July 13th-14th Calgary- London-Glasgow
With a spring in our step and a tear in our eye, we started out on July 13th from the ranch, even earlier than expected at around 10:30 am. We stopped in the Hat for a steak lunch at Tony Roma’s knowing it would be our last Canadian beef for awhile… Well, the Bowies did, the Joa had soup and a sandwich. You can’t take her out in public…
After lunch we continued on to Calgary in a VERY noisy car filled with VERY excited kids to drop Tracy’s car off at the Port-O-Call Best Western hotel. Of course, I remembered it was on McKnight Blvd, so it was decided I’d drive from Strathmore through the city. I faithfully followed 16th Ave until I passed the sign saying Barlow Trail, and then I remembered I had to take Barlow to get to McKnight. I continued on to Deerfoot for a very harrowing beginning of rush hour traffic during Stampede week detour until the next exit, and we continued to the hotel without further incident.
A taxi to the airport and checked into the flight and suddenly we remembered how long it had been since we’d gone anywhere… Kiosks reign supreme and the honour system for checked luggage size seemed to be the order of the day.
Our patience was tested early. Security at the airport was still as fun as it ever was. I needed 5 tubs for boots, buckles, cameras, bags, a mini laptop etc. so Tracy took the kids and headed down the line. She was as fastidious as ever and had perused the Canadian Travel Guidelines and packed all three of their shampoos, contact solutions, body washes etc, per their instructions. Of course, once at the gate, it wasn’t “right” and they wanted them all rebagged in their bags or it would all be confiscated. Of course, repacking three bags caused a bit of a bottleneck causing Tracy to panic and rushed, and when she came out the other side she couldn’t find the three passports. One of her bags had been held back for further inspection and luckily Morgan’s and her passports were in that tub. Cadie had put hers in her backpack but just hadn’t bothered to really look for it.
After that excitement we were all just happy to sit and wait for a few hours to board. Some fast food for supper and we were on the plane. A fairly good flight, one little bout of turbulence, but we were able to catch up on some newer movies we hadn’t seen (8 hours is a long span). I was able to catch a couple of hours of sleep on the plane, but the rest couldn’t so jet lag hit them all pretty hard later on.
We landed at Heathrow airport and since we didn’t have any checked luggage, just really heavy carry on, it was a straight shot to customs. Super easy, stick your passport in a machine, make sure it matches your face and you’re through… of course Tracy and Morgan failed the face match so had to actually talk to officers.
Met out hire car driver, actually waiting by the gate with a “Welcome Tracy Bowies” sign, and hopped in his electric car to head to Euston Station to catch our train to Glasgow. The car ride was a little disappointing, I’d hoped to see a bit more of London, but most of the drive was highway so we got to see lots of metal median dividers and noise canceling bushes. Sat at the station and relaxed with a bottle of water and watched our train’s departure time climb towards the top of the board until about 20 mins to departure time and our train disappeared. We frantically searched for a rail representative only to be met with a crowd of frustrated travelers being notified that our direct train from Euston Station to Glasgow had been cancelled. The only available option at the time they were giving us was to wait for a later train to Preston and then get bus transit to Glasgow, but the rep kept saying “but that will take FOREVER. You’ll want to wait until tomorrow and catch one of those trains”. The Bowies were tense as we had connecting travel plans the next day that couldn’t be missed. Finally, a competing rail line stepped up and offered to honour all the tickets, however the only line available was going to be from London to Edinburgh and then a connecting line to Glasgow… oh, and it would be departing from Kings Cross station only a 7-8 minute walk away, if you knew where to go. As luck would have it we met two very nice Scots, a younger woman from Edinburgh and a young guy from Glasgow who was actually coming back from the Calgary Stampede and was on our flight, decided to take the Kings Cross station option, so we latched onto them and followed them like lost puppies.
The bright side of the whole added adventure was we were able to see some lovely scenery on a very fast and comfortable train. The train from Edinburgh to Glasgow was less exciting as it was a basic commuter train that stopped at every single station along the way. The local characters were worth it though. Two black soccer players, a Ukrainian refugee soccer player, and a local who was hell bent on breaking into the broken bathroom door made it all a fun ride.
Our bums are sore from all the sitting, and it was a looong 30 hours of constant traveling. Hopefully that’s the end of the nonsense and its smooth sailing here on out…
July 15th Glasgow- Luss- Loch Lomond-Tarbet
Slept till 8, got ready for the day and headed to La Vita for breakfast, the family had regular stuff like pancakes, but I decided to be a little more adventurous and tried the traditional Scottish breakfast which also happened to be the special. It consisted of a fried egg, black pudding (blood sausage), ham, roasted tomato, mushrooms, square sausage (that’s its actual name EDIT: found out its actual name is Lorne’s Sausage), breakfast sausage, beans, and something that I couldn’t tell what it was, but it was kind of like a fried potato but with a different texture. I was nervous about the black pudding, but it was ok.
After breakfast we crossed the street and wandered around George Square for a bit and looked at the statues erected before heading to the Queen Street station for a bit more travel. Hopped on a train and headed to Balloch where the Bowie Scottish Holiday curse struck again. We WERE supposed to catch a water taxi to the town of Luss but of course they stopped that service but never bothered to answer any of Tracy’s emails about it so she assumed it was still a go. Luckily the Scots have a great public transport system, and we had a short walk to the bus station to catch a ride to Luss.
Since the water taxi was supposed to take most of the morning to get us to Luss, and the land bus took us 15 mins, we had ALL SORTS of time to wander around. A lovely little town on the edge of Loch Lomond, lots of garden work, restored stone houses, and everything in bloom. Had actual Fish and Chips from a shop for lunch and it was excellent! Unfortunately for the kids it got to be too much time in Luss and sitting on the beach watching the waves was too boring for them so were getting pretty ansty by the time we were to catch our afternoon tour boat.
Got on our tour boat the “Lomond Princess” and had the whole tour boat to ourselves for the first half of the trip. Included in the ticket was a snack and a drink, so crisps, pop, and beer all around. Had to stop at a youth hostel to pick up four hikers who had gone up Ben Lomond during the last half of our boat tour, but they were pretty quiet so still basically had the boat to ourselves.
The boat docked at Tarbet, We got checked into our rooms at the Tarbet Hotel and went for a little walk down the street to see what was on it. “It” was not a whole bunch down that street… Came back for a drink at the hotel pub “The Rabbie Lounge” before dining at the hotel restaurant… I discovered a really great stout, “Silkie Stout” from the Loch Lomond brewing company, which turned out to be the best stout I found in all of Scotland. I had mussels and Tracy got a little braver and tried some Shepherd’s pie. Morgan was really tired so went to bed right after supper while the rest of us went to try to find another nearby restaurant to see if we wanted to try it tomorrow. It’s a converted old stone church so it may be neat to try, we’ll have to see the consensus tomorrow. Came back to our rooms to relax and are now listening to the pub band “rock out” to 60s & 70s tunes on a Friday night through thin walls. Morgan is snoring so he’s obviously not bothered!
July 16th Tarbet- Dunans Castle- Inverary
Breakfasted at the hotel this morning, it was buffet style but consisted of most of the elements of the traditional breakfast I’d had in Glasgow, so the rest of the family tucked in and gave it the old college try. The weird potato thingy I had that I couldn’t identify yesterday, I asked the waitress about, she seemed rather taken aback and I think she assumed I was going to complain. We finally drug out of her that it was a “tattie scone”. So, a “scone” made out of potatoes, but it isn’t like the light puffy scones we get at home, it’s flat like a pancake and very dense. A bit tasteless so we have been dipping them in the bean juice. They are starting to grow on me a bit…
Today was a transportation disaster free day!! In fact, quite the opposite. Our driver was excellent, and I’ll explain more later. He was a little late to pick us up, but that was okay because the hotel only packed two brown bag lunches as requested so the staff rushed around to get the other two ready. Cadie and I didn’t care as it was Tracy and Morgan’s they forgot.
