Road Trip!

Once the car issue was settled, Scout & I began our road trip north to Orkney.  We’ve taken our time, driving in short bouts, doing some sightseeing, checking into a different hotel every couple of nights.  And, apart from the occasional errors with the SatNav (I could see the computer store, I could get near the computer store, I just couldn’t get into the parking lot of the computer store – at least 10 minutes of driving around a shopping mall parking lot full of roundabouts and dead ends), and a hotel that claims to be pet-friendly on Expedia but not in person, it has been a lovely trip.  We’ve had some rain, some mist, and some overcast skies, but mostly the weather here in Scotland has been pretty nice.

We’ve walked to the Falls of Bruar (beautiful, and the first time Scout has been off-leash since we left Milton – she was ecstatic), been to the Holy Rude Church in Stirling (James VI was coronated there by the Bishop of Orkney while John Knox preached – you don’t get more Scottish than that), and walked along the River Ness, crossing over to the Ness Islands on footbridges built in Victorian times.

The worst thing about British hotels?  The cost.  I had no idea that rooms in smaller cities and towns in Scotland would cost at least $150/night – I had investigated online in August; I had just assumed that by mid-October prices would be much lower. My budget has gone completely sideways.

The best thing about British hotel rooms? Every room has a proper kettle, real tea bags, milk, and even little biscuits.  This is such a nice change after all those years of business travel, making tea in the Mr Coffee maker with water just shy of the boil, and drinking each morning’s cup of tea with that hint o’mocha that I really hadn’t wanted. This is civilized travel.