Last night was a very relaxing and comfortable evening. It started with a leisurely stroll down to the river in Inverness, I crossed a pedestrian foot bridge over the river to get to the main part of the town. I didn’t notice until about halfway across that it was bouncing, a lot. I quickened my step and made it across only to decide on a restaurant back on the other side of the bridge, but closer to my B&B. It did sway my decision on going back to town to try to listen to some live music, my stomach couldn’t handle it again.
The dinner I had was at a local restaurant that had a nice ambiance. I labored over what to order as several things looked good. I was craving steak but they called it Aged Scottish Rump Roast, I almost didn’t get it because I couldn’t bring myself to say “Rump Roast” in regards to what I was eating but I was drawn to the menu item. Sadly, they grossly overcooked my medium steak to well done, I know, I know I should have ordered it medium rare, but I don’t like it medium rare, nor do I like it charchoal well done. I hesitated bringing it to their attention but it was pretty much unedible. They apologized and offered to recook the steak for me but by then I was over it, the lady sitting at the table beside me indicated she had ordered hers the same and had recieved a well done steak. Perhaps we should have ordered the haggis. : ) They were kind and just charged me a flat 15 pounds when the full meal with wine would have been closer to 26£. I guess it does pay to speak up about bad food.
My B&B was lovely. I was able to sit in my own room and update my blog, watch some television and relax. I have found back home that at any given moment there will be an old Steven Segal movie on, the same appears to happen in other countries as well. That guy is everywhere, you can’t escape his leather fringe jacket and slicked back ponytail.
This morning I had a shower, which was located in a corner of my room but had hot water and was clean! I had a traditional Scottish breakfast which came with the price of my room. It was a fried egg, bacon (which is not like ours at all, more like ham slices), baked beans, a slice of tomato and a sausage link. It wouldn’t be my daily choice but it wasn’t bad at all, unless you are talking about the sausage link, that was bad, I can’t even talk about it it was so bad.
I packed up my room and hit the road towards Loch Ness to see Nessy, the Loch Ness Monster. I looked for her to no avail, seems she isn’t real! What? I want my money back! Wait, I didn’t spend any money other than the 56 pounds to put a half of tank of gas into my car! Ugh, this is not a nice place for those of us who earn their paycheck in the form of the dollar. The Loch was beautiful and held me captive for quite a while. Notice I said captive, not captivated. I was lost. Big shocker. I finally purchased an actual map as opposed to the screen shots of Google maps from my Ipad. It actually works quite well. I should have known, technology is not always the answer. I have been kicking it old school.
The fact that I am on this trip solo was obvious today when I caught myself saying to a pasture full of sheep “Good morning and how are y’ewe?” It made me laugh, I am a funny travel companion.
I am currently sitting in a restaurant in Ullalog waiting for my ferry to the Isle of Harris and Isle of Lewis. There was little info online so I wanted to make sure I was able to get on the ferry. I also didn’t have hotel/b&b reservations yet as I didn’t want to get them if I wasn’t able to get there! I am the second car in the ferry que so I am feeling confident that I will get on the ferry. I hope I didn’t just jinx myself. I was actually going to stay in a hostel tonight but the only way to contact them was via the phone and I am not using my phone due to cost, though now that I think about it it would have been cheaper to use my phone to make a call and stay for 15£ vs the room I found for 70£. Oh well, another private room surrounded by my new best friend Wi-Fi!
Jane Travels Again 