"The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep." - W. C. Fields
Finally. A good night's sleep. About four more of those and I might start feeling human again.
Got up early and tried for some sunrise shots of the castle. This is Scotland. What sunrise? But at least we got to see the castle without all the tourists milling about (those bloody tourists!). The grounds were always open so we could walk across the bridge and around the little island.
Back to the B&B for breakfast and back again to the castle yet again to tour the inside. It is actually a fairly small place. It was restored in the early 20th century so it had some modern conveniences added, but still stayed pretty true to the original construction.
After the we were off again. I guess this was my hollywood day, so to speak. One of my favorite British TV shows is "Hamish MacBeth", which was filmed in a little village called Plockton just a short drive off the main road we were travelling.
My first foray into the one-lane country road. Thankfully, we didn't meet too many oncoming cars. But every few hundred feet or so they have a "passing place" on one side or the other. If it's on your side, you pull in and wait for the oncoming car to pass. If it's on the other you stop in the road and wait for them to pull in then continue on. Quite a little dance of manners, with a flick of a hand wave as you pass.
I couldn't see very little of the village of "Lochdubh" in the reality of Plockton. But it was still a pretty village.
A walk and a wee bit of lunch and off again to Skye. Over the bridge to the island and the main road kept narrowing and widening with no reason I could see except maybe to save money on tarmack.
About 3/4 of the way up the island and a turn onto an even smaller road. Apparently most of the area is common grazing land because there were lots of sheep and cows on the side of the road. No fences.
And several were in the road! The sheep moved pretty quickly out of the way as you dorve up. The cows...couldn't care less. Had no concern for cars. One was standing in the middle of the road nursing a calf. Barely even twitched at the honk of a horn. The other one off to the side finally took a few unconcerned steps and left a space just wide enough for the car. We now know where we stand in the scheme of things...
"Why, I'd like nothing better than to achieve some bold adventure, worthy of our trip." - Aristophanes
This was the day for all the travel problems to crop up all at once...on less sleep than the day before. We needed to contact the car rental company and pray they had a car for us somewhere in Glasgow. That's great in theory.
In practice, the £20 prepaid sim card I bought at the airport two days ago was empty! That didn't last long. Everybody told me it would be much cheaper to get a local card. Guess not! So, I couldn't make a call.
You can call a number and "top up" the card. They don't take american credit cards. You can call their customer service cell phone code (no land line number provided). Call costs money! No money on sim card...
The fabulous desk clerk tracked down a real number for the customer service. My only option is to hunt down a cell phone store and buy a voucher that I can then use to top up the card.
Geesh! Luckily there was a mobile phone store nearby. Bought a voucher. Topped up the card. Called the car rental. They had a car (thank god - otherwise, the rest of our plans would be shot). Caught a cab, picked up the car. They even upgraded us to a Mercedes. Nice car, but like most British cars, very small.
Aaaand, we're on our way. Drive on the right side of the car. Check. Drive on the left side of the road. Check. Orient yourself to the inside of the lane, ie the right side. Not so check. I almost took out a few parked cars and a fence... I kept thinking there was more car to my right than there actually was. That is one thing I didn't anticipate. Then on the A85 and out of Glasgow...
Onto the narrowest, windiest road full of oncoming lorries screaming at me. AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!! Talk about trial by fire. I felt bad for the line of cars behind me as I made my way around hairpin turns with a stream of oncoming traffic on one side and a stone wall on the other, with no shoulder. In a Mercedes. I was terrified, I'd take out the entire left side of the car on a stone wall. Good thing we got the insurance...
And remember...no sleep.
It was only a few hours to our first stop of the night, but I felt like I had been driving for days. After a while, the road opened up a little and I started to get the hang of it.
Then we came around the corner and got the first glimpse of Eilean Donan Castle. Breathtaking. Like something out of a movie. Which it was. I have seen it a hundred times in Highlander and countless other films and tv shows. To see it in real life was sort of surreal...(don't forget the no sleep...)
The bed and breakfast we were staying at actually had a view of the castle.
Not much sunset for the spectacular award winning photograph I was hoping for, but I got some nice shots. Will try again for sunrise, but this IS Scotland. Before leaving Glasgow, I found a chemist for some sleeping pills so I was guaranteed a good nights sleep at last.
