[mankuthimma]

Prologue:

Right now, its an overwhelming situation out there with pandemic raging in full intensity everywhere. More than the actual virus, the silent pandemic brought about by the daily dose of information overload from all kinds of sources is creating even more havoc in everyone's mind.
I think, sometimes it helps to do something deliberately to divert the attention from current situation in an attempt to keep a positive frame of mind. Here in Bangalore, we are in the midst of yet another lockdown to contain the virus spread. So this lockdown period, I thought why not take small breaks from daily grind and spend that time coming out with a travelogue about one of the best driving trips we had done quite few years back. So buckle up! Let me take you on a long drive down my memory lane!


Introduction:

This story goes back to 2017. It goes without saying that a foreign trip is one of the aspirational things to do in life for a urban middle class family. We were no exception. One of the perks of IT industry are the numerous opportunities one gets to do overseas trips and I used to enjoy travelling, either solo or with friends whenever work took me out of the country. But there was always a desire to do such a trip along with the beloved family members. We had done a Sri Lankan holiday before but that was more or less like being in Kerala, so it didnt count as a foreign trip!

Our family holidays always have to coincide with school holidays and we take every opportunity to plan a trip in April, October and December months of the year. Most of the time, it is a group trip along with sister-in-law's family. An overseas trip was always on the cards and with the kids coming of age, we thought probably its a good time to plan a holiday abroad for this summer holidays in Aprill 2017.


Planning:

A good trip is already half done with meticulous planning and preparation beforehand. Let me take you through the detailed thought process that went behind our trip planning.

It was already Feb when we all sat down to discuss the holiday plans. A lead time of at least 4-6 months for planning would have been ideal for an international trip to get the best offers and deals. My sister-in-law's family have RCI membership and they are entitled for a weeks holiday anywhere in the world in their resort chain. But as expected, there was nothing much available in popular destinations on their website for April. Later during the week, they pinged us about a lone resort that has availability and the place is called Aviemore in Scotland. Now Scotland is unheard of as a popular holiday destination unlike London, Paris or Florida which we typically come across whenever we hear about foreign trips from friends and relatives. Bemused, we started searching on Google Maps and TripAdvisor for more information about the place and the resort. So the location was somewhere north of UK and the resort carried mixed reviews in TripAdvisor. But with no other options left, we thought we will just block the resort and do some more research and take a call. Now this is where it got interesting in the coming days. As we scoured the internet for more information, Scotland turned out to be a hidden treasure of exotic places and more so, for the kind of holidays we prefer - offbeat destinations, explore natural surroundings and do more of what locals do rather than sightseeing of tourist spots. Excited and all kicked up, thus began the planning process for our dream holiday in Scotland.



All our trip planning are done DIY way instead of opting for packaged tours with tour operators. I just love the process of digging through forums and blogs where individuals contribute their experiences and come out with my own plan. I must confess first, that I dont know for what reason, somehow I didnt use team-bhp travelogues for the research work at that time. That would have definitely cut down a lot of time and given more personalized information! Also, looking back, 2017 seems like ages ago to think of it now. I was and am still not that app-savvy. So WA, FB, insta or youtube didnt figure as necessary tools that time.

First and foremost, we had to understand the process and procedure for UK tourist visa. We had to have flight tickets and planned itinerary with confirmed hotel reservations before going for Visa. We had to decide on a broad itinerary first.

Lets check the flight availability first because that was crucial for everything else. Since we are going so far, should we include some other place in Europe or not ? Perhaps a stopover in London? may be a GoT inspired side trip to Ireland? The nearest international airports to Aviemore were either Glasgow or Edinburgh. Using Google Flights, we tried all kinds of permutations and combinations of flights via European cities, Gulf countries and worked out their costs and timings. We tried very hard to squeeze London in the plan, but it was making itinerary difficult both in terms of costs and also other logistics. It was getting very confusing and tiring try to match all parameters. One fine day, we just decided to put down our feet in one place and enjoy the fullest extent possible instead of doing piece meal of everything. So we concluded to do a 14-day Scotland only trip with Aviemore as the base.

