Our general travel route for this week ...
This week started with a couple of travel days. Friday, after breakfast, a fellow traveler visited and took pictures of our pod, including a couple with us in them...
... we chatted for a bit then went on our way. It was only a bit over an hour to get to Stornoway so we arrived well early for the 2:00pm ferry to Ullapool. We stopped in downtown Stornoway for lattes and cake (yum) then checked in for the ferry. While we waited we re-arranged our luggage etc to make things a bit easier when we returned the rental car in Aberdeen in a couple of days. The ferry ride was pretty uneventful considering we were crossing
the Minch, where the waters can get very rough. Arriving in Ullapool a bit late, around 5:00pm, we headed straight for the
Seafood Shack, as we were planning to have a big bowl of their legendary
Cullen Skink. However, we were met with disappointment. They were open but Cullen Skink was NOT on the menu on this day. The counter person talked us into trying the spicy fish soup instead, to which we agreed, but then adding insult to injury she rang it up on the till as Cullen Skink because they didn't have a till entry for the spicy fish soup. Then, of course, this being a shack with outside seating only, it started to rain. They had a small portion of the seating area under cover of a tarp so we tried to squeeze and share a table with another couple but the runoff was running down our backs so we moved to a bench further under but it was very awkward trying to scoop the hot soup while holding it in your lap. Not quite the experience we were looking for.
Finishing up we headed off, in the rain, east about 25 miles to the Aultguish Inn, our stay for the night. Room was adequate and comfortable but the dinner in the restaurant left something to be desired. Large portion but not very good chicken curry and a waaaay too big burger with waaaay too many fries, most of which ended up being left behind.
Saturday we passed on breakfast at the hotel and headed east into Inverness about an hour away. Our GPS guided us nicely into the Inverness town centre and a parking facility connected to a large downtown pedestrian stroll shopping area. We found a Caffe Nero to start the day off with lattes and scone/pan au chocolate. Brian stopped at a Barclay's bank to pick up some more cash (our rental apartment in Lerwick requires cash payments so we are slowly building up the full 2 weeks worth of rental cash as we go) while Kris checked out the large Marks and Spencer store and Boots pharmacy. After we met up we went over to the
Victorian Market, an internal atrium passageway like place with numerous craft and food stores, where we picked up a couple of large sausage rolls (one pork and one pork & black pudding) for a later snack.
Leaving Inverness we stopped at the
Culloden Battlefield Visitor Centre. WOW, what a wonderful historical and memorial place for such an horrific event. We took a battlefield tour that was just awesome. Thank you Gavin!
We then continued west stopping next at the Cullen Bay Hotel where we hoped we could, at long last, taste some good Cullen Skink in the town where it was invented. We had searched the internet for a clue as to where the best Cullen Skink could be found in Cullen. The "top ones" were all closed so this hotel appeared to be our best chance. We went in only to find that the restaurant was still closed and wouldn't open for well over an hour. We asked the desk person if she could recommend a place for us to find the semmingly ever elusive soup. She said if we only wanted Cullen Skink then they could make that. It appeared it was served in the bar/lounge but she took us into the restaurant and put us at a table with a wonderful view over the bay. She claimed that this hotel had the reputation of having the best Cullen Skink and did not disappoint. Very yummy!!! By the time we finished it was late afternoon so time to get going to make it to Fraserburgh, our planned stop for the night before dark. We checked into the Saltoun Inn then joined the large boisterous crowd in the pub for a couple of nightcaps along with an order of chicken wings to finish off the day.
Sunday was the day to return our rental car. We wanted to get to Arnold Clark rentals in Aberdeen before about 10:00am to avoid being late enough to warrant them charging us an extra day. So we did. Car turned in, signed off and a short taxi ride later and we were lucky enough to get an early check in at the
ibis Aberdeen Centre - Quayside hotel, the same place we stayed last time we were in Aberdeen. After check-in it was time to walk up to Union Street to Caffe Nero for the usual lattes and munchies. Then we wandered around the downtown area for a bit, had some lunch in the Marks and Spencer cafe. Mid afternoon we walked over to the Casc Bar where we raised a glass of excellent single malt whiskey and said a toast to Brian's recently departed cousin Bob Emmerson (his ashes being put out to sea back home in the Comox Valley on this day)...
