Sneak Preview

Preparing for our trip to Scotland is taking up most of my time these days. I have used the airbnb website as well as Google satellite photos to get pictures and locations of all of the places where my brother and I are going to stay. I'm giving you the "sneak preview" so here goes:

From Glasgow airport we are taking a shuttle bus to the downtown train station where we will take a train to Stirling and pick up our rental car. We'll be staying in the village of Dollar for a couple of nights doing some hiking near the Campbell Castle and the Stirling Castle.

Looking out the bedroom window towards the Ochil Hills.

Dollar, near Stirling UK

Campbell Castle

We are descended from the Campbells as well as the Gordons.

From Dollar we head towards Perth, Scone and Pitlochry staying at the Kirkmichael Apts near Blairgowrie.

Kirkmichael Apts

Most places we are staying for 2 nights except for Isle of Skye (5 nights) and Taynuilt, Oban (6 nights). These places are jumping off points for further exploration, hiking, boat trips and other excursions (distilleries!)

After our time in Kirkmichael we head further north to Grantown-on-Spey, just skirting the Cairngorms National Park and staying in an inn called The Hearthside. We'll be hiking around Loch an Eileen - one of the most picturesque places in Scotland.

Grantown-on-Spey

Loch an Eileen, Cairngorm National Park

From there we have to get around Loch Ness so we will drive to Inverness and then drive on the northwest side of Loch Ness stopping to explore along the way. This will be the longest day of driving as we are headed for the Isle of Skye and staying near the northernmost part of the island.

Glamping on the Isle of Skye!!

Isle of Skye

We have lots of time to explore all that Skye has to offer including a boat trip to Loch Coruisk located in the Cuillin Hills. Of course we'll be stopping at the famous Bridge of Sligachin where it is said that you can gain eternal beauty by washing your face in the water under the bridge. I may have to stay there for a good while!!

 Loch Coruisk

Bridge of Sligachan

After the Isle of Skye we will either take the ferry off the island to Mallaig on the mainland but that depends on the weather. If unable to cross via ferry we'll be taking the long way back, but either way we'll end up in Gairlochy which is near Fort William where my Gordon ancestors had a castle (one of many)! I have a ticket on the Jacobite steam train (Harry Potter's train to "school") which I am very excited about!

Our BnB in Gairlochy, near Spean Bridge

Jacobite steam train

Spean Bridge; near our BnB

From Fort William we head south to the village of Taynuilt, close to Oban. This will be our jumping off point to go to the Isles of Kerrera, Mull, and Staffa, again depending on the weather...fingers crossed!

BnB in Taynuilt

Isle of Staffa

I would really really like to take the ferry from Tobermory, on Mull,  across to Arndamurchan which is the westerly most point of the mainland that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. On a clear day you can see across the water to the islands of the Outer Hebrides - Eigg, Muck and Coll.
Which reminds me - while we're on the Isle of Skye there is a ferry that crosses to Lewis and Harris of the Outer Hebrides and if we get a nice day we might go across. Time will tell...

Then we start heading back to Glasgow but first a wee visit to Fintry where we've booked a night at the Montrose Estate in the Fintry Hills.

Montrose Estate

Looking out from our bedroom except it will be fall, not spring.

                                   

From Fintry we are a short drive back to Stirling where we will be dropping off the rental car and taking the train to Glasgow where we've booked 3 nights in a historic area of the city and to do some major shopping :) and museum/gallery visiting.

Glasgow

By then, and likely before then, I'll be very homesick and needing a good cuddle with Lily and Luna and of course, Kazi!

