All photos for this trip can be found in our
2017 Scotland/Paris Photo Album
Look for the "Week 3" tag for photos added this week.
2017 Scotland/Paris Photo Album
Look for the "Week 3" tag for photos added this week.
Our general travel route for this week...
Monday morning, after breakfast, we packed up everything into the car. Then having about an hour and a half before our ferry check-in, we went up the street to Robertson's coffee shop for a couple of lattes then stopped at a yarn and craft store that we had noticed on Sunday (but was closed at that time). Kris picked up a couple of Orkney related souvenirs and we were off to the ferry. We arrived back on the mainland at around 1:00pm and headed down the west coast towards Inverness. Another very pretty scenic drive.
We stopped for lunch in a little roadside diner (can't remember the name of the place) where we each had a bowl of their soup (lentil and ham for Kris; tomato and red pepper for Brian), then a quick stop for petrol before arriving at our hotel overlooking Loch Ness, the Loch Ness Clansman Hotel. Great view over the lake from our room, especially in the morning when the fog lifts to reveal a beautiful blue sky...
It turned out to be a great day for a drive through the Cairngorms National Park. We took one of the lesser traveled routes where the road is quite ziggy-zag with not a lot of opportunities to take pics of the very scenic landscape. Best thing to do is to go to the park's website and have a look at some of the pics there, OR click on the names of the 3 towns we mention below. They all have great pics etc. All three are tourist destination type places that reminded us a lot of Banff, Alberta with lots of outdoor wear type of shops for the hiking and skiing folks.
The first place we stopped was Carrbridge where we discovered that this little town hosts the annual Porridge Making Championships where folks from across the globe come to compete for the coveted Golden Spurtle trophy...
...This year's championships are scheduled for Oct 7 so we just missed them. Here is a pretty neat brief description from their website...
Since 1996, the World Porridge Making Championship has taken place each year in the Scottish Highlands village of Carrbridge. The oaty cook-off draws competitors from across the globe to compete for the coveted Golden Spurtle trophy and title of “World Porridge Making Champion.” Not satisfied with just oats, water and salt? Don’t worry, competitors also battle it out for the speciality trophy in a section that celebrates the diversity of porridge with past winners including Sticky Toffee Porridge, Fruity Date Porridge and Pinhead Risotto with Lemon and Thyme and Parmesan - the possibilities are endless!The second place was Aviemore, where we stopped in at an information place to get verification that the less-traveled route we wanted to take would be ok. They verified it was. We also noticed a sign, in a little strip mall, for a "Wool knit shop", which of course Kris was interested in seeing, but we couldn't find the shop. We asked in another shop and the "youngish" woman we asked did not know what we were talking about. She asked an "older" co-worker who laughed and said, in her heavy Scottish accent, which is hard to replicated in print... "that shop closed 30 years ago but they haven't gotten around to changing the sign"... we all had a good laugh.
The third place was Ballater, another small resort like area where we stopped for a wander around the main street and some lunch (tomato basil soup for both of us) at the Brown Sugar Cafe. The sweets looked really good and were apparently quite popular as many other customers indulged but we abstained. Just outside of Ballater, we drove past one of the high points in the Cairngorms where we saw numerous ski lifts. It looks like they can get a whack of snow up there.
We arrived in Aberdeen just as the end of work day rush hour traffic was starting so it was quite busy and our hotel, The Carmelite is well hidden right down town amid numerous small narrow streets but we did manage to make it.
The reward for our travels, in Scotland, so far was a lovely dinner with Ann and Helen, sisters who lived in Kitimat when I, Brian, was going to school there. We have not seen each other for nearly 50 years but did manage to reconnect a few years ago through the magic of modern technology, namely Facebook. We spent a few hours reminiscing about Kitimat and reminding each other of different people we have managed to stay in touch with over the years as well as just getting caught up with what we all have been up to in those past 50 years. Wonderful evening.
We had hoped we could get some laundering done while at the hotel in Aberdeen but their prices are a tad outrageous so we decided to just buy a few more items to keep us going until we get to Lerwick on the weekend. So Wednesday ended up being a rather somewhat wet shopping day in central Aberdeen. We both picked up a few essentials and Kris added to her collection of knitting needles.
Thursday, we awoke to a rather wet, blustery Aberdeen. We decided it would be a good day to drive south to St Andrews, so after a coffee at a Caffe Nero and a stop at a Barclay's Bank we headed off and after a myriad of roundabouts we got onto A90, a four lane divided highway towards Dundee then on to St Andrews. After wandering around in the town we headed for the Old Golf Course clubhouse where we had a very nice lunch overlooking the first tee box for the "New" Course which opened not so recently back in the 1890's...
... the course being mostly a series of rolling hills it is hard to take a meaningful photo. For lunch, Kris had a ploughman's plate while Brian had a club sandwich (seemed appropriate). The club sandwich came held together with golf tees, pretty neat...
.... but on closer inspection...
.... sneaky buggers!
