Tour of Scotland Take 2 - Monday

On Monday, we took the scenic route back to Edinburgh. I wanted to go pass Balmoral Castle, just so I can say that I have been there. When we got there, there was a small crowd by the bridge which crosses the River Dee and led to the castle. It appeared that the bridge was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and they have put up a plaque to commerate that, and the Duke on Edinburgh was just coming to unveil it!! So we saw the Duke, and Chris said that he felt more British for that afternoon! I think it was the nearest we have ever been to royalty, some 5 meters away!! We had lunch in the castle restaurant and the took a walk around. It was quite cold and also raining on and off, so it was really difficult to see things properly. It was bigger than first impression gives, and there were large grounds, which we did not make it to.

From Balmoral, we took the very scenic route back to the A9, but then turned off to the west so that Chris could show me his village and around the area where he grew up. He made me drive up some mountain... ok known as Ben Lawers, until we got to the Ben Lawers Dam. It was quite amazing to walk along the top of this huge dam, and the view around it was stunning. Very windy and cold though!!

Then we took drove towards Edinburgh, via Lochearnhead, where Chris grew up, and Callander. En route to Callander, I had to stop and see Hamish the Highland cow. He was there, busy eating grass so did not come near me. We stopped at Callander for a Chinese meal. We then went straight back to Edinburgh, and after dropping Chris home, I got home about 11:45 pm and went straight to bed!!

It was a very relaxing break, also much needed after the 6 busy weeks at work (and since the last holiday I had with Sook), and I got to see some really interesting things like royalty and the dam, which I really did not expect. Oh but the bad news was that my camera died on me, so I have no pictures to show for it. Chris, standing on a fence, took 5 shots of the Duke but I have not been able to see them. Hopefully I can salvage something.