Scotland

Neil and I  decided to drive to Scotland in December.We wanted to go as far as Inverness- via the lake District and Edinburgh.

We spent Christmas Eve in London with friends but early the next morning,
 we left for the Lake District.

The English Country side is very charming .
 As you get closer the the lakes the rolling hills are divided with stone hedges dotted with sheep .

We spent the night at a beautiful country hotel where we had a wonderful Christmas meal near the fire place in the dining room .It was nice basking in the warmth of the fire, after the drive in the freezing weather from London.

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The next morning we continued driving and went over the border into Scotland .

Scotsmen wear kilts for special occasions.

Bagpipes- another symbol the Scottish.

Edinburgh-the second largest city in Scotland after Glasgow- is dominated by the Edinburgh Castle,
a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock.

  Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear. There has been a royal castle here since at least the reign of  King David 1 in the 12th century, and the site continued to be a royal residence until the 1603.

The city of  Edinburgh is rather grey- specially in December- but the people were very friendly but it was rather difficult to understand their heavy brogue.

From Edinburgh we drove through the Highlands of Scotland to Inverness.

Once again we thought we might to try to visit a ski resort and try to ski.

Inverness

Inverness Castle

Skiing in the Highlands near Inverness

Urquhart Castle.

I started not feeling so good by the time we got to Inverness ,and that night I really got sick.

It was cold and snowing softly and we could see almost nothing of the city.

Neil was also not feeling so good either so we decided to drive back to London.

I do not know how he did it. I had a fever and don't remember much about the trip back.

Once we got back to London we both ended up going to bed for a week with a, very bad case of the flu .Pity we had to cut the trip short but going up there in the middle of winter was not such a great idea. I am glad I did see Scotland, and would love to visit the Edinburgh Music Festival in the future.