What a week! Fun, frollicks and flinging myself round mountains galore! Stephen, Benjamin and I had a truly wonderful week in the Scotish Highlands. Many lazy mornings, good meals and unfortunate gassy incidents. For my favourite memories and some rather amusing videos keep reading...
***First up is definitely Oban distillery! How can you journey to the Highlands and not visit a whiskey distillery to sample the local necter? It would be rude not to really. Stephen, Benny and I found ourselves taking in the sights, smells and science of the Oban distillery as we learnt about the mystery of the golden stuff (quite cool actually)
Very clever bunch the scots. The tour was brought to conclusion with a rather generous glass of Oban drunk pretty fast before lunch. In very jolly mood we finished our glasses and traipsed into the adjoining shop to find ourselves very flipant with our debit cards and the proud owners of a couple of bottles of single scotch malt. Sneaky, very sneaky.
***Next up would be our very own oyster challenge! At breakfast, the day we travelled to Oban, we made a pact, "Today we will each try something entirely new!". The entirely new escapade was pretty easy to find. As we walked along the harbour and purused the fresh sea food our eyes and curiosity lighted upon the local (massive) Oysters. I won't try to discribe the experience more than to say; massive bogey and aphrodisiac my arse! To view two thankfully silent videos of each of us taking up the challenge hit the two downloads below...
Download steve_oyster.3gp
Download ben_carla_oyster.3gp
***Loch Ness! I desperately wanted to see Nessie! Steve disspairs but I think there should be some mystery in the world. There's not enough in my opinion...
***Harry Potter's bridge! Or at least the bridge they filmed the Dementors searching the train in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkahban. Very very cool. Very very beautiful. As we climbed the massive hill/midget mountain to get a better look I felt as geekey as Hermionie Granger and then as whistful as professor Dumbledore when I turned to see the INCREDIBLE view the other direction. (Well worth seeing the photos in the album on the right.)
***After Potter's bridge we went on a long and windy drive to the end of the world. At the end of the world we found a portocabin shop. In the portacabin shop we were pointed across the road to a wind beaten building that housed one of the most notorious smokers in the world! Er smoker as in smoked meats and cheeses (and jams and nuts!). A bizarre raodtrip but loads of fun. Again more great smells and more money parted with as we bought copious amounts of smoked cheese, nuts and Kangaroo!
***A definite low light was Steven Speilberg's TV series Taken. Awful, don't go there! Very dissapointing holiday viewing. Speilberg can't have had a massive role in it as he's never churned out such pap in his life.
***The McIntyre Family! They were awesome and oh so hopitable. They fed us Hagis and it was actually tasty! I think they were a little puzzled by Steve and I and our idea of what constitutes a holiday, ie as little activity as possible, lots of sleep, stories and hanging out. They are very active bunch and were great guides to the local Highlands. Thank you soooo much for having us!
***Having an uninterrupted week with Ben. I haven't had a lot of time with him in the last few months so last week was a great treat! Catching up, deep chats and laughing together were a welcome reminder on why I love my friend.
Download kiss_in_car.3gp*** Having an uniterrupted week with Stephen!! Very rare and very welcome. Quite reassuring to know we can spend a week together and not walk away hating each other! Quite the opposite actually, I feel like I got to know him a bit better and enjoyed hanging out doing nothing much without the weekly pressures of normal life. I have a silly grin on my face today which I suspect has a lot to do with him. (Download a funny little (silent) video Steve took in our borrowed car on one of our adventures at the top of this paragraph.)
All in all quite fantastic. I was really refreshed until I had a rather busy weekend! xc