We zeroed in on British Airways flight Bangalore - Glasgow - Bangalore with a changeover in London-Heathrow which provided the best cost and favorable timings. Also we planned a layover in Glasgow for 2 days both onward and return journeys just to keep it more relaxed rather than rushing to/from Aviemore directly from/to the airport. Booked a B&B with Travelodge for the stay in Glasgow on both directions. With this broad level plan on paper, we went ahead and submitted the Visa application with all the necessary documentation at the VFS global office.

[mankuthimma]

Preparation:

With Visa application in process, now was the time to work out the details of the itinerary.
Coming up with a democratic and accomodative itinerary was challenging as usual. Ladies wanted to ensure clean restrooms, right food (veg only) at the right time, shopping options along with a relaxed comfortable trip. Kids, well, they just want to have maximum fun wherever they went on one condition that they didn't want frequent checkin-checkouts. The secret recipe for a successful trip is to listen to the mothers and kids. Then everything else falls in place or else all hell will break loose. We, gents, wanted maximum bang for the buck. While my co-brother would like to go with the flow and figure out things that come on the way, I on the other hand want all the unknowns to be hashed out since there is no reason to go unprepared, what with every possible information available at just a click away on the net.

TripAdvisor forums were of tremendous help and the local destination experts from Scotland were lovely to interact with. They patiently answered all queries, and provided most minutest details to make best use of our time with their local knowledge. I gathered following broad level themes to do in Scotland -
- the stunning scenery around Lochs (lakes) and Glens (valleys)
- the magnificent Castles
- the most beautiful English ( or rather Scottish ) countryside
- the hiking trails near Aviemore
- the cozy tea houses and cafes
- the famous Malt Whiskey trail
- unique museums
- last but not the least, the train journeys, the quintessential European experience

Isle of Skye comes up top in the list of most visited tourist spots in Scotland. It appeared that it would need a trip of its own to do full justice instead of a day trip. So had to let go of it sadly, but we gained so much in return with the alternatives suggested by TA experts. More on this later.

Transportation

Since I had travelled to some parts of Europe earlier, I knew what to expect when it comes travelling options. No European trip is complete without the train journeys. Our idea was to make use of trains as much as possible. ScotRail, the national railway of Scotland had some great options. They had something called Family and Friends Pass which provided discounted fare for group trips in all their trains. Even foreigners were eligible for it. All I had to do was submit a form at a train station before the first journey. I had booked tickets online for Glasgow-Aviemore and Aviemore-Glasgow beforehand. One anxiety was about loading/unloading luggages and whether the local trains had luggage racks apart from overhead racks. We were 7 people and had atleast that many suitcases and bags. I even looked up the seat plan of typical ScotRail coaches to know the same. But it was a non-issue once we got into the train. The train staff were kind enough to help us put all our luggages in place.

For Airport transfers, figured out that Airport express buses was a convenient option to reach the hotel. But it was not a good option as we realized later. Even though airport pickup was convenient, the designated stop in the city was bit far from the hotel. Struggled a bit dragging the luggage all the way while searching for right directions to the hotel. Lesson learnt, we opted to use taxis henceforth for the last mile connectivity.

Edinburgh and Glasgow are like twin cities. Since we had good amount of time in Glasgow, we could explore Glasgow and Edinburgh. It was a 40 minutes journey between them and there were frequent commuter trains. There was no need to book the tickets online and could be bought at the station itself, again with a discount thanks to the family pass that we had.

Aviemore is a small town. For all the places that we wanted to visit from Aviemore, trains or buses were not convenient. A car was a must. Now the question was whether to rent the car from Glasgow or Aviemore, whether two cars or a single 7 seater car. Again TA forums helped with suggesting a car rental company in the next big town of Inverness near Aviemore. Arnold Clark is a popular car rental company in Scotland. Made reservation for a 7 seater vehicle, through them via email. The agency indicated that a MPV ( Toyota Verso or Vauxhall Zafira) would be arranged, but what we got eventually was different. More on this later.