As mentioned, Colin, our driver was a little late, so Tracy called to see if there was a problem (and after the past couple of days, why wouldn’t we worry!) and she kept saying “yep, okay, we’ll see you soon then, ok, yep”, and giving all the vocal cues it was time to hang up but then it was more “yep, okay, we’ll see you soon then, ok, yep”. Finally she hung up and said, “oh you’re sitting in the front with this one, he talks a mile a minute and I can’t understand him! He has such a thick accent!”. Well, Colin was quite a talker, and his accent was thick but not that bad, it had just been more distorted through the phone. So if anyone wants some views on the local council, how the local taxis screw everyone, how wedding service cars are bending the law, idiot Scottish drivers, how stupid the road crews are or his accidental 15 month old son no one was expecting but is now 3 feet tall… Have we got some tales to tell you! He was a great guy but got stuck on repeat on a few of the topics… especially the local taxis… (He also LOVES Prince Harry, just like his mum dontcha know).
We got dropped at Dunans Castle and met our somewhat toothed tour guide who walked with a purpose and carried a big stick to ensure of Covid distancing (you’re staying the perfect distance away sir! Covid is still in the district sir!) help him stay sure footed, point at things, and I’m sure has been swung at the odd guest who took a misstep off the path… He was a grumpy old coot! Muttered under his breath about the couple who were late to the tour and how they took too long putting on their coats, because they were late already. Got a bit of a history lesson on the highland clans including the Lamonds, Fergusons, and those land-hungry bastards, the Campbells. Then he got into the Highland revolts of 1745-6 ending with the battle of Culloden and those horrible British bastards and their ethnic cleansing ways! (And those bastards the MacDonalds were cattle thieves too). I kind of wanted to ask what clan he was from seeing as how he seemed to have a lot of hate for all the ones he was mentioning but…that big stick. He then gave a bit of a rundown on the castle and how it had been built by the Fergusons in the 1800’s but the dad had gone broke building a Catholic church in Glasgow, so the son had to stay in his law practice to make enough money to build it for his daughter. Then she ran off and married some bloke before it was done. The good luck was, her hubby died early so she had to move in and live in it for at least part of the year! It was cold and damp and the family tired of maintaining it so sold it to a couple… to be used as an old folk’s home, great conditions for the oldies, three stories of cold and damp. Too bad they went broke, or we’d have found a place for the folks! It was then sold to a couple who turned it into an upscale B&B. The council told them they could do so if they did three things to bring it up to code. They needed to install a new fire alarm system (The old one went off at least once a night so they told the guests just ignore it) they needed to build a dam behind the property to hold water, and there were to be no fires in any of the 24 fireplaces until they could be updated. All recommendations were quietly ignored and forgotten about by everyone. Well one night there was a stag party (Do you know what a stag party is sir?!?! shakes stick at me) and one of the drunk party goers says rules be damned and lit one in a fireplace. The alarms went off but were of course ignored. One guest who had been awakened went out for a smoke and saw the roof was fully engulfed in flames and raised the alarm. The fire truck arrived, and no dam had been built, so there was no water source to pump from, so they all sat there and watched it burn. A new couple bought the place and are working to restore it, one fundraising plan they’ve come up with is buying a small plot of castle grounds which is what we did prior to coming to Scotland!
After the castle history lesson, we went and inspected the bridge entering our property complete with gargoyles. He also pointed out some of the exotic trees that had been planted on the grounds (Those ones across the creek are on land we don’t own anymore, the neighbour is neglecting them and he’s a miserable bastard to boot) (I thought if this miserable bastard thinks the other guy is a miserable bastard… wow… but I didn’t say anything…that stick!) Then it was off to find our plots (SIR NOT THAT path THIS PATH… much stick swinging at me) and pictures of the Lairds Bowie and Ladies Bowie before sending our grumpy servant off for 50 lashes for his insolence, now that we had proof we were his betters by standing on our lands.
Back to Colin and our hire car and more tales of taxi price frauds, and he said, you know, it would be a real shame if you were this close and we didn’t drive up to the Isle of Bute lookout point, I mean you’ve come all the way to Scotland after all, why miss out for an extra 10 minute drive? So we did amongst tales of the failings of the other drivers on the road that day, oh and have you heard how much those crooked taxi drivers are charging?
After the lookout Colin decided we should drive past Inverary castle… “the duke lives on the third floor you know, his wife is the heir to the Cadbury chocolate fortune, I have a connection to him, my grandma used to bounce him on her knee (or something like that) so he wonders the ground and talks to guests but never says who he is but I know him and one time he talked to me for 40 minutes ah he’s a great guy. You know who else is a great royal, that Harry, just like his mum, a real great guy. But I think the duke is my favourite royal”.
Anyhow, the castle isn’t always open but it was today but Colin wouldn’t go in because it was so pricey, instead took us to Inverary where they were having a bit of a festival/carnival, and I was like Colin…dude… I came to Scotland to escape the Jasper’s carnival… So we wandered the town, took some pictures and looked in the shops. Colin deserted us because his favourite fish and chip shop is there.
After we got Colin fed, we met back at the van and Tracy had decided cost be damned she wanted to go to the Dukes castle, unfortunately Colin had got a call for another job and with the St Andrews golf tourney on he was down a couple of drivers so had to get us back to Tarbet. We couldn’t complain too loudly as he’d already spent an extra two hours above and beyond what we’d booked with him. I bet those crooked taxi drivers wouldn’t do that… the bastards. And before we could go, he had to show us pictures of his 15 month old baby boy.
Back to the hotel and since we had internet we thought we’d check up on some messages. Tracy and I are a bit older so screen time makes us a wee bit drowsy so we had a quick nap. Up to wander and goof around a bit with the kids, then off to supper.
Found a restaurant called The Slanj. It was once a church that has been converted into a restaurant. I took the leap and had Haggis, tatties and neeps. I braced myself for the worst, but it was wonderful! The whole family tried some and all loved it. Not sure if I just had a wonderful Haggis or if everyone freaks out about nothing… For dessert the ladies tried deep fried Mars bars, a Scottish invention. They were too sweet for Tracy, so Cadie finished off hers as well. A little more exploring around Tarbet as tonight is our last night here, then back to the hotel to lounge a bit till bedtime as everyone was quite beat.
Off to Fort William tomorrow
July 17th Tarbet- Highlands-Fort William
Started the morning off with the Tarbet hotel breakfast buffet again. I’ve discovered that tattie scones are not only good for sopping up bean juice but are an excellent way to make a breakfast sandwich. Team Canada for the win!
We had some time before our hire car arrived so the girls and I headed down to gaze at Loch Lomond one last time, and sing one last verse of The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond, well I did…the girls walked quickly away…
Back to the hotel to check out and our driver Steven arrived to take us to Fort William. Tracy had me sit up front to take pictures and carry on the conversation. Unfortunately, sometimes the conversation got rolling and I’d forget to take some pictures! Steve was less wound up about things than Colin, but still a very interesting fellow and easy to get along with. For 25 years he had been a shepherd but suffered a knee injury that prevented him from scrambling up mountains after the flock anymore. We talked a lot of agriculture on the way, and he was quite knowledgeable about the area between Tarbet and Fort William, as he grew up at the Fort and herded sheep all through the Highlands in between. He was more than willing to pull off at a lot of the tourist pullouts, saying he never had as it was usually the route he took on his way home from other jobs, and he was just eager to get from point a-b… and it gave him a chance to grab a smoke while I clicked away. I had mention that I had only briefly glimpsed a red deer bounding over the mountain on our way boating through Loch Lomond, but he knew of a couple of pretty quiet ones that liked to hang around the Kingshouse Hotel parking lot (A hotel in the literal middle of nowhere, but there is a ski hill nearby and lots of mountain climbing opportunities). Sadly, when we arrived a family had their dogs running loose in the parking lot and Steve said the deer would all be gone if those dogs were running loose… so no wildlife. He did know of a spot where the McDonald clan used to hide the cattle they rustled so showed us the ravine they used to trail them up to get them into a hidden valley. He had gone hiking up it one time and figured they must have been pretty good drovers because he had no idea how they’d convince a cow to go up there.
