The weather wasn’t the best for the time we were on the Isle of Skye but we coped with the grey clouds and drizzle. I even bought an orange cagoule to try to keep me dry, the thin ones that would roll up, then fit into the hood and had a strap to fasten them around your waist. We visited the main town on Skye, Portree, on the last day. It was a town of white houses all along the sea front. We drove right over the other side of Scotland to Inverness for one night and then on to Edinburgh for the final nights. From Mallaig to Fort William was the reverse of the journey we had done just the previous week but the next stage was going to be new to me. It was alongside the Caledonian Canal and Loch Ness. We tried to keep an eye open for the monster but we were disappointed. The loch stretched out to the right as we drove along side it. We watched Castle Urquhart grow bigger as we got nearer. It is wonderfully impressive on the rock almost in the middle if the loch. In Inverness the hotel was really nice. We had the evening out and found a nice steak house to eat in. The next morning Ken went to the kilt makers and made some inquiries about finding the Muir tartan . They said that there was one but it would be a special weaving job to get a bolt made. Ken said that he wanted a full size kilt for himself and ladies kilts for Lou, Heather and Morag. He did eventually get them a few years later. I wore Heathers kilt for a full week one year while doing my rounds for Hedges Frozen foods to raise money for Children in Need. The drive from Inverness took us through the highlands and past Aviemore where the big ski slopes are in winter. All the cable cars and ski lifts were there over the heather and peat, they looked really incongruous in the summer time. We passed Kingussie and Pitlochry on the way to Perth where we had lunch. By the time we got into Edinburgh we were all rather tired. We stopped at the Redholme House hotel, it reminded me of the house from the Aadams family. It was dark and cold and they had animal head trophies on the wall in the main hall. We went out for our evening meal before we settled down for the night. The next day we all trooped out and around Edinburgh zoo. It really had quite a few big exhibits including the polar bears. The penguins are a special attraction, they had about thirty or forty then. Next day we went to the castle, down the Royal mile. Half way down the royal mile is the cathedral with a stone heart in the pavement outside, this is the heart of Midlothian. We saw Greyfriars church with the statue of Greyfriars Bobby, the little dog that would not leave his masters grave. I really enjoyed the museum of child hood. It was four floor display in a narrow building with exhibits of toys going back hundreds of years. Later we walked down through the tenements to Princes street and the main shopping centre. The castle still has the one o’clock gun ceremony each day when a cannon is fired from the battlements over the city. We ended up at the top of the royal mile in a pub called the Ensign Ewart, it served a lovely pint of Drybroughs Heavy. That night we were going to see the Tattoo at the castle and we had to really wrap up warm even though it was August. We parked the campervan in the Grass market right under the castle. It was a real steep walk to the castle entrance. The grandstands had been built up around the castle esplanade and we had really good seats. The marching bands were special to listen to and the atmosphere was unbelievable. The bag pipes and drums of the massed bands at the end was a real spectacle with the drum major marching at the front with his silver topped baton. There were bands from all over the world, Canada, New Zealand Singapore and even Africa. Afterwards everyone was not really ready to settle down so we went down the royal mile for another couple of pints in the Deacon Brodie. It really made us have a good nights sleep. The breakfast before we left was the best we had the whole holiday with everything we could want. I went out and made sure everything was OK for the journey home while Ken settled the bill. We were quite sad to be on the last leg home but we were going to have a good day as we travelled. Even though it had been one of the coldest and wettest holidays that I can remember I will remember it with a real sense that it was a family holiday that we all enjoyed.
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