Ok, now I'm back properly

Only been popping into the board on occasion over the last couple of weeks as I have been in Scotland on vacation, and one of the places I've been staying at didn't have wifi access. But I'm back now so can play a full part.

The trip was amazing, just stunning. Such an amazing mixed bag. I covered 1634miles in the car, stayed in 7 different towns in in Scotland and Northern England, and saw extremes in just about everything.

I stayed in cities, in small towns, at the seaside, by the side of a loch, and in the middle of nowhere. I've stayed in modern chain hotels, 220 year old hotels where Robert Burns wrote poetry, log cabins, luxury lodges, and luxury boutique hotels where there is a guitar in every room. I've had all sorts of weather from driving rain, wind and sleet in Stirling to sweltering heat in York. I've eaten everything from fresh seafood off the boat in Oban to the finest gourmet smoked meats from the Queen's own smokers to fish and chips to Yorkshire pikelets. I've been in castles that were the seats of Kings and I've walked on battlefields where men died to defend them. And I've sampled whiskies in distilleries the length and breadth of Scotland, including seeing a bottle that costs £100,000. I've driven on motorways, A roads, B Roads, mountain passes, single track roads on the Isle of Mull, farm tracks, and causeways to Holy Islands. I've seen darkness so black its like the world has been erased, stars too numerous to count, and blood red sunrises over loch waters like glass. I've been up snow covered mountains, and walked in lush glens. I've visited mystical islands, and wandered the highlands, and its been incredible.