It's Cold

I don't have much to report from the last week since we took it easy last weekend. However I would like to point out how cold it is here. The high today was 40 deg F. I wouldn't think that sounds too cold but it feels so much colder. I'm used to a Colorado 40 degree day which feels a LOT warmer than here. I was warned about this and I thought my Minnesota skin would reemerge after 5 easy Colorado winters. This is not the case.

The other day, I tried to save on our gas bill by turning off the heat for a little while over the lunch hour since the sun was coming in the window. However, by the time I finished eating lunch, I had lost feeling in my right hand thumb and ring finger. Maybe I'll keep the heat on.

Wind Blown & Soaked: Our West Coast Trip

Last weekend we rented a car and took a trip to the west coast of Scotland. We left Saturday morning and drove the long route to the town of Oban. On the way, we stopped at Doune Castle which is most well known for it's contribution to Monty Python's The Holy Grail. Do you recognize it?

The castle is used in many scenes of the movie (Nick remembers them all) and the castle is obviously proud of the part it played by displaying lots of Python memorabilia in the gift shop. Nick and I both absolutely loved this castle. We both love Monty Python but that's not the reason why. This is what you think of when you think of castles. The location was really beautiful set next to a river and farm fields and forest. And the castle itself had a lot of rooms and tiny, dark spiral staircases that you really had to watch your step on. I don't know if it just felt less touristy to us but we both really enjoyed Doune Castle. I'd even go so far to say it was my favorite.

As we made our way to the west coast, we drove along a single track road (read: VERY scary one car width road that is a two-way) along Loch Awe, which was beautiful. We stopped to get a picture of Kilchurn Castle (shown below) but you had to hike through a field to get the shot and it was pretty muddy and there was lots of sheep poo. So I left it up to Nick. What a trooper.

We then drove on to Kilmartin to see a cairn and some standing stones. These were interesting but I was getting antsy to get to Oban at this point and the weather had turned very cool and windy. So Nick had to take some rush photography in order to appease his wife who was freezing her toes off.

We arrived at our B&B in Oban in the early evening and started to make our phone calls for Sunday's adventures. Our original plan was to take a boat out to the islands, including Staffa, to see puffins and other sealife. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate. All the boat operations were not going out on Sunday (I actually got laughed at for suggesting it) so we had to come up with something else to do. When we woke up Sunday morning, it was cloudy but didn't look too bad. We thought we could maybe manage a hike. So after breakfast, we headed north along the coast. At this point, the wind picked up and the rain was pouring down. We stopped to get a view of Castle Stalker (another castle in The Holy Grail, it's at the end of the movie). We were out of the car a total of maybe 3 minutes and we were totally soaked (luckily we had thought ahead and wore non-cotton trousers that could dry very quickly). Nick tried to get some shots of it but it was pretty dark. For the first few pictures, I held an umbrella against the wind so I could cover the camera while Nick took pictures. But then I abandoned him for the car. I know where my priorities lie. I think the picture shown below is one that he managed without me.

We then drove back to Oban but stopped at Dunstaffnage Castle since we are now such die-hard castle fans. We had hoped this would be an indoor viewing event but alas, it was another open roofed ruin. Nick took a few pictures of me in the rain but in most of them my eyes are closed because the rain was pouring horizontally into my face. Am I painting a vivid picture of our Sunday afternoon?

The rest of Sunday we spent in bookshops and cafes. We were hopeful for nice weather on Monday so we could fit a hike in before driving back to Dundee. Unfortunately, we woke up to another rainy and even more windy day. Mother Nature was against us this weekend. So we gave up and drove back to Dundee on Monday. Even though we didn't get to do what we had hoped, this is the first time the weather has foiled our plans so we really can't complain. And it was a relaxing weekend. I got plenty of knitting in!

Our pictures are posted here.

Exercising Our Right

I've told many people now, but we received our absentee ballots on Monday. This was a big event in the Moeckel household. Here is what absentee voting looks like:

Before we could vote, we both spent an hour or so reading up on the many Colorado amendments and referenda. Usually, we would have heard about a few of these through watching TV. It feels pretty different being over here during election season and not seeing a single political ad. I kind of like it. Although there is humor in the absurd voice overs and dramatic music.

The one bad thing about absentee ballots? You don't get an "I voted" sticker. What a bummer.

Inverness & More Whisky*

Last weekend we hitched a ride with some new friends of ours and went up to Inverness. Our driver, Dieter, was running in the Inverness marathon so we tagged along for the ride. It was very kind of them to bring us along considering they have a small car and we were a group of 5 people. I don't think anyone was very comfortable! We left Saturday afternoon and drove up through beautiful highland scenery, such as this waterfall:

There were quite a few kayakers hiking up in this area too and we weren't sure if their aim was to go down this particular stream. I would hope not! Since it was cloudy, we don't have very many pictures of what we drove through but I have to say it was absolutely gorgeous. There was even a full rainbow for part of our drive.

We then got into Inverness in the late afternoon and split up with our friends for the evening. Nick and I stayed at this very cozy B&B very close to the city center. Our bedroom seemed like a luxury hotel compared to where we sleep right now. I'm looking forward to staying at more B&B's.

The next day, Nick, me, and Wouter (friend of Dieter's) went to Urquhart Castle which is on the banks of Loch Ness. It's another castle situated in a beautiful location (I think we'll be seeing many of those here in the UK). Unfortunately, we didn't catch a glimpse of Nessie. Nick is convinced she's out there.

We thought we had enough time to see the castle and then make it back to Inverness to meet up with Zhao (Dieter's wife) and cheer Dieter to the finish. However, Dieter finished 30 minutes earlier than he thought he would! So we missed them and instead cheered for some other participants while a big inflatable Nessie overlooked the finish line. On a side note, we asked Dieter what his goodie bag was for finishing the marathon. He said it contained a can of soup, a can of pickled garlic, and a can of pickled beets. They sure know how to congratulate you after running 26 miles!

On Monday we drove back to Dundee/Edinburgh going the long way through Aberdeen. Before Aberdeen, we stopped in Dufftown which is home to several whisky distilleries. (anyone else think "The Simpsons"?) We went to Glenfiddich which is one of the world's best selling single malts. Best part of it was that is was free! The tasting at the end gave a choice of a whisky liquor which was much easier for me to drink. I'm still not a fan of whisky.

Here is a link to more pictures. We're going to have a relaxing weekend in Dundee so we'll see what other posts I can come up with.

*CORRECTION: Apparently, spelling "whiskey" with an 'e' means it's Irish. I've corrected the above references to Scottish whisky. (Thanks Nick)