Inverness

Oct 31, 2005

Chris had a job to do in Inverness on Monday, and as it’s such a long way for a 15 minute job we thought we’d make a long weekend of it. I’ve also not spent much time in Scotland so thought it was a good opportunity to see some nice landscape and hopefully ring at the most northerly ring of bells.

We set of on Friday night – after I was allowed to leave work early. It’s a good 7 or 8 hour drive so we planned to break it up by staying in the northern Lakes on Friday and going from there. We found a nice hotel at Pooley Bridge, somewhere I’ve never been to and C’s only driven through. It’s a nice spot with three pubs (although one’s a Brewers Fayre) and a couple of shops. We arrived fairly early and had time for a pint in one of the pubs before heading back to the hotel for our evening meal. After we’d eaten we decided to walk down to the lake to see what was there. We were followed the entire way by a very friendly cat who scared us half to death by emerging out of the shadows while we were on the bridge. There’s not much lighting at the lake and it was raining so we didn’t stay long. There was enough time for another pint before heading back to the hotel to sleep.

On Saturday we went down to the lake again (no cat this time) and admired the view. It had been raining a lot so all the rivers were very full. The lake was very peaceful and nice – if a little gloomy. We had a look round a few of the village shops and then went to Rhghed. Another place I’ve always wanted to go to. I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was very nice, there’s quite a few shops, some exhibition rooms and lots of places to eat. We stayed there till lunch time and then started the long drive to Inverness. It’s a very, very long way. I was feeling pretty car sick by the time we got there but I did enjoy the journey, I saw two birds of prey (no idea what) and a stag and deer drinking from a river. The colours were also beautiful. Autumn is definitely the season with the best colour palette! We stopped once for a breather and a coffee at Pitlochry which is another really pretty town, when we got there we realised how much colder it is than we were used to; after that it was up to Inverness. Chris had stayed at the hotel before so we found it really easily and didn’t struggle too much to get a parking spot. We booked in and set out to find some food.

On Sunday we’d arranged to ring at the local tower in the morning and then again in the afternoon for a quarter. The hotel was just over the road from the tower so we didn’t have to be up too early. After some rounds and call changes we set off to explore the local shops. Chris learning the lead ends for Plain Bob Triples as that was what we were supposed to be ringing in the afternoon – with him calling it. Most of the shops were closed till 11.00 – a big difference to England, so we wandered around for a while first. It was bitterly cold, but as it’s the furthest north I’ve been I wasn’t too surprised – luckily I’d packed lots of jumpers! It didn’t take long to look round the shops – although there are quite a few, and a big shopping centre. After the shops we got some lunch and went for a walk along side the river (The Ness) which was beautiful with autumn trees along both banks. Further up there are a series of islands connected by walkways, which was lovely to walk round. We made it back to the hotel in time for a quick rest before the quarter. When we got to the church and met the person in charge we were told that the quarter was going to be of Cambridge Minor, so Chris had to hurriedly look at the callings for that. We started ringing at 4.30 with the service due to start at 5.30. We lost the Cambridge after 10 mins when three people went wrong at the same time. It was quickly decided to go for Plain Bob Minor instead, which we got finishing at 5.29 and 40 seconds – the best timed quarter in history I’m sure! On our walk we’d spotted a Tapas bar that didn’t close till late so we headed there for tea. It was really nice, lots of good food.

In the morning we didn’t have time to do anything before C’s job so I waited in the car while he picked some stuff up. Then we started on the long drive back. We came back a different way, driving by the side of Loch Ness – with time for a couple of photos, then through some very impressive scenery before stopping for lunch at Fort William. The weather was awful with lots of rain and strong winds; it took us ages to get back to Glasgow. We were so late that we decided to stop for the night in the north lakes rather than trying to get home in the dark with all the rain. The rivers were so high we drove through a lot of new fords! Luckily we made it to a B&B without too many problems.

We finally made it to Pocklington at lunch time on Tuesday and I headed straight for work – after picking up a pack-up from Mums.