Warm clothing

The weather forecast for April was not encouraging and could swing from sunny to snowy anytime of the day. As the saying goes, there is no bad weather, but only bad clothing. We had to equip ourselves with layers of warm clothing. We shopped all the necessary warm clothing in Decathlon. Trekking and hiking are our favorite activities wherever we go and there were lots of opportunities to do the same in Scotland. So all of us bought good water proof trekking shoes suitable for wet weather.

Forex

Since most of the big ticket items had already been paid online, we needed forex only for daily expenses. We decided to carry one portion in hard currency. The Centrum forex branch near my house suggested to buy a multi currency card which acts like a international debit card. The card could be loaded at any point of time by doing online transfer to Centrum's bank account and they would load it immediately with necessary forex value. It provided both safety and convenience.


Miscellaneous
As is customary for we Indians visiting abroad, we also carried our share of Maggie packets and ready to eat stuff in some quantity. Though all of our phones had international roaming, we went ahead and bought Matrix International SIM cards beforehand to be used in dual sim phones. We also carried universal adapter plugs for charging cables and it was quite handy. I also read up the driving guidelines especially the rules regarding right of way while navigating the roundabouts at the intersection of roads. Google StreetView and public webcams were helpful in carrying out a virtual recce of hotel surroundings and some of the spots we planned to visit, but made sure not to overdo it in order to keep the curiosity alive.

Meantime, the visas got approved and we collected our passports from VFS global office. By now, most of the details had been worked out. We just planned enough things to do for 2-3 hrs in morning session and another 3-4 hrs post lunch. Even though we had list of things to do on day to day basis, we were not hell bent on following it to the T and thought we will not fret but be flexible enough to adjust according to the need of the hour.

[mankuthimma]

D-Day:

The D-day arrived and we were ready to fly


The flight was ready too


Ouch! Departure delayed


Touching down London. We had to rush through our transit in London Heathrow airport, but we made it on time for the connecting flight to Glasgow.


Landed in Glasgow airport late afternoon.

We took the Airport Express bus to reach the city. Everything was fine till the bus dropped us in the city close to the hotel. But the moment we got down from the bus, reality dawned on me. It was cold outside. Inspite of watching the Google StreetViews so many times, I felt dazed and couldnt make out the correct road to take to the hotel. We had to cross couple of busy junctions hauling all the luggage and the kids before traffic lights turned red. We are sweating already in that weather. Clueless, spotted a lady police officer nearby and asked her about the directions. She was friendly but she didnt know off hand. She spoke to her colleague nearby, both of them did some search in their tab and directed us to the correct road. We thanked them and reached the hotel. In fact the hotel was just few hundred metres away from where we had got stranded!
On the hindsight, we should have just taken an airport cab and reached hotel on a spirited note. Henceforth, we just took taxis for all the airport/train station transfers. I think I can tell that this is the only hiccup we faced in the entire trip.

We checked into our hotel, Travelodge Glasgow Queen Street. It is a budget hotel chain, clean and good for overnight sleeps since rest of the day we would be going out.

Later in the evening, we just went for a stroll on the streets, had dinner in a Italian restaurant nearby and called it a day.

[mankuthimma]

Our first morning in Glasgow. Weather looks great. First view of the Glasgow skyline in day light from the hotel window Interestingly, we can see mostly traditional structures instead of the modern buildings.


The Gallery of Modern Art. Notice the bizarre statue of Duke Of Wellington capped with a traffic cone. It is supposed to convey humorous nature of the local population.


The place where had got 'stranded' yesterday on arrival


George Square


Edinburgh

Our first outing was to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It takes around 50 mins to reach by train. Edinburgh was expensive - expensive flights, expensive accommodation. We chose to stay in Glasgow and visit Edinburgh.