Mid afternoon it was time to head back to Aberdeen. By the time we got close to Aberdeen the rush hour traffic leaving Aberdeen started to get quite a bit heavier. At one point the two lanes going south were funnelled into a single lane with the result the traffic was backup for over 4 miles. Glad to be going the other way! For dinner we walked up to Union Street and tried an Irish pub where we had one of the worst meals of our trip so far. Kris had some kind of mince pie with a rock hard crust and Brian tried the deep fried scampi which turned out to be mostly near raw tiny bits of prawn.
Friday morning, after packing up, we took a walk up to Union Street to Caffe Nero for a couple of lattes and their excellent scones with cream and strawberry jam. That was yummy! Then it was time to checkout of the hotel and head to the car rental return place. We covered a little more than 1,400 miles since we left Edinburgh. When we returned the car the agent told us to just leave everything in the car and one of their drivers would transfer the luggage to their airport shuttle van and let us know when it was time to go. A young guy came over and told us he was going to move the car near the door and get a van ready so we walked outside to where there was a van. He opened the back door of the van, went and got our car and parked it beside the van, said something about using a different van then left. A while later he returned and asked us why our luggage was still in the car since, after all, he had opened the van door for us. Sheesh!! He reluctantly helped us move our luggage then told us to wait inside the building. The agent who first helped us came by and asked if everything was ok so Kris told her "that young man needs to work on his people skills!" and told her what had transpired. She just shook her head and said "he needs a good talking to!"
Anyway, the shuttle to the airport took about 20 minutes and we arrived a couple of hours early for our flight. As we sat waiting, a line of obvious Shetland Wool Week attendees started to form. We got in line. Five women joined right behind us. Turns out they are all from Vancouver BC and, of course, were heading to Wool Week. The only exception was a lone guy just in front of us who was going to Shetland to meet up with some mates to go bird watching.
Our flight departed Aberdeen at just after 1:00 pm and arrived in Sumburgh a little after 2:00 pm. We picked up our luggage, a new rental car and headed north the 25 miles to Lerwick where we checked into the Glen Orchy guest house. It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon, so we did a drive around Lerwick to start to familiarize ourselves with the town. We only had to play the "dumb tourist card" once when we drove down a one way street the wrong way :-(. We did inadvertently discover the Jamieson and Smith wool place...
... where they had great displays of Shetland wool sweaters etc etc. Kris picked up a couple of small tote bags as souvenirs, such as this one...
...and to have something in which to carry her swag from the week. For dinner, we went into the Lerwick Hotel dining room where Brian had a bowl of chowder and a "starter plate" of mussels (huge plate; about 20 mussels) and Kris had a nice chicken breast wrapped in bacon along with some colcannon (mashed potatoes with kale). The food was good but the staff were, well shall we just say somewhat preoccupied with themselves.
Saturday was Day 1 of Wool Week for Kris. This first session was held on the island of Whalsay. We had gotten opinions of anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour to drive to the ferry terminal at Laxo so we opted to leave early and give ourselves lots of time. We picked up a German woman, Sabine, at her B&B and the three of us headed off at 7:00 am with the ferry scheduled to depart at 8:30 am. That should give us lots of time and it did. Even with two missed turns and subsequent corrections we arrived at the ferry terminal at 7:50 am and were the first there by a long shot. Eventually more people showed and all were going to the same session Kris was going to. The small ferry, about the size of the Mill Bay ferry on Vancouver Island, soon arrived...
...unloaded, reloaded and we were off in no time at all. The colours in the water churned by the ferry were quite pretty...
The ride was a quick 30 minutes then we made our way to the Heritage Centre in the town of Symbister where Kris's session took place. I, Brian, then spent the next 4 hours or so driving the roads of the small island stopping at the north end to visit the Whalsay Golf Club ...
...I took a walk around part of the courses stopping to watch whether or not a flock of sheep on one fairway were in danger of being bonked by a ball...
...but apparently they fear not the golf ball! The scenery on the course is stunning with quite dramatic shoreline all around it...
... and, man, was the wind ever howling. I stopped at the 3rd green for a quick video...
Leaving the golf course I stopped at the wee Livister Cafe. I think I was the first customer of the day as several young girls and women were most anxious to serve me. They were trying to figure out where I might be from and I got guesses of Australia, South Africa and America but no Canada. They were quite happy when I showed them on a map where I was from and were happy to have a group photo, and yes, the sweets were delicious...
Later, after Kris's session was over, we along with a number of other knitters returned to the cafe for a late lunch (the knitters were too busy to worry about lunch during their session) where the cafe was now quite a happening little place. We also visited the charity shop, which is quite well known for its knitted items. Kris bought a beautiful pair of fair isle hand knitted mittens, patterns on all sides for 20 quid. They are stunning examples of the fine hand knitting produced in the area...
Then it was back to the ferry. By that time the winds had picked up a bit such that the Laxo ferry terminal closed down and our ferry was diverted to the much more sheltered Vidlin terminal. Back in Lerwick we dropped the car off at our guest house then wandered down into town to the Lounge Bar, a small pub, where we chatted with one fellow for a couple of hours but honestly, with his heavy accent, I don't think we understood any more than about 20 percent of what he said. It was fun though.
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