Chronicle for 11 May 2012

We had an Interesting conversation this morning with our fellow guests in the breakfast room. They were telling us about their kids careers, their travels due to his work, how they spent several years working and living in various parts of Africa, including within the shadow of Mt Kilimanjaro. They finished the conversation by telling us he 'had to work tomorrow'. It was then that we discovered that he was a minister. I hadn't thought of priests and ministers regarding what they did as work in the the same way that we do. So many questions and not enough time to ask them.

We left Dulnain Bridge (near Granton-on-Spey) and headed south west towards Spean Bridge. Initially we travelled via the main roads admiring what we could of the snow capped peaks through the rain. This really is a beautiful part of the world.

Once we reached Spean bridge we started heading in a more north easterly direction alongside Loch Lochy until we reached Fort Augustus. We stopped here for a while to stretch our legs as the sun had decided to make an appearance, but also to admire the stepped locks leading up to Loch Ness. As you can imagine the 'Nessie' trinkets abound here, but we were more interested in the locks which raise and lower the boats a total of 13 metres before sending them out through a swing bridge (road bridge) and into Loch Ness.

From Fort Augustus we took the scenic route along the right hand side of Lock Ness admiring the view along the way, until we reached the Pub at Foyers, which lies at the head of the path that leads down to the Falls of Foyers. We had been led to believe that this was a very steep climb ('not mountaineering but very steep') and was a good 15 minute walk, well it was neither. We also read accounts of the likes of Wordsworth who waxed lyrical about the sight of these falls. Although impressive they don't warrant the hype. Although to be fair it may have lost a lot of its power due to the Hydro take off. It was a nice walk down a stepped path to an impressive waterfall. It is however an interesting spot where there can be found Silka Deer, Roe Deer, Pine Martens, Otters, and Red Squirrels.

We continued on to the head of Loch Ness to Dores which is the home of the Dores Inn, it is also the home of a little caravan in the inn carpark which has a sign on it saying 'Nessie-Serry Independent Research'. This is the home of a dedicated Nessie hunter. Aside from that this is a great vantage point to look down the length of the loch.

We soon arrived at our destination Inverness and checked into our B&B at a record early time of 4:30pm. Neil would be impressed. He told us before leaving NZ for Europe that we should always be checked in before 4pm. We have never yet managed to do that. He also told us that the mediterranean was dead (re: fish) we proved that wrong too. However he did give us a lot of very useful information as well.

Back to our accommodation, lovely hosts (again), lovely room, and a shower!

After checking in we went for a walk along the river before finding dinner. Once again we were impressed with the level of service within the service industry (nothing is too difficult) up here and wonder why it is so different south of the border where the attitude generally seems to be, if I make eye contact with you then I will have to serve you, which means I will have to do some work (heaven forbid!).

For now, it it back to our bed, a nice soft bed! Why do we get the best places at the places that we have booked for the shortest length of stay.