Beautiful country side enroute Edinburgh


Arrival in Edinburgh Waverley Station. ScotRail coaches were modern with comfy seats and good NVH. It also had free wifi with good signal strength


The plan for the day was to visit the famous Edinburgh castle. It was walkable from the train station.
We pass by streets with majestic buildings



Princess Garden on the way to the castle


The famous Royal mile, the narrow street leading to Edinburgh Castle lined with historic buildings


Edinburgh Castle, the most visited tourist attraction in Scotland.


A closer view of the massive structure


The castle has lot of things to offer for a history buff as well as casual tourists. Since it needs lot of stamina to walk and explore various parts the castle, there are strategies mentioned online, what are the best possible trails to see the main attractions without sweating much. We followed one such easier trail.

Mons Meg, the ultimate weapon of mass destruction of those days, mounted on the castle. Notice the stone balls used in this cannon. Suppose to weigh around 150 kgs each



Other cannons guarding the castle. There is also a 1 o'clock gun signal fired even today as a time signal. We heard that while we were there.


The castle had 360 degree views of the city from the top. One such beautiful view.


Can even see the North Sea


The castle had quite a few historical buildings inside converted into museums exhibiting artifacts belonging to the royal family.

The Royal Palace in the Crown Square


National War Museum



The Great Hall showcasing various armouries



Various coats of arms on display



Scottish National War Memorial for fallen soldiers in various wars. It was heartwarming to see the respect given to the departed souls. There were quite a few Indian names too in the list.


I dont know who this gentleman is, but he looked handsome. I think there was a story behind the bird poop on his head.


We took quite some to complete the tour of the castle. Rest of the time, we lazed around the area

The Royal mile, in the evening sun light


Some really huge building


A 5000GB or a 5TB car - most certainly the owner might be an IT guy!


Managed to see a native Scottish bagpiper in his homeland


Scott monument. It was possible to climb to the top of this monument, but we had no energy left for this adventure


Ended the day with a snack stop at the famed Deacons House cafe. One of the must do things in Edinburgh. It was a cozy little cafe with cute ceramic exhibits. Food was excellent. The owners had put up nice handwritten messages encouraging people to shun smartphones and spend time talking to each other face to face !

[mankuthimma]

Next day, our planned activity was to visit Loch Lomond. But the kids wanted to go back to Edinburgh and visit the Camera Obscura museum near the castle. The previous day, we had seen few exhibits kept outside the museum and it seemed fun, but we had skipped it. Didnt want to disappoint them now. So cancelled our plans and off we went to Edinburgh again.

Camera Obscura and World of Illusions was a museum of optical illusion. It was interesting and entertaining, lot of fun for kids and us as well. The roof top had an ancient camera which was still functional. There was an amazing demo of its working in a darkened room. Overall, a time well spent!





View of the castle from the top of the museum


Another view of the city

Later, visited the other end of Royal Mile. Palace of Holyroodhouse



Right opposite was this modern Scottish Parliament with its quirky architecture


Right beside was the Arthur's Seat


Kids finding their own path to the top. Even though it looked like a small hill, it took some effort to reach the top.


These pretty yellow flowers were there everywhere in Scotland. Provided a nice contrast to the landscape. Later learnt that these are native Scottish flowers called Gorse



This part of Edinburgh was interesting - with its majestic historical buildings of Royal Holyrood Palace, a new age Scottish Parliament and an adventurous Arthurs Seat, all coexisting seamlessly in the same area within city limits

Edinburgh is a beautiful city to walk




Another nice little cafe that we tried at the end of the day before returning to Glasgow. Not able to recollect the name now


We walk back to the train station and return to Glasgow

[mankuthimma]

Aviemore

Today was the last day of first leg of our stay in Glasgow. Our train to Aviemore was later in the day. Went for a walk in Argyle St, one of the shopping districts of Glasgow in the morning.



