Hassells in the Highlands

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...

  Durness.  It is a small but picturesque town on the west coast in Northern Scotland. Mike made a trip there when he was here for a week in March. And he brought back pictures of fabulous hot chocolate and a very cool cave. So, it being a weekend with no other plans, and wanting to take advantage of the time we have here, we decided to make a road trip.  It is 71 miles from Thurso to Durness. It took 2 hours to drive it. Here is why. Two lanes about half the way to Durness. Then one lane, with no road markings at all, but with "passing places" the rest of the way. ("Passing places" are a little wider area on the side of the road- sometimes hardly noticeable without the sign telling you so).  Now, granted, there were "passing places" quite often on the road. But the thing is, the road is windy - there are curves the whole way. Every once in a while, you can get up some speed (50 mph) but you quickly have to slow down either because ...