My friend Will came up for the weekend just gone and we decided to shake things up a little and head off way up North… to Scotland! The Scottish border is only about 200 or so miles from here, though I never go up there because it takes too damn long and when gas is $8 a gallon it’s expensive!

We headed up there on Friday afternoon. Got to Glasgow sometime after dinner, stopped at an Indian restaurant where we had some real nice food while watching raunchy Bollywood music videos – I never knew Indian culture could bump and grind with the best of them!

After that we found a soulless motel and settled in for the night with a view to getting an early getaway in the morning. We tossed a coin for the double bed, I lost so I got the stupid sofa-bed thing which was uncomfortable to say the least. The entire experience was made worse by Will’s snoring which kept me awake most of the night.

We didn’t get the early getaway on Saturday morning that we had kind of planned to do. We’d sat up have the night drinking tea and talking so we just headed out late morning instead. But we didn’t have a plan, so we weren’t behind any schedule or anything.

The picture below was taken on the road by Loch Fyne. The weather was trying to decide whether to rain or not. In the end the clouds above us just went about their business like great ships with unseen cargos for destination I could only imagine.

The picture above was taken on the way to Inveraray. And below is Inveraray castle which sits majestically beside the loch in the little port-side town. From there we headed slowly North along winding roads that weaved their ways alongside the vast lochs. We’d stop to get out take pictures and generally take in the surroundings.

As the evening began to draw to a close we drove by Stalker Castle which stands on a small island in Loch Linnhe. The sun was setting behind the hills and mountains of the Mull of Kintyre. I’ve always wanted to see one of these kind of castles but had I not been looking back at the setting sun as we drove, we would have missed it entirely!

We eventually stopped in the town of Fort William and found ourselves a little bed and breakfast beside the loch. It was owned by a lady from Chicago, her husband was a former Chicago cop and years ago they opted for a chance in pace and lifestyle so they moved to Fort William to start the little guest house.

The next day we headed to the highest point in the UK, Ben Nevis mountain. It’s a climbers mountain, so lazy tourists like Will and I choose instead to go up Anoch Mor (pictured above) some 2100 feet to look across at Ben Nevis. It was awesome to stand there in the snow and look across at the snow capped mountains around me. This was a real thrill as I rarely see snow where I live. All the snow I’ve seen in recent years has been in America!

We decided to head back home at a leisurely pace through the Glencoe Valley which was spectacular. We stopped again in Glasgow and spent some more of the Scottish money we’d acquired buying over priced food which was only forgivable because of our sweetly beautiful waitress who flirted the perfect amount to earn herself a decent tip. It’s always easier to tip when the money looks different – Maybe she knew that?

It’s been over ten years since I was last in Scotland, but I won’t be leaving it another ten years to go back that’s for sure!