FLASHBACK #56: Bonny Scotland (Part 3)

Day 6 – Friday 30th July
Edinburgh (20ºC)

By 10.30am, we had eaten a hearty breakfast and were standing on Waverley Bridge, waiting to board the City Sightseeing Bus; we had bought tickets that were valid for 24 hours and you could hop on and off the bus as many times as you wanted.

We went on the tour, hopping off at the end of Royal Mile, just beneath the towering Mound. We walked in the direction of the Castle and, upon arrival, were greeted with four queues, each stretching more than 50 metres long. We jumped the queue, however, because I was a 'Friend of Historic Scotland'.

We entered the castle via the huge gates where staff stood, clad in traditional Scottish regalia. We collected an audio guide for ourselves and worked our way through the castle and its mass of history.

The views of Edinburgh were great from the upper levels of the Castle. Unfortunately, we learned that the One O'Clock Bang – the daily firing of cannonballs from the Castle - had been cancelled.

We grabbed some soup from the restaurant and left the Castle about 3pm. The weather was great, our first decent bit of sunshine in Scotland!

We walked along the Royal Mile, then waited for another City bus to continue our tour. On Prince's Street, Bree grabbed a coffee from Starbucks and, after a bit of souvenir shopping, we headed down to the park.

We relaxed for over an hour, watching kids play and couples walking by hand-in-hand! Aaw! The place had a buzz to it and wasn't mobbed like London's Royal Parks tend to be.

By 6pm, we were in the pool at the hotel. In fact, we were 'pool-running', a new fad that has caught on in Finland. After a number of times in the sauna and steam room, we showered off and returned to our room to write out postcards while downing Bacardi with Iron Bru, a Scottish soft drink.

We found an Italian restaurant not far from the hotel and I ordered Spaghetti Bolognese while Bree ordered pizza. We washed this down with a bottle of dry Rosé. Yummy! We went to a number of bars, but I wasn't overly impressed with the nightlife. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood, the tiredness finally catching up with me. We were in bed by 1.30am.

Day 7 – Saturday 31st July
Edinburgh – Manchester (23ºC)

For some reason, breakfast was not included in the cost of our overnight stay, but when you've consumed as many cooked breakfasts as we had in the last week, you wouldn't have been bothered to give breakfast a miss!

Instead, we popped into a nearby Costa Cafe and grabbed a sandwich and coffee while we wrote the remainder of our postcards. When we returned to the hotel, we checked out and requested that the Concierge collect our vehicle from the parking house.

We left the hotel at mid-day and headed towards the Port of Leith, where we planned to visit the Royal Yacht Britannia.

For over forty years, Britannia served the Royal Family, travelling over one million miles between 1953 and 1997. During that time, Britannia carried The Queen and the Royal Family on 968 official voyages, from the remotest regions of the South Seas to the deepest divides of Antarctica.

It was very interesting to learn about the yacht itself, it's various voyages, it's administration etc. One thing that amazed me was the modesty of the Queen and Duke's bedrooms, complete with single beds!

There was an exhibiton followed by the tour onboard with a headset providing all the information. Onboard was a shop where Bree bought Royal fudge costing £2.30 per 100gms! He liked it, but it proved too rich for his stomach as he late complained of stomach ache.

Once the tour ended, we visited the gift shop – I bought the Royal Yacht Visitors Guide and Bree took a shine to the Scottish kilts on sale, parading in one for a laugh! God, I can't take him anywhere!

We left, bound for Manchester. It took ages for us to get out of Edinburgh due to road works. We took the Ring Road, then the A702 to Abbington. From there, we joined the M74.

Before long, we were passing Carlisle, a sure sign that much progress had been made already. I sped all the way to the M6 and we passed the hills of the lake district one last time – the region reminded me of a classic poem I had been taught when I was at school, written by Auden. I have reproduced the poem below.

