Road Tripping Scotland : Part Two

Wednesday 10 November

Leaving Portsonachan we travelled back along Loch Awe to Castle Kilchurn, across to Loch Etive and down to Oban.

Oban is a lovely port town with ferries serving quite a few Hebridean Islands. We had a few hours to kill so we visited the Oban Distillery, had some lunch and poked around the shops to shelter from the squally rain.

We took the car ferry to Craignure on the Isle of Mull and travelled around to Tobermory for the night. We loved our stay and cosy pub supper at the Mishnish Hotel on the waterfront.

Thursday 11 November

The Tobermory Distillery wasn't open so we set off around the island on what turned out to be one of the most wild and scenic drives we've ever done in the UK. And the weather was fine! 

Then we took another ferry from Fishnish to Lochaline across the Sound of Mull to the mainland and on to Fort William.

This did involve another great drive and another ferry crossing, this time over Loch Linnhe.

Before dark we drove up to the foot of Ben Nevis for a little walk that didn't involve summitting anything!

Because sunset is getting earlier and earlier as we travel north we have got into the habit of eating dinner early- at about 6.30pm and  then heading off to bed with a few hours of reading, social media or crappy TV.

That's because there's no crowding into a pub or listening to live music during a pandemic!

Road Tripping Scotland: Part One

Monday 8 November and Tuesday 9 November 2021

And then we were officially on the roadtrip through Scotland with Stephen and Vivienne. November isn't quite the best time of year to travel up north in the UK but the good weather continued to follow us all over. We stayed near Troon and Ayr, South West of Glasgow with Dave and Gill. We found Royal Troon Golf Course and lots of references to Robbie Burnes.

We did a trip down the coast to the fishing town of Girvan and spent the afternoon at Culzean Castle.

On Tuesday we travelled north along the west coast; avoiding Glasgow and any possible COP26 traffic chaos.

We had brunch at Nardini Cafe in Largs and then followed the coast road to Gourdock where we hopped on a ferry to Hunter's Quay.

Heading north along Lock Eck we were stunned by the beauty of the countryside.

We got to Inveraray hoping to find a place to stay but most hotels were closed for the season.

The castle was also closed but we were still able to walk around the grounds.

Using Booking.com we found a lovely hotel at Portsonachan on Loch Awe. 

We love taking the road less travelled and following our noses to see where we end up.

More catching up all over the place!

Thursday 28 October to Sunday 7 November 2021

We headed back to Harpenden for a few more days, enjoying a very long and lazy pub lunch at The Fox on Saturday afternoon.

St. Albans is a very pretty old town with  impressive Roman ruins and museum.

After lunch at The Waffle House we wandered through town and visited the Cathedral.

On Sunday we drove up to Bedford for lunch with Slim and Caroline.

We met Natalie and Steve for dinner

in Ipswich.

On Monday we took a trip to the beach at Felixstowe with Natalie for an outdoor breakfast under a gas heater and a bracing walk down the promenade.

Amazingly the sun continued to shine every day.

Back with the Fouries for a few more nights and then to London to stay with Charles and Leonie.  There's a stunning Italian restaurant in the Chiswick High Street called Villa Di Geggiano. Leonie and I had fresh homemade pasta with truffle, just like in Piedmont and Neil and Charles shared a Steak Florentine!

On Friday we drove out to Cobham, Surrey to The Cricketers Arms to meet Nigel and Gill for lunch.

How fantastic to catch up with so many friends face to face after so long in lockdown! 

On Saturday we collected Stephen and Vivienne from Heathrow and drove as far as Stratford- upon- Avon. A touristy start to a long road trip.

On Sunday we stopped in Carlisle to see the castle and the cathedral.

A week in the Cotswolds

Thursday 21 October to Wednesday 27 October

We spent two nights in Cirencester. Rina and Menon came down in Daisy, their campervan to join us.

We enjoyed 2 really fun nights out. I can highly recommend Tierra and Mar; one of the best tapas places I have been to outside Spain.

And The Malt and Anchor is an award winning fish and chip place.

We met Patrick, Sally and Charlotte for lunch at the Green Dragon Pub in Cowley near Cheltenham; another gem in the area.

On Saturday we visited the farmers market in Stroud.

We checked into the Sundayshill Barn in Falfield with Tommy and Mandy, Mylene, Coenraad, Coemy and Lesley for 5 glorious nights in the South Cotswold countryside. 

This Airbnb is fantastic for group country getaways.

Nick and Kerry visited us from Cardiff for the day and we had a lekker braai and a groot kuier. 

We did day trips to Cirencester, Bristol and Thornbury and the very touristy Northern Cotswold towns of Bourton-on-the-Water and Stow- on-the-Wold.

Bristol's regenerated waterfront area is great and you can do a walking tour of the city to spot wonderful street art including lots by Banksy; a Bristol native.