"Jet lag is your soul trying to catch up after flying." - Ryan Ross
I don't know if it was Euston Station in particular or BritRail terminals in general, but this one was quite bizarre. There was a large open area when you enter the station. We were early and had first class tickets (actually very reasonably priced), so we could wait in the "First Class Lounge" which happened to be on the second floor accessible by stairway. With all our luggage. Yeah, right.
There was a small "lift" to the side which has to be one of the weirdest contraptions I have ever seen. You press a button and a large door opens into a vesibule area. Then press the lift button. It too has a large door that swings into the vestibule. So you're doing this little dance around doors swinging at you in this little 4x6 room, as well as anyone who happens to be exiting the lift while you're trying to get on.
The first class lounge was a room with tables and chairs, a tea and coffe machine and a screen with the train departures listed. We waited a bit, but it was getting close to our train time and the platform still hadn't been posted on the screen, so we headed back down (doing the same little elevator dance to get back to the main floor).
In the large main area, with no seating, there were large screens up near the ceiling, each one had a departing train and it's stops listed. There were about 12 screens in all and as one train left, they marched along to the left, more trains being added on at the end.
The thing was, they didn't announce a platform number until the train was ready to board so everyone was standing around staring up at the screens, waiting, with no place to sit.
Then, 10 minutes before departure, they announce the platform and a third of the herd breaks off and rushes town the ramp to the platform, bottlenecking at the bottom as there were four guys checking tickets. Push through and mad dash for the train. Find a seat marked "Available" if you don't have a reserved seat. And many people didn't have reserved seats because you can buy open tickets and get on whatever train to your destination you please.
We found some available seats, but it turns out, they were having a problem with there seat reservation system and ALL seats were marked available. Free for all in first class. And the train was so packed, people were sitting on the floor.
We're lucky we found seats. No one was giving up their seat willingly, as proven by several arguments about who reserved what seat, and I could just see my elderly parents trying to sit on the floor of the train vestibule.
Once we got to Glasgow, we were supposed to pick up our rental car. Turns out, as it was a bank holiday, the rental company was closed. Didn't stop them from making the reservation. And, the pick up just outside the train station, didn't exist. Yep. You read that right. IT DIDN'T EXIST.
We asked a passing cop where the rental place was, but he had no idea. Very nice guy, cute too, and he tried to be helpful. While he was trying to be helpful, I kept stepping to his left because he had a camera attached to the right side of his hat. He kept turning to face me and I'd step again to the side again. I guess this is the trip for dancing. I had visions of being the stupid american tourists on an episode of "Glasgow Cops."
He was finally able to make himself useful by showing us where the taxi queue was and we took a cab to the hotel. I was so tired I was physically nauseated. I skipped dinner and was asleep by six.
Aaaaand awake again by nine. I was having fantasies about my bottle of NyQuill tucked in my medicine cabinet back home. I never did get back to sleep that night. Three hours. That was my limit for sleep aparently.
"Airplane travel is nature's way of making you look like your passport photo." - Al Gore
My new rule is, if I cross more than two timezones in one day, I am packing the NyQuill. I got to London on 4 hours of sleep in 48. The first thing I did when checking in was take a nap. I slept about three hours and woke up. That sounds great, right? It was morning and I wouldn't want to sleep away my short time in London.
So, I slept three hours, woke up and had time to take the Tube into Picadilly Circus. I was actually trying to get to the London Eye, but the hotel clerk recommended getting off there, so I did. Then had to walk quite a ways to get to the Thames.
Picadilly Circuis was packed and even with GPS, I had a hard time orienting and figuring out which direction I needed to start out. Once I got headed in the right direction, I came to Trafalgar Square and got turned around again. Multiple streets coming into a huge roundabout,, the center of which was packed with tourists (those darn tourists always getting in the way!), it took a while to figure out which one I needed to be on.
I finally found the Thames and the London Eye, only to find that there was a Tube stop right there on the corner. Thats what I get for taking advice from a local, even if they are in the hospitality business!
It was getting late so I didn't have time to go further up to the Tower Bridge, but I got a few shots down river of Big Ben and Parliament. Besides, I was still tired and looking for some more, much needed, rest. So, back on the Tube to the hotel.
Had dinner and I was exhausted so I headed upstairs and to bed. Another three hours and I was wide awake again. 1 am! I never did get back to sleep. We were up and off to catch a train to Scotland in the morning and I sleep about as well on trains as I do on planes - not at all.
