Thank you and we look forward to seeing you in a future year. We can provide you with whatever type of tour you would like. Take care.

So happy you had a great day. You really bonded with your guide June and she enjoyed her day too. Thank you for the 5 stars.

Ms Karpinski, I’m shocked to read your review as others on the same tour as you were very happy. For £59 you went into Urquhart castle, saw Loch Ness, went into Culloden Battlefield even though what you booked was a drive by it, you also went to Clava Cairns and Beauly Priory. The tour guides work and are speaking and driving 6-7 hours straight through and as their boss I think they deserve a coffee break, in fact I insist upon it. The reason you waited was that a few passengers were late, nothing to do with my guides wanting to take coffee together. When we go in convoy it’s because we are booked into locations together. Urquhart castle is especially difficult in the summer season. With regard to taking a taxi - a taxi would have cost you around £300 for the 6 hour journey that you took. You’d then have to pay your entrance to Urquhart castle on top of that. So if you take off the £6 that PayPal retain, the £12.50 to enter the castle it leaves you with £40.50. So for that price you got to journey in a luxury 8 seater minibus with 6 other people instead of being crammed into a big coach. If you’ve been to 43 countries I wonder what price you paid for your tours. It seems to me you wanted to pay very little but receive ambassador treatment. We do our best but we don’t claim to be perfect. You were also provided with a booklet in your own language about the venues you visited, free water and rainmacs if needed. I wonder what you think you should have the partial refund for when an actual taxi that you accuse us of being would have cost you more than 7 times the price you paid with us. I guess I’m learning that no matter what we provide for you, there’ll always be a few people who won’t be happy. That’s a shame that they come on here to vent their negativity. When you consider that this cruise season alone we’ve provided lovely tours of the Scottish Highlands for over 2,000 people I guess we are doing OK. Sorry we weren’t able to please you. I hope you gave 5 stars to the other 43 countries you visited instead of this disappointing 1 star which is so undeserved.

Thank you so much for your kind words. Elizabeth is a true asset isn't she. She was delighted to meet you too.

How disappointing to read your relentless attack on Maxine. Here is our reply: a) you were advised upon booking it would be up to 8 passengers in a minibus. b) as you were all double vaccinated and COVID tested daily as was Maxine it was considered within the guidelines to take you in one vehicle cc) your ship arrived 1 hour later than it was supposed to which is why the tour left later dd) indeed two passengers went with the wrong guide and upon checking your destination Maxine realised what had occurred and called the tour back - this caused an extra delay of 10 minutes with your ship being late also e) you arrived 5 minutes after the falconry display began - it lasts 30 minutes so you did not miss half - gross exaggeration f) you were given information about the castle in advance but unfortunately you were extremely rude and insisted on talking at full volume to the gentleman sitting beside you which only drowned out the tour guide’s voice for everyone but also prevented you from hearing the information being provided g) Maxine only mentioned her other occupation in the passing as she’d been asked about the demographics of the area by another passenger but perhaps you were talking at that point h) you were only invited to see the brand new shop which another colleague owned because it’s now a very popular local destination and Maxine was being polite offering you the option i) indeed the water bottles had not been loaded up. This was due to several incidents that had happened that morning including another guide hitting a pothole on her way to work, having to change tyre at a garage and arriving late. Maxine had to also deal with her passengers. Once asked about water the guide purchased it immediately for you all. j) regarding the ‘going off the road’ - I understand Maxine merely swerved to avoid a huge pothole which earlier that day had caused a puncture with her colleague. k) she referred to the notes which were in her sunvisor only to advise you of the long list of animals in the Cromarty Firth which did not in any way distract from driving. She also told you she was doing this only once to give you full information l) all guides were rusty that day as it was the one day in 2 years that any tour has been offered as there has been no available ships due to Covid. Although the guide advised you of this she did not miss out any of the tour information and she indicated that she would happily answer any further questions k) due to your constant disrespect throughout the tour - talking over her the guide found the whole experience very disconcerting. You have also perpetuated this rudeness by giving this negative review which we found very sad at Thistle as we do our best to offer a quality service.

We are delighted you enjoyed our tour guide Elizabeth. She is excellent isn’t she? Thank you for booking with us and note you liked the Black Rock Gorge.

Thank you so much Jim for your lovely very comments. We are so glad you enjoyed your day.

Thank you so much Cheryl and Dutch for coming on our tour. You were a delight to have and lovely people to meet.