After a full month of planning, my sister finally arrived in London in early Feb.  Her feet barely touched the ground the whole time she was in the UK - I had a full itinerary planned for her.  …From 6am runs with me before work, to musicals, curry in Brick Lane and bar hopping at night.  It was lovely having her stay with me and to see my home in London, work and meet some of my friends.

After 5 days of Steph exploring London, we both set off on our trip to Scotland.  First stop was Glasgow, where we stayed with our cousin and enjoyed a weekend of football, shopping, wandering, night life and The Barras!  Before setting off on our road trip around Scotland, we visited Govan - the area of Glasgow where Dad was born and grew up with his Ma, Da and 8 siblings.  This was a highlight for us as we visited a number of important landmarks, places that we’d heard so many stories about over the years.

When we were finished in Govan, we set off on our way to Edinburgh.  Edinburgh, Scotland’s historic capital was beautiful and oozing with history but very different to the Scotland that we knew through Dad’s stories.  We visited all the main sights, with the highlights being the Real Mary King’s Close, Edinburgh Castle and the best steak pie and mash ever!  From there we headed to Stirling, with the historic battle-fields, William Wallace monument and breathtaking views/scenery. 

Crail was the next port of call, a coastal fishing town in the region of Fife.  Similar to Govan, Crail was also important to us and a highlight of our trip as Dad used to visit this town with his family when they set off on a break.  It was absolutely freezing in Crail but we felt this added to the experience of this cute fishing village with a picturesque rocky coastline - we both loved Crail!  From there we started our journey north, through St Andrews, then Blair Atholl, to Aviemore and eventually Inverness.  Driving up into the highlands was like nothing we’d ever seen before, with snow tipped mountains as far as the eye could see. 

When it was time to start our journey South again, we drove along the side of the huge Loch Ness - unfortunately no sightings of Nessie but the Loch itself was absolutely breathtaking.  We continued down to Fort William and then through the Great Glen to Glencoe and Crianlarich.  Taking a slight detour off the main A82 added to the fun - it was a real adventure, stopping whenever we felt and spotting highland cows and a deer!  It was pourring rain as we made our way along the side of Loch Lomond, to Balloch.  From there we had a short drive to Glasgow the next morning…it was the end of our unforgettable ‘roadie’ but we were on a high and ready for our next adventure - Italy.