We arrived in Fort William and Steven dropped us off at the Garrison Hotel to check in to our apartment. It wouldn’t be ready until 3 so we explored High Street for awhile and grabbed some lunch at Highland Cinema Cafe. They specialize in pizza and hot dogs. I decided that wasn’t very Scottish until I discovered the “Scottie Dog” which is a haggis stuffed hot dog covered in haggis so that’s what I ordered. Everyone else had more “traditional” offerings. Apparently, I like haggis! Who knew!?!
After lunch we did a little souvenir shopping, still a little hesitant to buy too much as bag space is tight and we’re still packing most things with us everywhere on the move. A few small things were bought, and Tracy has found a woolen tweed shawl and matching bag she wants to get before we leave town. I found two shops that sold kilts, but they didn’t have the right tartan in stock so I’m still running around naked on my bottom half. Maybe I should have brought pants.
Went back to the hotel and got the keys to our apartment, and the hotel receptionist said it was just up the hill a piece…. Just up the hill a piece in Fort William means a 1 mile straight vertical climb staircase. It’s not fun at the best of times but with everyone carrying two bags weighing 50ibs each it darn near killed us.
Everyone was still a bit tired from all the running around we’ve been doing, and not really wanting to test the stairs again for awhile, we got settled into the apartment, lightened our day bags to the bare essentials and just relaxed and watched the loch and the water birds from our patio window. Cadie even went for a nap.
At 7 we headed down to the Ben Nevis Pub for supper but it was packed and there was no place in the bar part to sit and wait for a table so we tried the Wetherspoon restaurant, but they had some weird, order online scheme, and then they’d bring it to your table. It was kind of unclean and we’d all have to pass around a phone to read a menu and their internet was crap, so we went down to The Tavern pub. Their table was supposed to be a 30 min wait but we’d tried enough places at this point we decided to order drinks and sit in their patio area and wait. less than 5 mins later we were seated in the pub and had ordered. I decided on the Steak and Ale pie, Cadie ordered a burger, Tracy a dinner salad and Morgan had nachos. The steak pie wasn’t like a traditional meat pie I’ve had in the past, it was a huge puff pastry with a bowl of the meat/gravy filling underneath. Still very tasty, just not as expected. After supper we went looking for some bottled water for our journey tomorrow and lucked into a shop that gave the kids free ice cream cones as the shop keeper needed to empty the machine as it was scheduled to be cleaned tomorrow.
Back to our room to recover from another journey on Hell’s Staircase, do a little laundry, and off to bed
Tomorrow? The Harry Potter Steamtrain (Jacobite Steamtrain for the adults)
July 18th Fort William- Jacobite steam train-Mallaig
We decided to try the Nevis bakery this morning for breakfast, a wise idea for some who are capable of making adult decisions, like Jon who tried a Scotch Meat Pie, or Tracy who had a fresh blueberry muffin. For those who still make decisions with hormone addled teenaged brains like Morgan, who decided a slice of Lemon Meringue pie was an excellent choice or Cadie who thought a donut cut in half and then filled with some sort of extra thick whipped cream (clotted cream we discovered later) would be a fun start to the day,maybe not so much.
After filling the children to the brim with sugar we wandered to the Fort William train station and boarded the Jacobite Steam Train. The train itself seems to be a bigger attraction than actually riding on it, as every pull out or train station we went past had the sidings lined with people filming and waving at us. The largest crowds were massed on the banks of the valley that the Glenfinnan Viaduct crosses. If you Google images of the Jacobite steam train you’ll see why, a very scenic view, crossing a massive viaduct with curved arches. It was pretty much like being in a parade.
Other than a short 20 minute stop to wander through the Glenfinnan train station museum for a quick lesson in the construction of the railroad and of course the famous viaduct, it was a straight shot to the harbour town of Mallaig (pronounced like My Leg, so of course Morgan and I cracked stupid jokes about feeling some pain in Mallaig etc). Lots of mountainous scenery along the way with a few lochs thrown in for variety, and a spot of tea and a shortbread cookie to make the experience even more quaint. Oh, and Morag (a traditional female Scottish name) came around with the souvenir cart in case you needed more Harry Potter crap or a commemorative pin.
We arrived in the town of Mallaig and disembarked. Our first stop was the specialty Harry Potter shop Cadie was dying to see. A couple of purchases for her later and much pacing for Morgan, we made it out of there and hit a couple of more pier-side shops before stopping at the Jac-O-Bite Cafe. Scampi for the boys and sandwiches for the girls. We then wandered to the ocean to have a seat and enjoy the views. There was a bit of a haze on the ocean from the heat but could still see the Isle of Eigg and the Isle of Rum across the way.
It was then time to return to the train and begin the ride home. This time we were served high tea so along with a cup of tea we were served sandwiches, cakes, jam and clotted cream and scones. Unfortunately, we had so much lunch we decided to bring ours home. Breakfast tomorrow, no doubt.
Stopped and got a few snacks and minor groceries (milk etc) from the aear Tesco then came back to our apartment for a bit to relax before supper. We decided on the Ben Nevis pub for supper, Morgan decided he was too full from all the eating so declined to come along. We tried to get in the night before, but it was so full we thought we’d try tonight but a half hour earlier, to much more success. I decided to have a seafood night so ordered the Seafood chowder and mussels for a main course. I guess we should have gotten there even earlier, for while we didn’t have to wait for a table, the last order of mussels left the kitchen just while we were being seated. I noticed a steak on the menu so ordered that for a surf and turf evening. as it turned out, the steak arrived with an order of haggis nestled in a yorkshire pudding! I’m afraid people will start thinking I have a haggis addiction as this is now my third meal of it, as well as a bag of haggis flavoured crisps…
Came home after supper to organize some luggage and recover as the train ride and the day as a whole was quite hot.
Tomorrow… Loch Ness… Myth busted?? Or eaten alive??
July 19th Fort William- Urquhart Castle- Loch Ness- Fort William
Started out the morning with breakfast at our apartment. When we arrived, they gave us a gift basket that included a loaf of bread, so Morgan had toast and jam. I hadn’t had my high tea from the steam train the day before, so I ate the sandwiches out of there (They were very tiny) and two honking big slabs of cake, one carrot and one lemon. Once I was done that there was no room for my scone with clotted cream and jam, so Cadie had that. Tracy was lame and had an apple.
We met our driver Peter Mcgillivray in front of the Garrison Hotel and we were off for a day of guided exploring.
Our first stop was at Inverlochy Castle, not a whole bunch there, except the ruins of the castle. Peter said that when he was a kid and playing hooky from school that’s where he and his friends would go play. They are trying to fix up the castle, but it is slow going. Queen Victoria was going to buy it at one point, but the week she came to look at it, it rained every day and soured the deal. To turn around after some pictures at the castle, we had to use the Highland Soap Co. parking lot. Highland Soap is kind of a big deal in Fort William, it used to be a farm, but all the cow sheds have been converted into factory buildings. Every bathroom… well everyone I’ve been in, uses their soap. A popular hand “flavour” is Whisky and Honey.