After a rest back at the hotel, our friends Ann and Andy picked us up and drove us out to the
Dyce Farms Carvery where we enjoyed a hearty dinner. A lovely evening with friends.
Monday was funeral day for Queen Elizabeth II so pretty well everthing was shut. Early in the morning we phoned the local Caffe Nero to see if they were open. Yes, until 11:00am then closed for 3 hours. So off we went for some lattes and scones. Afterwards we walked around the mostly deserted downtown Aberdeen streets before heading back to the hotel. Around 1:30pm Ann and Andy picked us up again and, since so many shops etc were closed decided to take us for a drive into the beautiful countryside west of Aberdeen and into the
Cairngorms National Park. We stopped for a very welcome tea/coffee and sandwich/cake break (as well as a washroom break) at a wee tearoom in the town of Tarland. We were very lucky as the tearoom was meant to be closed on this day, however the staff was there preparing for an event the next day and had left the front door open. We went in and they graciously offered a partial menu which we gladly accepted. Tea with sandwiches and cake it was. Unbeknownst to the staff, allowing us to get seated opened the floodgates and before any of us knew it there were serveral other parties in and seated.
After that break we returned to Aberdeen where they dropped us off at our hotel and we said our goodbyes until next time. Later, we hung fairly close to our hotel looking for a pub or eatery where we could augment the late lunch we had out in Tarland. The first place we tried was
The Craftsman Company Coffee and Ale House. The beer and wine were ok, no Guinness, but the food menu did not offer anything we were interested in. So, we moved up the street to
Molly's Bistro, the house eatery for the Aberdeen Douglas Hotel. This place had Guinness, good wine and pretty good chicken wings which was about all we wanted to eat.
Tuesday morning we packed up and checked out of our hotel, taking advantage of their "check out, leave your luggage, explore the city" policy. We walked over to Union Square where the first stop was Starbucks then we checked out Marks and Spencer, Decathalon and a few other stores. We walked up the hill to the
Aberdeen Art Gallery stoping at a
Nando's, for lunch, along the way where we shared an order of chicken thighs, slaw and broccoli stems. Nice lunch. We think we'll have to give the Nandos in Victoria a try after we get home. After lunch we continued on to the art gallery and took in the special exhibit, the
Galloway Hoard which showcased the time capsule like 2014 find of more than 100 objects from the Viking Age, some 1400 years ago. A spectacular show!
A number of the items had a QR Code you could scan on your phone and see the item in 3-D. This is a real neat feature. These included:
On our way back to the hotel to pick up our luggage, we stopped briefly at the Aberdeen Maritime Museum where the display of model ships was quite interesting.
We picked up our luggage and took a taxi the short distance to the ferry terminal, got checked in then went up to the top deck to watch as the ferry made it's way out of the large Aberdeen harbour...
... into the open sea for a relatively smooth overnight sailing and on into Lerwick...
Disembarking from the ferry, Wednesday morning, we retrieved our luggage, picked up our new rental car (they come right to the ferry terminal), drop our luggage off at our apartment (owner gave us access for early in the morning) then headed over to Fjara, our favorite restaurant in Lerwick, for a bit of breakfast and coffee. After, we stopped at Tesco for our first bunch of groceries then back at the apartment we met with owner Jennifer and paid our rent for the next two weeks. For dinner we had a couple of cottage pies from Tesco.
Thursday, we drove out into the countryside to see the
Bonhoga Gallery in Weisdale. We had read that the gallery also had a nice cafe so we hoped to have lunch there. Alas, the cafe is closed at this time but the gallery and gift shop is well worth the visit. Being deprived of lunch at the gallery, we drove back into downtown Lerwich and went to the
Peerie Shop Cafe where we both had an open-faced bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon sandwich then shared a piece of cheesecake. After a rest back at the apartment we wandered down to the Mareel for a pre-dinner drink then back to the apartment for a light dinner (ham and cheese on seed crackers) and a night of tv watching.
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