Tochi's Hut

My beloved Explore Historic Scotland passport (I love these types of things) is probably one of my favourite souvenirs from the trip.

Apparently, StatsCan also wants to know why I didn't spend my money in Canada. lol

All good things must come to an end. Time to fly home!

My version of the Lonely Planet Scotland cover! Ever since the UK banned level crossings, the path to this castle was taken off all official guides. It took two tries before I was able to spot the non-descript sideroad leading to this castle! It was quite nice wandering around the ruins here by ourselves and some sheep. lol.

Who dares to walk in the SHADOWS of Fleshmarket Close?

My Shadows Theme submission.

Edinburgh, Scotland.

The streets of Old Edinburgh - still keeping up with the architecture from the past 3-400 years. Quite an awesome city to hang out.

Explored Perth - the first stop being Scone Palace, the location where every Scottish King was crowned until their Stone of Destiny was stolen. lol. The palace wasn't too impressive (Earl just isn't as rich as Dukes or Royalty). However, they did have a cool hexagonal maze. We stumbled around for 10 minutes or so until we were able to get onto this bridge. I cheated by scouting the way out from my vantage here... and soon promptly found my exit.

I felt bad for this French girl who entered the maze before us but was still stuck inside the maze by the time we left. When we ran into her for the last time, she desperately told us... "The sign said there would be maps inside for those who were lost!!" Hope she made it out okay.:|

View of Loch Kathrine from the summit of Ben'Ann (486m). This hike in the Trossachs was highly recommended to us by several people, so my mom and I decided to tackle this one today.

The weather was quite incremental today. When we got about 280m in elevation where the tree line parted, we spotted a giant black cloud rolling towards us. The rain was starting to come down. Not wanting to be exposed out in bad weather, we decided to descend.

As I should have known with Scottish weather by now, the rain stopped and the sun returned right when we arrived at the base. Come on. :(

Well, I sat at the bottom for a while, tormented by my dilemma. In the end, I could not leave Scotland without doing this hike.

On my second summit attempt, I was more pumped than ever. The weather gods teased me again halfway up with showers, but I was not to be deterred. Soon, I was to be rewarded with the most awesome weather and most awesome view.

Met a couple at the top from Portland who just spent the past 5 weeks summitting various peaks in United Kingdom! To my question on which hike they would pick above all else, their answer was Half Dome ($$) and the Dolomites in Italy. I need to get myself to Italy again! lol

Gromit in his greenhouse garden.

The magnificently situated Urquhart Castle, on the banks of Loch Ness, remains an impressive stronghold despite its ruinous state. What a magnificant castle it must have been - a pity that the Williamites destroyed their own castle just so the Jacobite forces could not use it. Really nice real estate! lol

Scotland, UK

This location, just off of A855 is one of the ideal locations to view the Old Man of Storr, though I was more impressed by the waterfalls. Scotland, UK

A night view from the east of Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland, England.

The Glasgow Cathedral from the Necropolis.

Inside the cathedral, a kind lady offered: "Let me take a photo for you guys!" I replied: "Thanks, that'll be great!" She was shocked and said: "Oh, you speak English! I didn't have to do all those hand gestures."

lol. wtf.

The plane that will take me Europe Bound. Remind me to not fly US Airways. They are still using old 757's, with a shared TV down the middle aisle ceiling, and of all movies, they showed Tooth Fairy?!? Better yet, they lost/delayed my luggage..again.

Time to upload UK maps to my GPSrs.