Many friends told us that Ireland and Scotland are beautiful holiday destinations for people who prefer to really get to know a country, rather than lie lazy on a beach day in, day out. So we decided - why not? And why not combine these two destinations into a really extended journey.

We decided to reserve every hotel or B&B we were planning to stay in. But first we had to think about the route. So we got tons of information, e.g. brochures, leaflets, guide-books, B&B-summaries, travel-reports, and so on. We asked friends who had already been there, posted messages on the Compuserve travel forum, read travel-guides, visited the Vienna travel fair. After months of planning our final route was clear. Reservations were made by telephone, by fax or by letter. Some B&Bs required deposits, which we cleared via euro-cheques or via credit-card.

On Saturday, May 20, we finally started our journey. After breakfast at McDonalds we left Vienna and drove through Germany to Reims/France. We arrived at the Novotel early evening, where we spent the evening relaxing in front of the TV. We were too tired for checking out the city itself. Next day we left for Saint Malo. We already spent one week there in 92. It's a fantastic city. Our hotel, the "Chateaubriand" (++33-99560119) is located directly on the beach. It was the second time we were guests there, and certainly not the last time. Sunday evening and almost the whole of Monday we enjoyed the beautiful city and its beach.

Monday at 7pm we started a test, whether we were ever going to make a sea-cruise or not. The question was, how we would feel after a night on a ship. We booked - already in February - a "luxury"-double cabin, that means you have a private bathroom with shower and toilet and a bulls eye, through which you can have a look at the ocean. Brittany Ferries only sails once a week from Saint Malo to Cork. After almost 19 hours we finally reached Ireland. Although only one of us got seasick - we won't say who - we now are pretty sure that we will never make a sea-cruise.

Narrow roads, green hills, sheep, rain, clouds. We drove from Cork to Kinsale, about which many people say, is the gourmet capital of Ireland. In fact it's a lovely town with many restaurants. Because one of us was just recovering from stomach-troubles and the other one had eaten for two, we just had tea and sandwiches at Mother Hubbards.

We drove on to our first destination, Dingle. Driving through beautiful countrysides with ever changing weather we soaked up the pleasant holiday-feeling that accompanied us for the next 4 weeks. The road from Glengariff to Killarney is extraordinary beautiful. In the evening we arrived at Mrs. Noonan's "Cluain Mhuire House" (++353-66-51291) in Dingle, where we stayed the following three nights.

From Dingle we made trips to several places. We drove up the Connor Pass, from where you have a breathtaking view overlooking the whole peninsula, from Brandon Bay in the north to the Dingle Bay in the south. The Slea Head Drive provides also one magnificient view after the other. Although Dingle is a tiny village, there are many good restaurants there, e.g. "The Half Door" and "Armada".

We didn't take the direct way via the Ferry Tarbert-Killimer. Instead we took the N21, which lead us through the beautiful village of Adare and passes Bunratty Castle. Adare is full of lovely cottages with thatched roofs. Bunratty Castle and especially the connected folk-park is also worth a visit. After that we drove on to the Cliffs of Moher. We were lucky to have beautiful weather and could watch the sunset. It's fantastic and unforgettable. You don't even have to climb on top of the O'Brians Tower, just walk along the footpath on top of the cliffs and enjoy the beauty of nature.

In the early evening we reached Mrs. Thomsons "Rock Lodge" in Salthill/Galway (++353-91-583789), where we stayed four nights. Galway is a very nice town with many shops, shopping malls, pubs and good restaurants. But we had to learn, that it's also very crowded during the weekend, especially in the town center. You need a lot of luck to get a table for dinner without advance reservation.

From Galway we did several trips to the surrounding places of interest. One day we drove back to the Burren to have a look at the inside of Ailwee Cave and then on to the lovely village of Ennis. The next day we took the road along the coast heading Inveran and then on straight up north crossing the Connemara to Westport, from there on to Louisburgh. Between those places you get lots of excellent views to the Clew Bay with its thousands of tiny islands and Croagh Patrick, an important pilgrim-place. The road back to Delphi provides besides the feeling of complete loneliness also spectacular scenery.

On Tuesday, May 30, we hit the road to Dublin. On our way we stopped at Clonmacnoise, which is located right in the center of Ireland. The ruins of the monastery and the museum gave us an idea how life must have been like there way back in time. This sight was definitely worth the visit. In the evening we reached our next guest house, the "Ferry House" (++353-1-2808301) in Dun Laoghaire. The Ferry House is convenient to the DART, Sandycove station, which takes you to the city center in about 20 minutes.