NIGHT MAIL by W. H. Auden (1936)

This is the Night Mail crossing the Border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order,
Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
The shop at the corner, the girl next door,
Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb:
The gradient’s against her, but she’s on time,
Past cotton-grass and moorland boulder,
Shovelling white steam over her shoulder,
Snorting noisily, she passes
Silent miles of wind-bent grasses.
Birds turn their heads as she approaches,
Stare from the bushes at her blank-faced coaches.
Sheep-dogs cannot turn her course;
They slumber on with paws across.
In the farm she passes no one wakes,
But a jug in the bedroom gently shakes.
Letters of thanks, letters from banks,
Letters of joy from girl and boy,
Receipted bills and invitations
To inspect new stock or to visit relations,
And applications for situations,
And timid lovers’ declarations,
And gossip, gossip from all the nations,
News circumstantial, news financial,
Letters with holiday snaps to enlarge in,
Letters for uncles, cousins, and aunts,
Letters to Scotland from the South of France,
Letters of condolence to Highlands and Lowlands,
Notes from overseas to the Hebrides;
Written on paper of every hue,
The pink, the violet, the white and the blue,
The chatty, the catty, the boring, adoring
The cold and official and the heart's outpouring,
Clever, stupid, short and long,
The typed and the printed and the spelt all wrong.

Kendal came and went as I cruised by at 100 miles per hour. By 7pm, we were in out hotel, The Princess on Portland, in the centre of Manchester. The great thing was that we had managed to get on-street parking nearby which was free after 6pm on Saturdays and all day on Sunday!

The hotel was very nice, our room converted somehow into a huge room with two double beds, a bathtub with a separate shower area.

We went straight for a buffet Chinese meal which I knew existed nearby which was lovely. Over a bottle of wine, I got a bit tipsy and made a face crushing gesture while my mouth was still full of wine – the wine spluttered in Bree's direction. So embarrassing.

We headed back to the hotel where I showered and shave, in preparation for our night out. We drank what was left of the Bacardi and checked out the local bars. By 1am, we had visited, drank and danced in four bars and were ready for our beds after what had been another long day.

Day 8 – Sunday 1st August
Manchester – Helsinki (26ºC)

When I woke up at 9:30am, the sun was shining outside the window. I couldn't believe that this was the last day and that we were heading back to Helsinki later in the day!

We went for breakfast and I met my friend, Sweetpea, at Manchester Piccadilly train station at 10:30am. We walked back to the hotel where Bree was waiting for us.

We had a cup of tea in the hotel room while we caught up – Sweetpea had met Bree one year earlier when she came to visit us in Helsinki with our mutual friend Jo, a year earlier.

We checked out of the hotel, loaded the car, then headed to Urbis on foot. Sweetpea had heard about this exhibition that celebrated Urban Life. As we walked through the city, it was surprisingly hot and especially busy for a Sunday. We found Urbis eventually. It was very educational and insightful, explaining the mass expansion of urban life and the formation of megacities.

Afterwards, we went for lunch in an outdoor pub. Lovely! It took a while to get served, but we soaked up the suns rays in the outdoor garden while we waited.

As we walked back to where we had left the car, we saw a store which Bree recognised from the BBC comedy, Absolutely Fabulous. You guessed it – Harvey Nichols! We went into Harvey Nichols and the two of us, with Sweetpea in tow, lauched into Patsy and Eddie mode. "What shall we buy, sweetie?!" I said. Bree replied: "Where's the art, darling?!" We giggled like girls!

The only thing Bree bought from Harvey Nichols' was a jar of jam and a jar of lemon curd, which I recommended that Bree try because you can't buy lemon curd in Finland. We left the store, located the car, then said our goodbyes to Sweetpea at the railway station. It was great to see her again. We set off in the direction of Manchester for our 5.30pm flight.

