for the next four mornings but would not be a barrier to us drinking our way though an unlikely amount of booze.

The first days diving was to reveal the clearest water I've ever seen and the visibility was incredible. No great dives on the first day but pissing around with the viking helmet and Ian's camera made it a great day.

The next few days all followed a fairly similar pattern with a days full of diving in wonderful conditions, back to the flat, shower, drinks, dinner, drinks, flat, drinks, sleep, dive.

We did decide to get on the full day excursion out to a World War Two wreck called the Thistlegorm however which proved well worth the 5AM start. It was at about 30M at its base but much of the vessel was still intact with many swim throughs possible and much of the cargo (including creates full of motorcycles and jeeps) still in the holds it was the best dive I've done I think. A lot of the dive was done with maybe 1 foot clearance above and below you in almost complete darkness except your torch. Wicked. We celebrated with some drinks.


Our final night we had a fridge full of beer to get through and a 1lt bottle of booze. Unsurprisingly this turned into a bit of a debaturous evening which culminated in me breaking two toes whilst engaged in a water fight (using our only remaining fresh water).

A very belated thanks to JB, GV and IM for one of the best holidays I've had in a while. You guys rock.