The morning started with a train from Edinburgh to Glasgow, where we caught another train to a different part of Glasgow, to catch a bus to the airport to pick up our rental car.
Jay had reserved a small car on purpose, but when we arrived at the rental counter, we ended up with a big SUV, which was not exactly ideal. He wouldn't let me go back in and ask for a smaller car, resigned to make do with the SUV. He does all of our driving when we travel. He likes the challenge, and I enjoy being a Passenger Princess. He's driven the autobahn in Germany, Lake Como and Amalfi in Italy, and the near lawless streets in Puerto Rico, but he said Scotland was the most difficult.
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| Orienting himself to a right-hand drive car, while learning to drive on the left-hand side of the road. |
While I'm always happy to be a Passenger Princess, I was especially so in Scotland. Sitting on the wrong side of the car, on the wrong side of the road was a bit nerve-wracking. I was also very thankful for the SatNav in the car, as there wasn't always cell service. The scenery was everything we'd expected from Scotland.
We stopped at the Glencoe Visitor's Center, which was fabulous and took a little walk around the area. There were miles of trails just in that area, but we opted for just a short loop to loosen up our legs from being in the car.
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| We wandered through the Turf House, which is pretty cool. |
Hours after leaving Edinburgh, we reached Ballachulish, near Glencoe. Our B&B, the Fern Villa Guesthouse was adorable, and cozy. It reminded me of Mom's lodge, and was like a big hug from home.
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| My picture looks more ominous than pretty, now that I look at it closely. lol |
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| I did not take this picture in black and white, it's just the color scheme of the bathroom. This was probably my favorite bathroom of the whole trip. |
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| Our little bedroom was perfect for the few nights we were there. |
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| The view out our bedroom window. |
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| Each room had an assigned table in the dining room. Since we were staying the longest of the guests checking in, we got the prime breakfast table overlooking the front garden. |
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| The sitting room |
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| The tiles on either side of the fireplace are hand-painted and absolutely gorgeous. |
I chatted with the host for quite a while, telling him about Mom's B&B, and he was interested to hear how she did things. Mom's breakfasts are family-style; everyone sits down to eat at the same time, and the same food is offered to everyone. She does make accommodations for food allergies, but otherwise, you sit and eat what is offered. Not that anyone complains. If you haven't been to Mom's B&B, you don't understand how amazing her breakfasts are.
David and Catherine, the hosts, run their breakfast a little differently. At night, each room fills out a menu card with the time they want to eat, and chooses their breakfasts for the next morning, so each breakfast is made-to-order. It's a neat system that works beautifully, but sounds like a lot of work to someone who is used to just laying out the breakfast and eating together.
The weather in Edinburgh when we left was nice, but as we moved further north, it became more typically Scottish, and the rains began. Before dinner, Jay and I headed out for a short walk, thinking we'd better get used to walking in the rain.
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| This slate arch is right off the highway, and only a couple of blocks from our B&B. It's made of Ballachulish Slate and sits right next to the quarry. |
We had dinner of pizza and chips (fries) at the local diner before calling it a night. Even with hours of travel, we ended the day with over 10,000 steps.
