Day 45, Wed, 9th March. Inverness in the Scottish Highlands & it's Snowing!

Remember this is a blog & it updates backwards! Go to the bottom and find the first post if you want to get the gist of this in sequence...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Left Edinburgh at 12md to-day for Inverness...Population about 100,000.
Has lots of learning facilities for foreign students.

It began snowing after a few hours on the 5 hour trip & was very bizarre.
The countryside looked very moonscapey & quite strange with the snow falling on the smooth mountains & hills.

I took Mega Bus & the long way round trip as it went to lots of cute little villages. I checked the fare at 8am & it was 3.50 (pounds) & I thought I'd just rock up & get a ticket. It was 22pounds over the counter, so an information clerk told me to go get it online from the coffee shop with free WiFi. I did & it was 12pounds!
Still, they mean it when they say..."Book Early & Save".

Very nice trip even for 12 quid.

Will try & get out to see Nessy, the Loch Ness "Monster" if I can  & a few other things up this way in the next few days. It's expected to rain,sleet & snow tomorrow, so I'm going to catch up on washing, wash my hair & generally catch up with my soul!

I go back on Saturday to Edinburgh for 4 nights in 2 different hostels, as they are all booked out on Sat nite'. Don't know what's on, but Edinburgh is a massive meeting place for everyone. The hostel rates are triple on Sat nite & I was lucky to get one at 12 quid. The other nights were 6 quid (pounds) at the one I just left & 6.90 for the one in a converted Church that I'll spend Sun, Mon & Tues nites in.
Then on Wed I head off for Belfast & Elaine's for a few days, then London, then home!

Wow...it's coming up fast.

One of the common rooms at the Sardine Tin Hostel in Edinburgh...

Another area where people sat & did their Facebooking!

There are even some who can cook!

Unusual shower heater in this Hostel... I was sad to leave. Best sleeps ever!

Leaving Edinburgh on Mega Bus for 5 hr journey to Inverness in the Scottish Highlands...

Crossing the Forth...I think it means "river"

Into the Scottish Countryside at last...

Just what I'd imagined...

A craggy outcrop of rock...

It's nice to see hills after 5 weeks of flat country in Europe!

Just love these stone houses here.

Dang dead trees in UK too!

It's not unlike Australia, except for the trees.

Looks like a Grammar School...

It looked pretty in real life! The bus windows were so muddy & dirty from all the snow & slush from other cars etc.

A Scottish River & the first glimpse of distant hills covered with snow. I did not realize it would be a snowy landscape.

A least the front windows were clean!

Could be anywhere...

Lots of these little clumps of villages.

A cute little stone church, stone graves yard & stone fences!

Love these houses!

Snow on the mountains behind...

It was sunny when we started off at 1pm, then cloudy, then overcast all together as we got higher up.

An hour or 2 out of Edinburgh & we are up in amongst the highlands proper...

Totally overcast & starting to rain now...

You would think you're on the way to the Snowy Mtns in Aus.

A nice property in the woods.

Love the way the farmers wrap up their hay for winter...

Really raining now...

Stopped raining & starting to snow now...

A nice little mountain stream...

A cute little house...

Check out the vase of flowers in the bin at the back of the car!

Another little village...

The sun looked a bit spooky...

Same shot...wide angle

Lots of houses by themselves, dotted along the roadside.

Snow getting thicker now.

It's very strange landscape up here...

Another little blue stream...

Snowing heavily again now...

Imagine the road workers trying to build roads up here in this weather..

OOOPs...We hit a bump here & I was out of my seat belt too...

A small lake...

It's stopped snowing & we are over a range of mountains, coming down a bit...

Nice!

I think this is part of the Scenic train track I'll be taking back to Edinburgh on Saturday arvo.

It's rated as one of the most picturesque rail journeys in the world

Inverness about 12 miles away yet.

Trying to catch a sign post!

Dang...It's blurred!

A matchbox sized Church!

Inverness is around the next set of bends, about 8 miles away now.

Some water I thought was Loch Ness! It's the Ocean...Inverness in 5 mins. Too dark to take pics then.

The Hostel Kitchen in Inverness. It is about 50 feet from the bus stop... Rahh rahh for that! And look...A real Coffee plunger near the jug...can hardly wait to race over to the supermarket (100 mtrs away) & buy some real coffee & have a decent sit down with a real coffee...Sighhhh

The kitchens in these hostels is a very social scene with a dozen or more folk from all nations, cooking & chatting away.

Well, that's it for to-day.
Total spend today;
12 pounds for bus ticket &
9 pounds for food for next 3 days. Bought a bottle of Mulled wine for 3 pounds in that too! Yum oh, it is nice when heated too, plus 36 pounds for this hostel for 3 nights.

Total...57 pounds for the next 3 days, excluding any tours I may do = 19 pounds a day or about 30 Aussie dollars a day. Just multiply a pound by 1.6 to get an approximate.
Temp...6C down to Zero.