2macstracks

The Journey Home

Our holiday was over and it was time for the glorious? flight home. Unlike when we drove up to Aviemore this time we didn’t take the “scenic route” with all its enormous trucks and holiday makers instead going south west on the familiar A9 though it has changed over the last 40 odd years having been “dualled” in some parts with work still going on in others.

The Slochd is a pass through the mountains between Inverness and Aviemore where I finally managed to get a photo of what used to be called, “The German’s Head”now, “The Soldier’s Head”. It’s not a place where you can stand, deciding on the best angle with cars whizzing past just over the Armco barrier and possibly nasty ticks lurking near your legs hoping for a tasty treat.

Between Aviemore and Kingussie Alex surrendered to the auto pilot and was astonished when the steering wheel turned within his hands to negotiate bends. It was unfazed by oncoming traffic though we passengers weren’t trusting it completely. For a while we took to quieter roads and the scenery was far more interesting.

The drive into Glasgow was very stressful and Satnav Sally let us down, we had to resort to reading road signs! It was a big relief to park the car at the hotel and go for a wander about. The next morning we dropped the car off, it had been a fantastic introduction to a hybrid vehicle.

We had hours to wait after check-in at the Airport so we were happy to find a nice place to sit with a drink and watch all the activity around us. There was a little display on a windowsill of a “St Kilda mailboat”, the history of that little island is intriguing. Its residents were certainly resourceful. The weather was lovely when we arrived in Scotland but it was very dreary as we left.

Alex was asleep before the plane had reached the runway!

We thought we had enough time to calmly find our way to the departure lounge for the next leg of our flight but we were rushed through by officials every step of the way. There was a bus to take us from the arrivals area and we had no control over the speed of that! When we found ourselves in our seats on the plane we kept hearing “Final calls” for passengers on Emirates flight EK477 to Adelaide. The plane seemed to be only about half full when it took off, maybe it was the 1am departure time that made people choose a different connection or maybe there were issues with connecting flights. Whatever, we were on our way again. and it didn’t take long for the first lot of food to arrive!

That was the end of our holiday, back to “old clothes and brose”.