Wednesday 30 May, to Helmsdale, a very wet day
After a very late breakfast we first chat with Iain and Cathy. Personal contact is always nicer than communicating by email. Today we really have tothink about what we are going to do and see on this Scotland trip. We have already figured out that we want to go to the real high north for a few days, around Wick and Thurso, but we have not arranged anything yet. Iain promises to make some phone calls and we go on our way, first to the TIC (tourist information center) in Inverness, the largest of the Highlands to see if we can arrange anything.







It starts to rain harder and harder, but I get out to take a photo and soon a man comes out of the caravan. He can see from our number plate that we are Dutch and asks us if we are 'the Dutch golddiggers'. No, I tell him, we only stop for a photo. Thank God, Douglas replies, in recent years there have been a few Dutch prospectors who are notorious because they often find more than others. He goes back into his caravan and gets a jar with a lot of tiny gold nuggets. Our conversation is getting more and more fantastic. He claims to be the only prospector who knows all (more than 600!) sites in Great Britain where gold can be found and he comes everywhere. This is one of his favorite places, if those 2 bastards from the Netherlands would not come again and again.
If I ask him if I can take his picture, he has more stories to tell. No, I can not and he is going to tell me exactly why. Once he was kind enough to provide shelter to another Dutchman who has a website where Douglas is described as a fantast, a dreamer, with a photograph. He does not want that again. Do I know one Ramon? No, I do not know him. As he talks about it, I realize that it is about the boy who tried to travel the whole world free of charge with the website letmestayforaday. I decide to look at that site quickly after returning and there I later read the same story that Douglas tells me, about his past as a secret agent, intelligence officer for most of the secret agencies in the world and how he finally became a gold prospector. He was already suspicious as a spy, but after what Ramon said on the internet, he has become really paranoic! He is rich, but we can not tell anyone, of course.
If I ask him if I can take his picture, he has more stories to tell. No, I can not and he is going to tell me exactly why. Once he was kind enough to provide shelter to another Dutchman who has a website where Douglas is described as a fantast, a dreamer, with a photograph. He does not want that again. Do I know one Ramon? No, I do not know him. As he talks about it, I realize that it is about the boy who tried to travel the whole world free of charge with the website letmestayforaday. I decide to look at that site quickly after returning and there I later read the same story that Douglas tells me, about his past as a secret agent, intelligence officer for most of the secret agencies in the world and how he finally became a gold prospector. He was already suspicious as a spy, but after what Ramon said on the internet, he has become really paranoic! He is rich, but we can not tell anyone, of course.
I wish I could have recorded the conversation as a real undercover agent, but alas ... On the one hand, you know of course that you are dealing with a dreamer, but that doesn't prevent me from enjoying our conversation. He clearly believes in his own story and he takes care of himself and his 2 dogs. I have always had a weakness for that kind of people: there is an enthusiasm which so many 'normal' people have lost and he still leads an active after whatever he has experienced in his life. He has made himself the king of his own empire, his golden empire and just walks freely through the whole world, which is already an institution in itself. I do not laugh at him, listen to his story and am glad to experience this in the rain, it makes it surrealistic; he keeps repeating that he is so happy that we are not the 'Dutch gold diggers'. I would have liked to tell our entire conversation here, but thta would take at least half an hour and Douglas suddenly gets in a hurry because he has to get back on his way to a new spot he has discovered nearby. It is only very difficult to get there with this rain. For me it is a miraculous half an hour and it is better I will not tell you anything else, because I now know a lot of secrets from the FBI, CIA, MI5 and MI6 and the NSA. And where the gold lies, of course...
But despite all his fantastic stories (which I have enjoyed) I also respect his way of life, you have to be able to do it; everything better than languishing!
But despite all his fantastic stories (which I have enjoyed) I also respect his way of life, you have to be able to do it; everything better than languishing!










After we finally get back to Glen Loth it's late in the afternoon and we decide to drive straight to Beauly, that will take at least another two hours. We love good weather, but today we have seen Scotland at its best in the rain. We think that we could not make a ride like this anywhere else in the world and still enjoy it.
Today is just a real water day! One of the few days we spent in Scotland without a ray of sunshine. If we drive back to Beauly the last two hours, it starts to rain even harder, a thing we wouldn't have thought possible and we are quite happy when we enter the warm and dry hotel. But in the meantime we have not arranged anything for the coming days. Fortunately, Iain was more fortunate with his contacts. He has received some tips and is now calling several hotels together with us and eventually there is a hotel in Thurso where we can go Saturday for £ 50 per night, a special price. Only later we find out that the normal rate of the hotel is £ 85 per night for a double room, so we save a lot there!
We sit in the bar all evening and the 'locals' who pass by greet us warmly and we them, because after all these years this is also a bit home for us. We have seen a lot of different people in the bar in recent years and some are still coming; others are banned or have stopped drinking (quite unique in Scotland!). But those we meet in the village on the street and they all still know us. We have a very nice evening with a delicious dinner and fine conversations.
Today is just a real water day! One of the few days we spent in Scotland without a ray of sunshine. If we drive back to Beauly the last two hours, it starts to rain even harder, a thing we wouldn't have thought possible and we are quite happy when we enter the warm and dry hotel. But in the meantime we have not arranged anything for the coming days. Fortunately, Iain was more fortunate with his contacts. He has received some tips and is now calling several hotels together with us and eventually there is a hotel in Thurso where we can go Saturday for £ 50 per night, a special price. Only later we find out that the normal rate of the hotel is £ 85 per night for a double room, so we save a lot there!
Thursday 31 May 2007, a quiet day at Beauly

After returning Teije tells what he has experienced: Iain could not start his jeep on petrol because there was a leak somewhere; at a nearby garage, a container was placed under the petrol tank, petrol refilled, then started and after the engine ran on lpg the fuse for the petrol pump was quickly removed. Now just refuel gas. And really, with the engine on Iain fills his gastank with LPG, because the engine has to keep running otherwise he cannot start it again! Just like in the Netherlands, Scotland has an abundance of rules regarding the environment and safety, but apparently this is no problem here. After that he will also fill Teije's tank without paying first himself. People who drive on lpg know that you first have to pay when you release the gas button at a petrol station, but here nobody seems to bother.
While they are enjoying themselves and also eat a tasty ice cream in Lossiemouth, I talk to Cathy all day and read a book when she is busy. I have already realized that I will never be able to run a hotel, too much work, actually you never really get some time off. And then you also have to be able to cook ... 



But at Scottish festivals in the Netherlands and Belgium you can see that more people are interested in playing the bagpipes and Scottish music because there are now dozens of pipebands in our countries.
But it is very funny to be recognised in our own favorite bar!