SUMMARY

Visiting Scotland with Bree was great. I hadn't realised just how diverse Scotland was until this trip. Bree summed it up by saying that "Scotland is a tremendous place, very much like Norway, but instead of a church in every town there's a pub!" I don't know if that's a good thing, but that statement kind of implies that Scotland has a drinking problem!

Anyway, we had a good laugh and after all that driving and seeing wonderful places, it wasn't long before the next trip was being planned! So, keep your eyes open until next time! And in the meantime, get out there and explore the world!

FLASHBACK #56: Bonny Scotland (Part 2)

Day 4 – Wednesday 28th July
Lochinver – Ullapool – Fort William (18ºC)

Our accommodation in Lochinver had been very comfy and made for a much needed sleep. After yet another heavy cooked breakfast, Bree got his things together while the owner of the B&B and I got chatting. A lady in her mid-50's, she was amazed with my hearing device. One of her granchildren had hearing problems and I happily told her my own history. I guess my own story offers hope to those who know people who suffer daily for not having the ability to hear. She was a charming, endearing woman with a small frame and it was so cute when she even waved us off as we drove away.

Having rose quite early at 8am, we knew that today was going to be another full day. We planned to go to the Old Man of Stoer, a distillery (somewhere!) and Eillan Dollan castle. We wanted to be in Fort William by evening so the timing was a bit unrealistic, perhaps. We headed back to Stoer and its lighthouse and parked the car in the carpark – there was a huge camper van from France so this place was clearly popular.

We got out of the car and set off in the direction as shown on one of the sign posts for the Old Man of Stoer. After more than an hour, we came to the stack. The pictures that we took didn't do the place justice – the scenery, the towering cliffs and the crashing of the waves on the rugged shoreline below all made for an impressive display of nature. The weather was pleasant enough and we had worked up a sweat during the trek to the site.

After a while, we headed back to the car park and, on the way, I got my feet wet in marshy grass.

Before we set off again, we admired the view of Stoer Lighthouse. It was about 11:30am by the time we set off again. Once again, we passed some pretty dramatic scenery and sort of lost track of time, although we knew we were sort of heading in the right direction!

We continued to drive along the North-western coast of Scotland and soon arrived at the picturesque fishing village of Ullapool.

While we were in Ullapool, we walked along the harbour-side and visited some of the stores. There was an amazing deal on shortbread so we bought several packages each. Since the place was very small, we covered it quite quickly.

From Ullapool, we continued our drive and came across a place called Ord which stank of manure! Unfortunately for us, there was a distillery in Ord and I had promised Bree that I would treat him to a whisky tour at a distillery whilst we were in Scotland since he appreciated whisky. How can you deny someone who appreciates whisky a visit to a distillery if they happen to be in Scotland?

Well, it was interesting to go on the tour. I didn't know anything about how whisky was made and, to be honest, whatever I learnt on that tour I have already forgotten because I just simply am not interested in whisky!

After the tour, Bree took part in a whisky tasting session, sampling four different whiskies from different parts of Scotland.

Without a doubt, Bree actually preferred the single malt from Glen Ord's own distillery. After the tasting session, Bree actually got merry since we had skipped lunch! As a souvenir from the trip, I bought him a thistle shaped whisky glass and a 12 year old bottle of single malt Glen Ord whisky.

After our visit, we headed back to the car where Bree ate all the crisps he could find to stave off the effects of the alcohol. He admitted to feeling a little bit woozy and I had to laugh!

We left the distillery at 4pm and I decided that visiting Ellan Dollan Castle was out of the question. Instead, we headed towards Fort William.

Back on the A82, we passed Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle and Fort Augustus once again, arriving at Fort William just before 7pm.

To save time in this very busy part of the Highlands, we enquired at the tourist office for a place to stay and managed to find a place not far from the centre for £65 for the room for the night including the usual cooked breakfast. Time was getting on and, as soon as we got into our room, we showered and headed into town for some dinner. Town was lively, fully of tourists who come to this part of Scotland to scale Britain's highest mountain, Ben Nevis (1,343m).

