And even more photos…. Only Liam and Scott climbed this as it looked a bit high to me. From the base of this rather large rockery, we all enjoyed the quite spectacular views though (of the scenery, not Liam and Scott).
Category: UK
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Isle of Skye – Seals
Another post just of photos, these are the seals off the coast of the Isle of Skye, near to Duntulm. Very cute.
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Isle of Skye – Talisker Distillery Tour
It’s a few years since we went on the distillery tour, and I’m careful not to call it a brewery tour as I did keep referring to it as that, at Talisker on the Isle of Skye. I’m not really a whisky drinker, it’s a bit harsh for my very delicate palate, but I’m always willing to try alcoholic beverages.
Some barrels which were on the tour. On a side note, stout which has been aged in whisky (or whiskey if Irish rather than Scottish) barrels is some of the best going in my view.
After a tour of the facilities, which was genuinely interesting, it was time for a testing of the whisky. They gave us some old whisky, but apparently it can taste better with ageing.
Richard told Liam that it was a local distillery, although Liam questioned why there was Diageo branding on the walls….. I remember that some of the samples weren’t too bad, although some of us (primarily Liam and me) had no idea what the etiquette was about all this, and what the water was that went with it.
This is the whisky that we thought Richard should buy for his collection, it was priced at just £2,400.
This was the cheaper option that Richard went for.
But only after he decided that a distillery was a suitable working environment.
Pleased with his purchases, he chatted about them to a local.
All in all, it was a rather lovely tour, interesting enough even for those of us who aren’t whisky drinkers.
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Isle of Skye – Repurposed Cycling Helmets
I’m not really much into cycling (mostly as I find it tiring), so this seems a marvellous idea for cycling helmets….
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Isle of Skye – Portree (Portree Hotel)
This post is more just photos to remind me of a rather lovely week a few years back. This is primarily because I’ve forgotten what the six of us thought about this meal, although I don’t remember anything bad about it.
My soup and fish & chips.
I have no idea what Liam ordered for his starter, but it was followed by steak and probably some sticky toffee pudding arrangement knowing him.
I didn’t bother taking photos of what anyone else had, other than this one….
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Isle of Skye – Portree (Walk and Garden Centre)
Just photos on this post, this is Portree Harbour and we ended up at a garden centre, as that’s what most people do on a stag week…. To be fair though, it was at the end of the walk and I think that this was the cat that scratched Scott. We liked that cat.
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Isle of Skye – Portree (Map)
The official map of Portree was more amusing that it might have appeared at first sight…
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Isle of Skye – Fairy Glen
These photos are from Liam’s stag week a few years ago, the time allowed by the coronavirus means that this is the first time I’ve uploaded most of these. Fairy Glen is named for no other reason than it has a mystical feel to it and it’s a peaceful site, topped off by Castle Ewan. This is just a rock formation and has never been a castle, but it does look like that from afar and we’re visible in the photos after climbing to the top of it.
There are some spirals on the ground with coins and stones in the centre of them, although it seems that the local tourist authorities aren’t keen on this recent innovation. The whole surroundings are though quite magical, there’s a touch of the Hobbit about the landscapes.
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Lincoln – Holiday Inn Express City Centre
Not that it’s particularly entertaining content (although to be fair, a lot of my content isn’t) but I think it’s important for me to post about how helpful hotels were for stays that I didn’t get to make during late March and early April due to the coronavirus. Every one of those hotels must be suffering and worried about its staff, so I’m going to try and get back to all of them later this year so at least none of them lose my booking. It’s not going to be much, but the hospitality industry is going to need some considerable help, not just from the Government, but also from customers returning.
Having posted about the other twelve or so hotels that offered me refunds for stays in late March and early April (I have another wave of hotels to contact for stays after that, but it’s too early yet for that), there was only one which didn’t reply at all to my e-mail. Which was this one, the Holiday Inn Express Lincoln, for a stay that had already completed (or not completed in this case). My follow-up e-mail to the hotel was promptly acknowledged by the management company, which is very much appreciated, but they’ve said they don’t have access to the reservation bookings.
I have a feeling that IHG are processing refunds and are just taking some time about doing it, which is entirely understandable and they’re not the only ones doing that. I can’t imagine many customers will mind that it’s taking some time, but hotels are going to have to tell them that otherwise they’ll have a wave of chargeback claims and the lost custom will perhaps start to bite later in the year.
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Croydon – Ibis Styles
I’ve stayed here before, so I do know something about this hotel and it’s one I like, albeit it’s a bit quirky. But Ibis Styles are allowed to be quirky. Anyway, this is another post in my growing series of ‘hotels that refunded my non-refundable booking because of the coronavirus’. The hotel is now closed for April when I would have been going and although they might not have been thrilled to refund, they’ve done so and so that’s another location I’ll make sure that I visit in the future to make up for their loss.