The next day we strolled around Dublin. We walked the O'Connell Street, Henry Street, Grafton Street, Temple Bar, etc. If you don't plan to go inside museums, one full day is enough to see everything interesting there, at least that's our opinion. In fact we actually planned two full days for Dublin, but then decided to leave earlier.

Arriving in Enniskillen we first had to look for an accomodation, but we didn't have lots of luck with our choice. The guest house had high standards and there wasn't a thing we missed, neither in the room, nor on our breakfast-table. But the landlady doesn't hand out room- and house-keys and we had a curfew of 12 o'clock midnight, which we found a bit strange. The rest of the day we spent surrounding the Lower Loch Erne and walking through the town center. We had dinner at "Mulligans", which we highly can recommend.

The next day we took the road to Larne. There we stayed at "Derrin House" (++44-1574-273269), which was a very friendly and convenient guest house, located near the town center. The following day we headed north along the spectacular Antrim Coast Road. We had excellent view across the sea to Scotland's Mull of Kintyre.

Bushmills was our first stop. We visited the world's oldest whiskey distillery, then we drove to the Giant's Causeway. We've never seen stranger rock- and stone-formations. Funny how nature sometimes produces weird and unusual sights. Then, of course, we crossed the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, despite the bad weather, which set in later in the afternoon. It was a frightening experience, but 100% worth the visit.

On Sunday, June 4, we took the early sailing from Larne to Cairnryan. From there we drove on to Glasgow, which we reached around noon. We checked in at the Charing Cross Tower Hotel (++44-141-2211000). This hotel is within a convenient walking distance to the city center, and is relatively inexpensive (GBP 38,50 per room without breakfast). The rooms have private facilities, and are rather big, fully equipped and very modern. But if we had known, that the breakfast there is lousy and very pricey, we would have gone to McDonalds or Burger King. We spent the rest of the Sunday afternoon walking around the city center, from Buchanan Street to the impressing cathedral. Of course we didn't miss shopping at St. Enoch Centre, the largest glass-covered shopping center in Europe.

Monday morning we left Glasgow heading for Fort William. It's sometimes a lonely drive without even FM-radio-stations to listen to. In Fort William we can highly recommend the Crannog Seafood Restaurant, just between the main road and the Loch Linnhe. After a delicious lunch we crawled along the narrow road to Mallaig. We arrived there 15 minutes before our ferry to Armadale left. On the way we almost lost hope to arrive in time. These single track road seemed to have no end.

The Isle of Skye presented itself rainy and foggy. But on our way up to Portree we were fascinated by the beauty of this island. It looked like a waterfall comes out of every bigger hill. There is water everywhere. We stayed at Mrs. MacFarlane's B&B (++44-1478-612870) in Portree for 3 nights. Portree is a lovely small village with a tiny harbour and a town center with a handfull of good restaurants.

From there we made trips to Dunvegan Castle, the Piping Center in Boreraig and the Kilt Rock, the Talisker Distillery to name but a few. At Dunvegan Castle we took a trip in a small boat (4 people) to view the seals sleeping on tiny islands. The castle itself is interesting also, but the gardens were not that impressive. The Piping Center is situated at the end of a very narrow and endlessly long road in Boreraig and definitely worth a visit.

On Thursday, June 8, we left Skye via the Kyleakin/Kyle of Lochalsh ferry. They are building a bridge there, which seems will be ready quite soon. Our next destination was Inverness. We drove via Glen Carron, with a short detour to Eilean Donan Castle, near Dornie. We didn't go inside the castle. Instead we went for a short walk there.

In Inverness we spent 3 nights at Mrs.Pritchard's "Whitelodge" (++44-1463-230693), which was our favourite B&B of the whole journey. It's situated in a quiet residential area, though within walking distance to the town center.

Inverness is a pretty town with lots of opportunities for shopping and dining. We visited Hector Russel, where you can find an interesting Kiltmaker museum. One day we drove north to Fortrose. Our host told us, that if you want to see dolphins it's the place to be. So we waited at the small parking lot in front of the lighthouse, just a few meters from the shore, for about one hour. Then, at around 6 pm, more and more dolphins returned from the open sea, we jumped out of the car and rushed to the beach to join a few other spectators. As the dolphins realized that there were people watching them, they actually performed a half hour show with high jumps out of the water. That was incredible. We didn't know, that dolphins do this for fun, but now we believe they just want to show off.