Later started our journey towards Aviemore. View of the landscape enroute.


Aviemore station had an old world charm to it




Aviemore is a small little town with beautiful buildings like this


The only happening street in the town


Checked into our resort


It is a 3 BHK duplex apartment, our home for next 7 days. Welcome drink was a nice wine bottle.




Resort was spread across a sprawling campus overlooking mountains.





Nothing else was planned for the day. We just settled down in the apartment.

[mankuthimma]

The Car

Next day, It was a Sunday morning. My Co-brother and myself went to Inverness to collect our rental car from Arnold Clark office. My co-brother had lot of experience driving in US. So I let him handle all the process and procedures. They insisted on swiping the credit card instead of the forex debit card we had.

Now the twist in the tale. We had expected to receive a 7-seater MPV, but what we got was a 9-seater VW Transporter V-A-N!! We went gawk for a moment. It looked gigantic for our needs. The boot area was big enough for kids to play football. The car was brand new though and probably we were the first ones to drive it. My co-brother did a short drive and he was comfortable with it. The only issue was slotting the reverse gear, pull up the ring under gear knob and slot it next to first gear, the agency staff helped us get familiar with it. She also helped setting up the GPS unit which was again a brand new unit just opened out of box. GPS unit was quite helpful in alerting us about the speed limits.

We started driving gingerly through the Inverness city roads. I started recollecting the driving rules that I had read and guided him through the roundabouts and general directions while he concentrated on getting a hang of the car. Soon entered the highway. Being a Sunday, traffic was thin which boosted our confidence driving first time on UK roads. Reached our apartment safely.



I for one had never driven any other car except a petrol Swift back home. Later during the day, my co-brother encouraged me to try out the van. I did a short drive within the resort campus. Gear shifts were smooth. Engine was powerful. I had to get used to the bit hard and long clutch play. Due to its length, I had to be careful making sharp turns on small roads. High seating position gave a commanding view of the road. Ergonomics were spot on. Spacious and comfortable seats. Reverse parking sensors were helpful. Overall, it was surprisingly easy to maneuver like a car. Soon I got over my apprehensions and started enjoying the drive.

Cairngorm mountain and Rothiemurchus forest region
Aviemore is the gateway for adventure activities like hiking, skiing in Scotland. I had noted down bunch of things to do here.
Later in the afternoon, we started our first drive in Aviemore towards the Cairngorm mountain top and Rothiemurchus forest region.


Reached the base of the mountain, the highest car park in UK, in terms of altitude, thus claimed a display board.




From here, had to take a funicular railway to reach the mountain top.


It was super windy and super cold at the top. During the season, Cairngorm mountain is a popular skiing spot


Warmed ourselves up with hot chocolate and coffee at the mountain top cafe. Saw this postbox in the cafe.


We came down and drove towards our next stop. Loch Morlich, a fresh water lake with sandy beaches and spectacular views.




Our next stop was Loch an Eilein, another picturesque lake in a pristine location. We had the entire place for ourselves devoid of anyone else's presence. We spent the entire evening here.



Hiked some of the forest trails on foot as well as a drive

[mankuthimma]

Loch Ness - Fort Williams - Glencoe valley

We woke upto a glorious sunshine in the morning.


Weather forecast predicted showers/rains today. That didnt deter us going ahead with our plan to drive towards Glencoe valley via the iconic Loch Ness. From Inverness, there were two routes to Loch Ness. We wanted to take the lesser known B-category road called Military road to experience the scenic countryside passing through Dores/Foyers/Whitebridge. We were not disappointed. Let the pictures do the talking.

Dual carriage highway in Inverness


we enter the single lane roads


and then unmarked country roads


Loch Ness. No! we didnt find Nessie, the monster.



