Hassells in the Highlands

Traveling here in the Highlands of Scotland can be interesting. And it can be complicated.  There is basically one main road to drive between here and Inverness, which is 100 plus a few miles south. That would be the A9.  It is mostly 2 lane (1 lane each direction) and the first hour down is mostly a windy road along the coast, with some steep parts and some hairpin curves.  It's a beautiful drive, for sure.  But if there happens to be an accident on the road, or if part of it should be closed due to weather conditions, then you could be stuck for several hours. Our first drive to Thurso in June took us 3 hours, but we have it down to about 2 hours and 15 minutes now. :) There are, technically , other roads you could take. You could plunge down the A897 - to Forsinard - and then head over to Helmsdale and meet up with the A9 again to continue on to Inverness. But most of the A897 is a single lane, windy road. That makes for an interesting trip. (We dro...

Christmas in a foreign country.  It was different. It was decorated like Christmas and it was cold, like Christmas is supposed to be, and there was Christmassy music, but it sure didn't feel like Christmas.  How is it we chose to do this for Christmas?  Last summer, Bryan decided that he wanted to spend New Year's Eve in Germany, and so he made plans to be in Europe for several weeks.  So we asked if we might join him for part of it.  Of course, some of his plans changed a bit over time.  Instead of being in Germany for Christmas, he heard Edinburgh, Scotland, was the place to be for Hogmanay.   Bryan likes beer. And he likes craft beers especially.  Since part of what he wanted to do on this trip was sample local brews, I passed on the information gotten from a Belgium man in Venice, that Belgium has better beer than Germany. They are known for their great pilsner beers.  And that's how he decided to make...