Its been a day or so since my last update and once again the days in between have involved quite a bit of driving. Since picking up the car on Monday Ive driven over 1000 miles (around 1600 kms) - seems a little excessive when I think about it in those terms.

The drive through the Lake district was by far my favourite. The peaks and lakes in that area are really magical - classic old villages and really friendly people.

I stayed the night in a place called Keswick and spent most of the night sitting quietly in the pub tapping into their wifi.

The next day I headed for Edinburgh - on reflection I wished Id stayed another night in the Lake District but I couldnt resist the urge to keep driving. I think it was a bit of a mistake because I under estimated the size of Edinburgh and spent close to 3 hours trying to find the YHA - by the time I did I was pretty exhausted.

It seems again that I underestimated the effect that the retreat had on me and I wasnt quite prepared for entering a busy city again. I found Edinburgh to be a mostly noisy, busy city with dark ancient architecture. Ive heard that on a sunny day Edinburgh can be brilliant but on a grey day it can be very bleak - I caught it on a grey day.

I did however walk up the royal mile to the front gate of the castle. The castle sits very impressively on a tall piece of land that juts out in the middle of the city. Its really amazing to see the juxtaposition of relatively modern buildings being overshadowed by a medieavel castle. I was unfrotunately to late to go inside so I had to be content with looking at the view across the city.

The next day (this morning) I headed off towards Roslyn chapel which is a few miles south of the city. You may remember (if you saw the atrocious Tom Hanks film or read the book) that the chapel featured in the plot of the Da Vinci code. There is certainly a link between the chapel and the Knights templar but most of the story in the book was a hollywood fabrication - surprise surprise.

Id have to say that walking into this church was like a great experience. I instantly had shivers down my spine and felt my heart opening as I walked further into the space. Its a very beautiful little chapel with incredibly ornate sculptures and decorations that are very organic and rich. I spent almost an hour there just sitting in the chapel and climbing the scaffold that sits around it, protecting it during its restoration.

The rest of the day was spent driving from Roslyn up into the highlands to the hostel just on the south end of Loch Ness. This was a really incredible drive. The mountains up here are once again very bleak and some of them (including Ben Nevis) are still snow capped. Its like driving through valleys of sleeping giants - incredible round and occasionally sheer ridges rising up out of mostly flat plains.

The plan is to stay here for two nights and then drive south to Iona. Hopefully Ill be able to upload some photos soon so you can see what this country looks like.

Hope you are all well - Ant.