Friday 26 August: Inverness to Edinburgh

A fairly long drive from Inverness down to Edinburgh. We made a brief detour along some side roads to look at a bit of the scenery. However the very poor road geometry made the driving tiresome, and the £2.00 parking fee at every stop, soon had us headed back to the main road.

We stopped off in Perth, which is considerably smaller and older (of course) than its Australian namesake. Apart from the Scone Palace, which was very interesting, there wasn't a lot to detain us in Perth.

On to Edinburgh, over the Forth road bridge, which gives a spectacular view of the mighty Forth rail bridge. Sadly for us, the rail bridge is undergoing extensive refurbishment, and large parts of the structure were enclosed in white shrouds.

In Edinburgh, we made our now customary drive in ever-decreasing circles before finding the hotel. We stayed at the Belford Menzies, which was the only place our agent could get us booked in to. It's a four star hotel, but really very ordinary. There was nothing specifically wrong with it, but for what was offered it was hideously expensive. I wouldn't recommend it.

It's festival time in Edinburgh, which means that the whole city is alive with performances of every type. The Royal Mile (which links the Edinburgh castle with Holyrood Palace) had singers, dancers, mimes and comedians performing in the street. Huge crowds everywhere, but everybody seemed happy and in good spirits - unlike the rather dour, pushy crowds in Dublin.