Day Six: Aviemore to Glasgow

It was our first really sunny day of the tour today, and Justine and I were last on the bus. But Nessie was in her element as we were heading towards Loch Ness for a cruise on the vast mass of land. Nessie’s were everywhere in the shop, and we couldn’t go out without getting her some more friends. Next up was our cruise as we drifted through the wind across the glorious loch. We saw the ruins of Urquhart castle but didn’t manage to see a larger Nessie than the ones we had. We didn’t even catch a glimmer of her on the giant fish/Loch Ness Monster finder!

It was a spectacular drive through the loch district. Every ten or so minutes we’d stop for a photo opportunity from the amazing scenery. As the lochs run low and flat, there were fighter jets training above us and roaring so much it sounded like we were going to get bombed. We stopped at Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK and Anna told us it was the first time in the last three tours she’d done that she had actually been able to see the top of the mountain. We were very lucky.

We had a lunch stop at Fort William, where I raided the supermarket and definitely got value for money, before we continued heading towards Glasgow. We passed Glen Coe where the infamous slaughter of the MacDonald family took place and passed some more spectacular mountains I definitely plan to return to and hike up. Eventually we got into Glasgow for the night and were treated to our first free internet since beginning the England and Scotland tour.

We were dropped off for a walkabout dinner tonight, and coincidentally ate at the Walkabout chain with Rosa and Graham. I was able to have a Chicken Parmigiana. Although it did have tomato salsa instead of tomato paste it was close enough to the real thing. The rest of the group joined us as we had booked the VIP room, but before leaving Anna insisted we try a Gas Chamber shot. This consisted of setting fire to Sambuca, catching the smoke in a glass, taking a shot of the Sambuca, breathing in the fumes, then snorting the rest of the shot for good measure. I’ve found a good way to clear my nose out if I get another cold!

A small group of us then headed to a club called The Garage. At first it was a bit strange seeing people in pajamas walking around, but we then saw the advertisements of pajama night and understood a bit better. The capes I still don’t get. It was quite a good dance club, but as the two of us are turning into nanas we didn’t stay out too long and opted to go back to the hotel and spend the rest of the night on the internet. Remember, it was free!