It emerged that practically every restaurant had a 30-45 minute waiting time so we had a drink while we waited for a table. The drink completely destroyed my appetite, but I still ate. I had soup followed by a mixed grill. Bree ordered Haggis for starters and steak for the main course.

Bree said that the Haggis was very nice, but due to the size of our portions, we left the restaurant stuffed to the brim. It was 11pm when we left the restaurant and we headed to our hotel. We watched some TV while the effects of the drink wore off.

Day 5 – Thursday 29th July
Fort William – Mallaig – Edinburgh (18ºC)

After waking at 8:45am and downing the usual cooked breakfast, we loaded up the car and headed towards the railway station. For the day, we would leave the car at the hotel. We split up for a bit; Bree collected the train tickets and I popped into Safeways to collect some things for a cheap lunch. We had twenty minutes until the Jacobite Steam Train – the same train used in the Harry Potter movies – departed for Mallaig.

We met up again at the railway station, boarded the train and found our seats. The train hooted as it left the station.

You could see smoke passing the windows as the train sped up – within minutes, the train chugged past Neptune's Staircase, the longest of the three staircase flights on the Caledonian Canal comprising eight lochs.

As the trip progressed, we noticed this bubbly old couple sitting opposite us engaging in witty banter that you just couldn't ignore. They were so nice and within minutes of leaving Fort William, we were chatting away about our experiences in Scotland. Such a nice couple, they were from Cornwall although the woman – a Londoner – was born in Holloway Road, in the same area where I was born! In their early 60's, the couple had meet in the 1960's and been married for more than 40 years. They were onboard with their own daughter and two grandsons. They were charming!

Soon, we passed the Glenfinnan Viaduct which appeared in one of the Harry Potter movies and was enjoying a renewed popularity on board train journeys like this.

The train stopped briefly at Glenfinnan railway station where people had an opportunity to visit the observation deck overlooking yet another loch and the infamous Glenfinnan Monument.

On 19 August 1745, at the head of Loch Shiel, Bonnie Prince Charllie raised his Standard, marking the start of his campaign to restore the exiled Stuarts to the throne. From this spot, he and his followers made it as far south as Derby before their eventual defeat the following year at Culloden.

The Glenfinnan Monument was designed by the Scottish architect James Gillespie Graham, and was erected in 1815 as a tribute to the clansmen who fought and died in the cause of the Stuarts.

This stop was particularly interesting for Bree because he heard Finnish being spoken somewhere in the background. There were a group of four Finnish guys travelling together and Bree said hello. They asked him, in their native tongue of course, to take a picture of them. Bree acquiesced.

We realised that we need to be careful from now on. Sometimes, we revert to Finnish when we wish to discuss things privately. Quite clearly, four of the five million Finns just happened to be on the same train as us!

Within minutes, everyone had clambered back on board and the train was on its way once more… When I first discovered that this journey would cost us £25 each, I thought it was a bit steep. After just 30 minutes onboard, however, it was already worth every penny.

Later, we passed a place called Morar where Morag, Nessie's cousin, is reputed to live. We got to Mallaig, a shabby seaside town, with two hours to look around before our scheduled return at 2.10pm.

We walked to the harbour full of trawlers where, in the distance, you could see the Isle of Skye. We sat down and ate the packed lunch I had collected from Safeway in Fort William. Afterwards, we visited the Mallaig Sealife Cenntre, as naff as the seaside town itself. It was so naff that it wasn't even worth the £2.75 entry fee where you could see lobsters, crabs and rays. The Conger Eel was impressive, however.

We left the Sealife Centre and wandered around the souvenir stores before heading back to the railway station.

We boarded the train with plenty of time and found that, on the way back, we were going to be sitting opposite the same family. Great! I asked what they thought of Mallaig and, judging by their expressions, I think they found is equally unimpressive.

