Well this is something I’ve never done before - blogging as a traveller! Yes I know everybody does it but it’s new to me!
Right now I’m in The Kings Highway in Inverness surrounded by young folks with beautiful Scottish accents. It’s a Wetherspoons pub which means that the food is so-so, but it’s cheap and there’s free wifi. The alternative is to go back to the B&B and watch TV but there’s nothing on, I’ve checked online.
Left Stafford at 12:00 in sweltering heat - 26 degrees C inside the house and hotter outside! Sandy drove me to the station (once she could stand the heat of the steering wheel) and I then took a sweltering train ride to Birmingham International for the airport. Then a Flybe prop to Inverness where the glorious Scottish wind finally cooled things down! Nice little plane journey - I’ve never been on a small plane before - made even better by having nobody sitting next to me. Come on! Are you really going to find 78 people who want to fly to Inverness on a Sunday! Had to wait almost an hour for a bus from the Airport and then had a right miserable git of a bus driver. I asked him to let me know when I arrived at the stop I wanted but, even though I got up and went to the front where I thought I wanted to get off, the sod drove straight past and right into Inverness. Not a great problem as it was only a ten minute walk to the B&B but not my usual experience of Scottish hospitality.
Tomorrow morning I get a bus at 08:10 (early breakfast!) to Ullapool to catch the ferry to Stornoway. Already booked the ticket which is £5 all the way so I was a bit startled to be charged £3 for the six miles from the airport. Takes an hour and twenty minutes which is not too bad especially compared to almost three and a half hours on the ferry.
Now you may be wondering why I didn’t take the easy option and fly to Stornoway. 130 quid, that’s why. Even with paying £36 for a B&B in Inverness it’s that much cheaper to come the long way. There’s also an added bonus that I can get to Stornoway tomorrow lunchtime whereas the flights to Stornoway don’t get me in till after all the estate agents have shut.
Don’t know if I’ll get a wifi connection over the next few days - Stornoway library maybe?
May 23rd, 2010 at 7:46 pm
och I’m really excited for you Les!! hope all goes well. Actually it’s blazing heat here too, but us poor peely wally scots are not used to it being above 15 degrees and are all wilting.
May 23rd, 2010 at 10:30 pm
Les,
Don’t know if you still read this before you retire for the night, but you’d better be at Inverness Bus Station at 7.30 am.
Free WiFi at An Lanntair, not in the Library.
Good luck!
Guido
May 24th, 2010 at 7:11 am
When you come back, try Inverness Youth hostel. It’s really nice and cheaper than B & B.
May 26th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Thanks all. Couldn’t get a wifi connection at An Lanntair despite a long time fiddling about and several cups of coffee (free refills!). Now in the library on a ‘regular’ connection but the bloody thing won’t let me connect to my email account - some sort of security restriction with my ISP thinking that it’s a dodgy hacking attack!
May 26th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Drop me a line by email if you’re really stuck, Les.