Kathleen
Fort Augustus, Scotland – July 9-11, 2013
Sad to leave the beauty of Skye, but forgetting or not quite realizing yet that ALL of Scotland is stunning, we headed to Fort Augustus on Loch Ness. We had booked a couple of small apartments at a lovely place right on the loch which had been converted from an old monastary. There was a huge green lawn in back and you could walk down to the edge of the loch and find a nice bench to sit on and wait for the monster to appear. The monster did not appear, but we had a lovely time relaxing and watching the boats turn into the locks. I know this is confusing, but there were locks going into (or coming out of ) the loch. I could just say lake and lock but what fun would that be? Fort Augustus is at the end (or beginning) of a canal and has a pretty impressive series of about 6 or 7 locks and it is an event just to walk into town and watch the boats go through.
We had been staying in B&Bs, however lovely, for over two weeks at this point and it was delightful to have a place with a kitchen wherein we could cook our own meals and just have yogurt for breakfast without feeling as if we were shorting ourselves out of something we had paid for (ok, the breakfasts were also very nice – something about having a nice warm egg in the morning -but truly, you can’t do it all of the time). Although the local groceries were a bit uninspiring, we found a deli that had some lovely lamb bits and actually succeeded in making a delicious lamb stew….must have been all that time in Morocco that the secret to good lamb just rubbed off on us! The complex had an indoor pool which took up pretty much the entirety of an annex that used to be a chapel…very neat!
We had a pretty relaxing time here for a couple of days, we took in a local castle, walked along the canal for awhile did a short local hike (which ended up being longish since we got a little bit lost), made dinner, caught up on work (Steve) and generally just enjoyed the town and each other’s company. It is a beautiful area of Scotland, if a little less dramatic than Skye, but definately worth a visit and again we were a bit sad to leave when it was time to move on. If you haven’t noticed, this is a trend in Scotland…..
Just a side note on culture, we found the Scottish people, in general, to be very nice, but not quite in the robust way of the Irish (I think that is a task that is difficult at the very least. It was interesting that even in the B&Bs the owners seemed to be friendly and helpful, but more removed both physically and personally from the guests. The Irish have a way of making you feel at home and like family in their homes and the Scottish have an ability to give you your own space so you feel at home in a more private way. I truly enjoyed both experiences as, being somewhat Irish myself, I enjoy people and meeting them and spending time with them but I also truly enjoy my privacy, so I loved the Scottish way as well. One thing that is certain is that as much as I wax on whenever we get an apartment in which we can make our own meals, do laundry, and generally spread out, I think anyone who goes to Ireland or the UK and does not take advantage of the B&B culture is truly missing out on the experience…..