Before long, the train was on its way – the weather had been very pleasant. Not very sunny, but shorts weather. The trip back traced the same route and, as expected, people clamoured for a space knowing that the Glenfinnan Viaduct was likely to make another appearance.

I secured my place by one of the doors and rolled down the window and stuck out my head. The appearance of the viaduct was greeted with Oooh's and Aaah's and wows!. When I returned to my seat, Bree told me that the smoke from the steam train had made my face all black. And I stupidly believed him! Bree and his jokes, eh?! I elbowed him as I sat down again…

As we approached Neptune's staircase, the train slowed down and we knew that we had nearly arrived back in Fort William. We arrived just after 4pm and headed to the hotel car park to collect the car. We had planned to travel to Edinburgh during the evening, but before setting off, I suggested we visit Nevis Range, just five minutes away by car, where we could take a cable car up to Anoach Nor (2,150 ft).

The weather held up well and you could see distant lochs and peaks. Lovely! We had a cup a coffee and shared a slice of Walnut Cake and, over conversation, decided to head for Edinburgh once we got back to base.

By the time we got back to base, it was 5.30pm. We located the car and were on our way. As we headed South along the A82, we reached Glencoe Village; it was here that the heavens opened and were therefore more than content to be heading South. We meandered along the A82 to Crianlarich then the A85 to Lockearnhead, later taking the A84 all the way to Stirling.

When we got to the M9, we stopped at a service area. Using my mobile phone, I called some hotels in Edinburgh to organise accommodation for the next two evenings. I contacted the Carlton Hotel – they were having problems with their systems and advised me to call again as we got closer to the city. We decided to do this.

Situated on North Bridge, the hotel was as central as you could get. Upon our arrival, I went inside while Bree waited in the car. After a bit of persuasion, the girl on reception finally agreed to sell one of the no-show rooms to us. By this time, it was already 9pm. We checked in, ate at the nearby Burger King, went for a walk down Prince's street and saw the magnificent castle standing on the Mound. We had a drink in our room at the hotel before turning in at 11pm.

FLASHBACK #56: Bonny Scotland (Part 1)

Introduction

Since meeting Bree in 2002, all of my holidays have been kind of extreme; they have all involved covering vast distances which brings something that other holidays don't bring – memorable experiences and a sense of having 'seen' the place.

The idea of visiting Scotland came about from the fact that my father is Scottish. In recent years, many movies have been made in Scotland including 'Braveheart' starring Mel Gibson, 'Highlander' starring Sean Connery and the 'Harry Potter' films to name a few. The scenery in the movies had been spectacular and since I would be in the UK for my Summer Holiday, I thought why not venture North and see it for myself.

I ran the idea past Bree. he was up for it and planning began. My parents visited us in Helsinki in July (you can read about that here) and I returned with them for one week before meeting up with Bree in Manchester on July 25. That is when the trip really began!

Day 1 – Sunday 25th July
Manchester – Fort Augustus (17ºC)

After spending a week with my parents, I had ventured North for the weekend to spend time with my friends, Sweetpea and Fred, in Liverpool. Fred gave me a lift to the airport and, while I waited for Bree's flight to land, I picked up the hire car from the National Rental desk. At 16:55, Bree's flight landed and I collected him from outside Terminal 3.

We took the M62 exit from the airport, later joining the M6. The weather was grey and rainy and Bree and I caught up on the news as we sped towards the beuatifully sunny region of Cumbria.

Later on, the M6 gave way to the A74 at Carlisle. We saw the signs for the famous Gretna Green where countless young couples have eloped without their parents blessing. We also saw the signs for Hadrian's Wall which successfully prevented the Romans from occupying Scotland all those years ago.

We stopped at the Hamilton service area where we bought coffee and ate the sandwiches I had prepared earlier in the day. On the back seat of the rented Vauxhall Astra, there was a box laden with sandwiches, crisps, fruit, drink and sweets for our long journey: the aim was to get as far north as possible for as long as daylight would allow.

