Where are we now?

I'm finally getting round to doing an update - have been suffering a bad cold for the past few days so haven't felt like posting. Clare also had a cold this week, so we're hoping the coming week will be better.

We arrived in Dublin this afternoon to great weather, but were pleased to get off the plane due to my cold and a bunch of Irish tossers who thought they were comedians in front of us. True, the UK is small but it still took us 8 hours door to door to get here. We're liking Dublin so far, and had a much better time once we got our bearings - there wasn't a free tourist map in sight and the only one we could find was in a window and had no 'you are here' thing. So after a good walk round in a few circles we made it to our hostel which isn't too bad. They have ice cold showers but free Internet! (which kind of cancel each other out). Found a free tourist map here - I think there's something wrong with it though as it actually folds back up easily and in the correct sequence!

We had our final night of our Scottish bus tour in a fantastic little place called Fort Augustus which is at the head of Loch Ness (stayed here two nights). After spending the day sampling some local Whiskey, we headed into Glen Nevis and did a fantastic walk up the valley to Steel Falls. The track was pretty crazy compared to most tracks in NZ, with plenty of jagged rock and steep banks. The scenery here was quite stunning and certainly rivals NZ. After making it back to the hostel, we sampled some Haggis, and then went for a pint at the local. After this we had a fantastic time back at the hostel bar where a local musician played into the wee hours. Had some tense moments trying to tell the uptight bar maid that I only wanted the cheap whiskey though.

On the final day, after trying to summon Nessie, it was back on the road again to Edinburgh. By this time we were well sick of waiting for stragglers to get back on the bus in time. It was back to the crusty hostel for the night which wasn't too bad this time as we stayed in a room with some Kiwis from the tour. Everyone had an early night which seemed funny for a Saturday night in Edinburgh, but we'd had a great time on the tour so it didn't matter. We certainly enjoyed the small towns in Scotland more than the two big cities.

The next day, it was off to the castle - not Edinburgh castle but our own one! We took a train from Edinburgh to the nearby town of Stirling. We then took a taxi through some nice countryside to Culcreuch Castle, built by the Galbraith Clan around 700 years ago. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we'd been upgraded to a bigger room due to our last name! We had a walk around the grounds, along with several rabbits and squirrels before heading to the bar. We had a great meal in the Dungeon restaurant, while reading an information leaflet about a war-like clan named the Galbraiths. I didn't have a great nights sleep due to lots of creaking from the floor and old furniture, and anticipating a visit by one of the three resident apparitions, but the whole experience was definitely worth it.

In the morning, we took another taxi directly to Glasgow, as it was about the same distance back to Stirling. The centre of the city is quite modern and pleasant but it's easy to get to some grotty areas by walking a few blocks the wrong way as we found out the next morning while out walking. As we didn't have a lot of time in Glasgow, we mainly stayed around the city centre which is mainly about shops. I would quite liked to have found about some historical stuff such the city's ship building but you can't do everything. We had a great cup of tea and scone at the Willow tearooms designed by Charles Rennie Mackitosh - check out the massive chairs in the link!

Then, it was on another train bound for Nottingham to see Matt. The first train was made quite unpleasant by an extremely drunk Scottish munter in our coach, and the crew who didn't seem to care. We changed trains at Warrington (which also involved changing stations!) and then we were finally able to relax. Matt picked up from the station and then it was out for curry and a pint at the local pub. One thing over here you certainly notice is the smoking in bars (and all over the place such as malls). NZ is much nicer with non-smoking, though England is about to follow on 1st July.

The next two days we spent relaxing, and having a look around the city centre, which is quite large. We also checked out the remains of the old castle - this now contains a museum / art gallery which we found a bit strange as it's a bit of a mish-mash of stuff. We decided not to do the tour of the limestone caves under the city as we were feeling a bit tired at this stage. In defiance of the overcast and cool weather we even had a BBQ in true NZ style. Friday saw us take a bus trip to the beautiful Peak District. Because we left late and the bus arrived at our destination late, we basically spent 4.5 hours on the bus and half an hour in Bakewell, where we has one of their famous tarts. Despite our short stop, the scenery from the bus was great. This was our final night here, so despite feeling crap due to my cold we had a night on the town and as Matt said, 'you're only going to be here once'. Our first stop was a crazy pub in a massive former church - it felt quite sinful drinking here, but at the prices they charge I guess they give a cut to God or something. Next it was off to 'Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem' which rumor has it was a local stop for the Crusaders before heading to the Middle East. This is quite an amazing place as it consists of caverns cut into the Limestone bank which runs through the city. Our final stop was 'Ye Olde Salutation Inn' (at least that's what I can remember). Thankfully tonight was hard rock Karaoke night complete with 80's hair metal barman, which made for some great entertainment. There was plenty of sing-along to Foreigners 'I Want to Know What Love Is' and Bon Bovi's 'Living on a Prayer'. I was keen to do an Avril Lavigne number but was only held back by my sore throat. Most of the singers were pretty good although one was almost as bad as me on my Stag's night according to Matt.

We all managed to pull ourselves out of bed the next morning and eventually hit the road in our rental car bound for Cambridge. After a few extra miles due to the complex nature of the roads and signage, we made it to Duxford airfield (this is a former WW2 airfield which is now a major aviation museum). After paying our admission, Matt and I were like kids in a candy store, while Clare now had some expensive benches to read her book on. After a couple of hours here, we headed into Cambridge where we managed to find Rachel and Nick's flat without a map! (Rachel is a former Stats friend currently living in Cambridge). After saying farewell to Matt, Rachel and Nick showed us around beautiful Cambridge - everyone was out and about because the weather was perfect despite the forecast. We had a picnic in one of the many parks - it's quite amazing how people seem to utilise their parks so much over here compared with NZ - there was activity everywhere, no doubt enhanced by all the students. Cambridge must be the bike capital of the world, with tons of bikes everywhere. You certainly won't be called a geek here even if you have mudguards and a wicker basket on the front. If Cambridge has any leather clad and tattooed gangs, it's a safe bet that they ride push-bikes. After some walking around we hit a local pub where I, probably for the first time didn't have a pint, but some juice - damn cold!

This morning, we got the bus to Stanstead airport to catch our plane to Dublin. Security was a breeze today, unlike when we went to Edinburgh - we suspected my beard must have made me look like a terrorist then, but it was only Clare who got a pat-down today. I'm still not used to the whole immigration thing here where EU passport holders are treated like angels straight off a plane from Heaven, while the rest of us are criminal scum who must wait forever and be subjected to their stupid questions. 'Purpose of your visit?'...'I'm just here to take your women, drink your beer and burn your cities'...'Thank you, have a nice time!'

Anyway, sorry for the long post, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow, we start our 6 day trip around Ireland.