[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 5 October 2014]

30 January 2014, Thursday

After a good night’s sleep on a comfy hotel room bed, we woke up this morning and proceeded to the restaurant downstairs for a sumptuous breakfast buffet. We were escorted to a table with a view of George Square outside, and surrounding us were folks in business suits and important looking people. This was, after all, a 4-star business hotel in the middle of the city, and here were IJ and I, two backpackers enjoying a complimentary night’s stay and breakfast. We made ourselves as comfortable as we could.

Breakfast was great, with all my favourite things – scrambled eggs, mushrooms, sausages, bacon, tomato, hash browns, coffee and juice. I saw some black thing that resembled a cookie or brownie and took a piece. When I bit into it, I almost wanted to spit it out immediately. I didn’t take another bite of it. At that point, I didn’t know what it was, till my friend told me later that it was black pudding. To the uninitiated, black pudding is a type of blood sausage generally made from pork blood and oatmeal. It is considered a delicacy in this part of the world. Unfortunately, I didn’t like it much at all. The taste was just weird – and that was before I knew what it was, so no prejudices there!

After washing the black pudding down with coffee, we finished up our breakfast and reluctantly checked out of Millennium Hotel. We were leaving the city and embarking on a road trip to the Scottish Highlands. We had rented a car from Europcar, and IJ went to get the car while I waited at the hotel lobby. After waiting for almost an eternity, IJ finally came back with the car. It was a manual Vauxhall car. Because I had not driven a manual car in years, IJ had to take up the wheel for the entire Scotland leg, so it was tiring for him. But we still booked a manual car because it was much cheaper than an auto one, and also because there were only the two of us to split the cost, so it made more sense to get a cheaper car.

Our final destination for the day was Fort William, some 200km away from Glasgow. Along the way, we stopped at Loch Lomond for a short while. Loch Lomond is the largest lake in Britain and the second most famous loch, after Loch Ness. In case you’re wondering what a “loch” is, it simply means a “lake”. In Scotland, nearly all water bodies are called lochs. Loch Lomond is a popular holiday destination because it is only 45 minutes drive away from Glasgow. I can imagine it to be a nice place to relax for the weekend.

We continued heading north and stopped over at a restaurant called The Real Food Café for lunch. It is located in a small village called Tyndrum with about 130 residents, and about halfway between Glasgow and Fort William. The advertising billboard promised “Award winning fish and chips” and “real local food”, so we decided to give it a try.

It is a cosy little eatery and very welcoming. We loved the place as soon as we stepped inside. We ordered fish & chips (what else?) and had a hot cup of tea to go with it. After the satisfying meal, we carried on and drove towards Fort William.

Now that we were away from the hustle and bustle of Glasgow, we were able to relax and enjoy a slower pace of life. We weren’t particularly in a hurry as we did not have much of an agenda for our Scotland leg. We were just driving from one place to another, enjoying the scenery and awesome BBC Radio music along the way. The Scottish Highlands are beautiful, and parts of it reminded me of Iceland. However, there are more trees and vegetation here than in Iceland.

It was quite a long drive and we finally reached Fort William after sunset. Our accommodation for the night was at Fort William Backpackers, an authentic backpackers hostel quite unlike those under the YHA or HI umbrella. It was a bit messy and cramped but very authentic. It was a total contrast from the hotel room that we had the night before, and it felt good.

Fort William Backpackers
Address: Alma Road, Fort William, PH33 6HB, Scotland
Tel: +44 (0)1397 700 711
Rate: GBP17.00 for a dorm bed
Website: www.fortwilliambackpackers.com

After dropping our luggage, we drove to the small town nearby to get some food and check out what Fort William had in store. It is actually the second largest settlement in the Scottish highlands and a major tourist centre due to its proximity to the Ben Navis mountain range, a popular skiing and hiking spot. Fort William is also known as the outdoor capital of the UK. However, as it was already late, and because we only had one night here, we did not get to do any outdoor activities.

Instead, we popped into a bowling arcade and played three games of bowling. It was my first time playing “night bowling”, with the lights dimmed, so it was pretty cool. IJ beat me 2 games to 1. After that, we headed back to the hostel to chill and relax the night away. Yet the end of another day…