It seems Scotland has more sheep than people



Highland cattle


Envious of this house overllooking such a stunning view! A perfect holiday home



Lunch time at the famed Cameron's Tea Room in Foyers

I must say it lived upto its fame

Window with a view of their farm

Warm cozy environment

Soup and Sandwich combo - Farm fresh Carrot and Neep soup with freshly baked bread - A homely meal served lovingly by the charming hosts. It was my go-to meal whenever we stopped at such places


Post lunch, we started towards Glencoe via Fort Williams. The scenery was getting better and better forcing frequent photo-op breaks.


After certain distance, the road reached an unnamed place at a high altitude point. The area was totally desolated with just the mountains, valleys, lakes and an arrow straight road ahead. It was an amazing landscape. Photos just cant do justice to the enormity of the natural beauty that we witnessed.




Soon, the road started descending very fast from the mountains and touched the plains with sudden change in scenery. Yet another photogenic spot. By this time, we had lost count of the Lochs and their names that we passed by



We reached Fort Williams and thank god it was sunny again !



We are approaching Glencoe mountains


We pass by a gentle flowing stream in the woods before entering the Glencoe valley

The road running along this stream


Glencoe Valley. The road cutting across majestic mountains was a breathtaking scenery



Tried our best to capture this stunning visual where a column of sun rays was piercing through the dark cloud cover and glistening on a small portion of the lake amidst continuous drizzle. Cameras cant capture such surreal beauty. Sigh!


It was dark and snowing. We missed clicking a Reindeer by a whisker on this stretch. An amazing day came to an end!

[mankuthimma]

Whoa! Next day morning we wake upto a spectacular show right at our backyard. There is a dump of atleast half foot snowfall, never seen so much snow in our lifetime




White carpet everywhere


Kids had gala time !


Weather improves late afternoon. We go for a drive towards nearby towns


We load up on the essentials at Tesco supermarket at Aviemore. Since apartment had a well equipped kitchen, we could cook few meals, thanks to Tesco.



Then head towards quaint little towns, Grantown and Boat of Garten. A stretch of road like this is all these towns had. Hardly see anyone on the roads.


Cute looking buildings in the town


A picture perfect setting for a bungalow


Such information boards were setup in every nook and corner of this country. It was quite helpful to understand the significance of the place and things to do


We followed one such trail for a walk through the woods that lead to River Spey



We spend rest of the evening by the river side

[mankuthimma]

Loch Maree, Torridon, Shieldaig and Eliean Donan Castle

Another beautiful morning at Aviemore sets the tone for the most memorable day of our holiday. We are driving towards some of the exotic locations in the West coast. What we missed out by skipping Isle of Skye, we redeemed it with this superb alternatives suggested by TripAdvisor local experts. Lets go!


From Inverness, we take the road towards the West Coast that offers one of the finest scenery in this region


We stop briefly at Contin forest region


There were no dearth for photo opportunities along the way. lay-bys are also strategically located for such picture perfect frames.




We stop at Kinlochewe, another quaint little town. Clean toilets were available even in the remotest part of the country


First time refuelling the car. Co-brother was familiar handling self service fuel pump. So there were no issues


The Whistle Stop Cafe, yet another charming little cafe tucked in a remote village. We stop here for the lunch break. There were no issues getting good veg food options anywhere.


The hosts had tastefully done the interiors with an artistic theme


The restrooms also carried touch of their class, carry out the business with a smile


Post Lunch, we go to Loch Maree


Loch Maree is regarded as one of the finest Lochs by local people. The entire environment was serene, mesmerizing and divine. No amount of adjectives could describe this place. I try to absorb the splendor with all the senses but would go blank in mind. Reminds me of what DVG or Kuvempu, the famous Kannada writers often describe in their works. If one can pay fullest of your attention, just this moment, not try matching it to a past experience or try to remember for the future, but enjoy what nature offers, that is divine feeling! Not that I got elevated to such a consciousness, but could now understand what actually they meant to say.


And it is actually a special place as described here


After spending considerable time here, we further go down the road and find an awesome vantage point to click some group photos.


