The Scotland Rally 2019 part 3

by Patrick Verheeken on 01/09/2019

Zou je het verslag liever lezen in het Nederlands klik dan HIER.

This is part 3 of our report on the Scotland Rally. Click here for part 1 and part 2.

The 7th of August – 323 km:

After another good night of sleep, we received a typical English breakfast with bacon and sausage. After this we were ready to take the ferry back to the mainland.

This little boat trip luckily went a whole lot smoother than the day before, and everybody arrived dry to shore.

We departed towards Lake District, where it is lovely to drive. Our first stop was in a little town called ‘Ambleside’. In the beginning we were not sure why it was so busy in this town, but you really had to make your way through the crowd. By the way, they have a lovely coffee bar over here called ‘Mr. H’s Tea Room’. This also was the perfect opportunity to do one of our sheep challenges. More precisely: crawl underneath a sheep!

Nearby the city of Carlisle, we had to look for the remains of Hadrian’s Wall. After asking the direction for a few times, we did eventually find it. Hadrian’s Wall was built under the government of Hadrianus, emperor of Rome from 117 until 138. The wall was 177km long in total. The goal of the wall was to defend the northern border of the Roman Empire against invaders.

The next drive brought us all the way up to Glasgow. So, we left Wales behind and entered Scotland. In our opinion, Glasgow was a bit bleak. We visited the Clyde Auditorium (which is the little brother of the all known Opera House in Sydney) and walked by the old town. Just like Liverpool, Glasgow is a big city which you don’t just “go pay a visit”. With more than 620.000 inhabitants it is the biggest city of Scotland and the second biggest city of the whole United Kingdom. For the challenge we had to make 3 Scottish friends, in full Scottish outfits. After asking around for a bit, it became clear that this was a hopeless task. So, we entered a shop where kilts were being made and there they were happy to make 3 fitting dolls pose with us for a picture. Friendly people, those Scots ;-)! By the way, did you know that every Scottish clan has its own square pattern (or tartan) and colors? So, you can’t just walk in and choose something you like. The clan rules determine what you are wearing! Although these days they are not that strict anymore.

The thing about big cities is, that you mostly stay longer than you had planned. Therefore we decided to skip the next stop, which was going to be Stirling, and just drive up to Drymen where our next campsite awaited. On the menu; Barbecue, but with a little Highland meat! For entertainment there was a real-life drive-in movie organized! A few days before departure the organization created a poll, and most people voted to watch the movie “Gone in 60 seconds”. A bag of potato chip, some beers and a warm blanket, got us through the night. Although I think some of us might have missed a little scene here and there. The Scottish air can be tiring, you see ;-). On this campsite there was not running water, so a shower was not in the cards for us. Happily for us though, there were some sanitary facilities, which made us not end up in the bushes for a toilet visit.

For those who have doubts about whether or not Scots wear something under their kilt, we have provided evidence above. Unfortunately the are wannabe Scots…

The 8th of August – 266km:

We are already on our fifth stage of the rally. This one is shorter than the others and gives us some more time to take in the beautiful sceneries along the way. We are driving by the banks of “the queen of all lakes”: Loch Lomond. We follow the roads to Inverarnan, up until our journey led us to the Bridge of Orchy. Here we take some time for a few pictures.

The next drive goes towards Glencoe, but not before we take a turn into the little road used in the James Bond movie ‘Skyfall’. A beautiful road and one of the first where there was only room (in width counted) for one car. Luckily there are a lot of little places on the road where you can put the car aside and let others pass. The following days were going to be more roads just like these. Bring it on!

Glencoe is the kind of region where you have to pull yourself together and just drive for a bit. Otherwise you stop for like a hundred times, because it is that breathtaking! Scotland is starting to get a special place in our hearts…

After Glencoe we continue towards Loch Ness. Here we pass by Fort William, where we obviously stopped for a visit in the town. A whisky store caught our eye and before you know it, you walk out with a special bottle of Scottish fluid. We left Fort William behind and drove towards the lake of Loch Ness, when Loïc pointed out that we were nearby the bridge of the Hogwarts Express from the Harry Potter movies. A little detour had to be done! Apparently, we weren’t the only ones with this idea because it was quite crowded over there. We got lucky with finding a spot to put our car. Before the Harry Potter movies, I presume that nobody came and check out the bridge but is worth the while to make a little detour. Too bad there was no train passing by at the time, because two times a day a locomotive does come by and that makes the view even more impressive.

Loch Ness is the lake ware the famous monster, carrying the same name, lives. It is a well-known “secret” that Nessie only reveals itself to people who are not handling a camera. Our cameras were safely tucked away in our bags, which made it possible to see a glimpse of Nessie. When we told our story, obviously nobody believed us because we had no proof. Is this the way the myth is being kept alive?

We keep following Loch Ness, until we reach Inverness, our destination for today. We ate a very nice Chili con Carne. That’s going to be fun tomorrow in the car ;-). This Campsite was very nice and modern and had all the comfort needed. In other words, back to having a hot shower!

At this point in the rally you can also feel the atmosphere getting better and better. All of us have similar interest, which makes it easy to keep a conversation going.

Tonight, we meet up with Maarten and Lennert because tomorrow we will drive the NC500 together. There has been given the option to follow the short route or take the longer drive. Obviously, we chose to go all in! This drive will be the crown piece of the rally and most of us are really looking forward to it!

View our video of the past two days here!