Our next stop was “Neptune’s Staircase” a series of boat locks that raises boats 62 ft (or lowers them the same distance, depending on which way you’re going) over 90 minutes. It was finished in 1832 and is the longest staircase lock in Scotland. We saw 3 boats using it the day before while we were on the steam train.
Our next stop was at the foot of Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in Scotland. We were lucky the weather has been so nice because the Ben Nevis gondolas were operating. A fifteen-minute ride later and we were at the top, well, not the tippy tip top, I guess they want to make you work to get the bragging rights, but high enough we had a beautiful view back to Fort William and surrounding area. On the way down, they stalled out and there was some nervous laughter from the children, but it started right back up and we were down safe and sound.
Next Peter took us to a narrow strip of land at the end of the Great Glen Way and showed us where the Battle of the Shirts was fought between the clans Macdonald and Cameron teamed up against the Frasers and Grants. I think he said 300 men were involved and all but 30 were killed, with the MacDonalds being the victors.
Then a very quick stop at Invergarry castle, basically a hop out of the car, take 3 pics, and back in and gone. It was the seat of the Clan MacDonell. You’re driving through some forest, turn a bit of a corner and poof! There’s a castle! On the banks of Loch Oich, even though we weren’t there long, it was still neat to see.
Next stop, Loch Ness! Our first view was at the very foot of the Loch. A little one lane road led into a bit of a car park, and we stopped for some photos. No Nessie sighted. It was right at the very end of the Loch though. The deepest part, and our most likely chance to see her would be at the deepest part of the Loch near Castle Urquhart. Luckily, this also happened to be our next stop!
We arrived at Castle Urquhart. Full of coughing, snotty, foreigners. If we get Covid it will be from those walking booger factories. I was quite grossed out. But the castle was lovely. Though mostly destroyed to prevent the castle from falling into the hands of the Jacobites, there is still enough to visualize what life might have been like and the spaces used by the people of the time. Jail cells, kitchens, the great hall, church, grain store etc were all partially there. The worst were two incredibly tiny spiral staircases that caused the Bowies some issues with our giant clodhoppers. While at the Castle we heard multiple sirens go past and later discovered a possibly fatal accident had happened just behind us and the road had been closed. We were lucky to have gotten through when we had or we might have had to cancel or taken a very long route around to continue our journey, not to make light of the accident of course. No Nessie. We assumed the disgusting sounds from the foreigners scared her farther up the loch.
After the castle we had a quick sandwich lunch at the Drum Hotel. Peter was such a nice guy we invited him to join us, and we bought his lunch. he seemed quite surprised we’d asked and readily accepted.
Then the Loch Ness Centre. We were finally going to get to the bottom of this Nessie business once and for all. Multiple videos about the forming of the Loch, life found in the Loch, Scientists who’d visited the Loch, some of the Nessie sightings… and so on… the general conclusion was there was no way in heck there is a Nessie… but please exit through the gift shop and buy Nessie memorabilia!!! So there might still be a Nessie, if there are Nessie toys. I mean, we’ll keep watching, you never know.
A quick trip through Inverness, (we’ll be back in August) and a street side picture of the Inverness castle and detour through the town.
A lot of driving later, we came to the Ruthven Barracks, a very complete set of ruins where 12 British redcoats were able to hold off 300 Jacobites, with only one British death when a soldier disobeyed the order to keep his head down and peeked over a parapet and got shot in the noggin. It was also at the barracks (built on a high natural mound) that we finally saw our first Highland Cows! Tracy was so excited to finally have seen some “in the wild”
We then stopped at the Highland museum at Kingussie and looked at some reproduction buildings like a crofter’s cottage, 1950s school, tweed shop, tailors etc. There is a whole town site a little further down the grounds where they have filmed some of the Outlander series, but as we got there basically at closing, we didn’t have time to go in. I bet if Donny White was in charge, he’d have let us…
Peter had a couple more stops he wanted to show us, unfortunately, it started to rain cats and dogs, and while it broke the heat cycle we’ve been in for the past couple of days it did put a hamper on sight seeing. We made one last quick stop to check out the dam they built to supply water for the aluminum factory at Fort William but then straight home.
Supper was at the Bistro at the Alex in the Alexandra Hotel per Peter’s recommendation. No haggis this time just a roast pork supper, but I DID find haggis flavoured chocolate at the Urquhart Castle gift shop….
Tomorrow is a much quieter day. Just a drive to a castle to spend the night. Later peons.
July 20th Fort William- Glencoe- Balcardine Castle
Hello Peons!
We got to sleep in a bit today, well those that were able to did. As it was the last day in our Fort William apartment, we frantically ate all that we could of the few groceries and leftover items we had in our fridge. I’m scared to admit what was consumed, but Morgan was the healthiest with multiple toasts and jams. Chocolate and cake MAY have been some of the other items consumed… but I’d never admit to it in a court of law.
We had been looking in shop windows since our arrival to town and since our driver wasn’t going to be picking us up till 12:45 we had time to pick up some of those items that had caught our eyes. Tracy was the big winner with a lovely blue wool shawl and Cadie with a rather large stuffed Highland cow. I found a nice Macdonald of the Isles clan kilt pin but still no kilt! I’ve found a few kilts, but not the right tartan.
A quick lunch at the Nevis bakery again and sat on High Street to eat it and people watch, though in Scotland we seem to be dog watching more than people watching as every business seems to be pet friendly and most have dog treats and water bowls outside for passersby. Everyone brings their dogs along with them! We saw a dog today that could have been Copper’s half brother and had the name Scooby which is also a nickname for him.
Our driver Allister was right on time and a very friendly, visity chap. Very easy to get along with and engaging and willing to bend over backwards to make sure I had lots of photo opportunities.
Our first stop was in the village of Glencoe, notorious for the massacre of members of the Macdonald clan by the Campbells and government forces. We stopped at the Glencoe Folk Museum and looked at a real hodgepodge of exhibits. All very interesting but no cohesive storyline. Still a worthwhile stop with a lot of Macdonald history included.
We then stopped at the Clachaig inn as Jean Mckendry had mentioned there was a sign on the door stating “No Campbells Allowed” however it has been taken down since her last visit as it has been deemed politically incorrect. We Macdonalds just have to silently glare at them now, I guess.
Next, we went to the Glen Coe Information Centre (Glencoe is the village, Glen Coe is the actual physical glen) where we were able to tour a traditional turf house built in 2021 using traditional building methods. It was designed and built to specifications from old photos, archeological digs, and written descriptions of the same. We watched a short informative video of the process and also learned a bit about the geography/geology of the area, and a bit about the mountain climbing history of the area.
A quick photo stop at the Ballachulish church(es) just outside Glencoe a very small hut building was identified as the “old” church and a much larger old church known as the “new” church. I made a short video miss identifying them as the Glencoe churches but even though they are near the town of Glencoe, in Glen Coe, they are named after the Slate mine of Ballachulish.
Our next, and nearly last stop for me was at Castle Stalker. The castle is on private land so you can’t get out to it, but there is a lookout point you can walk to where one is able to take pictures. We reached a bit of a lookout so took a few pictures but the trail seemed to continue on into a rather steep glen so Cadie and I continued, halfway down the trail kept getting worse and narrower so I decided it was just a cow path as it was in some farmer’s field and told Cadie to turn around and head back and stop Tracy and Morgan from coming all the way down too as it was obviously not really the place to be. The trail I was at forked off to the right and so I headed down it a tiny way to see if there was a clearing to get another picture as I had already come this far, when the path I was on collapsed on the edge and I nearly tumbled straight down into the loch. No injuries as I only had one leg dangling over but did get quite muddy catching and pulling myself back onto the trail. Castle Stalker was still beautiful and is somewhat famous as it did appear in the Monty Python movie The Holy Grail and is the castle from which (John Cleese) the French Soldier taunts King Arthur with “I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries”
Our last stop of the day was Barcaldine castle which has been converted into a B&B. A beautiful castle with a central winding staircase with rooms off of it for accommodation on each floor and on the middle floor is the great hall and Laird’s room off of it. As an added treat there are two hidden staircases to find, one leading down to the main floor and coming out above the dungeon (complete with skeleton) and one into a bathroom, however the door was locked so maybe someone was using it?? One hidden staircase was quite easy to find as it had an old thumb-latch on it so was obviously a door of some kind, the other was much more difficult and was spring loaded so you had to look for an oddity in the wall woodwork and moldings and push on the panel to have it pop open.