Lots of things are dependent on the weather in Scotland, as they do get a lot of rainy and windy days but we won't let that get us down. We both have good rain gear and hiking boots and with having a car we can go where we like. Torrential rain means a day in the nearest town/city - and we both LOVE used book stores! I just checked the weather in all of the places we are going to and every single one of them is cloudy but no rain. A good sign with a month to go :)

Mid-March Madness

Money-wise this has been a March like no other. Thankfully in a good way (mostly....) Somewhere along the way I made a $300 mistake in my budget...in my favour!! How often does that happen? Usually never right? Occasionally I make an error in adding or subtracting on my budget sheet and of those errors about 98% of them are NOT in my favour! Most times the mistake is under $50, usually less than that. Am I looking to figure out how I made the $300 mistake? Ummmmm NO! - I'm crossing my fingers I can get to the end of March with that error intact! Counting the days....

Between that $300 and my misc budget line I have almost enough to pay for 3 weeks of airbnbs in Scotland! No money taken out of savings! My goal was to spend no more than $1,000 (Cdn) for the 21 nights with my brother contributing the same amount. The final tally came to $818 (Cdn) each - EXCELLENT! (Works out to just under $40/night/person!!) I'd call that "extra spending money" except that the British pound is going up up up while the Cdn dollar is going down down down. The savings on accommodations will hopefully cover the extra we'll have to pay to buy British pounds (or poonds as the Scottish say...)

So all is booked and confirmed. Though I had mega-problems with my President's Choice Mastercard. After booking several airbnbs my mastercard was frozen due to my making transactions out of my usual pattern. Okay then, I let them know I had a few more to book so this wouldn't happen again. Well, it did, after one more successful booking my account was frozen once again. Another lengthy ordeal on the phone..."there are 23 people on hold ahead of you....." all I can say is thank goodness for Paypal which I used instead! Sorted once again I assumed my problems were over. I filled in a "travel alert" so they would know when I was travelling and act accordingly.

On Thursday I met with my brother once again as we needed to book a night near Stirling and 3 nights in Glasgow. Guess what? You guessed it! Account froze again. Well when I finally got a REAL person I went up one side of them and down the other. I'm usually very mild-mannered but this was just TOO MUCH!! After getting sorted for the 3rd time they apologized and offered me 20 President's Choice points to make me feel better - I don't think he liked it when I laughed loudly and said "don't bother - you know that's only 20 cents right??"

So here's the thing - I think I need to switch to another credit card. I received NO notifications by phone, email or text about so-called suspicious activity. (You know the messages I mean - an unusual charge just happened with your credit card - if it was you please ignore this message, if it wasn't you please call immediately!) He couldn't believe that I hadn't received any such contact and did a search only to find I was right.  Stupid stupid man...

Have you ever encountered this problem? What am I doing wrong? Any recommended credit cards (remembering I live in Canad...) Grrrrrrrrr! The thought of having to switch cards irks me to no end!

Strange growths in Kilally Meadows!

After my daffodils popped up their heads we had a fair bit of snow and it got very cold again. I think they died as I don't see them now that the snow melted. Rats...

I've been checking almost daily but no activity in the nest yet. I thought I saw an osprey flying very high yesterday (I could see the wing shape) but it didn't go near the nest while I was looking. Soon!

Marching on....

I hate losing an hour. But I do like seeing the sun shine past 7pm - that was a treat yesterday. My daughter thinks spring is just around the corner..... if by corner she means the end of March then she could be right!! Until then we have lots of snow still in our forecast though on the bright side it'll likely melt quickly.

Kilally Meadows

Kilally Meadows

After going to our doctor, then sitting in emerg for 6 hours followed by another visit to our doctor Kazi was finally put on a round of antibiotics. She has been sick pretty much continuously since the Olympics started in February: extreme sore throat, body pain, fever, headache, congestion, cough etc. It has been a long hard slog but after taking 3 pills (not all at once!) she started feeling like her old self again. Or should I say young self. She missed a lot of work - first full days and recently half days BUT today marks her first full-time day at work in several weeks. What a flu season this year!! I really hope she's past it all now.