Soon, we were speeding along the the M8, locally known as the Glasgow Highway. We turned off at Junction 17 and onto the A82 which would take us all the way to the Highlands. Before long, we had reached Loch Lomond – by this time, the sun was starting to recede. We stopped briefly to take some photos. The weather was pleasant, albeit chilly as we walked along the shore of the loch, getting a taster of the beautiful scenery to come.

By 10pm, we had reached Crianlarich in 'Rob Roy country', a very Scottish name for a place if there ever was one! There was still a touch of daylight and, in the twilight, we saw shallow streams meandering alongside the road, well-set mansions in landscaped estates and countless farms with herds of cows and sheep shuddering away as we sped past.

We came to a very bendy upward climb – to the left, Bree noticed a stag and I admit that I also saw it out of the corner of my eye. Just before we were encased in total darkness, we passed Glencoe Ski Centre and the town of Glencoe itself.

At Onich, we came into contact with the Great Glens for the first time with the sighting of Loch Linnie. Bree slept and I sped along, in uneventful darkness, until we reached Fort Augustus just after midnight, taking in the towns of Fort William and Invergarry on the way.

Fort Augustus was named after the old military barracks that were blown up by Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Highlanders in 1746. Running through the village is the River Oich and the impressive Caledonian Canal and loch system, built by Thomas Telford in the early 1800’s.

We enquired at the Caledonia Manor and paid £33 per person to stay for the night. It was beddy bye byes for us!

Day 2 – Monday 26th July
Fort Augustus – John O'Groats (20ºC)

After a filling cooked breakfast, during which one of the waitresses had kindly demonstrated her bewildering Scottish Gaelic, we left the hotel about 10.30am. Our first intended destination was Urquhart Castle overlooking Loch Ness.

As we drove through Fort Augustus, we stopped briefly to watch some boats make their way through a stair of lochs, certainly a time consuming way of getting from loch to loch!

We continued our drive and, within minutes, reached Invermoristen. The thing that struck me most about Invermoristen – I think it's the only thing that attracts anyone – is the Old Bridge. It was one of nearly 1,000 bridges that were built between 1800 and 1819 as a general plan to improve Highland communications.

Within an hour, we had arrived at Urquhart Castle, half a mile south of Drumnadrocht.

Urquhart Castle is one of the largest in Scotland, which fell into decay after 1689. Most of the existing buildings date from the 14th century.

Prior to our arrival, the weather was overcast and bright, but not very warm. After a walk around the ruins of the castle, the blue sky returned seemingly kissing the glistening the Loch.

We went to the shop and watched an 8 minute feature film about the castle. Urquhart Castle was originally the site of a Pictish fort, visited by St Columba in 597. In 1297, the castle was in English hands loyal to Edward I, surviving a night assault by the Scots. By 1303, it was in Scots hands and fell to the the English. It would later feature among a handful of castles keeping alive Robert the Bruce's claim to the Scottish Crown. …

After the screening, we went to the Cafe and downed clotted cream scones, topped with strawberries and a strong cup of tea. Yummy!

When we headed back to the car park, Bree realised he had left his sunglasses at the hotel in Fort Augustus. We drove back 22 miles to collect them (because they were specially designed sunglasses to fit on top of his normal glasses) then all the way back to the Castle before continuing along the A82.

We stopped at the official Loch Ness Monster Exhibition Centre in Dramnadrocht and checked it out. It looked naff from the outside and the entrance area looked worse so we decided not to part with our money. However, we visited the shop nearby and Bree checked out the many types of whiskies on offer. Then, outside, we saw her. Nessie!

About 3pm, we left Drumndrocht and headed towards Inverness on the A82. We crossed the magnificent bridge, zooming over the Moray Firth, and onto the A9.

