Norway we arrive

After a stressful night of wondering whether or not we would even make it to London for our flight, we have finally made it to Norway. Yes, it is cold here and it's raining. As we drive through the mountains heading even further north towards our destination we have seen snow as well. However the weather can't exactly decide if it wants to rain or snow but the higher up we have gone the more snow it's become. I will say one thing about driving here. At least you drive on the right side of the road. The general speed limit on open road from my research before coming is 120 kph so you can drive decently fast, but at the same time you don't actually wind up driving that fast because of the weather. We have only been here a few hours and already we are noticing how expensive things are. Like 35$ for two packs of smokes or 38$ for two hamburgers. But we will survive. Time for a nap before I drive the rest of the way north to Skei. 

Trains, buses, and taxis.

A lesson from the now ever wiser. When you are planning your tracked through the United Kingdom make sure that you have several hours between trains and buses and planes. Why you might ask? Well here's the answer. Delays. Almost every single form of transportation that we used during our time here in the United Kingdom has experienced at least one delay. Our train from Inverness back to London had a stop and change from one line to another in Glasgow that required we switch stations. That would have been fine if two things hadn't happened. The first being that our train intow Glasgow queen st station hadn't been delayed by a half hour. The second that on that very same night the Labour Party had decided to protest in the streets of Glasgow causing severe traffic jams and bumper to bumper traffic making us even later for our connecting train. Both of these factors caused us to miss our connecting train back to London and for my stress level to absolutely skyrocket. Thankfully though the people at Virgin Trains (our connecting train company) took care of us and made arrangements for us to get halfway from Glasgow to London where they had then hired a private taxi to take us the rest of the way directly to Heathrow Airport to catch our early morning flight to Norway. However, had we hired the taxi ourself and paid for it or had another connecting train in Crewe, we would have been back up shits creek without a paddle because that train was delayed over an hour as well due to a major fire between Glasgow and London that has put a stop to ALL trains north and south bound. So. Always provide yourself ample time between connections and taxis or busses because more than likely you will need it. 

A kilt for me!

After driving back down to Inverness from Bettyhill we decided to do a little shopping in town before we had to head to the train station. I still hadn't been able to find a kilt up in the highlands and had been told that the best place was here in town. The search was on as this was my last chance to find myself a kilt. We wandered from kilt shop to kilt shop trying to find an ex-hire clan Mackay kilt. We finally managed to find a kilt at a little tartan shop on the Main Street beside the travelers information. It was only 60£ too! I was a little disappointed though because I was only willing to pay for the kilt and not any of the accessories to go with it as each of the accessories were more expensive than the kilt itself. But it was all ok when I was able to get my husband into a kilt! 

One sad final night

It's our last night in Bettyhill. I am rather sad about this fact. I have truly come to love this quaint town that despite its tiny population has so much charm. But at the same time we are super excited to go to Norway and find Tim's family roots. After two rounds of pool at the pub we had our last dinner here. Tim had the game stew while I tried their summer squash risotto. I can honestly say that I have never had a risotto that I hated, until now. I'm sure for other people they might really enjoy this dish but for me the flavors of summer squash and blue cheese together just don't sit well. But the sticky toffee pudding made it all better in the end. Now to repack our luggage and get an early night in bed before we leave at 730 in the morning for the drive back down to Inverness. Goodnight and farewell Bettyhill, my home away from home. 

Lairg

Lairg was definitely a cute little town with lots of charm. It sits right on a beautiful lake that during the summer I'm sure is filled with people laughing and swimming. We stopped at The Pier Cafe for tea and lunch and we sat next to a wonderfully warm stove. After lunch we went looking for the shop our hotel owner told me had kilts but as it turned out they don't make kilts only tweeds. But that's ok it's still a beautiful drive and the walk through Lairg wasn't bad. We talked about driving down to Inverness but I'm too nervous to drive on the opposite side of the road in the dark so back to Bettyhill it is for us! 

Last day in the Highlands

For our last full day up here we decided that we were going to visit Togue and then drive down to Lairg on a search for a kilt for me. I don't know why but for some reason I had his thought that there would be a place in Bettyhill to get a Mackay tartan kilt given that Bettyhill is like Mackay capital, but no the nearest person was in Lairg (according to my hotel owner). But we thought we'd make a day of it and stop at the Weaver's cafe in Tongue before heading down the A836 to Lairg. We get there though and the cafe and shop are closed for the season until March due to renovations. This wasn't mentioned on their website. Lesson I am fast learning here is to call places before driving out there trusting what's on their website. But we were sure to enjoy the drive south from Tongue to Lairg. We stopped at Loch Loyal where there were ruins from an ancient croft and took some photos. It was an absolutely gorgeous drive filled with sunshine and no rain! 

Nights in the highlands

So this is just a quick post about nightlife up here in Bettyhill. There is none. Aside from the pub at the Bettyhill Hotel. It's just a small pub where you can have some pub dinner and some great beer (the Strongbow is my personal favorite. It's very sweet) while playing pool or a game of darts. Of course there's also the staff and the locals that come to the pub. They definitely add flavor to your night, and if you find yourself playing pool with Chris (the cute young guy that works at the hotel) you better make sure that you get a ball in before he gets all seven of his in or he will enforce the pub 7 rule. Let's just say it involves running around without your pants or underwear on. ;)