Pulling ourselves out of bed early on New Years Day, we embarked on the journey to Inverness. Needless to say the streets were very very quiet as we left Edinburgh. After a number of heated discussions over who was in charge of navigational duties we were on our way via Aberdeen and some random tourist route that was to take us past lots of castles.

Unfortunately castle season occurs from something like March to October so the opportunities for checking out some more for our bonified tourists, Andrew and Neroli, were somewhat limited. Luckily, just as it was getting dark (about 3pm) we stumbled across the ruins of Huntly Castle (just as well, cos otherwise there might have been tears). We jumped the fence (as there was no one there to take our money) and went exploring. To be honest, I enjoy castle ruins a lot more than castles that have been restored - there is more a sense of realism to them somehow.

Negotiating our way to the B&B just as the snow started falling, people were starting to seriously doubt my choice - it definitely did seem we were in the middle of nowhere! However, once we were inside being fed christmas cake and hot coffee and dumping our gear in lovely rooms, the fears were allayed. In fact, if you are going to be staying in Inverness at any stage and have a car, then I would definitely recommend Gask House (only £20pppn including superb breakfasts)!!! We ducked into Inverness (10-15 min drive) for some dinner as by the time we got back (less than 2 hours later) there was about 15cm covering everything.

The next morning, with full tummies, we were out to play in the snow!!! Then off to see Nessie. We headed to the Loch Ness Exhibition Centre after we had little luck in persuading Andrew to go for a swim with Nessie, and up to see Uruqhart Castle on the edges of Loch Ness. We didn't see the real Loch Ness monster, but we did find this very realistic looking one in a pond close by.

The only thing left to do was undertake the journey back to Edinburgh and part ways at the airport (only to meet again at our flat in London). The 2 prerequisites that Andrew had told us about before they arrived were Castles and Whisky Distilleries. We'd managed the castles bit, but with it being a bank holiday, all the distilleries seemed to be closed. Just as they thought they were going to miss out, we managed to find Edradour (the one we visited last time we were in Scotland) and it was open. So once again, whisky saves the day in Scotland.