Supper was at the Hawthorn Restaurant. Hawthorn Chicken for the boys, two chicken breasts on a bed of potatoes and haggis covered in gravy, Steak for Cadie and Fish and chips for Tracy. There was a bit of a SNAFU with taxis tonight. the local cab was called out 1 1/2 hours away and the next closest cab was busy so a cab from Oban had to be called (20 mins away) to give us a 2 min ride to the restaurant. We decided to walk back after supper instead of trying to round up another car, and it was about a 20 min walk. Saw a couple of big birds on the way and was trying to figure out if they were eagles or buzzards when one of the girls yelled THERE’S YOUR DEER DAD! and of course it was off through the bush. Caught a glimpse of a doe, but it was long gone before I could get a picture… Family and dogs are not always helpful when pursuing wildlife photography.
Off now to sleep like a king, or at least a laird.
Tomorrow, off to Oban, the Seafood Capital of Scotland.
Postscript to the day: (Taken from the Barcaldine Castle Website)
According to a public survey conducted in 2013, many visitors to this castle hotel believe it to be haunted – possibly by the ghost of Donald Campbell, Laird of Barcaldine.
In his life, Donald Campbell had a bitter feud with Stewart of Appin. Then one day, during one of the most notorious massacres in Scottish history, the Massacre of Glencoe, Stewart murdered Donald with his sword in this very castle.
Donald’s brother, Sir Duncan Campbell, was the one who built the ‘Black Castle’ between 1601 and 1609. After murdering Donald, Stewart sought refuge with Duncan, who had not yet learned of his brother’s death. Obeying Highland custom, poor Sir Duncan took Stewart in, not realising he was sheltering Donald’s murderer.
Legend has it that Donald haunted and chastised Duncan for helping Stewart, but Duncan did not understand these visions he was having. And by the time Duncan realised what had happened to his brother, that he was seeing his ghost, it was too late! The murderous Stewart of Appin had fled once again!
Out of pure frustration at the injustice he suffered, Donald Campbell reportedly haunts the castle to this day. Our B&B guests often tell tales of hauntings in The Caithness Room, with sightings of Donald’s ghost featuring heavily in their stories. Many who have slept on the right side of the bed claim that they felt pressure on their back/legs. According to them, it felt as though someone was sitting on them! Others report odd lights moving around The Caithness Room at night, with no clear explanation of how they got there.
The TripAdvisor survey may have been carried out in 2013, but many are still tempted to find out if Donald Campbell’s ghost still roams the rooms and halls.
Last night Morgan and I stayed in that room… and twice something tickled my feet… I just blamed Morgan… but now I wonder…
July 21st Barcaldine Castle- Oban
After a night of questionable foot ticklers, We awoke and got ready for the day. As we couldn’t check into our Oban apartment until 2, we wanted to leave Barcaldine castle as late as possible. We had to pre-book our breakfast time so set it at the latest time which was 10am, so Morgan and I hung out in our room and the girls in theirs until it was time to head down.
As we were the last booking of the morning, we were also the last guests to get breakfast. The boys had the traditional Scottish breakfast, Morgan even ate and enjoyed a whole serving of black pudding. Cadie had pancakes and “streaky bacon” so bacon like we normally get in Canada. Scottish bacon is more like what we’d call back bacon or “Canadian Bacon”. Tracy had traditional Scottish porridge, so thick even light can’t escape its grasp with a light whiskey sauce on top.
We went back to our rooms and packed up the last of our sundries, checked out and waited for the cab from Oban to come pick us up. This time it wasn’t a car hire so no stops for pictures along the way, just an all-business dude with door-to-door service, though did have some suggestions about sights to check out in Oban when asked.
The first stop was our hotel. We weren’t supposed to be checking in until 2 but got to the apartments at 1. Then we thought we’d have to split up, some wander and take in some sights, while the others watched the luggage. As a “just in case” we checked the lock box the keys were to be left in, and lo and behold, there were some keys! I tried them on the front door, and they worked so I left the crew on the street and “ran” up to the top floor of the building where our apartment was and our luck held. The front door unlocked, the beds were made, there was no housekeeper in the rooms, and though we weren’t supposed to be in there, we at least had a place to leave our luggage. Some towels and things weren’t put away, so we dropped off our bags and headed out in case the cleaner was coming back and we didn’t want to be in their way.
Our first trek was to McCaig’s Tower, which is a stone building at the top of the hill overlooking Oban that looks a LOT like the colosseum in Rome. Unfortunately, this meant MORE STAIRS! We had all hoped that after the stairs to the apartment in Fort William we’d never have to see another one during our travels, or at the very least had had enough step-training we could tackle anything. We…were…wrong. These were some major steps… but well worth the work to get up them. A breathtaking view of the town and piers and we could see the Isle of Mull off on the horizon. Part way through the picture taking, the sound of bagpipes started drifting up the hill adding a truly Scottish touch to the scene!
The nice thing about the towns we’ve been in so far is that all the shops seem to be located in one general area and those areas are quite pedestrian friendly. Can you imagine trying to walk around Medicine Hat to do some general shopping if you didn’t have a car?? After McCaig’s tower, we went and did a little shopping. for a lark I tried on a Pork Pie hat and dang if I didn’t look like some ruggedly handsome Scottish beast. After much bum grabbing from the young local lasses and Tracy snatching two or three of them bald headed trying to defend my virginal honour, I decided I’d better get one!! A few other stops in Shops and Morgan was getting visibly frustrated with the pace of shopping women, and as it was after two, we headed back to the apartment.
We got settled and explored our home for the next two nights, a VERY large space, three bedrooms, living room kitchen and a wide entrance and hallway. We had a bit of a lounge, then Tracy and I headed off to find some bag lunch supplies for our Puffin viewing adventure tomorrow. One bad thing about the Puffin adventure was a couple of days ago we were notified we wouldn’t be allowed on the island with the Puffins thanks to the current outbreak of avian flu. I’m really glad I’ve been dragging around my big heavy zoom lens now so we still might get some decent pictures! Back to the room to read the Scottish newspaper I got at the local bakery/convenience store around the corner.
Asked the kids if they wanted to head back out for more exploring and shopping and Morgan declined, he wanted to relax and “watch his stories” but Cadie was game. Trudged around for awhile, hit a couple of jewelry stores as Tracy really wants something celtic designed, a candy store, a pharmacy to get some toothpaste (would not recommend… full of sick people) a camera store (mwahahahaha) and any other shop that caught our interest.
Cadie started to play out, so we headed back to relax until supper.
Made reservations for the “Waterfront Fishouse (sic) Restaurant”. It’s right on the pier so it had to be fresh and if we were in the seafood capital of Scotland, by golly we better be eating seafood!! I had the Seafood Platter which had fresh oysters, salmon, mussels, langoustines, scallops, and for some reason a salad. It was a little daunting as I’d never had raw oysters or langoustines before, let alone a salad, but I got through and enjoyed it all. Morgan had the Sea Bass fillets and the girls had fish and chips. I also ordered a whisky to go along with my supper, and while I’m thoroughly enjoying rediscovering my Scottish roots and the fashion and flavours and lifestyle that goes along with that, I’m not sure I’ll ever be a Scotch drinker. Morgan has been a real cheerleader saying I just haven’t tried enough of them and he’s sure there will be at least one I like, so I need to keep trying…I guess I’ll soldier on so I don’t disappoint the lad but cripes…
After supper we headed back to the apartment to enjoy our first sunset in Scotland and have a quiet night in.