One other day, we surrounded Loch Ness with stops at very touristy Drumnadrochit, at Urquart Castle and Fort Augustus, where we visited the abbey and strolled alongside the locks. We were lucky to have excellent weather, so the atmosphere at Urquart Castle was more than impressive. There was even a lonely piper playing some old tunes. In Drumnadrochit we checked out the Nessie Shop, then we had a monster-ice while watching a fake Nessie swimming in a small pond, but we didn't see the official monster exhibition. Then we drove back to Inverness on the east side of Loch Ness, where there are almost no tourists, compared to the other shore.

We also saw Cawdor Castle, which was worth the visit, the Culloden Battlefield and the 2000 year old Clava Stones. It was funny to learn, that there are actually people living in Cawdor Castle, it's not just a museum. At one point of the tour you walk through a hyper-modern kitchen with everything in it you can imagine, and in the dining room a table was already prepared for dinner. And there were family photos everywhere.

On Sunday, June 11, we drove to Dufftown. We took the scenic tour via the Lecht Ski ressort. it was a lonely, but beautiful tour. In Dufftown we stayed at the "Tannochbrae Guest House", a simple, but inexpensive B&B. In and around Dufftown and the other villages in that area there's always the funny smell of destilleries in the air. Dufftown itself has not much to offer, especially on Sunday it seemed to have no life at all.

The next day we took a guided tour through the Glenfiddich Distillery in Dufftown, the Speyside Cooperage, where you can learn, how the barrels are prepared for refilling. Then we drove on to the Glen Grant Distillery. There we had the some sort of VIP-treatment, because they provided us with a private tour, just the two of us and the guide. Funny, we didn't pay for any distillery tour on that day and they even provide you with a huge glass of whisky at the end of the tour.

On Tuesday we hit the road heading south via Aviemore on the A9 to Edinburgh. We spent the last three nights in Scotland at Mrs. McIntyre's B&B (++44-131-5564697). We left our car at the car park at the intersection Leith Street/Princes Street. The B&B is actually an 8 minute walk from Princes Street, where you can spend hours after hours in shops. Of course we walked the Royal Mile, which is in construction at the moment. They're building a pedestrian zone there. In fact, many of the buildings and monuments were being renovated. Unfortunately, we hadn't the chance to see the Edinburgh castle from the inside. You need at least 3 to 4 hours for this visit, but we did't have enough time left.

We also went up Calton Hill. From there you get an excellent panoramic view of the city itself and even the two huge bridges across the Firth of Forth. From Queensferry, situated between these two bridges, we got a better look at these gigantic buildings. Not far from there, we drove to the 300 year old Hopetoun House, an old mansion.

On Thursday, it was time to leave Scotland. We took the road to Abington. Then we just followed the motorway via Carlisle, Birmingham, along the M25 surrounding south London to Folkestone, where we arrived early evening.

Travelling through the Channel Tunnel was as easy as 1-2-3. Just purchase a ticket, wait about 10 minutes for the next train and drive on inside the compartment. After 35 minutes of a very calm and relaxing train ride your just drive off the compartment, of course on the other side of the road. Inside the compartment you can either sit in the car or walk around. There are two FM stations for your car stereo, one in French, one in English, where they give you constant information about the journey. We have to say that we were impressed how simple this whole procedure was for us as passengers.

We planned to stay the night in Calais, but didn't make an advance reservation, because we had no idea, whether we would make it through Britain in one day or not. Tired, after spending more than 10 hours in the car, we tried to get a room, but there was no single vacancy in Calais, because there was some sort of exhibition or trade fair taking place there.

So we drove on the highway heading towards Reims and after advice from a friendly gas station employee we finally found a hotel in Fouquières-les-Béthune. We stayed at a Campanile Hotel, which turned out to be very comfortable. We didn't know this hotel chain before.

Friday, June 16, after a good french breakfast with lots of croissants we drove home via French and German highways to Vienna, where we again arrived at around midnight.

After 4 weeks on the road, sleeping in 14 different beds, it was good to be in your own bed again. Our car survived the 8400 km with no major damages, except the 3 small gashes in the windshield (loose chippings in Ireland) and an aerial, which somebody tried to crack in Inverness. After one week in Ireland we got really tired of Irish breakfast. We couldn't stand the bacon, the sausages and the eggs. We just sticked to toast. We also learned that Scottish breakfast is almost the same. Probably the thought of croissants kept us on the road from Edinburgh back to France.

All in all we had a great time in Ireland and Scotland. We met many friendly people on our journey. The landscape there is incredibly beautiful and green. We learned a lot about the Irish, the Scottish, whisk(e)y, bagpipes, dolphines and seals. And the food was fantastic.

We don't regret any single day we spent and if somebody asks us, if we would do it again, we would definitely say "Yes".