DAY-12: Into The Heartand & Lakes Region
Day – 12: Sunday, September 3, 2017
Starting Location: Inverness, Scotland, UK
Ending Location: Ayr, Scotland, UK
We departed Inverness around 11 AM with plans to drive south to the west coast of Scotland at Ayr.
Our route took us south on the A9 to Kingussie where we transitioned to the A86 via Spean Bridge to Fort William at the north end of Loch Linnhe. As before the ride was very scenic with areas of farmland interspersed amongst mountainous regions. The area is laced with parks and recreation areas.
From Fort Williams we continued south through the Loch Lomond region toward Glasgow.
Though we didn't actually enter Glasgow we were close enough for a taste of traffic in the suburbs.
En-route from Kilmarnock toward Ayr we saw signs indicating that we should expect traffic delays in the Ayr region due to the weekend's air show. Certainly that wasn't to be a problem as it was almost 5 PM and raining heavily as we headed into town.
We pulled into our hotel, the Savoy Park and had just checked in when the sound of low flying jets shook the building.
Apparently the ceiling was adequate for the show to go on. We made our way outside and down a side road to a park area and for the next 20 minutes were entertained by the RAF's "Red Arrows" flight demonstration team, great timing. The Red Arrows performed their low show over the water and the town area performing the standard array of air show maneuvers all with smoke streaming and headlights beaming.
This is the 2nd year in a row that Sheila and I have randomly come upon big-time air shows. Last year as we began our fall excursion we had modified our plans slightly to make a couple stops in the Cleveland area. As we pulled into the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame we were treated to another air show, that time with the Blue Angels demonstration over the Cleveland lake front.
With the show over we returned to the hotel and moved into our room. Once again we were a party to a wedding.
We actually met the wedding party later as this was a small hotel and basically everyone met everyone else. The next morning as we were loading the car, the bride, the groom and the bride's mum were doing the same. I guess the new husband knows his place, the bride (driver) and mum were comfortable in the front seat and the new husband had been loaded into the back with luggage, gifts and whatever else could be stuffed in and around his seat. At least for weekends many of these small hotels are really set up for wedding events but fill the gaps with paying customers such as ourselves.
We again ate in at the hotel with one of the tastiest braised beef dishes I've had unfortunately the antipasto I had eaten earlier had been filling meaning that the beef and veggies was just too much; I will long for that beef dish later in this trip.
Today had probably been our longest driving day, both in miles and time with the heaviest traffic we had encountered to date.
We departed Inverness around 11 AM with plans to drive south to the west coast of Scotland at Ayr.
Our route took us south on the A9 to Kingussie where we transitioned to the A86 via Spean Bridge to Fort William at the north end of Loch Linnhe. As before the ride was very scenic with areas of farmland interspersed amongst mountainous regions. The area is laced with parks and recreation areas.
From Fort Williams we continued south through the Loch Lomond region toward Glasgow.
Though we didn't actually enter Glasgow we were close enough for a taste of traffic in the suburbs.
En-route from Kilmarnock toward Ayr we saw signs indicating that we should expect traffic delays in the Ayr region due to the weekend's air show. Certainly that wasn't to be a problem as it was almost 5 PM and raining heavily as we headed into town.
We pulled into our hotel, the Savoy Park and had just checked in when the sound of low flying jets shook the building.
Apparently the ceiling was adequate for the show to go on. We made our way outside and down a side road to a park area and for the next 20 minutes were entertained by the RAF's "Red Arrows" flight demonstration team, great timing. The Red Arrows performed their low show over the water and the town area performing the standard array of air show maneuvers all with smoke streaming and headlights beaming.
This is the 2nd year in a row that Sheila and I have randomly come upon big-time air shows. Last year as we began our fall excursion we had modified our plans slightly to make a couple stops in the Cleveland area. As we pulled into the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame we were treated to another air show, that time with the Blue Angels demonstration over the Cleveland lake front.
With the show over we returned to the hotel and moved into our room. Once again we were a party to a wedding.
We actually met the wedding party later as this was a small hotel and basically everyone met everyone else. The next morning as we were loading the car, the bride, the groom and the bride's mum were doing the same. I guess the new husband knows his place, the bride (driver) and mum were comfortable in the front seat and the new husband had been loaded into the back with luggage, gifts and whatever else could be stuffed in and around his seat. At least for weekends many of these small hotels are really set up for wedding events but fill the gaps with paying customers such as ourselves.
We again ate in at the hotel with one of the tastiest braised beef dishes I've had unfortunately the antipasto I had eaten earlier had been filling meaning that the beef and veggies was just too much; I will long for that beef dish later in this trip.Today had probably been our longest driving day, both in miles and time with the heaviest traffic we had encountered to date.
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