Tomorrow… All day on boats and hopefully some aquatic animals and Puffins!
July 22nd Oban- Mull- Staffa Island and Treshnish Isles
The kids wanted to sleep in as late as possible, so it was take-away muffins from the bakery/convenience store next door and a cup of instant coffee scrounged in the apartment kitchen.
Walked down to the pier and boarded the ferry to Mull. We were barely out of the port when I saw the first dolphin of the day. Just a single dolphin and got a distant shot of it but the day was off to a good start. Lovely scenery on the way over included mountainous coasts, a lighthouse, and a castle.
We arrived in Mull and found the van that was arranged to take us to our boat tour. We discovered where Scottish hippies end up… driving tour buses. We got to the dock for the tour boat, and I noticed what looked like oil drops in the water, however there were hundreds of them, and upon further inspection we noticed they were actually jellyfish!
Started to board our boat and unfortunately it wasn’t just our tour bus that was included on the passenger list, many people had driven their own cars there, and our bus was the last to arrive so all upper deck seating was taken. Went below decks and anything with a semblance of a window was taken. This was shaping up to be a bad boat ride. We knew we wouldn’t be getting on Staffa due to the avian flu, and all day shoved in a mostly windowless corner wasn’t looking attractive.
We started out and about 20 minutes into the boat ride a few people shuffled around and Cadie and I snagged a couple of window seats. These seats were on the wrong side of the boat apparently as they looked out into the sea and only very distant islands were visible. Cadie got fed up and moved back to the original seat for though there was only a partial window to look out of, at least there was some scenery.
As we approached Staffa, I became more frustrated as everyone crowded around the windows and I was unable to get any photos of the cubical structure of the rocks and when the boat nosed into Fingal’s cave I couldn’t get a picture. But THEN the captain started saying where we were to get off the boat and where we were allowed to walk and not walk because of the avian flu! We were so excited! Leapt off the boat, put on our mountain goat shoes and were off to find Puffins!
And boy did we find Puffins. there was a sheltered cove where they were nesting on the tops of cliffs, and they would swoop down into the ocean and fly back up and land (a few quite near us!) then they’d be off again. We sat there for quite awhile and just enjoyed ourselves!
Decided we’d better check out Fingal’s Cave since we couldn’t see it when the boat nosed in, so we hiked through the heather that was starting to flower until we reached the walkway that follows the coast to the cave. What an impressive sight! Almost looks like it was made out of Lego or some movie set from Game of Thrones or any other medieval fantasy.
We were more clever getting back on the boat. We were there before the suggested time and were the first ones on so had a choice of seats. The girls sat topside but it was looking like rain and I was concerned about having to move to protect my camera so Morgan and I picked the open window on what I thought would be the scenic view on the ride home. I chose poorly…well, for scenery at least.
All the islands were on the opposite side of the boat we were on, but all the grey seals (uncommon) were on our side! I have lots of scenic pictures so rather than bounce around between lenses and seats, I focused on wildlife pictures. Lots of water birds feeding, including gulls, more puffins, and Shags (commonly confused with a cormorant) . We also saw nesting spots for all of the above as well as Common Mures. Lots of great photos.
As we returned home, we saw 3 different salmon farms, then took a little detour and found some more seals, this time harbour seals as well as their pups. Once again, we were on the correct side of the boat! The harbour seals were a little more used to the boat and we caught them sunbathing, so we were able to get quite close before they dove in the water to hide.
Back on our hippie bus and back to the ferry for our ride back to Oban. On the ride back I spotted three more dolphins, and finally on the very last one, Cadie finally saw it too. She was over the moon.
Back in Oban we dropped Morgan back at the room, he got a bit of a chill on the ferry and still had his bag lunch so curled up in bed to heat up and probably get crumbs everywhere. He also saw where I stashed the chips from my bag lunch so they might be gone too. The rest of us headed to “Gelato Burger” for a “taste of home”, burgers and milkshakes for everyone. They did have a burger with haggis on it but thought I’d better give it a rest lest people start to talk. Gelato for dessert and Churros for Cadie. We even snagged a milkshake for the boy.
Tomorrow- Travel to Islay. We have to check out of the apartment at 10 but our ferry doesn’t leave till 4:00 so we’ll have to take turns guarding luggage while the other team tours…
July 23 Oban-Islay
Had a quiet start to the day. The kids wanted to sleep as much as possible, so we tiptoed around the apartment. Breakfast was catch as catch can, so Tracy ran downstairs to the Convenience store for some milk for the kids and some muffins, but it was also clear out the remaining snacks before pulling up stakes, so SOME people may have had chips and coffee but I’d never name names.
Had to check out at 10 and our ferry didn’t leave till 4:30 but Tracy, the planner that she is, talked to the ferry agent the day before and found a tourist info booth that would let us leave our luggage there even though it wasn’t really the job of the folks working to look after things. While out getting milk she ran over and asked if that was the deal and they agreed, so at least we weren’t going to have to leave our luggage and a guard at the ferry station while the rest wandered.
After leaving our keys in the apartment lock box, and the luggage at the info booth we headed out for last minute shopping/wandering in Oban. There were two stops we HAD to make, the candy store to restock some of the treats we had discovered and really liked (Irn Bru balls, cinnamon balls, chocolates with sprinkles etc) and a book as I’m nearly finished mine I got at the Calgary airport.
Unfortunately, things were slower to open than we were to visit them, so stopped and got a coffee at Kronk’s coffee shop on the waterfront and enjoyed the scenery and coffees/hot chocolates for a bit. The next stop was the bookstore for some Scottish History insights via the written word. Off to the candy store to restock, two small art galleries, and various stores and sundries in between.
A quick stop at Costa Coffee (basically the UK version of Starbucks) for a light lunch of sandwiches and a couple of more stops including one more to the bookstore for Cadie who had lots of time to ponder and also decided she needed a book now too. Everyone had seen all they needed to, and with limited space, had bought enough for one day, we just sat at the waterfront and watched the boats for awhile.
The temperature started to drop about 2:30 so we collected our bags and decided to finish waiting for the ferry at the terminal where there was electricity to charge phones and free wi-fi for the kids. Then the rain started, so good “planning” on our part!
Got on the ferry and found some good seats in the enclosed observation deck after some scouting, and we were off. Rained for quite awhile till we were on the open sea, and it cleared for awhile. The family had supper while I watched the luggage and then the kids came back and Tracy sat with me while I ate mine (nothing exciting for me, just a sammich and some yogurt). Then the heavens opened up again.
It rained all the rest of the way to Islay. Visibility from the ferry was nil, so not much to see coming into port and then we realized just how hard it was raining on shore. Got off the ship and had to walk to the terminal where we were to meet the car hire lady. She said visibility was so poor on her way over with the car that it took her an hour to drive 8 miles and she had to stop twice it was coming down so hard. “The flooding is TERRRIBLE” she kept saying. Then asked where we were going and when we said Kilchoman she looked absolutely shocked. “It’s a single track and horribly windy, use extreme caution…use EXTREME caution” she kept saying. A great confidence booster… She ran through the rules of the use of the car but it was raining so hard she didn’t go through a run down how to USE the car, like it would have been nice to know it had fuel saver mode and shuts off when you put it in park or sit too long, how to use the Sat-Nav, etc etc. By the time we got to the car and loaded everyone was quite soaked as were our bags. But we soldiered on.