We crossed bridges over the Cromarty and Doroch Firths, and continued along the rugged Eastern Coast of Scotland, passing Dunrobin Castle on the way.

The further north we went, the more tundra-like the environment became. We stopped briefly to admire a view and when I got out of the car in a particularly hilly area, Bree panicked and claimed the car was rolling away. I panicked and turned, but it had been a cruel joke. An effective one though. We laughed!

As we continued along what seemed an isolated area dotted here and there with the odd home, we wondered how people could live here. When we reached Wick, I knew we weren't far from John O'Groats; we arrived at the seemingly abandoned town at 8pm.

The town's emptiness was a charade for we were unable to find a hotel room; everywhere was booked up! We had no choice, but to drive to Thurso, 20 miles away. There, we found a room at the very nice Hotel Royal for £50, which included breakfast! For dinner, we downed the national dish of Fish & Chips in a local park!

The day had filled my head up with place names I had heard from a very young age. John O'Groats always appeared in the BBC Weather forecasts on TV as the northern-most location in the UK to guage and predict the weather. Wick and Thurso were places where my Dad used to send his pigeons away for racing. I actually recall seeing certficiates where one of my Dad's pigeons had been First or Second to return from Thurso and Wick...

Day 3 – Tuesday 27th July
Thurso – John O'Groats – Lochinver (16ºC)

After breakfast at 9.30am, we headed back to John O'Groats where we paid £12 for a photo to be taken of us and be returned to us in Helsinki. Included in the price, the photographer kindly took photos of us with our own personal cameras too, just in case the photo didn't arrive. There were no other customers to inconvenience whilst the photographer did this anyway – the place was devoid of custom on this grey, chilly morning.

We left about 11am and visited the Castle of Mey, the only residence belonging solely to the Queen Mother at the time of her death in 2003. She first saw what was then Barrogill Castle in 1952, while mourning the death of her husband, King George VI. Falling for its ruined isolated charm, and hearing it was to be abandoned, she declared: “Never! It’s part of Scotland’s heritage. I’ll save it”

The castle itself was very modest and the way of living, judging from the furniture and facilities inside, was equally modest. In fact, the Castle was an ideal place for Royal seclusion.

As we were guided around inside the castle, Bree was impressed that the late Queen Mother had a Finlux TV, a Finnish export. It emerged, during the tour, that Prince Charles was due to stay at the Castle a week later to open the local Highland games.

About 1.30pm, we headed back to Thurso, but took a detour to visit Dunnet Head. A guy at the information centre told us that Dunnet Head was, in fact, the Northernmost point of the British Mainland.

After a twenty minute meandering drive, we pulled into the tiny car park and had a photo taken by the Dunnet Head monument. In the distance, you could hear waves crashing onto the shore below and you could make out the shape of a lighthouse in the fog.

We continued our drive back to Thurso and stopped for petrol and supplies. By supplies, I'm referring to a lunch of sandwiches and Tunnock's Tea Cakes! From there, we started our long drive towards Stoer, taking in the North of Scotland.

We passed a place called Tongue on the A836, then took the A838 to Kylesku. The roads offered amazing views and, every so often, you felt you had been here already 10 minutes early, kind of what I call the 'Groundhog Day' effect from the movie of the same name staring Bill Murray and Andie McDowell.

We picked up the treacherous B869 route and drove to Drumbeg and it's towering views. The route was hard going and falling into ruins, but eventually we saw the turn off for Stoer Head lighthouse. The drive again seemed to take forever and it was at this time that I noticed myself starting to get cranky with tiredness.

We got to the lighthouse at 7pm only to realise that there were no hotels nor restaurants in the area. The Lonely Planet Guide said that that the Old Man of Stoer itself, a stone stack reaching a height of 300ft slightly out to sea, takes an hour to reach on foot. At this hour, our priority was to eat, find ourselves somewhere to stay overnight and find a petrol station because we were running low on petrol.

