We woke up to a beautiful morning on Loch Lomond. I haven’t mentioned the weather has been just fine. We compare it to winter in San Francisco which is tolerable at worst and there has been very little rain. We have the occasional cloudburst but generally gorgeous clouds like we never see in SoCal and warming sun at regular intervals.

Our host at Culag, Patrick, greeted us in the breakfast room with this question “Would you like a traditional Scottish breakfast”? But of course. The plate included: one egg, bread of choice, a sausage, beans, a tomato slice, a mushroom, “bacon” (like Canadian) and – you guess it, haggis. This was really really really good haggis. I don’t know how the cook made it but it was delicious. I have decided that descriptions of haggis on the internet are unnecessarily dramatic. If you eat Thanksgiving stuffing with turkey gizzards you can handle haggis. I’m not even willing to brag that I ate it, it was that disappointingly edible.

Off we went and driving was much easier this time. It’s still kind of freaky when a truck comes along on the other side of the road but after a bit it was just like driving at home. We are still using the Al as Navigator sign reader and Mary as the “left lane, left lane, left lane” mantra-er and it’s going quite smoothly. Every once in a blue moon I scrape the curb but honestly don’t know how – obviously or I wouldn’t be doing it. We paid the the extra insurance on the rental so okay. I am also not giving a rat’s ass whether someone is behind me and am driving as slowly as I damn well please. I politely take the turn out when there are more than thirty cars behind me.

The Highlands are just as gorgeous as advertised. Before I forget, there are rhododendrons in full bloom growing like tress everywhere along the roadsides and up the hillsides. I’ve never seen anything like it. Not just in one little section but for miles.

Lots of history in them thar hills, most of it warlike. It’s hard not to just be in love with the people who endure this verdant but harsh land. We have had more than one Scot laugh and tell us “yeah, this is our summer”. They seem to wear it as a badge of honor (a la Minnesotans). We are staying in yet another cottage home in Fort William and for dinner went to the crazy luscious Inverlochy Castle Hotel (it’s not a castle itself, but references nearby Inverlochy Castle, another important – you guess it – battle site in Scottish history.) The dinner was a prix fixe gourmet menu, five courses all amazing. Even the first course was all about beets and many of you reading this know how I feel about beets. (When anyone asks I have food preferences: “Anything but beets”.) At any rate I figured after eating haggis I should be able to handle beets. It was okay – they were sliced extremely thin so I survived. I like haggis better tho.

Before dinner we went out to Glenfinnan Viaduct built in 1897 and is still in use today. To people much hipper than I, it is famous for being in Harry Potter movies. Big whoop. Wikipedia says after those movies they had to warn people not to walk on the viaduct because – get this – they might get hit by a train and some people almost did. I’ve heard that the same type of yahoos also have been stealing stones from Culloden after it was made famous in the Outlander series as the scene of the squashing of the Jacobites by the British. Good lord… I think we will go past it but Al has another castle or something planned around Inverness. Anyway, I know the outcome at Culloden, I’ve watched some of it but it’s world history so I tend to switch back to Mrs. Maisel after a while.

Tomorrow, it’s off to a rib boat ride (that means it’s hella fast, I’m told) on Loch Ness and then what I’m sure will be a quiet and uneventful drive to Isle of Skye. There we will finally stay put for two nights.