We then take a turn towards the road leading to Torridon and we go "wow" "wow" at every stretch. It was difficult to capture the immense landscape in puny cameras.
Another good thing about the road infrastructure here are the passing places in such narrow roads. Notice the passing place on the left and on the right further down for letting the oncoming vehicles pass




We enter Torridon, a small village at the foot of steep mountain overlooking Loch Torridon




After taking in the views to our heart's content, we proceed towards Shieldaig, another scenic coastal village.



From here, we drive towards our next destination. On the way, we see a board pointing towards AppleCross via Bealach-na-ba Road, considered one of the world's top drives, but also a treacherous one. Me and my co-brother contemplated should we just do it, but better sense prevailed - it was already late evening, a long vehicle and a family in the toe, didnt want to risk it. We had to suppress our momentary enthusiasm and move on.

Finally manage to get a glimpse of Reindeers on a mountain top.


We pass through a huge sheep farm


Last stop for the day was at picturesque Eilean Donan Castle, the most photographed castle of Scotland


It stands overlooking this stunning scenery


It is truly a photographer's paradise.




An extended day light till around 9 PM during these months also helped us cover a lot during long day trips.

[mankuthimma]

Tomatinoul, Braemer Castle, Balmoral Castle, Lecht

Tomatinoul is another nearby village that we visited. We never got tired of visiting such villages admiring their old world charm








EV charging points were quite common, even in such small villages


Braemer Castle is another beautiful castle



The cloudy sky gives way to warm sunshine and the entire area around the castle lights up in the golden rays making it a sight to behold




Next stop is Balmoral Castle. This castle is still actively been used by British royal family. But on the day of our visit, it was closed for visitors. The expansive environment around the castle was quite nice







For the return journey from Balmoral Castle, we chose to follow Google Maps instead of the GPS unit. It took us through some awesome roads via Lecht, a ski centre. It was one heck of a drive !

[mankuthimma]

Hiking in Glenmore Forest to Green Loch

Aviemore due to its proximity to Glenmore forest region offers numerous hiking trails. One of the highly rated trails was hiking to Green Loch (local name, An Lochan Uaine ), a picturesque lake deep in the forest. btw, the local language is called Gaelic, but never came across anyone speaking that language, only the information boards carried that language along with English.

A short drive from resort leads to the Glenmore Visitor Centre


Glenmore Visitor Centre. Here we collect the necessary maps


The trail starts off with easy to walk mud roads


Soon becomes narrow with inclines and declines


There is interesting flora and fauna not seen before




Now and then, there are view points offering great views of the snow capped mountains




and streams too


After about an hour of walking, we reach the Green Loch


It is not a very big lake, but the scenery is just fabulous


Turquoise green crystal clear water reflecting and contrasting the bare rustic mountain side. Pretty photogenic site and everyone gets their share of DP worthy pics clicked.




After spending rather a long time here, we return back via the second route which is a flatter terrain and shorter one winding back to the Glenmore Visitor Centre


We have lunch at the Glenmore Forest Cafe. My favorite soup and sandwich combo, a warm simple heartening meal

[mankuthimma]

Last day in Aviemore

Today is the last day of our stay in Aviemore. Me and co-brother drive to Inverness to drop the car. We tank up the fuel in Inverness city in a Tesco managed fuel pump before handing it over to the agency. The agency staff was considerate and he had come to train station so that it is convenient for us to handover the keys and catch the train back to Aviemore.

We had clocked ~800 miles or ~1300 kms in a week, a pretty big deal for us to do first time in a foreign country. As is evident, we thoroughly enjoyed driving in some of the best roads and amazing locations that we could only dream of. The car was a joy to drive as well as comfortable for passengers. The high seating and wide windows offered very good view of the beautiful landscape. It didnt let us down in any kind of terrain.

