Adventure: Ireland & Scotland 7.0

The morning started with a great breakfast. How is it that here in the UK I can ask for eggs poached hard and it’s no problem? Perfectly cooked eggs are a thing of beauty. After breakfast we move on for our trek cross country to the Isle of Skye. In order to get there, however, we cross some interesting terrains.

In Elgin there’s a lot of office buildings and an interesting downtown. We take a quick pop into Marks & Spencer (haven’t been in one since they closed in my home town) for …. Men’s underwear. And almond biscuits. And wine. And a t shirt. And socks. Love it!!

From there we venture into the most extravagant cashmere wool shop ever. It had the royal seal. But only the royals can afford it!! A pair of socks was 60£ … that’s $100. Crazy. It’s not only a store, there’s a mill attached and they make every piece in house. Quite extraordinary.

Right around the corner is the Elgin Cathedral .

After Elgin we head further west towards Loch Ness via Inverness. Right around here our lucky charm for weather wears out and we get a quick sprinkle. Didn’t last long but we drove through it quickly.

There’s a few castles and other good visuals along route.

As we approach Loch Ness there’s tons of signs. Our gps takes us to the Loch Ness Experience. It’s kind of like Clifton Hill at Niagara Falls. Rudy refers to such places as a “trappe de touriste”. Quick glance and move on.

We decided to see the Loch Ness from another angle. So the route suggested Fort Augustus

It’s at the southern tip of the Loch Ness and slightly out of the crazy tourist zone. As we approach through the village, there are people, dogs, cars, boats, buses and you name it clogging the roads. So we drive straight through the village and head to the church. We figure: free parking and something to see. As luck would have it we end up at the lake and decide to have a light lunch and short break. It worked out perfectly as my dad was ready to chat.