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Holiday! Celebrate!

  • 24th Sep, 2008 at 9:52 AM
thumbs up awesome
So, as mentioned before, Dawn and I are going on holiday to Scotland.
We're taking the ferry from Larne to Cairnryan on Saturday (27th) afternoon and going to make our initial base of operation in Oban, Argyll, where we're staying in a B&B for two nights.
We haven't gotten any concrete plans for that Sunday, but after [info]hereward77's suggestion of Skipness castle, we may head down into Kintyre.
A day trip to Islay was something we'd have liked to do, to visit a few distilleries, but at this juncture, it seems like that might take too much time. Who knows though?

The only other part of the holiday we've planned is at least 3 nights in Edinburgh, from Friday 3rd October. We've booked into this place that looks really nice in West Coates, not too far from the city centre.
So if any of the crew are about, let us know, cos we'd love to meet up :)

Looking at it from here, our general route is likely to be a circle of the country, going up the west coast, through the highlands, probably to Inverness, maybe up to the far north, definitely visiting distilleries in Speyside, and then back down to Edinburgh.
We're not bothering with a time-frame for anything and are just going to play it by ear.

So, a few of you folks made mention of a bit of craic if we did go ahead with this. Well, consider this your notification.
Anybody up for the craic?
  • Location:dublin
  • Mood: eager
  • Music:Madonna - Holiday

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Comments

( 20 comments — Leave a comment )
[info]kama_police wrote:
24th Sep, 2008 18:29 (UTC)
well, I'm around on the 4th ;)
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[info]rockstarwookie wrote:
26th Sep, 2008 11:12 (UTC)
w00t :)
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[info]tenalpia wrote:
24th Sep, 2008 19:14 (UTC)
I'm not :( that's the one weekend that I really can't get away - I expect a suitable number of drunk texts!
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[info]the_corbie wrote:
25th Sep, 2008 13:56 (UTC)
:( I also have a previous engagement that weekend - and Phil has to work. You picked a bad weekend.

But you're both welcome to drop in on St Andrews any time, this holiday or the next...
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[info]rockstarwookie wrote:
26th Sep, 2008 11:17 (UTC)
:(
With prices, it ended up being the only weekend possible, though I had thought you might be available.

Anyways, as I said to Kat, we'll know more about our schedule next week, so if we can make it to St. Andrews, I'll let you know beforehand :)
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[info]rockstarwookie wrote:
26th Sep, 2008 11:15 (UTC)
Damn :(
Yeah, I knew you probably weren't going to be able to be around from your comment on my other post, but that weekend is the only weekend we can do Edinburgh.

Next week, we'll know more about our schedule, and I should make another post about it, so if we have a chance to get by your way before the weekend, I'll definitely let you know :)

(You are in St. Andrews, right?)
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[info]tenalpia wrote:
26th Sep, 2008 11:18 (UTC)
Dunfermline: ancient capital of Scotland and Robert the Bruce's burial place... allegedly :p

you're more than welcome here any time :)
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[info]zakalwe7 wrote:
24th Sep, 2008 20:37 (UTC)
If you're in Oban, I'd really recommend going down to Kilmartin Glen and visit the sites and museums there. It has one of the highest densities of prehistoric sites in Europe and the wicked Dunadd fort, othe most important Dal Riatan site in Scotland. Just East of Oban, Dunstaffanage Castle is rather nice aswell. If you are doing Dunstaff, Skipness and Edinburgh Castle, it would probably be best to buy one of the Historic Scotland Explorer Passes. Remember the roads in Argyll are very small and windy, so it can take a bit of time getting places.

Day trip to Islay would be cool, or a long day boat trip to Iona and Staffa.

From there head up the West Coast - make sure to stop off at Glencoe (even just to drive up and down it), possibly Glenfinnan and Eilean Donan. Try and stay on the west as long as you can. Head to Urqhart Castle on Loch Ness. Inverness is okay, Fort William is a bit piss. Try and get to Culloden Battlefield and possibly Fort George and the Clava Cairns just outside Inverness. On the way back down the distilleries, possibly a walk in the Cairngorms and maybe stop off at Dunkeld or Pitlochry.

And yes, we'll be up for seeing you here in Edinburgh!
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[info]regina_of_york wrote:
24th Sep, 2008 22:42 (UTC)
Wow, that sounds great. Can I hire you to plan our next vacation, lol?
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[info]zakalwe7 wrote:
24th Sep, 2008 23:02 (UTC)
Just come over to Scotland soon :)
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[info]rockstarwookie wrote:
26th Sep, 2008 11:19 (UTC)
That's fantastic.
Thanks!
I'm printing all this out, cause I'm sure we're going to do as much of that as we can :)

We just chose Oban because it looked like a beautiful town and roughly appeared to be in a decent position.

See you soon :)
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[info]hereward77 wrote:
24th Sep, 2008 22:08 (UTC)
No-one ever listens to me! Are you ill?

If you're doing Skipness and Kilmartin Glen, I suggest Crinan Canal as well.

On Speyside, be sure to visit the Craigellachie Hotel in Aberlour (location (and spelling) from memory). It has the best whisky bar in the multiverse.
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[info]rockstarwookie wrote:
26th Sep, 2008 11:54 (UTC)
hehe, well, I sure there's a first time for everything :P
Dawn had thought Oban seemed like a decent base of operations for our first few days, and I agreed. So Kintyre fits in with it all, easily :)
Who knows? It might even not be a disaster!

I told Dawn your recommendation of Craigellachie Hotel and it's definitely on the itinerary from that :)

I'm getting really excited about this trip now. Cannot wait :D
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[info]regina_of_york wrote:
24th Sep, 2008 22:43 (UTC)
Have a great vacation! And take lots of pictures, okay?
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[info]rockstarwookie wrote:
26th Sep, 2008 12:27 (UTC)
Oh definitely :)
I'm taking my folks' nice Sony digital camera, so I hope to get a lot of shots taken.
I'll have to make sure I get practice to actually be good at it though. The last time I took some, it was a disaster (though I place partial blame on drunkeness, lack of flash and a cheap, disposable camera.
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[info]sivestrit wrote:
25th Sep, 2008 10:52 (UTC)
Hi mate,

Hope you have a great trip.

I'll be around on Sunday the 5th. Am on holiday before then and then off away again with my brother on the 6th. Would be great to catch up with you and Dawn
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[info]furriebarry wrote:
25th Sep, 2008 21:04 (UTC)
Why did I read this 5 minutes after I booked my train to come back on Sunday afternoon? :(

I'll be coming in Friday early evening Paddy. Raaawwrrrrrr!
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[info]rockstarwookie wrote:
26th Sep, 2008 13:21 (UTC)
Awesome, I'm justified in my decision to convince my girlfriend that staying Friday night was better than staying Monday night.

See you then :)
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[info]sivestrit wrote:
25th Sep, 2008 10:57 (UTC)
oh yeah, and Oban's great. If you fancy treating yourself there's a really nice if a bit pricey seafood restaurant at the north end of the beach/harbour. All white wood and big windows and really nice food
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[info]rockstarwookie wrote:
26th Sep, 2008 13:24 (UTC)
Cool, it'll be great to see you again, Si :)

Excellent to hear that about Oban. It was Dawn who initially suggested it, because it looked nice and seemed to be well positioned.

I'll look into the restaurant, though I'm NOT a seafood fan, but Dawn is, so if I can get a turf option, we'll have to go there :)

Getting so excited about the whole thing :)
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( 20 comments — Leave a comment )