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July 26th - Split journeys

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Part I (Where a Souvenir focused group makes a return drive to Drumnadrochit to ensure that no souvenir was left behind) Sanju had been lamenting the fact that we missed the opportunity to buy loch ness related souvenirs at Drumnadrochit, so Suba planned a return drive, on this, our open day, back to the stores there. Part II (Where Sid enjoys a solo bike ride exploring the surroundings of Glen Coe) In researching this trip, I had come across the network of bicycle routes around the UK. I had gotten excited about the idea of spending a day on a bike, with Aarav, Tejas and any others that shared my excitement to explore the area by  self propelled means. Facing the prospect of 4 more hours in a car, returning to a place I had already been, I tried to resurrect my bicycling plans, but trying to accomodate the lack of transportation. I ended up finding CrankitupGear in nearby glencoe, which offered a couple different options for bicycle adventure. Either a loop around nearby l
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July 25th - Isle of Skye

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The weather on Thursday was predicted to be sunny and pleasant, so the plan was to brave the long drive to the isle of Skye, and look around there. The drive, as usual, was billed as having spectacular views, albeit long at ~3 hours or so. After a brief stop to pick up sandwiches, the narrator managed to fall asleep, and missed most of the beautiful scenery until the next stop on the shores of Loch Duich, with views of the Eilean Donan Castle , and the nearby town of Dornie. Some pictures, snacks and coffee later, we continued our drive, crossing over the Skye Bridge , and onto the Isle of Skye. The plan was to make a clockwise loop around the island as suggested by an itinerary found online. The first stop was at the Fairy Glen, near Uig . Some adventures involving stuck vehicles, single lane roads and traffic policing later, we found a parking spot near the fairy glen, and picnic’ed on our sandwiches and snacks. A short hike led us to the fairy glen, which had spe
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July 24th - Nevis Range gondola and a drive to (nearly) Mallaig

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Since everyone was tired after a long day of driving and a late evening back from Inverness, we planned a lighter day. The weather also was promised to be a mix of rain and clouds. We decided to take a gondola ride up Aonach Mòr. Aonach Mòr, at 1221m (4006’)  is near the tallest mountain in the UK - Ben Nevis (1344m / 4409’). The gondola ride up the mountain gave us great views of the nearby valley as well as the mountain biking tracks available on the mountain - perhaps an adventure for another time. At the top of the mountain was a short hiking trail, leading to Victoria viewpoint. Our first attempt on this trail was met with an immediate rain shower, and a retreat to shelter at the cafe. After a break for lunch, we made a second attempt up to the viewpoint. This time we managed to find the clouds, and spent a good 30 minutes either walking among the clouds, or waiting for them to part to see the view. We all decided to give up on the clouds, and were halfway downhill, wh
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July 23rd - Inverness and Loch Ness

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With the promise of good weather, we decided to drive to Inverness. With only a brief stop near Gairlochy for some nice views, we drove past the wonderfully named Loch Lochy (Lake Lakey? as the in-car joke referred to it as) to out first stop at Fort Augustus. We stopped to enjoy the views of the south end of Loch Ness, the workings of the canals and the sights of boats making their way up the locks, transporting them from loch ness to Loch oich. After some ice-cream, coffee, snacks and pictures, we continued our drive to Inverness. We stopped along the way for small walks to see beautiful bridges and take pictures. Hungry, our first business in Inverness was some Indian food at a restaurant that managed to make all the food a little too sweet. After lunch, we made our way along the River ness to Inverness Castle. After some sights from the top of the castle tower, and taking in some stories about local legends offered as part of the tour of the castle, w
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July 22nd - Rainy Scotland and a visit to The Glenfinnan Viaduct

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Tired from the journey, we woke up late and explored the house a little bit. We set out for lunch in the the near-by town of Fort William . Rain was predicted for the whole day, limiting our options for the day. Since we did not manage to get tickets for the Jacobite train , that runs from Ft William to Mallaig, we decided to, instead, go see the nearby iconic Glenfinnan viaduct , made famous by the Harry potter movies . The rain deterred half the group, who stayed back in the car, but the other half braved a wet mile long easy hike to a viewpoint that gave us a very wet and rainy spectacular view of the viaduct. We hiked back to the car, enjoying the usual quota of laughter and enjoying all the mini waterfalls and waterways that were carrying away the rain water to the nearby river, which too had grown to a raging torrent Having had enough of the rain, we headed back to the cabin to enjoy some hot, fresh cooked dinner of rice, cauliflower poriyal and payatt
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July 21st - Rutland to Glencoe

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After breakfast at the rutland inn, we packed up the car, said our goodbyes to family, took some last minute pictures and started the drive to Ballachulich. Here's a map of the drive for the day, marked with the major stops. Around 1 pm, we stopped at the Mainsgill farm shop and foodhall for some lunch. The boys really enjoyed the zipline and play area outside as well as gazing at the collection of emus, sheep, camels and cows that surrounded the farm shop. The light outside was amazing, and so was the weather, so we wandered around and enjoyed as much of the beautiful weather as we could, since heavy rain was predicted for the duration of our stay in Scotland. After a second round of desert, we resumed our drive. Suba drove across most of England, giving us beautiful views of the english country side, loads of sheep, some brief hills, and very interesting hand-stacked stone walls that divide property in the UK. We ventured across the border to Scotland a
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