Our luck held and the worst of the rain had slowed once we were a couple of miles out of Port Askaig and had turned into only a light rain by the time we got to the narrower roads at Bridgend and beyond. Lots of puddles on the road and some roads near Kilchoman were completely submerged with water flowing over them but it was a close your eyes and hope the road is there and the water isn’t over the hood kind of deal.
Made it to Kilchoman but stopped at the wrong set of houses where we thought our cottage was. A nice local came out and told us where to go. So now I’m not sure if the Buie farm is where we’re staying or that first set of buildings. I have contacted John Buie for clarification. All the fields of both places butt up to each other so we are in the general area, but it would be great to be sure. John said when they stayed at the farm with their caravan, they parked by the buildings, and there is zero parking at the first set and a nice big car park by our cottage so I think it’s where we are but will wait for his response.
Everyone was a little rattled from the drive and some of the conditions so we unloaded the car and got into our cottage. Just beat the dark and more rain. Decided to watch a little telly as we haven’t turned one on since we got here. Watched a couple of comedy quiz shows the kids really seemed to enjoy, but the rain kept knocking out the tv signal, so I gave up and headed to bed.
There is no cell service at Kilchoman, and in inclement weather no internet, so communication may be spotty for a bit. If you don’t hear from us we’ll be okay, just wet…
July 24th Kilchoman- Bowmore
The kids wanted to sleep in and with nothing booked we let them. I got up at my usual time and rather than disturb the household, went exploring our immediate surroundings. My first stop was the paddock out behind the cottage. We noticed some large wheels in the bottom of the little glen first thing this morning, so I headed there. A bit of a stream runs through the paddock with a small, stacked stone dam upstream. There was a fair bit of water running down it, I’m not sure if that’s a regular occurence or simply build up from yesterday’s deluge. Farther downstream were the wheels. It was obviously some sort of water driven device at some time with the gears still in place, but the fans on the water wheels were gone as was the machinery it used to power. To the right of the wheels were three large pipes and a set of two stone carved stairs. Also, not sure what this was for but the two were connected somehow. If I find a local, they may be able to answer some questions?
The grass was rather damp for too much off road trudging, no wellies with me, So I headed back up to the road and took some photos of the old Kilchoman church. Built previously on the old medieval church, it’s a romantic notion to think of the Buies attending church there, until you discover it was built about 10 years after they left the area. Still a very neat building, but heartbreaking to see it falling into such horrible disrepair. Because it is in such poor shape, they have blocked off access to the old cemetery as well and it is very overgrown and rough looking. The Kilchoman Cross, once quite an attraction, is being swallowed by moss and plant growth. I’ve contacted John Buie to see if he can remember if this was the cemetery where the Buie ancestor was buried, and if so I’ve found a low spot in the wall and will hop it to get a picture of the headstone, or ask for permission first, but you know…boring… Two little bunnies were spotted, one by the church and the other by the new cemetery across the road from the church. We happened upon four carloads of tourists coming up to see the cross and church, so it still draws crowds, I guess there just isn’t enough money to fix up all the buildings. Perhaps the opening of the Kilchoman brewery will prompt the powers that be to look after it (or at least invest in the goat track to Kilchoman they call a road!)
Got back to the cottage and I was pretty damp from my wanderings so propped my feet up by the heater to dry my pants and waited for the kids to get up… and waited…and waited… Cadie stirred and got up to use the bathroom then went back to bed… and waited… and waited… Finally, 11:30 rolled around and I was fully dry, and the kids were up… and looking for breakfast. Well, since we hadn’t been able to go grocery shopping all we had were little candies, some cookies, and iced tea they brought from the ferry, so it was off to find a grocery store. (The internet said there was one in Bowmore). But first, lunch or breakfast depending on your age.
We looked and the Kilchoman distillery has a cafe and was open Sunday so we thought we’d try there. Got in the building, but of course, lunch service on a Sunday is booked solid. We could wait for an hour or continue on. We were already headed to Bowmore for groceries anyway so decided to hit the trail but booked lunch at the distillery for tomorrow.
Just past the distillery we noticed the low tire light was on in the car, we couldn’t see a low tire and the car handled normally so carried on. Got to Bowmore and had to park up the street from the Co-Op grocery store… Yes, you read that right! and started heading down the street. Happened upon a tiny little cafe so we hopped in for some lunch. Basic food available, so Morgan and I had scampi and chips, Tracy a burger, and Cadie a chicken bacon wrap. Super slow service but the food was ok.
Hit the Co-Op and got some basics to fill the cupboards, coffee, bread for toast, stuff for sandwiches, juice, milk, etc in case we just wanted a quickie lunch or didn’t want to drive just for breakfast or needed to take something to the beach. When we went to check out all the cashiers were off somewhere, so wound up using the self checkout. Guess what, now I hate Scottish Co-Op too! What an annoying system, all based on the weight of your basket and the weight of groceries in the bagging area, of course if there’s more in your basket than fits the bag you need to get another bag and make room, so the machine pitches a wobbly. We had to get assistance multiple times. the Clerk thought it was hilarious, so I threw her and her dang-blasted machine through the front window.
Loaded the car up and found a gas station so I could look at the tire issue. No air hose of course, but they sold me an emergency tire repair kit and a pressure gauge so I could check them. Then a local came in and said there was a pay place at Bridgend where I could fill my tire, and as it was on the way home, we headed there. Put air in all four tires just in case, (you set the machine to a certain pressure, and it fills it that full) got back in the car and the light is still on. I know the tires are full so I’m assuming it’s a fault somewhere on the car but will keep an eye on it.
Stopped at the distillery on the way home for some takeaway for our supper, since we missed the pizza place in Bowmore on the way out of town as was the original plan and with the tire light, we didn’t want to turn around and head back. All they had on offer was soup and sandwiches, which we ordered and got home and unloaded. The kids had been begging for some downtime, so gave them the rest of the day to do as they saw fit. The internet has been working so I haven’t seen them the rest of the day.
Started raining quite hard again shortly after we got back, so that put a kibosh on my hiking plans for the afternoon. Tracy decided if we were going to be locked in for a bit, she’d do some laundry so we all got into our jammies and we read, caught up on news from home and just had a fairly lazy rest of the day.
We WERE supposed to have a boat tour of Jura tomorrow, but they didn’t sell enough tickets to make it go, so it might be an option later in the week. Tomorrow I’ll get my hike in and I think there was talk of hitting the beach at Machir Bay. Cadie is really interested in finding some Kilchoman sea glass, so fingers crossed for her!
Till Tomorrow!
July 25 Kilchoman- Machir Bay
Got up and out the door this morning as the kids wanted to sleep in and Tracy wanted to finish up some laundry. Hiked around the paddocks behind the cottage and got absolutely soaked. Got brave and climbed a couple of the hills. Not horribly steep but because it was wet, everything was pretty slippery. Worth the discomfort as the views were spectacular and I was able to get some great pictures and video of the Buie farm and its relation to other landmarks in the area.
Came back and had coffee with Tracy and waited for the kids to get up and going.
When they did, we bundled everyone up into the car and headed to the distillery for lunch. What a busy place that business is. Eating out options are EXTREMELY limited (as we continue to find out) so that’s probably part of the reason why. Cullen Skink (seafood chowder) and Coronation Chicken panini for me, Ham and cheese and Cheese Panini for the girl and boy respectively and Tracy had a toasted sandwich.
The kids wanted some down time so we dropped them off at the cottage and Tracy and I headed to Bowmore to see what the shops had on offer. Got a few little things and a nice walk around town and got some pictures of the famous round church. Due to Covid the church is only open to Sunday services and not available for daily viewings yet, so I guess the inside will remain a mystery to us. Maybe something online will show us what it’s like?