Coming from Bangalore, driving here was a heavenly feeling. Roads were smooth as butter and drivers are utmost disciplined and considerate, never witnessed any aggressive driving behavior anywhere, even at times when we were relatively slow and people were trailing us. One interesting Scottish driving culture is to greet oncoming driver with a slight wave of right hand. We too soon followed the same and started garnering appreciative glances by the local drivers. Another thing the drivers here are very particular is about indicating the oncoming driver (mostly us) with a quick flash to switch to low beam, even at the first sight of the car several miles ahead. Another interesting thing that caught our fancy was the motion sensing and probably battery operated temporary traffic lights which used to coordinate the traffic flow efficiently when lanes are closed for repair works and there is only one lane open for bi-directional traffic.

Coming to other cars on the road, Ford Kuga, Jeep Renegade, Nissan Qashqai, Citroen Cactus are some of the cars that I would have liked to have in my wish list for my next car here in India, a wishful thinking I know! And Yes!!, I could see why Jeremy Clarkson hates Nissan Juke!!

We took an evening stroll around Aviemore country side and found few pretty sights.














Next day morning, guess what, we get a VW Transporter in its cab avatar to drop us to the Aviemore train station! It happily loads all our luggage.


We wait for the train to Glasgow. The anxiety about luggage comes back. Whether can we manage to load all the luggage into coach within minutes of its stoppage or whether we we can find enough space to keep the luggage in the racks. Owing to upcoming long weekend, the train was running full. Thankfully, the train stewardess was extremely courteous and helpful. She got down to help us load all the luggage and made us feel comfortable within minutes. Incidentally she had been to India and she had a good chat with us.







The journey to Glasgow passing through highlands country side scenery was again wonderful.

[mankuthimma]

Glasgow

We arrive in Glasgow Central station for the last leg of our holidays.



Our stay is at Travelodge hotel, similar to our first leg, but this time chose another location for a change, Glasgow Central


Later in the evening, we explore the shopping districts

Hill St / Sauchihall St / Buchanan St





While searching for dinner options, we are pleasantly surprised to see GMaps suggest a South Indian contemporary restaurant called Dakhin. We go check it out


We were delighted to see this pakka kannada poster!! Jai Karnataka in Glasgow!!

Food was well presented, but the taste was obviously skewed towards western taste buds.

Next day, our plan was to go to Riverside Museum, a highly acclaimed museum of all kinds of transport vehicles.

We took the subway to reach the museum. Glasgow subway is interesting. It is a circular line and fully underground. The trains run in clockwise and anti-clockwise directions in different tunnels called inner and outer circle. We need to take the direction that is closer to our destination.


The trains are not that tall


We get down at Partick Station. There was beautiful wall art on the buildings around the station.


Museum is walkable from the Partick station.


We cross bridges over an highway


and another bridge across River Clyde


The museum building has an unique architecture


The museum is about man made machines for all modes of transportation - bicycles, bikes, cars, buses, trams, trains, subways, boats, ships. Very nicely restored, exhibited with excellent information and lots of interactive stuff too. It was a good learning to see the amazing engineering prowess, the British and Scottish had in those times in shipbuilding and railways.









There was this very good replica of a street with vehicles, shops of yore, which looked straight out of a retro movie set


There was also a section on awareness about accidents and safety


There was a full restored victorian sailing ship called The Tall Ship, Glenlee, docked in the river. It was a huge one and offered a very good feel of everything that makes up a ship. It also had a restuarant where we had our lunch, the sailors way.




View of the other side of the river from the ship. At a distance, is Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, which was our next stop.

[mankuthimma]

Kelvingrove Museum and Glasgow University

We walk towards Kelvingrove Art Museum.
The roads around the museum are beautiful.







The architecture of the building was wonderful. We are not art buffs, so didnt venture into the art museums inside.




University of Glasgow is right next to the Kelvingrove Park. It is said that Harry Potter movie sets were inspired by the architecture of these buildings. It is hard to believe it is a university campus, rather it looks like a fairy tale castle.