Four leaf clover country!

Hi all,
I'm in Galway, Ireland at the moment. I've had a free day today, so decided to head in around lunch to check out the town with a couple from Australia.

From the 29th July, headed out to a pub called the Sheep's Heid Inn for dinner. Yes it's called 'Heid'. Dinner was nice, some of the guys on the trip tried traditional haggis. Seriously guys, it's not different from our meat pie fillings and everyone said it was nice. Not that I tried it , being vegetarian and all!

After dinner, the sound of bagpipes started up the stairway and headed to our room. The guy was very entertaining telling jokes as well as playing two types of the bagpipes. His bagpipes have been handed down in the family for more than three generations and the queen has asked him to play for her.

30th July ->
We had a late start today, one of the guys slept in and usually we would leave them, but our tour manager headed in for him.

Now one recommendation I'd make for those travelling hotels is do hand washing. I got sick of doing this and got my laundry done at the hotel. In hotels however, you pay for item and I ended up being up for a £30 bill. Let me tell you I was not pleased! Oh well, it's a once off!

The first place we headed to today was St Andrew's. Golf was first invented here and we got to see that first golf course. Serisously though, it's not my cup of tea. Also here, Chariots of Fire was filmed on the beach opposite. It's not real fancy though!

Probably, the thing most in the news at the moment though about this town is that Prince William is currently going to college here.

Next stop, Glamis Castle. This was pretty interesting. The Queen Mother resided here for a while and all throughout the castle you can see photos of the Queen mother with her daughters HRH Elizabeth and Margaret. It's still a working castle and the Earl of Strathmore resides currently resides here.

After this, we headed onto the highlands which really is just amazing. I think this definitely is up there with Switzerland as one of the most beautiful places visited. I also think Ireland doesn't top here yet. Every five minutes, is somewhere photo worthy. You past pebbly streams, in the midst of the greenest mountains I have ever seen, then waterfalls through these with wild flowers and grazing highland sheep/goats. I will come back here.

Heading through the highlands, you make a stop on the whisky trail. We passed Glenfiddich - my dad's favourite whisky - and headed to Glenlivet to be shown around on a tour. The milling process was interesting and what was even more interesting was heading to the warehouse. The fumes most certainly get you high and you come out feeling quite drunk. You are then taken to try some of their finest whiskies, with four for the tasting. I tried the 18 years and due to my lack of taste for whisky, did not drink it all.

The hotel tonight was a heritage listing hotel and seemed quite sophisticated for us ockers from Australia. It was definitely haunted too and I did not manage much sleep.

31st July ->
Well, I didn't see the Loch Ness this morning. I got some lovely photos and made do with the cement sculptured version of Nessie.

After this we had a few stops including Ben Nevis, a remembrance shine and the largest mountain in Scotland. Apparently more peopel die here climbing the mountain then at Mount Everest. Another stop was at Glencoe, where the Campbells slaughtered the McDonalds after the King signed it off playing a game of cards. 40 or so of the clan were killed. Some managed to escape the onslaught.

We headed on to Loch Lormond, where we had a cruise. The lake here is 632 feet below sea level and the water is about 4 degrees celsius. We went past Honeymoon Island where the Scottish test the couples that are engaged to see if they can last seven days here. If they swim off, they apparently won't last.

We then headed to Glasgow, where we had a few drinks out at the Walkabout....