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Day 8: Balloch—>Inverness

So, it's been a week since we've landed, can you believe that? I look back at our travels and I'm grateful and tired!

This morning we woke up in Ballach, Scotland. Our place there was fine for one night, but the lobby smelled like the inside of an ashtray, YUCK! The apartment itself was fine, but the 2 flight up walk was very stinky.

The theme of today is driving!

Anyway, we left this morning around 8:30 and headed north toward Inverness. It was a rainy and windy day. Mrs. Koog fortified her lady-balls-of-steel on the drive. It was blind curves and swithbacks for hours with the added bonus of blinding rain and wind. At one point, a car coming toward us was trying to pass several cars and was in our lane. We were nearly hit head on. It was scary.

After the near death experience, we continued on our way. I didn't take many photos on the way because I was super car sick. Like really car sick. It was stick my head out the window kind of car sick. It lasted about 2 hours of the trip and it was miserable. Once the switchbacks, blind curves and upping and downing mountains stopped, I felt better.

We stopped at an observation point to take in the scenery. Even with the rain, wind and cloud cover it was spectacular. So many hikers were doing their thing in the highlands. We decided we'd like to do that as well, but would need a sherpa to carry our stuff. Let me know if anyone is interested!

After the observation point we headed into Glencoe for lunch. Awesome place called Glencow Gathering. Food was fantastic. I especially liked it because it was not in a car and it was not moving. We all chowed down and used the loo before heading to Inverness for a boat ride.

It took about 90 mins to drive from Glencoe to Inverness. Mrs. Koog had booked a boat tour on Loch Ness for us as we arrived in Inverness. We arrived at the hotel where the dock was and it was a goat rodeo. A tour bus with like 100 people stopped between the entry drive and the parking lot and let everyone off. It was insane. Finally a man on a mobility scooter with a highvis vest came to our window and asked what we wanted. We told him we were there for the cruise. He got off the scooter and jogged (yes, jogged) to move a traffic cone so we could park. I guess even joggers need mobility scooters?

As I mentioned it was raining, windy and cold. So cold in fact, I bought a ski hat for the trip. Yes, a ski hat in July. Our family and friends on the Eastern Seaboard are jealous of the cool air, but a ski hat? At least it's a cool hat in the same blue as the Scottish flag that says SCOTLAND, with a fur ball on top. Very cool, indeed.

The boat came and picked us up for our tour. I have not been that cold in a while. We sat outside (idiots) on top of the boat so we could have a good view. That view was through driving rain and wind, but still the beauty was unbelievable. The water of Loch Ness is obsidian black due to it's high peat content, so seeing Nessy was tough. We all assumed she wasn't going to make an apperance today since it was probably warmer under the water! No Nessy sightings for us today.

After our cold but fun ride, we headed to our townhouse in Inverness. Spectacular place and great location. We brought up our stuff and then headed out for a walk as it had stopped raining and was no longer blowing a gale. I am in the market for a kilt, but the one place I looked sold only bespoke kilts and had a waiting list through January. I will look at a different place tomorrow. We found a restaurant and had a great dinner, E-Koog and I had steak and ale pies, the Mrs. had spinach risotto and B-Koog went classic with fish and chips. Mrs Koog also earned 2 pints of Cider for her nerves of steel driving.

Off to a day trip to Isle of Skye tomorrow...

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