Darlo's World

So I’ve made it back to Shropshire in one piece (though my back feels like it’s in four or five), and so it’s time to crack on with telling you about the trip.

Day Three – Dundee to John O Groats

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Bloody good breakfast. Yum.

We left the hotel and headed north, stopping early along the way for a couple of pictures.


Driving through the hills of Scotland really was quite fun. We had empty roads and great weather. Normally when I think of Scotland I just think of cold rainy weather, the complete opposite of what we had on day 3.

After passing through Inverness, we headed back down south a bit to Loch Ness, in hope of catching a glance of the famed Loch Ness Monster (do you remember The Family Ness cartoon?).

The Loch itself is a lot bigger than I’d anticipated, but it was good to drive along side it.


As I expected Loch Ness contained a lot of tourist attractions. History of the Loch, information on expeditions, a very interesting set of toilets, free parking, and even something for the pets.


And of course, we found him.

I think the reason so many people fail to find him is that he’s actually no longer living in the main lake, but a smaller lake right next to Loch Ness (and right next to a gift shop, coincidentally).

We left the beautiful Loch Ness and headed North. Far North. In fact, we went all the way north!

We went right up to Dunnet Head, the most northern point of mainland Britain (though many think John O Groats holds that honour). It was quite late so we didn’t really see much, so after having a look at the nearby lighthouse we headed to the John O Groats Youth Hostel, where we were to stay the night. Coincidentally, we met another Japanese traveller.

Finally, my long awaited driving holiday has arrived, and I’m looking forward to it. I’m driving from Telford to John O Groats to Lands’ End and back again, making various stops along the way. If you’re in one of those stops and want to hang out for a bit, maybe show us a sight or two, then please do get in touch!

The trip from the two tips of the island is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid. When I was working in Somerset I’d already visited Lands’ End, so just needed to go up north.

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You’ll have to pardon the Japanese maps, I took them from the Japanese version of this blog entry (but the English is there aswell).

The Plan

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13th August (Fri)
・From Telford to Leeds
・Sleep in Leeds

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14th August (Sat)
・From Leeds to Glasgow
・Pick up my mate from Glasgow Airport
・From Glasgow to Perth
・Sleep in Perth

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15th August (Sun)
・From Perth to John O’ Groats
・Sleep in John O’ Groats

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16th August (Monday)
・From John O’ Groats to Inverness
・Have a visit to Loch Ness
・From Inverness to Edinburgh
・Sleep in Edinburgh

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17th August (Tue)
・Enjoy the Edinburgh Festival
・Sleep in Edinburgh

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18th August (Wed)
・From Edinburgh to Leeds
・Sleep in Leeds

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19th August (Thur)
・From Leeds to Weston Super Mare
・Sleep in Weston Super Mare

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20th August (Fri)
・From Weston Super Mare to Nether Stowey
・From Nether Stowey to Lands’ End
・From Lands’ End to Exmouth
・Sleep in Exmouth

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21st August (Sat)
・From Exmouth to Salisbury (however, it’s still not been decided yet, so we might go to Brighton instead)
・Sleep in Salisbury (or Brighton)

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22nd August (Sun)
・From Salisbury (or Brighton) to London
・Drop my friend off at London Airport
・From London to Telford
・The trip ends.

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