2 entries in one as day 6, we did nothing of any major interest whatsoever, except packing up to go home the next day.
Day 7 though... wow, what a long day. Waking up early and leaving at 10 o'clock in the morning, morning routine etc-yeah you know the rest.
And so began the long drive home! First though, we stopped at a Tesco's in Inverness, to stock up on food to take home. We ended up getting tons of macaroni cheese pies (which we'd had before on previous visits and knew were delicious), and various other supplies. I bought a couple of pizzas myself - likely Scotland-exclusive as I'd never seen them in England before.
Then, shopping done, we went first to Balmoral Castle, the Queen's Scottish residence. It was interesting to look at, even though not a lot of the castle itself was open (as it's all the Queen's private rooms, only the ballroom was open). The grounds were interesting too, there was a Land Rover trailer ride to get you to and from the Estate Office. Unfortunately we didn't get to do any of the walks, as they were all too long and we'd never get home if we did any. So, we left, and started the long trip back home! And I mean the long trip. I mean it took us about 5 hours to get to Balmoral, and we left at about 4 o'clock - and the drive back onto the main motorway took forever!
We did, in fact, find the motorway, and drove to Edinburgh, at which point it was now 7:45. We'd found a Starbucks Coffee and we were going to go in and get something for the road - we thought they closed at 8pm but luckily they actually closed at 8:30! I ended up getting a caramel frappucino and a nice little olive, tomato and feta snack pot, which was lovely. And the best part? I ended up with a free chocolate marshmallow thing as the man who served us needed to give it away as they weren't going to sell it! That was lovely as well.
And to top it all off, my mother managed to get us all some pizza from Pizza Hut! She got two pizzas - a margherita for everyone else but my father and me, who had a goat's cheese, spinach and vegetable pizza to share - as well as some wedges and onion rings. My dad and I both had two slices of our pizza and I think everyone else polished the other one off between them. I had some of the sides too, they were lovely. And then driving... and driving...
...and at 11 o'clock at night, we got home, after 13 hours(!) of travelling! We unpacked and I pretty much went straight to sleep in my bed.
And so ended the holiday.
It was nice, overall. Sure, not all of it went to plan (but when does it ever?!) but I still enjoyed it overall. You might find I use this blog again sometime, as we *might* be going to Wales, then Cornwall in a few weeks' time (money permitting). For now though, I'm home, and by God am I happy to be there.
Day 7 though... wow, what a long day. Waking up early and leaving at 10 o'clock in the morning, morning routine etc-yeah you know the rest.
And so began the long drive home! First though, we stopped at a Tesco's in Inverness, to stock up on food to take home. We ended up getting tons of macaroni cheese pies (which we'd had before on previous visits and knew were delicious), and various other supplies. I bought a couple of pizzas myself - likely Scotland-exclusive as I'd never seen them in England before.
Then, shopping done, we went first to Balmoral Castle, the Queen's Scottish residence. It was interesting to look at, even though not a lot of the castle itself was open (as it's all the Queen's private rooms, only the ballroom was open). The grounds were interesting too, there was a Land Rover trailer ride to get you to and from the Estate Office. Unfortunately we didn't get to do any of the walks, as they were all too long and we'd never get home if we did any. So, we left, and started the long trip back home! And I mean the long trip. I mean it took us about 5 hours to get to Balmoral, and we left at about 4 o'clock - and the drive back onto the main motorway took forever!
We did, in fact, find the motorway, and drove to Edinburgh, at which point it was now 7:45. We'd found a Starbucks Coffee and we were going to go in and get something for the road - we thought they closed at 8pm but luckily they actually closed at 8:30! I ended up getting a caramel frappucino and a nice little olive, tomato and feta snack pot, which was lovely. And the best part? I ended up with a free chocolate marshmallow thing as the man who served us needed to give it away as they weren't going to sell it! That was lovely as well.
And to top it all off, my mother managed to get us all some pizza from Pizza Hut! She got two pizzas - a margherita for everyone else but my father and me, who had a goat's cheese, spinach and vegetable pizza to share - as well as some wedges and onion rings. My dad and I both had two slices of our pizza and I think everyone else polished the other one off between them. I had some of the sides too, they were lovely. And then driving... and driving...
...and at 11 o'clock at night, we got home, after 13 hours(!) of travelling! We unpacked and I pretty much went straight to sleep in my bed.
And so ended the holiday.
It was nice, overall. Sure, not all of it went to plan (but when does it ever?!) but I still enjoyed it overall. You might find I use this blog again sometime, as we *might* be going to Wales, then Cornwall in a few weeks' time (money permitting). For now though, I'm home, and by God am I happy to be there.