Round Britain Diary

[whisper]

As the scenery changes it reminds me of a film called deliverance None of the other teams have heard of it

Rick G hasn't even heard of Top Gun

At this point I feel a little old...

[whisper]

The further we go the better the views, time's getting on and we are never getting through in one day

All hotel bookings will have to change as the whole schedule goes one day behind.

But at least the Targa's might catch up???

[whisper]

We arrive at Fort Augustus, above Loch Ness and I don't think that I have ever seen a better view in my life.

Scotland is beautiful

But there is no more locks tonight and we'll be staying here, which is awesome news as I love the place

[Poly]

Originally Posted by whisper

As the scenery changes it reminds me of a film called deliverance

Originally Posted by ShinyShoe

Am I right in understanding that you'd never met before and only communicated via the forum up to the decision to "do it"? My over cautious nature means I'd spend more time worrying about what if Jurgen had 4 heads, ate ginger Englishmen for breakfast.

This combination of circumstances could cause some anxiety!

Although probably not as disturbing as this:

Rick G hasn't even heard of Top Gun

[whisper]

After a walk about we find a restaurant on the shore of Loch Ness and we sample the local delights...

Battered Haggis and Nessie's Hot Pot Pie.

The Guinness is nothing like Ireland though

We agree with team Duma that tomorrow we would find the Loch Ness Monster Sprits are really high and we are all well rested.

Trev opts for a late start so the Targa's can catch up a bit more. So tonight we can drink more than just one or two pints. Tonight, we would drink Whisky

[Poly]

you've been hanging out in poncy places again haven't you? fancy plates...

and is that salad with the haggis

[whisper]

Originally Posted by Poly

you've been hanging out in poncy places again haven't you? fancy plates...

and is that salad with the haggis

Yep, but we are trying to sample the local food and drink wherever we go. However as many places near water are quite touristy we are not getting the real deal... Maybe just a sample of an interpretation???

[whisper]

Facebook post by Mrs G:

The ribs are having dinner at Fort Augustus at the foot of Loch Ness and staying there for the night, so have slipped a day. Plan to be in Inverness tomorrow night. Not sure where the Targas are, but they are somewhere on the Caledonian Canal

[whisper]

Facebook post by the Targa's:

Targa express, chilled beer delivery service to Jurgen and Alex delayed by continued mechanical difficulties

[whisper]

We walk up to a bar that sells loads of different whiskies and start to sample their wares

We don't drink much though, we are trying to get the very best from every day and tomorrow we have a monster to catch!!!

We walk back to Black Hawk, grab our sleeping bags and Jurgen heads off to a ditch while I sleep on the pontoon wedged against a fence so I don't roll over in the night into the water

Mrs W has read the news on facebook and gives me a call so I jam the phone between my ear and my inflatable pillow and during our conversation I fall asleep...

She listens to my light snore for a few minutes and then starts to shout, Alex, Alex, ALEX!!!!

I wake up and she tells me to put the phone in my sleeping bag or someone might steal it.

I say goodnight and I'm back off to sleep with the bivi bag pulled over my head to I don't get eaten alive by the many insects around

[whisper]

Day 8:

In the morning I wake up as a lady passes me walking her dog, she shoots me a look and carries on walking, moments later a minibus drives past full of lock keepers, all of which are staring at me???

A few seconds later there's a mans arrives taking pictures of me, just standing there, I look at him and he just carries on!!!

Pi$$ed off with whats going on, I get up and throw my sleeping bag in the boat and the cameraman's vanished so I walk off across the lock gate to the toilets passing a lock keeper who says "Morning Sir!"

I had just gone from tramp to Sir in about three seconds

On the way I met Jurgen and as we opened the door into the shower block we were greeted by a massive sign that said:

NO WILD CAMPING!

Doh

[whisper]

We walk down the locks to get breakfast but everywhere's closed except the butcher and Jurgen wants to go in. I explain that a butcher only sells raw meat but he's convinced otherwise...

We walk in and the butcher says "sure, what do you want?" (or the equivalent in Scottish???)

So the butcher cooks us a breakfast roll and we sit out near the lock and it's awesome

We spread the word and soon everyones getting their breakfast cooked by the butcher. Jurgen tells me this is normal in Germany.

Me, I've never heard of this before???

[whisper]

After a slow walk back, we are suited up, relaxed and my mate Jurgen is happy...

Now, should I, or should I not sound the foghorn???

I better not, there's too many coppers about looking for that tramp

[whisper]

So we are about half way in the Caledonian Canal, the locks started to drop at 8am and then they would bring the next lot of boats up so they wouldn't be dropping again until about 11:30am.

Now we were on the second drop so we wouldn't get to Loch Ness that was about 300 yards away until about 13:15 (all times approximate).

When the second drop came we weren't the only ones that wanted to get down to Loch Ness and it was going to be tight with Blue Ray that was in pieces as Adam and Trev were working on the electric power steering pump.

At times we would have inches between the yachts and our outboards

We had to take care, hold on tight and make sure that we worked with the yachts and their crews to make sure every rope was right. If they looked after number one, the chances were that we were going to get scratched

[whisper]

Facebook post by East Devon (Finn):

Like being in a gold fish bowl.

[whisper]

After literally bursting out of the final lock into Loch Ness it wasn't long before Duma finds the loch Ness monster and we agree that it would good to provide photographic evidence of our discovery, just incase nobody believed us...

Facebook post by by Duma:

We saw the Loch Ness monster today and have it recorded on our fish finder. Amazing or what?! Long live Nessie

[whisper]

In view of our massive success (not getting caught for vagrancy) we decided to do some high speed turns

This is Finn giving it large!

[Bushrider]

Originally Posted by whisper

We saw the Loch Ness monster today and have it recorded on our fish finder. Amazing or what?! Long live Nessie

A bit later I found the baby monster inspecting our RIBs .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZrVUk3ea3Q

[M.Thornton]

Originally Posted by Bushrider

A bit later I found the baby monster inspecting our RIBs .

That yellow monster scared the sh*t out of me!

[Bushrider]

I tell you - these yellow monsters were everywhere - all way round Britain !!
I heard they were called the banana boys "monsters"