Feeling a bit pissed off at how isolated the place was and how everything seemed so far from everything else, we headed to the nearby town of Stoer. There were rooms at a particular bed and breakfast, but nowhere to dine. We left the B869 and onto the A837, towards a small town named Lochinver.

Lochinver was beautiful and far less complicated – it had a petrol station, a restaurant and a bed and breakfast in one compact street which seemed to make up the whole town. The bed and breakfast itself cost £17 a person, a real bargain. We went for dinner at the nearby pub and I enjoyed garlic mushrooms and lasagne with a well-earned drink. In bed before 11pm, after enjoying the views in the receding twilight.

FLASHBACK #55: Mum, Dad & Bree Meet In Helsinki

I came out recently to my parents (see here), revealing that I was gay. My parents were instantly interested in meeting the potential son-in-law who, by this time, I had been dating already more than two years. It was understandable that my parents wanted to meet Bree so it was arranged that they would come to Finland and we would all meet up.

As the weeks passed, I got more and more nervous so I organised a setup that would minimise everybody's pain if an awkward moment came about. I told Blue and the Ex-Neighbour, my two girlfriends in Tampere, that I needed them to be in town on that day. We would all go for a picnic. If my parents or Bree felt uncomfortable, the girls would easily distract them with their wit and funny stories.

The big day came. It was a Saturday in the middle of July. The weather was great, the picnic was packed, the girls had arrived in town by train, my parents were at my place in Katajanokka. Around midday, Bree, Blue, the Ex-neighbour and I drove there.

My heart was pounding as we made our way up to the fourth floor. Would they like him? Would they dislike him? Would they suddenly turn their backs as I had originally feared? I rang the doorbell and my Mum let us all in. Straight away, my Mum latched her sights onto Bree and, suddenly, gave him a warm hug; this is something that Finns don't feel comfortable with and it showed as Bree's arms just shot straight downwards towards the floor rather than returning the hug. Blue, the Ex-Neighbour and I grinned at eachother. We all moved into the living room and my Dad shoved a big, strong hand into Bree's. He was quiet, obviously testing the environment, asserting his own masculinity.

We didn't hang around, instead heading straight out in the two cars we had at our disposal to a park just east of the city. We settled down by a canal, laying down some blankets and tucking into the contents of the picnic basket. From time to time, my Mum smiled at me, reassuring me in a way only a Mum can without the need for words. Later that day, my Dad hugged me for no reason; I guess it was just his way of saying things would be okay, unable to summon words to fit the occasion.

We spent the next two days together, being careful not to overdose my parents on Bree. From time to time, Bree went off to do his own thing while I showed my parents some of the city. We visited the Kaivopuisto area by the seaside and ate huge Pehmis ice-creams as we watched a red double decker bus pass by. How British is that?!

I took them to Kauppatori (the main market square) to browse round the countless stalls dedicated to tourists, followed by a boat trip around the newly developed area of Herttoniemi. During the boat trip, my Mum insisted on waving to passersby in other boats. Rather than accuse her of embarrassment, I joined in!

Later on, we visited the 72m high Stadium Tower, which looms above the stadium used for the 1952 Olympics and offers superb views of the city.

We finished the sightseeing off with a trip to Vanha Kaupungin koski (the Old City Falls). My parents had been lucky because the weather had been fantastic during their visit.

I remember we sat at an outdoor restaurant for more than three hours one evening, as Bree and my parents got to know eachother. As their son, I had heard all the stories before, but as I saw Bree and my parents smiling at eachother, I knew that we were slowly overcoming a major hurdle in our life together: my parents were learning about us and our life, and I had acquired new-found respect for my parents.

When the time came for my parents to leave, I flew back to the UK with them. I spent some more time with them in the South of England before meeting friends in Liverpool in the North. Days later, I would collect Bree from Manchester airport for us to start our trip to Scotland (see Flashback #56 in three parts on this page).