This is a combined couple of days as I managed to fall behind with all the hectic social engagements.

Yesterday we headed off (in the rain, again) to an area that neither Lyn nor I had been before. The destination town was Pitlochry, with a stop at a power dam and a Nature area at Killie Crankie (I did NOT invent that name) Although wet at times, the weather would clear revealing some stunning scenery. As usual, mostly pictures to follow

On our way home we stopped at another dam at Loch Laggan. This dam was built almost 100 years ago by the British Aluminium Company. The water from the dam is sent 5 miles through underground tunnels to another holding loch. From there it is sent via a 30 mile tunnel through the mountains to the Aluminium plant in Fort William. The pipes you can see in the picture are the overflow pipes should the loch get too full of water.

Our next stop was the grave yard at Cille Choirill, where Lyn’s parents are buried. We were greeted at the entrance by a herd of “Heeland Coos”

We then headed back to the house for our final night.

Today we took a scenic drive up to Inverness to meet up with Lyn’s brother and to do some final shopping. It was then off to the airport hotel in preparation for an early morning flight to Amsterdam, then home to Canada.

WRAP UP

For a number of reasons this was not one of our more successful trips. I was sick before we left, and was still pretty weak. Lyn was also sick and had a cough that would not go away. The week on the boat was good (almost!), but unfortunately the tours were nowhere as good as the last Danube trip we had. We got the feeling they were always scrambling to find something to show us. What we did see was mostly a rebuild of the area after the fall of communism. The trips weren’t a total disaster, but had we done this trip first, it may well have put us off doing the other part of the Danube. The last couple of days of the cruise were a disaster for me, which again left me pretty weak for travelling to Scotland.

In Scotland we were greeted with rain and the message that for the last 3 weeks it had been dry, sunny and warm and that the rain was much needed. Lyn still had the cough, although both of us have recovered quite a bit by now. We should be fine when we get home!!!!

The next trip in October will be a cruise around Japan.

PLEASE

If you have managed to read this far, could you either drop me an email at travels.winch.cc or leave a comment on the blog. I am not sure if anyone (other than you Robert) is reading this or not. It takes a fair bit of time to put together, so if there is no interest I can spend more time relaxing!!!!

The Final Insult

With a 4:30AM start we had an early night last night. Two hours into our sleep we were woken by a very loud alarm. We must have been in a deep sleep as we had no idea what is was, I tried stopping it with my watch, the cell phone, the room phone….. finally twigged it was the fire alarm. Everyone outside, no real information other than the fire alarm indicates there is a potential fire!! Can’t go back into the building until the fire officer gives the OK. 20 minutes later still no fire service! After 25 minutes the alarm switches itself off and everybody goes inside. Never did see or hear the fire service. Evidently this happened earlier in the week……. not impressed. We’re still waiting for our wake up call!

The Final Final Problem

We got home without any problem, only to find a note on the door saying that during our absence our gas meter was replaced. Because no one was home at the time they were not allowed to turn the gas back on! Result…. no heat, no hot water!!