The Best of B&A

Here are the best of Brent and Aline's pictures from our trip to the Highlands. Enjoy!

Our Skyfall Drive

It was our last day in the Highlands. Boo hoo! We had a long journey ahead of us (nearly 10 hours!) but we made the most of it by seeing some gorgeous scenery.

We packed the car. I mean, packed it. It felt like most everything was on top of me. See?

We drove through Glencoe, where parts of the James Bond movie, Skyfall, were filmed.

It was misty and beautiful.

And cold. We decided to pull over for a picnic, but we actually just stood on the side of the road and ate sandwiches. Aline and I look like twins with our matching fur hoods and red blankets.

But it was so pretty!

Smiling with sandwiches in our mouths

My handsome husband

Bye bye Scotland!

Next I'll show you the best of Brent and Aline's pictures. Then we'll be back to business as usual. Stay tuned!

Water and Waterworks

So, Brent and Aline brought an air mattress with them to sleep on, not knowing that 1) the pull out sofa was comfortable enough and 2) the air mattress was on its last legs. After waking up and finding it completely flat the first morning, they decided to pitch it instead of patch it again. 

The boys had the brilliant idea of using the air mattress as a raft and taking it around one of the islands in our little cove. This sounded like disaster, so I brought the camera and followed.

Walking toward the sea loch

Confident of future fun

To my surprise, Nathan and Brent actually made it out and around the island and did not sink. In fact, afterwards there was plenty of air in it so I could lounge on it while the other three went kayaking.

While I lay on the mattress like a beached whale, Brent, Aline, and Nathan paddled around the island again.

Off they go!

Nathan actually fell in the first time he tried to wedge himself in the kayak. He screamed like a little girl because the water was so cold, and I wish with all my heart I had gotten it on video. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. I rolled around crying tears of schadenfreude on the air mattress. Nathan got his revenge by slashing the air mattress with a seashell.

After the water adventures, we went back to the cottage, got some lunch, and headed back out for a bike ride.

We saw sheep. Surprise!

Unfortunately, the bikes weren't in the best condition. The one I started out with didn't have much by way of brakes. That in combination with the fact that I haven't actually ridden a bike in at least 10 years caused me to cry within five minutes. I am a major scaredy cat. Aline switched bikes with me (after Brent put the chain back on that had fallen off), and Nathan was kind enough to push me up the big hills while riding his bike next to me. That was SO FUN! It was probably the best part of our whole trip.

Brent and Aline are biking pros.

A self-portrait of Nathan and his biking buddy

Next up... pictures of our self-guided Skyfall tour.

Inverness, Loch Ness, Awkwardness

Taking a break from our rural retreat, we took the ferry from the Isle of Lismore back to the mainland and drove around Loch Ness. At the top of the long, skinny lake is Inverness. Here are some pictures!

Hey-o!

The loch itself. Do you see the monster?

Nessie? Is that you? Just a bird... or a boat. I can't decide.

The four of us and the loch.

Windblown and happy

Cool sign, bro.

On our drive home the boys kept pulling over and taking more pictures of wildlife. Aline and I were happy to stay in the car. It was cold.

Beautiful scenery

The backs of some deer

After our tour around the loch, we raced back to the port to catch the last ferry of the day back to our island. And then we got stuck behind some huge lorry (truck) or caravan (RV) and the SatNav (GPS) predicted that we would be 7 minutes late. We all envisioned being stuck on the wrong side and paying through the nose for a last minute B&B. My contacts were already drying out just thinking about spending the night on my eyeballs.

Luckily, the owners of our cottage gave us the phone number for the ferry guys. I was given the task of trying to understand their thick Scottish accents, and I managed to communicate our plight. They kindly promised to wait 7 minutes for us. At exactly 8:07 we pulled up just in time to see the ferry pulling away from the mainland. DEVASTATION! It came back our way 20 minutes later, and they graciously took an additional trip back over to the island for us. They didn't even charge us extra! We gave them a generous (for our poor student budgets, anyway) tip and told them to have a few drinks on us. We were saved!

After making it back onto the island, we still had a 45-minute walk from the port back to our cottage. Nathan snapped this picture, which just made me laugh and think of this video below. It looks like I was getting my dance walk on...

And this picture is quite possibly the most awkward I have seen in a long time. If this doesn't shout "THIRD WHEEL!" I don't know what does. :)

And then we saw more sheep. Shocking...

So many more pictures to come! I'll spoil you with at least three more posts about our half-term trip to the Highlands. Keep checking in!

Pull-Over Pictures

Nathan took this picture of the gorgeous sunset Monday night. Our little cottage is on the left.

I think this was taken on our walk to the ferry Tuesday morning. We hiked across the island and barely made our morning crossing for our day trip further north. This was a sign of stresses to come. Next post I will tell the story. 

Our day trip included Drumnadrochit, Loch Ness, Inverness, Fort William, and lots of beautiful countryside.  We cruised around and pulled over to take pictures at beautiful spots. Our first stop was only a few minutes away from our ferry port. This is Castle Stalker, made famous by Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

The itty bitty castle is on the left. You might need to click on the photo to get a better view.

The castle is over my right shoulder.

The ferry guys told us that a lawyer now owns it, and in order to keep it listed with Scottish Heritage, he has to open it to visitors for two weeks out of the year. Unfortunately, we didn't time it right to get a ride over to visit.

Next we pulled over to see the tallest mountain in the UK, Ben Nevis. It was covered by clouds, but it didn't stop us from creating a Kodak moment!

Nathan kept trying to do the creepy maternity pose that makes me squirm. I'm trying to pry his hands off of my belly here.

There was also a war memorial at this spot. I think a lot of UK military men were trained around there.

Of course, we had to pull over to see some Highland cattle. It's a wonder they can see anything with those bangs in front of their eyes.

Then, we arrived at Drumnadrochit to see the Loch Ness museum (not worth the money, but they had a nice gift shop) and eat Mackie chips - Scottish made - as big as Nathan's noggin.

Next I will show you pictures of the rest of our day and tell you the story about how we almost got stranded off of our island. Wait, that pretty much was the story. Details to come...