Traveling to Edinburgh

Edinburgh, Sunday May 27

Yesterday, after we took the ferry to Mallaig, we stopped at a pleasant tea room for lunch. The food was good, but it reminded both of us that our common language doesn’t assure common menus. 

It’s a small thing, but it’s odd to go to a casual restaurant and not quite recognize anything. I just wanted a snack, thinking I’d have a baked potato, but upon further investigation, saw there wasn’t a single topping I was familiar with. Cole slaw might be great on a potato, but neither it nor cream cheese, nor Heinz beans sounded right to my American stomach.

Same with the sandwiches. I made the mistake of having a BLT with egg mayo the other day, thinking they were just mentioning one of the ingredients of mayo for some odd reason. But when it was revealed as egg salad on a BLT, it almost went uneaten <s>.

Yesterday, instead of trying to have American food, I chose cullen skink, a really nice chowder of haddock, potatoes and onion. Given we’ve never had cullen skink, it was perfectly incomparable! 

Carolyn went with the BLT, even though she much prefers streaky bacon, which we’ve not seen on a menu. She was surprised by the hidden cole slaw, but found she liked it. Maybe she’ll be a convert.

The weather was stupendous, and once we started to drive it quickly became apparent that the Highlands was a whole new level of wonderful.

Because of a lot of single-track roads, and the ability of many to drive much faster than I’m able to, I didn’t really get to enjoy the scenery while driving. So we stopped often, pulling into passing spaces to let everyone whip around us while I took in the awesome views.

Ben Nevis - the tallest mountain in Scotland

Trees galore

We hadn’t gone far when we saw a sign for a beach one of the people on Skye had recommended. We thought it would be a traditional beach, located at the sea. But this was a pristine white powdery sand beach on an estuary of the River Morar. I can’t guess where the white sand came from, but it was as nice as the Caribbean.

As usual, since it was almost seventy degrees, people had thrown off every bit of clothing they could legally manage before hurling themselves into the icy water. There will be sunburns today!  

When we reached Ft. William and saw a museum for the Jacobite Steam Train, we had to stop and take a peek. We were lucky to have the train pull in just as we got there, and we got to peek inside as the mostly American crowd got off to stretch their legs. You can tell the Americans from a mile away, mostly by their baseball caps. I’ve not seen a Scottish person wearing one, but Americans are always advertising their local sports team or university. They have some pretty good universities in Scotland, but I’ve yet to see anyone wearing a T-shirt or cap to show their connection. Different strokes, I suppose.

The passengers were all headed to the museum, so we put it on our list for next time, a list that has grown pretty long.

After another bit of driving, I finally saw a herd of Highland cows standing near a fence. We mostly missed out on seeing otters and puffins, but we were relived to discover the Highland Coos were not, as we’d feared, mythical.

We were glad we had the car and could stop at will, but you really can’t drive and pay much attention to the scenery. Luckily, Carolyn was able to take it all in. I’m certain I would have been squealing like a little girl if I’d been the passenger, so it’s probably best I like to drive.

We spent the evening in a resort in the town of Aviemore, less than an hour south of Inverness in the Cairngorms National Park. Yet another place that we could live. That list continues to grow, too.

This place was huge - a complex of five hotels, a cinema, conference center and leisure center. It was kind of odd seeing this huge conference center after barely passing through a tiny village for hours, but there it was, providing the fastest internet we’ve had on the whole trip.

Today we caught the train from Inverness to Edinburgh, passing through many of the towns we’d driven past yesterday. Upon reflection, it would have been better to have done the Highlands by train. But then we couldn’t have taken pictures or stopped when we wanted. Tradeoffs! It’s nice to have some photos, but the ability to sit back and just gawp was good too.

After we arrived, we went to our favorite Edinburgh restaurant, Scran & Scallie, for good beer and traditional Scottish food. Carolyn had the fish pie, which was a twist on Shepherd’s pie. I had the Sunday roast, which was the best version I’ve ever had.

We had been upgraded to a suite at the Sheraton Grande - nice room.

This is just the sitting room

Now Carolyn is exploring the spa and pool while I watch a show about the Queen’s farming practices at Windsor Park. I love that damn BBC. I’m clearly their target demo, old white people <bg>.

Loved the outdoor spa

Off to London tomorrow. We won’t arrive until about 3, so I’m not sure what we’ll have time to do—other than worry about flying home. Well, one of us will do that. The other is enviably non-neurotic.

SXM & CDN