6-day trip to Central Scotland

Went up to Scotland for a week with the wife last week. Very nice trip. We got the train from London Euston to Glasgow Central (~£50 per person, ~4.5 hours) and then a cab (~£50, ~1 hour) onwards to our first stop for the trip: the Rowardennan Hotel.

We stayed at the Rowardennan Hotel (~£50 per person per night) for a couple of nights (Tuesday evening to Thursday evening). The hotel is itself is okay but it's the location you're after. It sits right beside Loch Lomond (a large, lovely lake) and the path leading up to Ben Lomond (a mountain 974 metres high). We climbed the mountain on Wednesday and rested around the hotel on Thursday.

We returned back to Glasgow on Thursday evening via cab (~£50, ~1 hour) and stayed for a couple of nights at the Alexander Thompson hotel (~£50 per night) located right beside Glasgow Central train station. The location of the hotel was fantastic and the hotel itself was pretty decent too. Good value for money. In Glasgow, we walked around the various squares, shops and small parks as well as walking along the river and checking out Glasgow Central Mosque. One of the best Masjids I've seen with regards to not only size but also outreach with the wider community.

We caught the train (~£12 per person, ~1 hour) from Glasgow Queen Street station on Saturday afternoon on to Edinburgh where we stayed for a couple of nights. We stayed at the Tune Hotel (~£50 per night) located right outside Haymarket railway station and just a ten minute walk away from central Edinburgh. Our main day for exploration was Sunday and we pretty much walked the whole day catching all the main sights: Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile, Edinburgh Central Mosque and a bit of Holyrood Park. Edinburgh is beautiful! You can't live in the UK and not visit Edinburgh!

We returned back to London King's Cross on the train from Edinburgh Waverley (~£50 per person, ~5 hours) and back home for work the next day, recharged and refreshed :-)

You can find a small selection of pictures of our trip on my Flickr account here: Rowardennan, Glasgow, Edinburgh.

Day trip from London to Cambridge

Went up to Cambridge for the day with my wife last Sunday. A decent day trip from London. We caught the train from Kings Cross railway station (£16 return per person) in the morning. On arriving, we walked to Trumpington Road from where we caught the open-top City Sightseeing bus (£14 per person). We hopped off the bus in the town centre and started browsing the shops and the outdoor market. We picked up some nice goodies from the market like fresh jam and rhubarb! As for the town, we highly recommend the chocolates from Chocolat Chocolat and the cakes from Fitzbillies. Following the shop browsing and lunch, we headed to Parker's Piece: an awesome green common area to chill out. Lastly, we walked down Mill Road to the Abu Bakr Masjid where we caught the Asr (afternoon) prayer. And then onwards to the railway station where we caught our return train. All in all, a good day out from London and some fresher, cleaner air!