July 6- Ben Nevis

Woke up early and drove to Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the UK.  We bought groceries and started the climb around 10:30.  Great weather and we finished around 3:30.  After hiking, we drove roughly 2 hours to the Loch Ness Clansman Hotel. We took showers and napped in the room.  Then we had dinner at the Oakwood restaurant, with the nice Scottish owner.  

                                                                                                                                             

July 5- Edunburgh Castle, Skyfall filming location

Departed the Langstrath Hotel and drove to Kessick to return boots.  Then drove about 3 hours to Edinburgh, Scotland.  It was foggy and rainy, but we toured Edinburgh Castle.  We went on a short, guided tour then explored on our own.  We parked in a garage downtown and ate at Subway.  Mid-afternoon, we departed for the Scottish Highlands, towards Glencoe, Scotland. We found the James Bond Skyfall filming locations, including Dalness Lodge and the ski resort.  Drove down tiny, beautiful one lane roads and took many pictures. 
We ate a super quick dinner at the historical King’s House Hotel.  It's been a hotel since the 1600s I think.  Really neat inside.  We found our campsite easily and spent some time talking with the owners.  The husband worked in the agricultural tree division of the World Bank and the wife invited us in to their house.  The daughter and granddaughter were visiting.  There was only one other man at the campsite.  The bathrooms and showers werevery new and nice.  We had perfect camping weather and I really had fun.  We even went to bed before dark.

July 4- Green Gable and Great Gable

We planned to meet the Brits at 10 am for another walk.  We woke up early and enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the Langstrath (smoked salmon, black pudding,etc.) Then we drove in to Kessick and Alysse exchanged her boots while Cooper bought her bandaids.  However, due to blisters and bruises, Alysse decided to skip out on the day’s hike.  She spent time writing postcards, reading, napping, eating ice cream, etc around the hotel.  Cooper climbed Green Gable and Great Gable with the Brits.  Adrain, Alice, and Cooper lost Peter and Alan for about an hour, but finally met up with them at the summit.  The Brits had an early dinner at the hotel.  We talked with them and their wives briefly and bought their first round of drinks.  We also ate dinner at the hotel that night.            

July 3- Hiking with "the Brits"

The sun rises really early in the UK, so we were awake around 5.  But, we officially woke up at 7:00, packed up our tent, and drove to the Langstrath Inn near Stonewaith.   On the way, we stopped in the town of Kessick to check out local hiking trail guides.  The outdoor store we went to offered rentable boots, so we got those for Alysse.  A 3 day rental cost 5 pounds.  When we arrived at the Langstrath Inn, the doors were locked, so we parked our car about a quarter mile down the road at a pull off for hikers.  
We saw the Brits and gave a quick “hello” but didn’t say much  else.  We were planning to follow one of local trail heads from the hotel.  After a short distance, we realized we didn’t really know where we were going and Alysse was slightly freaking out because trails were poorly marked/nonexistent.  Our trail and the trail the Brits were taking met and that’s when we officially met “the Brits.” Peter (friend), Allan (father), Adrian (son), and Alice (11 year old daughter) invited us to accompany them on their walk.  We hiked up to Sergeant’s Crag and Eagle’s Crag.  We returned to the hotel around 4:30 and checked in.  We enjoyed a round of drinks on the Brits.  Alysse had bad blisters and we drove back to Kessick to see if we could exchange the boots.  The outdoor store was closed.  We had dinner at a local restaurant in Kessick.

July 2- Chatsworth House

Woke up at 7:30 and had breakfast at the Sherwood Forest hostel.  We planned to go to Nottingham Castle, but the breakfast cook told us to skip Nottingham Castle.  There would be horrible city traffic, it's expensive, and not that great.  Instead, he advised we go to Chatsworth House.  We didn't realize it at the time we left, but Cooper and I accidentally kept the room keys.  Chatsworth House was totally amazing and we stayed there almost all day.  We ate lunch at a really neat tea shop that we walked to and then walked around the lovely gardens. We left Chatsworth House in the late afternoon and started a 3 hour drive to the Lake District.  We drove to Elterwater and had trouble finding a suitable campsite.  It was near dark (around 10:30 pm probably)and kind of rainy.  We were driving on tiny, one lane roads.  This was the only night we didn’t have lodging plans.  We found a local campsite in the Great Gable.  We didn't know at the time that's where we'd be hiking.  Cooper set up the tent in the rain and we ate sandwiches from the grocery store.  Alysse was cold, wet, and not totally enjoying it, but it was fine.

July 1- Change of plans..

Unfortunately, Christ Church (Hogwarts Great Hall) at Oxford was closed until 1:30, but we toured the surrounding grounds and The University of Oxford campus.  We had a beer and cider at The Turf Tavern, where Bill Clinton “did not inhale.”  We departed the cityaround 1:00.  Planned to go to Warwick Castle, but we drove 2 hours back to London.  Our GPS led us to Warwick, London, not Warwick, Warwickshire.  Real hassle and waste of a good afternoon.  We called the Warwick ticket office to transfer tickets to Sunday, July 8^th, when we’d be back through the area. We drove from London to the Sherwood Forest Youth Hostel (3 hours.)  Alysse had a room to herself and only 2 people were in Cooper’s room.  Cooper came

to Alysse’s room.  Really strange that it was so empty.  We walked about 4 miles around Sherwood Forest at dusk.  Then, we picked up dinner and snacks at the local Co-op Food store and ate back at the hostel.

July 1- Oxford and Stonehenge

July 1

Cooper and I woke up around 7am and enjoyed a lovely breakfast at the hotel, Highfield House. Typical English breakfast of baked beans, stewed tomatoes, mushrooms, etc. Then we drove about an hour to Stonehenge. We were there around opening so it wasn't crowded. Spent less than an hour doing audio tour and taking photos.

Then we drove to Oxford. I think it was about 2 hour drive. We basically walked around the beautiful old campus. We wanted to tour the Harry Potter dining hall but it was closed 11 to 1:30 for lunch.  Everyone is so relaxed here.  We found The Turf bar, which is the famous Bill Clinton marijuana bar. I had cider and Cooper had ale. 

We are currently driving to Warwick castle as I write on my Kindle. It's almost 2:30 now so were right on schedule!