ABERDEEN

Trying to recuperate, had a lay-in & big Scottish breakfast. Went down to the beach & then on to Footdee. You work out how to say it. Footdee is an old group of fisherman's cottages. Some of them are really tiny. That one with the for sale board went for £30k in 2005 & £187k in 2017. Not bad eh? We walked through the dockyard to the maritime museum which focuses on fishing & the oil industry. The story of Piper Alpha was something. A maintenance man was working on pump B, couldn't finish it, capped off the pipe & left a note to not use the pump. During the next shift, pump A failed & control didn't know about the note switched to pump B. This blew the cap & started to pump oil & gas into the platform. They didn't isolate neighbouring fields which continued to pump through Alpha. This all ignited & completely destroyed the platform, the people in the sea & the nearby rescue boats. Some years later a trawler pulled up the locker of one of the few survivors which still contained his personal effects. It's still freezing here, about 9degrees this morning & a cold wind, so we went to the Winter Garden in Duthie Park. Very nice.

MALT WHISKEY...

route. We had a lovely drive from Inverness to Aberdeen through the Cairngorm national park & along glens I know intimately & love - livet, farclas, spey. The views and scenery were fantastic & no traffic. We went through several ski resorts with snow still visible at the top. Much warmer now. We are in oil & gas town and the money is very evident. Spent the afternoon in another castle. Lin rated this 8/10 for spiral staircases. Brodie got 9, but Caernarfon Castle got only 4. The garden were fantastic with bee loving bushes and 250 year old topiary yew trees.

CAPITAL OF THE HIGHLANDS,

Inverness today. 6degrees this morning at 10am when we left Loch Ness. Hail storm this afternoon, when's summer starting. Went to Brodie Castle near Nairn. Nice guided tour with lots of insight to the family that lived in the house. Next visited Moray Firth where a guy on the P&O Canberra said we could see dolphins close to the beach. No dolphins, must have been at cross porpoises with him. Wandered the town seeing museum, the bouncy footbridge & Victorian market. Place is full of European & Yankee tourists. B&B is close to centre. Just strolled in for a nice meal - pigs cheek & mashed black pudding w seaweed crisp followed by rabbit stew. I had Cullen Skink & the stew also, all delicious & washed down with a local IPA.

GENERAL WADE 1

Who was he. We are staying in a 3 room B&B in Whitebridge, which you get to along a B road called General Wade's Rd. It runs along the ridge beside Loch Ness and is very narrow with passing places, very bendy & very hilly. Lin was having kittens but the local were belting past a 70. Fort Augustus was nice, went on boat trip with sonar searching for some monsters. No luck. Fort A is one end of Loch Ness & has a 5 step lock system to get you into the Cally Canal. Big boats come through as you can see. Took mountaineer Lil out for a trek tonight to Falls of Foyers. Very nice 3mile hilly walk but for the rain. The waterfall was impressive, as was the cabin on wheels on the bank of Ness. The B&B is so nice really quiet and isolated in the glen. The deer & pheasant come right up to our bedroom. Should be a quiet night.

GENERAL WADE 2

More piccies.

BEN NEVIS, WHAT...

Ben Nevis. Here at Fort William in the highlands. Weather has really clamped in, temp dropped to 9deg, raining all the time, windy & cloud base at 500 feet, so although we are at the base of Ben Nevis we haven't had a glimpse of the mighty Ben. Getting to grips with Scots law. Supermarkets open 8am til 10pm, but you can't buy alcohol until 10am. Went on steam train ride behind the Lancashire Fusiliers. It is interesting that it was built by the guy whose house we are visiting next week - Armstrong. Mallaig, the destination was a real one horse town, the train passengers took up every restaurant seat in town. No booking, no eating. The scenery from the train would have been stunning, if it wasn't raining. The viaduct, the lochs & glens are beautiful. Bonny P Charlie is famous here as he landed just up the coast. Drying off with a drink in hotel before dinner. Next stop monster.

GRASMERE

We're at the home of Wordsworth, Lin & I went to his school. Lovely here. Went up to Allan Bank which was the home of the NTrust founder. Our room overlooks the lake & is walking distance to village, so off to pub tonight. Went on forest walk with mountaineer Lil & her stick to see the red squirrells. She did good, but no squirrells. The NT house is really nice, it is not really historic but they welcome you to use everything in the house, make your own tea, read the books, have a picnic. It's really nice. Lot of lambs about in the fields, Herdwick's which are special to the area. I think Lin's having some for dinner.

SECRETS OF THE....

Zoo. We are at Chester Zoo where they film the TV show & where they burnt an animal house & cooked some of the captives. They still haven't repaired it. Saw some of TV stars, but didn't see Boris. A big zoo that does a lot of conservation. They grow their own coral. We saw a fossa, never seen one before. Lots of animal babies evident. 

SNOWDON

Spent day in Planners at the foot of Snowdon. Weather brilliant all day. Firstly at the slate quarry listening to the tales of the quarrymen, fascinating. The money they made compared to the owners. Next we took the rack & pinion train to the summit. It was pretty crowded up the top. I wanted to walk the 5 miles up, but Lin was having none of it. Where was Paul when I needed him, he would have walked with me. Went to a nice local pub, the Black Boy, where we finally got our lamb. Very nice too, leaving tomorrow for Chester zoo, then Ambleside. Sorted the car warning light.

STILL A PRISONER

Portmeirion is stunning, it is such a beautiful place, from its tranquility, lovely shoreline and forest walks, trees from all over the world, the architecture - just great. You can see I have developed colour coordination, the queen is not as tall as a king & McGoohan is not a number. We spent an hour or so learning about David Lloyd George, he was a bit of rascal with the women in his life. The weather is wonderful, the castle picture was 7 in the evening.

DROVE THE TRAIN...

to that station - it's easy for you to say. Stunning countryside in & around Snowdonia, can you spot Shaun? That's some impressive castle. It's Penrhyn, built by Pennant family in the 1840's. They made their money in slate mining & then sugar plantations in Jamaica. (no she went on her own). We did a nice circular drive around Snowdon, which has lovely views now the weather has improved. Off to see the prisoner tomorrow.