Kilally Meadows

Not a lot else going on around here - I've been on nurse duty all of this time and beside trips to the grocery store for SOFT food (yogurt, jello, broth, applesauce, popsicles etc) I haven't been doing a heck of a lot. When the weather has cooperated I've gone for long walks and went to my volleyball games. Last Thursday and Friday I spent mostly with my brother booking Airbnbs in Scotland which is quite the exercise in patience - accommodations are not easy to find in the highlands and we spent hours and hours searching and booking. We're pretty much set except for finding a spot in Glasgow for the final 3 or 4 days.

So what to do with my freedom today? Well I think I'll head to Kilally Meadows after doing my yoga. The sun isn't shining but I want to check the Osprey nest. They are due back by the end of this month though I've never personally seen them in March. But I won't see them if I don't check! I also want to see if all of the flooding has receded. When I was there last week most trails, maybe 75%, were no longer under water but the MUD - oh my!

Enjoy your day! Hope the sun is shining where you are. We are only 8 days away from the official first day of Spring!! Wheeeee!

Yes, I'm Back

Bridge over the River Clyde in Glasgow

Just a quick little quickie to let you know I'm here and will be back later to catch up with you all. My trip ended shortly after it started due to a freak accident - I squished several toes under a door. Yup, you heard right. It was my first day in Glasgow and the door was the door into my hotel. I pulled...nothing happened. I planted my feet firmly and gave a good yank, the door came loose too quickly for me to respond and get out of the way. The pain...was tremendous!

Walking along the River Clyde

The next day I hiked 33kms - way longer than I thought it would be because I didn't account for how far I had to walk from my hotel to the trail head; then I hiked along the Clyde River, the Kelvin River and the Allender River. (not sure if I spelled that correctly) I must have been walking differently to compensate for the injury and ended up with a bunch of blisters. I hiked two more days, one not too long the next one very long ending up in Rowardennan. By that point I was running out of bandaids, had 3 infected toes and a bunch of oozing blisters.

Still in Glasgow

The next day was going to be another long one with no way to contact anyone and no villages along the way; so I was very leery about pushing my "luck" any further. I was feeling very low and felt I couldn't continue without putting myself and my feet in real jeopardy. I had walked 24km to Rowardennan and every step was painful. I had to call it a day.

Next post I'll tell you about the FUN trip home, she says with dripping sarcasm!

AND there is a bright side to all of this...stay tuned!

$$$$$

Riding the Jacobite train (the Harry Potter train shown in my previous post) is an eighty-odd mile round trip to the village of Mallaig and back, beginning in Fort William,  complete with high tea and artisanal cheese board! I have booked a first class table for two for Annie and me - it'll be grand!!

We will pass through several quaint little villages and if it's a clear day we'll see some of the "Small Isles"  of the Scottish Inner Hebrides such as: Muck, Eigg, Skye and my personal favourite - RUM!

The cost for this sweet little diversion came to $255.41 for the two of us. Yes, it's a bit of a splurge but frugality during the year = splurging on trips!

Other costs that have been paid for so far...

• $775 round trip Toronto- Glasgow. Took me awhile to find direct flights as I abhor stopovers. It's worth it to me to pay a bit more for direct flights but $755 is still quite reasonable.
• $96.12 flight insurance - necessary.
• $125.92 - deposit on my hiking trip which covers accommodations and daily baggage transfer, maps etc for my 10 day hike. The final payment due in July.
• $513 sent to Annie for my share of accommodations in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Oban and I need to pay her for Fort William.
• $49 for a boat tour to the Isle of Staffa
• $285 for 3 nights on the Isle of Mull
• $107 for two nights in Glasgow before heading home
• $421 for 250 pounds sterling

For a total of $2947.....so far. I have a few trains to book, more pounds to purchase and the rest of my hike to pay for. My trips usually come to about $5,000; this one might be a bit more but I'm staying almost a month. The biggest cost by far is accommodations. One of these days I'm going to seriously consider backpacking/hosteling. Yeah, at my age. It's not that I can't afford my trips it's just I would like to stay longer or take 2 trips per year instead of one. Spread my $$ a little further. 👍