Daily Archives: June 16, 2017

A Nice Walk in the Rain @ Luss on 9Jun2017 (Day 1 Fort Williams/Isle of Skye Trip 9-14Jun2017)

Posted on by

loch lomond

the journey from glasgow to fort williams is a scenic drive for a large part alongside the lake within loch lomond & the trossachs national park.

& this was our planned leisurely drive after picking up our car at avis glasgow at 9am on 9..2017. 🙂

pay & display

our first stop was at the pretty conservation village of Luss. it was just 45mins into the journey.

we arrived 10am & did the park & pay, £1 for 1hr, then a stroll through the village.

street @ Luss

it was a pretty place alright, but it was overcast & soon began to drizzle. would surely be even nicer in glorious sunshine. 🙂

residence @ Luss

& pretty houses. we passed a few on the way to the lake & jetty.

shop @ Luss

there were souvenir & other shops.

loch lomond

loch lomond

loch lomond

loch lomond is a large (long) & serene lake.

sky was overcast with a slight drizzle.

loch lomond

loch lomond

loch lomond

a calm & peaceful place to sit down, relax, meditate, or just to absorb in the natural beauty.

the cold & wet dampened the mood somewhat…

church @ Luss

we strolled round the tiny village, past a church.

church @ Luss

the rain became heavier, so we took shelter at the coach house coffeeshop, & enjoyed a very tasty & homely carrot soup & took out a flat white.

c.h.e.f andy

Tasty, Homely Soup @ Coach House Coffeeshop on 9Jun2017 (Day 1 Fort Williams/Isle of Skye Trip 9-14Jun2017)

Posted on by

carrot & parsnip soup £4.75

Luss a tiny place. it started to drizzle soon after we parked. then the rain got slightly heavier.

coach house coffeeshop= makan stop @ Luss

our park & pay was for 1 hr. so we just had a little time for a makan stop at coach house coffeeshop to stay out of the rain.

carrot & parsnip soup £4.75

we ordered one carrot & parsnip soup £4.75 to share. it was a nice & homely soup & very nice crusty brown bread.

we also ordered a flat white to take away our car park was expiring,

it was a nice makan break, soup very sweet & homely & we thoroughly enjoyed it.

c.h.e.f andy

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Coach House Coffeeshop
Address:
Church Road, Loch Lomond, Luss G83 8NN
Contact:
01436 860341
Opening Hours:
daily
  • 10am–5pm

Our 6-Day Avis Rental = VW Golf 1.4TSI Brand New Car (Only 11miles) 9-15Jun2017

Posted on by

our avis rental car VW Golf 1.4TSI

we booked a mid-sized automatic car for this trip.

safety is paramount! so we wanted a mid-sized car, and unless you are F1 driver, you don’t want to keep changing gears on a single track road at 50mph!

we have our giffgaff & three.com sim cards, but many places we were going had no network. adding GPS to car rental is very expensive so we brought along our own GPS (my wife’s friend lent it to us).

cab from glasgow central to avis glasgow office

we booked & prepared avis car online.

though they put the car hire location as glasgow central, as you were checking out to go to the payment page, a message appeared that actually avis NOT at glasgow central, but you can hail a cab from glasgow central to avis glasgow office & claim back the cab fares.

so we hailed a cab!

cab fare £5.40

cab fare was £5.40, but i forgot to claim!

i have written to avis after returning the car at Inverness. let’s see if avis will refund me the £5.40.

avis glasgow office

service was quite good otherwise at avis glasgow office.

we were early about 8.15am, but we did not want to return the car earlier than 9am at Inverness on 15.6.2017.

so the avis staff waited till 8.45am to book us in & they put on the contract that return will be 9am at inverness.

VW Golf car key

got the car. we got a brand new VW Golf, the mileage only 11miles!

we paid for full cover so zero excess payments. no need to inspect car as fully insured.

this time though we didn’t have the same luck to land a jaguar XF i had with my 2 friends for our trip to wales in 28apr-8may2017. then we had 9 days rental and started out & returned at same london location.

this time we started from glasgow & returned car in inverness. with all the additional charges our 6-day car rental maybe equal or more expensive than my last 9-day jaguar XF rental.

can’t be lucky all the time la…a new VW Golf is good enough already! very good car to drive…

c.h.e.f andy

Caledonian Sleeper London Euston to Glasgow Central on 8Jun2017

Posted on by

caledonian sleeper double-decker bunk beds 

we took the caledonian sleeper (7.5hrs journey 2350hrs to 0720hrs) from london euston station to glasgow central station on 8.6.2017. 🙂

this marked the start of our 6days tour of fort williams & isle of skye, scotland from 9-14Jun2017.

caledonian is one of only 2 sleeper service, the other being the night riveria to penzance, which we took in 2015 when we toured cornwall. 

on first look, the tiny cabin with double-decker bunk beds at 2x£120, seems expensive. however our return flight from inverness inluding shuttle bus & train from luton to st pancras cost £100, and the cheapest evening off-peak ticket for a 4.5hrs train journey london to glasgow cost £68.

more importantly the caledonian sleeper saves time, and allow us to start our drive journey from glasgow to fort williams at 9am! so full marks for wife for arranging the sleeper!

sleep advise 

they gave you some sleep advise.

eye shield, egg plugs, towel, soap 

& the whole paraphernalia of eye shield, ear plugs & what nots.

was joking with my friends on whatsapp that i had eye shield, ear plus & mouth guard – quite funny la!

the ear lugs were useless, no change in the chugging noise, i did w/o them. anyway i sleep easily.

glasgow central terminal 

i did not book breakfast. they gave us a complimentary coffee powder coffee.

glasgow central terminal 

train arrived as scheduled at 7.20am.

glasgow central terminal 

pretty ok for both of us. wife went to buys some nuts & wraps (so we could stop & picnic).

glasgow central terminal 

and then we took a cab to avis glasgow office to collect our rental car to commence our driving holiday.

c.h.e.f andy