Water, wildlife and wonders... a road trip around Scotland COMPLETED 11/6 - Page 15 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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There are other changes as well.
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It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
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So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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On the way, we got stuck behind a tractor, but Mark wasn’t having any of them. He put his foot to the floor, and literally took off past him. He was cheerfully telling us later that the gears went down from 5 to 2! I didn’t say a word, but just prayed (as I think everyone in the car did!) that the tractor didn’t flinch an inch, as there wasn’t much space, and there was a stone wall on the other side! Thankfully he didn’t, and just as we passed him, Mari let out a squeal. We all burst out laughing. I guess Mari and Raleigh were about as terrified as I was!
We were at least able to stop further up to photograph these beautiful Belted Galloway cows. Mari was enchanted by them, and kept saying she’d never seen anything like them. They are one of my favourite breeds.
We saw some more beautiful scenery on the way back…
As soon as we parked the car, I left the others to it, and went upstairs to get my swimming kit, and made my way down to the hotel spa. I was there literally at 5:00pm, which wasn’t bad, but they had asked me to be there 10 minutes before my treatment time, so I was running a bit late. I changed and was taken upstairs to their treatment area, which is massive. I counted about 10 treatment rooms.
I was told to sit in the waiting area, and complete the health questionnaire, but didn’t even get it finished before the guy who was going to do my massage turned up. That threw me, as a) I usually have a woman and b) I was desperately trying to remember all of my medical ailments… sad but true. I actually remembered one as we were talking in the treatment room.
He was definitely the silent type, but it didn’t help that his English wasn’t great. I did ask where he was from, but honestly I couldn’t catch the answer, so I gave up, and just enjoyed the treatment, which was very good.
Once I was done, I headed downstairs, and went to sit in the steam room for a bit, and got chatting to a couple there. After I was heated up enough, it was into the pool for a few lengths, before I tried the sauna for a bit.
I figured I’d better get moving, as I knew that dinner was at 7:00pm, and I thought I’d heard Mark, Mari and Raleigh arranging to meet at 6:30pm in the lounge. The shower here was lovely, much more powerful than in the room, and the hairdryers were pretty good too, although it took quite a few attempts to get my hair dry, which meant I didn’t get back until just after 6:30pm. Mark’s first words when I walked through the door were “I’ve texted you to ask where you were”. Just as he said it, my phone went off to indicate a text message, and yes, it was his. I tell you, cell phone coverage here is not great.
We headed downstairs and enjoyed a glass of the Portuguese wine they’d purchased in the Azores, which was very pleasant.
Once we’d all finished, we made our way over to dinner for the evening, which was at the Angel Inn, about five minutes’ walk away. I wish I’d known that it would be up such steep hills, although at least the bonus was on the way back, we’d be going downhill. We were all exhausted when we got there, and to make it worse, the pub was really hot. We asked for the air conditioning to be put on, it was so stuffy in there, and thankfully they did, and the temperature did eventually cool down.
I will be honest, the menu was nothing fancy or spectacular, but then again, you don’t always need to do that, if you just present honest, good food, and that’s pretty much what they did.
I have to say the service was Ok, but my goodness, they were not the sharpest tools in the box, let’s just shall… At one point, they asked if we wanted desserts, and Mark joked “is the Pope a Catholic?” and I am really not joking, honestly the woman said “I don’t know”.
I decided to have the Ploughman’s platter, made up of cheese, honey roast ham, pork pie, boiled egg, celery, apple, pickled onions, chutney, and freshly baked bread, but only after checking I could get extra cheese, which I could, as obviously I wouldn’t have the meat or apple on the dish.
Mark went for the homemade chilli con carne with rice, nachos, and sour cream, and he was very impressed with it, and kept saying how good it was.
Mark and I both went for dessert. Now at this point, the server asked if we wanted dessert, and we did our usual line “is the Pope Catholic?” and seriously, and I am really not joking here, she said “oh I don’t know. Is he?” She was being deadly serious. We were all so shocked by that. Surely everyone knows? Apparently not…
I had two scoops of ice cream, the death by chocolate and the choc-mint, but even that was tough, as the server thought I was asking for another scoop of death by chocolate…
He had the Angel Inn Eton mess….
All in all, despite the hike to get here and the not-so-on-the-ball wait staff, we had a nice meal here.
With that, we made our back down the hill and through the town…
We detoured to Tesco Express to get Raleigh some English mustard, as he’d developed a taste for it, and met either the local homeless or local n’er do well community, shall we say? They were basically screaming “good evening” at everyone, until they replied appropriately. I got the idea, and just said it quickly, so it was over and done with, but it was a bit intimidating.
The weather today was cloudy with some rain later on and temperatures in the mid 50s. The best thing today was visiting Wray Castle. The worst thing today was having to rush back for my massage, as it didn’t mean I was relaxed when I got there. The funniest thing today was the snooker game! Today we tried taking the steam yacht gondola And the result was it was a lot of fun. The most magical moment today was out on Coniston Water in the peace, just taking in the beautiful scenery.
Mark and I both went for dessert. Now at this point, the server asked if we wanted dessert, and we did our usual line “is the Pope Catholic?” and seriously, and I am really not joking here, she said “oh I don’t know. Is he?” She was being deadly serious. We were all so shocked by that. Surely everyone knows? Apparently not…
On the way, we got stuck behind a tractor, but Mark wasn’t having any of them. He put his foot to the floor, and literally took off past him. He was cheerfully telling us later that the gears went down from 5 to 2! I didn’t say a word, but just prayed (as I think everyone in the car did!) that the tractor didn’t flinch an inch, as there wasn’t much space, and there was a stone wall on the other side! Thankfully he didn’t, and just as we passed him, Mari let out a squeal. We all burst out laughing. I guess Mari and Raleigh were about as terrified as I was!
What was wrong we had 6" either side!
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Mark Uninterrupted time with Grumpy at Tokyo Disney!
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Belted Galloways are cute, oh my!! Glad you made it back just in time for the spa.
Also glad you got the hill in the right order, up first and then down. Dinner sounded pretty good! Sometimes the simple foods are just what hits the spot. Love that the sky is still light for your walk back too. Cute town!
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Tanya
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Glad you made it back for your massage even if you had to rush! Your meal at the Angel Inn looked very good! I can't believe how clueless the staff was there with the Pope comment! Too funny with Mark driving past the tractor! That's an unexpected thrill ride you don't even get at Disney!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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Belted Galloways are cute, oh my!! Glad you made it back just in time for the spa.
Also glad you got the hill in the right order, up first and then down. Dinner sounded pretty good! Sometimes the simple foods are just what hits the spot. Love that the sky is still light for your walk back too. Cute town!
That was one thing we all kept talking about, how light it was late into the evening.
Glad you made it back for your massage even if you had to rush! Your meal at the Angel Inn looked very good! I can't believe how clueless the staff was there with the Pope comment! Too funny with Mark driving past the tractor! That's an unexpected thrill ride you don't even get at Disney!
That's true! It's one I hope not to repeat again...
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The scenery on the lake was so pretty. 
PassPorter Guide Author
I didn’t say a word, but just prayed (as I think everyone in the car did!) that the tractor didn’t flinch an inch, as there wasn’t much space, and there was a stone wall on the other side! 
We were all exhausted when we got there, and to make it worse, the pub was really hot. We asked for the air conditioning to be put on, it was so stuffy in there, and thankfully they did, and the temperature did eventually cool down. 
That's an unexpected thrill ride you don't even get at Disney! 
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