Day One

A deer by the roadside
The Corran ferry
Les with her first G&T
T, L&J clutching their drinks in front of the cottage

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Les, Jim, Tine & I kept a diary whilst on our jaunt to Bonnie Scotland in August 2008, and these are our ramblings in blog-form for all to share (plus of course a few photos to relieve the boredom!)

Day One (T):

Nearly 6 pm and we're just savouring our first drink in our cottage by the loch: G&T for all of us except Jim who's predictably sticking to beer! (Dave couldn't bring himself to having Pastis without ice. How 'French' of him!)

We arrived sometime before 5:30 pm and had unpacked the car by 5:30, just to stop Jim (aka Akela) nagging us with unsubtle hints (eg "I've unlocked the back door" - twice!)

Although quite long, the journey was very good - Jim allowed us to stop at Kirby Lonsdale to have the traditional bacon sandwich (with brown sauce for the Brits - neat for me 'cos I'm a real connoisseuse!)

Jim also took us round a tour of untouristy Glasgow as he seemed to 'mis-interpret' Tom-Tom Jane's instructions. T'was a near tense moment - good job we're old friends... We also stopped at 'The Green Wellie' stop to have our picnic which Anna & George had lovingly prepared for us. By then we were in true Scottish landscape, Dave & I in complete awe. Just after we crossed Erskine Bridge Les stopped for a photo shoot and a deer complete with antlers was busy munching grass right by the edge of the parking area. We'd never seen a wild one so close. Oh, and by then we were also on kilt number three. So, it was official, we WERE in the Scotland Highlands.

Day One (L):

We are sitting here, drinks in hand after a good journey through Jim's and my favourite landscapes - hoping that our dear friends see the same and are not thinking, oh my God where are they taking us!!! I think we remembered to tell them how remote it was, but Tine has already mentioned 'Murder in the Dark', 'James Bond' (we saw a man - well a boy - in black driving his boat on the loch in a swanky fashion), 'The Birds' and 'Famous Five'!! It is beautiful here and for the record the sun is shining..........we await the rest of the week!

Day One (D):

Well, Les has no need to worry, it's beautiful here, well worth the long journey up here (in fact it passed very quickly in Jim's new VERY comfortable car). The last part of the journey was the most exciting with the small car ferry from Corran and then the journey through Strontian and Salen, mostly on single-track roads, luckily with very frequent passing places.

The girls are playing house, Jim has taken 'The Observer' out into the early evening sunlight and I am going to help him test the chairs (!!)

Day One (J):

Although it is very remote, with very few people, we have made friends with our neighbours - 3 or 4 dogs and 800 midges. 7:20 pm - time to go indoors.

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For more photos click on the link http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/PapamanPicasa/4GoToScotlandDayOne