Having learned over the years that travel schedules and my biological clock don't always work as planned, I decided to arrive early and spend a few days in Edinburgh before the cycling tour and a day or two in Glasgow afterwards.

Edinburgh is a most interesting city, and the few photos I took come nowhere near doing it justice. By the time I'd arrived in Glasgow, navigated customs and immigration, transferred to the Queen Street train station to catch the 1 hour train to Edinburgh, and finally made it to my hotel and was able to check in, I'd gone something in excess of 24 hours without sleep. Photography was not uppermost on my priority list!

Even so, I marveled at the view of the historic city from my room, complete with multiple ancient spires and a few modern construction cranes. There was something faintly romantic about the well dressed inhabitants wending their ways through ancient streets and courtyards, past day-care centres in many-hundred-year-old buildings, to their shops and offices.

When I finally did emerge after some much needed sleep, it was time to explore the heart of Edinburgh (Ed'-in-burra) by strolling down Princes Street. Shops on one side, a beautiful green space on the other, and the incredibly imposing Edinburgh Castle overlooking it all. Given that darkness didn't descend until around 11 p.m. (and daylight started to appear at 4 a.m.) I had lots of time.

I also took a 12 hour coach tour from Edinburgh to the Highlands, passing through Glencoe, along the Great Glen and Loch Ness to Inverness and back via Perth. In the process I had an opportunity to learn a bit about Scottish history and inter-clan battles. It's really quite fascinating, but neither time, space nor my grasp of the subject allows me to go into it here. If you're interested, you might like to check out www.electricscotland.com. It's a great site for all things Scottish.

I learned a bit about Edinburgh's drug problem too, as an unpaid "guest" boarded the coach as we were waiting to depart (at 8 a.m.) and wouldn't get off. The police were called and arrived in due course. They escorted the gentleman off without incident, but it delayed us a good 3/4 hour and was a little unsettling until our guest had departed.