Tue, 15 Oct 2002

author Tim	location Braemar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
posted 22:31 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 2 ( all photos )

Back into the Highlands ( 7 photos )
(Continued from Carlisle 1)
Setting out around eleven this morning, we headed straight up the motorways in a rather un-eventful way. Several times this trip Liz has commented that she'd like to take Percy back to Oz with us. The costs wouldn't out too well, though I'm forced to admit I would love to as well.
Not too far north of Glasgow, I took over the driving and managed to "accidentally" find another distillery - The Famous Grouse, near Creiff in Perthshire. This time, we both had a great time - Liz bought a couple of posters of their amusing advertising, and posed next to "The Big Grouse".
As a side note, the whole "Big-Thing" concept (eg. Big Banana, Big Marino, etc.) is quite rare here. This was the first we'd spotted, and quite a good replica of the ones which still decide it's a great idea to chase Percy doing 60mph when we drive by. Overtly inquisitive animals. Or just really stupid.
Lunch was generic food at a generic "Services" - all the motorways here have them about twenty miles apart. Fuel, food, toilets, etc. Weather not boring at all, changing from sunny blue skies to torrential rain in a matter of minutes. Most of the time it's somewhere in between.
Liz is filling the role of the "Transitions" glasses for me - constantly swapping between my normal and sun glasses, as the day goes on. Much easier if it just stayed drizzly and grey like it's supposed to!
We're back in Braemar now, the two of us alone in a room normally for six. CDs were retreived intact (stupid me left them here last visit), and we cooked a great pasta before retiring to reading about the Orkeneys. We're excited!

author Tim	location Carlisle, Cumbria, England
posted 08:57 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Carlisle 1 ( all photos )

On the road, finally?? ( 7 photos )
We hit the road again this morning, with a few things still not quite how we'd like them.
I'm getting sick of writing about them, but basically we still have no camera, and the insurance is sorted but not finalised, at a higher figure than earlier projected. The joys of life.
We've of course heard quite a bit about the Bali crisis over here. Yesterday there was even a talkback radio linkup between one of the radio stations here and a Perth station. Very strange to hear Aussie accents again! Wonder how they'll sound when we get back home...
The little things on Percy are attended to - good to have a car 100% (except for pretty dirty) before we head out on the road, or run out of warranty.
Was up very early this morning online, searching for ferry information to Orkney (in short: prices reasonable, should be ok), and fired up ICQ. Who should be there but lots of work people from the RTA! Had a great chat with them, glad to hear Craig is taking over where I left off by randomly un-plugging servers then enquiring which servers they are.
Read an entire novel yesterday - The Bourne Identity. Quite good, but not as good as the feat may suggest. I just wanted to do it. Also we have been brushing up on our German. Silly to waste all those years of education.
[Later that day we headed off north into Scotland again.]

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