Bonnie Scotland

We drove up to Melrose with Kelly and stayed for 3 days. Kelly skived off work one afternoon (with permission from her boss) and we all visited Traquair house - the oldest inhabited house in Scotland - complete with peafowl. The weather was perfect and Kelly and I went for a walk up two of the hills near her house - of which there are four - called the Eildons. We started with the hardest one first so the second one seemed like nothing in comparison.

We spent a day in Edinburgh visiting the castle before travelling to Pitlochry, a suprisingly beautiful little town where we spent the night. We then drove all the way up to Culloden Moor, the site of the 1746 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' final battle. They had just opened a new visitor centre on April 16th, 2008.

View to Edinburgh Castle

We then drove through Inverness and along Loch Ness. We stayed at a Youth Hostel right on the banks of the Loch. On our way to dinner (in the only restaurant for miles) we saw our first Heilan' Coo. The next morning we explored the ruins of Urquhart castle and then drove via Glen Coe (gorgeous scenery) to Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in the UK). We climbed the mountain... well a little of it. We rode the gondola chair lift to 2150ft and walked around the area for 90 minutes. We spent our last night in Scotland at a converted castle overlooking the bonnie banks of Loch Lommond.

On the banks of Loch Lommond

l
R
x
and Judy

P.S. This is as close as I could get to the Loch Ness Monster???