Bridge of Orchy, and the mountains and Glenfinnan Viaduct...

Monday, 9th & Tuesday, 10th May - (Catch-up)

On the way to the Bridge of Orchy, it had been raining, and the spectacular scenery continued with rugger high mountains on one side and lochs on the other, with cascading waterfalls, and views of streams running fast with "white-water" sections. We saw a couple of small viaducts and realised we might have been able to take a train ride, but then you don't necessarily see the viaduct whilst you're on it!

We had tried on-line to see if we could see the Glenfinnan viaduct, which is the one that appears in the Harry Potter films, and thought it involved a long walk, etc. However, as we left the village of Glenfinnan, we came upon the area where the monument and the visitor centre are, and with no trouble at all, there was the viaduct itself! OK, we didn't get such a good view because it was raining, and you might have had to do the walk to get a better look, but at least we were able to take shots for our daughter Melanie, who loves viaducts.

Just as we had finished and were about to get in the car, a train went over the viaduct!!!

Next stop was Fort William, where we thought we'd have coffee. Found a carpark near all the shops, and wandered along. Busy place, with lots of people around, and had a nice coffee in a small cafe. Along a bit more was another one of those souvenir places, but they had some really interesting things from all over Scotland, and a vast range to choose from.

Lunch at Glencoe, and then the best majestic, awesome, magnificent scenery we've had. Just huge carved hills, all with water running down lots of formed cracks ans creeks. We were able to stop at a roadside carpark and we walked along a gravel track in dreadful weather, but it was worth it for the sound and sight of the water and mountains all around.

Bridge of Orchy Hotel (pronounced ORKY), is very nice and re-furbished, with a great guest lounge with some of the most comfortable lounges and chairs. Our room was at the back, overlooking the river, which with all the rain, ran very swiftly all night, and was even more full the next morning.

Did a lot of blogging in the lounge, and had a great dinner of venison sausages on peppercorn mashed potato.

Yet another different shower system and I couldn't make the water really hot enough. When I told the manager, she said I should have called her. I replied that I was naked at the time, (not a pretty sight), and there was no phone in the shower, She had no answer for that!

Tokyo and beyond, and our local rain...

As a last thing to settle my own mind, I rang the hotel at Narita Airport (Tokyo), and after listening to a very fast set of sentences in Japanese, I timidly asked if this was the hotel we were supposed to be staying at. 

Immediately, a very clear voice, (same person), in perfect English, said it was and we began our conversation.

The different 'inflections' in the Australian voice take over, and they quickly realise they are speaking to someone from another country. Then when I had to spell out my surname, doing the B for Bob thing, she very quickly fell into the rhythm of it and we got on famously!

Bottom line was, that all is OK at their hotel, and everything is functioning well, and they were looking forward to seeing us. So, having confirmed that all is well, I can now get on the plane and expect to get to the UK without any problems. As I have said, both the Sydney and Narita airports have had flights to and from, ever since the earthquake.

The bigger problem is here at home, where we haven't been able to complete all the jobs we wanted to do in the garden, because of the recent rains. It's either too wet to do anything, or too wet to plant or remove stuff, so as of tonight, we have decided we will do the most important things, and then just go.

If there is anyone out there reading this blog, please keep posted, because there will be plenty more...