Headed back to the cottage and grabbed Cadie as she really wanted to look for some sea glass. Wandered down in the wind (it was really windy all day, not like Maple Creek really windy but coming off the ocean windy) and had a stroll along the beach at Machir Bay. No sea glass to be found but she picked up a pocket full of polished quartz rocks and seemed quite happy with them. Toes in the sand and some minor digging were also involved. Lots of signs about dangerous undertow, so I’m not sure swimming in the Bay will be in the immediate future, but now that she has gone to the beach with the adults, she feels secure enough that she may try going on her own at some point to look for more rocks etc.
Got back from Machir Bay and decided to try somewhere for supper. They have a really good seafood restaurant at Port Charlotte apparently and Tracy called multiple times during the day to try to secure a table for us but no one answered so decided we’d just drive down and try it. Got there and of course today is the day of the week they are closed, so now the hunt was on for food. You’d think this would be easy but not on Islay. There’s extremely limited choices and if you don’t pre book… sometimes days ahead, you’re screwed. Our next sighting was the Port Charlotte hotel. Walked in, the guy behind the bar told us it was completely booked all night. So, we continued on, the next and only town with possible food on the line was Portnahaven at the furthest SW point of Islay. Drove into the town and down main street and not a car in sight. it was coming on to 7:30-7:45 so rather than drive around slowly trying to find something I saw a delivery guy and flagged him down and asked if there was anywhere to eat. He just kind of sigh/chuckled and said no. But he knew a place, we were just to follow him down the road and he’d show us a great place. So, we followed him… all the way back to Port Charlotte… and the seafood restaurant that was closed Mondays…He apologized and told us to try the Hotel… see above. So, we decided we might try the Brigend hotel, but by the time we got to the Kilchoman turn off it was 8 and I figured kitchens would probably start to be closing. By this time the kids decided a grilled cheese sandwich sounded like about the best thing ever invented so we just went home. They had grilled cheese and beans and I had cup-o-noodles.
While in Bowmore today we made supper reservations for the next two nights, so a repeat won’t be occurring for the next little bit at least.
In other “exciting” news, the farmer who has the paddock behind us has started cutting his hay crop, so got to watch someone cutting hay rather than doing it! And now when I want to climb the hill behind the cottage (a peaceful new happy spot), my shoes and pants will stay drier longer!
Tomorrow, Tracy and I are headed to the castle ruins at Finlaggan
July 26th Kilchoman- Finlaggan- Islay House
Got up and had some coffee to kick-start the ol afterburners, which worked but not as well as the ice-cold shower this morning. The ol cottage taps are a little tricky!
Tracy and I took the car on a little trip to Finlaggan which was the castle used as the seat of power for the MacDonald clan in the Isles. The bridge to the little island where the castle ruins are located on Loch Finlaggan has seen better days, so they decided this year, during tourist season, now that things are opening up from Covid restrictions, to replace it. Since the bridge is closed, they also decided not to bother opening up the Finlaggan interpretive centre which upon looking in the windows, seemed to have all sorts of Clan Macdonald information and souvenirs in it. Oh well, I was able to find a couple of things in Oban and no doubt will find some more when we take our McDonald Clan tour. Did I mention it was being led by Hugh Allison, published historian?? Author of the book Culloden Tales? So excited to finally meet one of those!
Since the Finlaggan experience was shorter than expected we decided to make a stop at Islay House. Originally known as Kilarrow house, it was built by Sir Hugh Campbell (Campbells…blech) in the late 1670s and was owned by the family and added onto until they went bankrupt in the late 1840s (Take that you Macdonald murdering creatures!!). These days it serves as a hotel. It is currently up for sale again for a measly 2.7+ million pounds if anyone is looking to bankroll my hotel on Islay scheme. Located in the old farm buildings is a bit of a marketplace known as Islay square, so after roaming the grounds for a bit we went and did some shopping. Coffee at the art gallery, run and owned by photographer Mark Unsworth (no relation to Art) and his wife. We bought a book and a card from them as well. Also open was the Islay Gin brewery, Ma McKinnon’s Curiosity shop, A farm supply store (which I definitely had to visit), and Islay Quilt shop.
It was nearing 12 at this point so we headed to Bridgend to see about grabbing some lunch for the family. The restaurant at the hotel seemed closed so there was no take-away, so we tried the little shop attached to the gas station. It turned out to be not so little and had quite a good selection, even canned haggis… So yeah, I bought some to try! Grabbed a mixed assortment of lunch options and headed back to the cottage to feed the children (at least make sure they got out of bed or rotated to avoid developing bed sores)
After lunch Cadie decided she wanted to head straight to the beach, and Tracy and I would join her later after taking a walk to the Kilchoman military cemetery where WW1 sailors were buried after the sinking of the ships the HMS Otranto (collided with the HMS Kasmir during a storm and sank) and the SS Tuscania (torpedoed). Then we joined Cadie at the beach. Found quite a few jellyfish washed up on the beach today and Cadie left with a pocket full of rocks again, but the most exciting part of her day was FINALLY finding a piece of sea glass! It was plain jane white stuff, but she was over the moon to finally find some!!
Headed back to the cottage to de-sand and headed out for supper in Bowmore. Had reservations at the Lochside Hotel. A beautiful view of the bay from our table and fresh seafood on the menu. I had fresh Islay scallops with chorizo sausage, Morgan had the Sea Bass, Cadie had Haddock and Chips and Tracy… well Tracy had Bacon Mac and Cheese… ah pig, the fish of the land…. A lovely meal (with a heck of a price tag) and home again to relax. Lots of sheep out on the road tonight so an adventure coming home.
The paddocks behind us have all been raked so we assume they’ll be baled and silage wrapped tomorrow sometime.
Tomorrow, The Islay Woolen Mill, let’s hope it’s open…
July 27th Kilchoman-Woolen Mill- Gruinart
Woke up extra early (not on purpose) and managed to see a rather spectacular sunrise. Even had the awareness to take a photo of it and send it home to dad who was still awake…
Managed to doze back asleep for a bit then got up to face another beautiful day on Islay. Headed out for a bit of a hike and climbed back up “my hill” overlooking Kilchoman. They had moved a paddock of sheep the other day to a wide-open paddock and the haying behind the cottage has progressed so thought I should get some pictures with the changes as well, I had thought they might have baled up the swaths behind the cottage by tonight but they haven’t yet. If they are going to make silage with it (and that seems to be how it’s done here) I’d think it won’t be long till it’s done.
Came back and had coffee with Tracy and waited for Cadie to get up and moving so we could get to the Islay Woolen Mill. Left at 10:30 as was the plan and headed down the road. The traffic this morning was horrendous on our little one-track road. Tours at the distillery start at 11 and I guess we hit peak “rush hour” Then we got held up by a tractor, and some dim-bulb woman was sitting on her horse in one of the passing spots and we met a tractor so we pulled over as far as we could, but the tractor couldn’t pull in because this horse chick wouldn’t move and of course the tractor had a wagon on behind so he needed all the space he could get… finally he nosed up enough the horse finally jumped away from it, the tractor could nose ahead and we squeaked by. Damn tourists on my land!!
Got to the woolen mill (Established 1883) and got a private tour from Marcus on the set up of the machinery and then he fired up one of the machines and weaved a little tweed for us. He showed us some completed bolts including the “Finlaggan Tweed” so we now know what to look for if we want to look like “Royal MacDonalds”. Only saw one riding cloak in their gift shop in the pattern, so I’m assuming Islay must be full of queens, wink wink. Made a few purchases in the gift shop and carried on.
Headed back to the cottage for lunch. Morgan may not want to take part in the sightseeing on Islay, but we’ll make sure he doesn’t sleep ALL day and that he eats. I had the canned haggis I got at the grocery store the other day. Tasted alright, but the consistency left a lot to be desired. I guess I’ll stick to the fresh stuff if possible, thank you very much!
After lunch Cadie had a bit of a laze so I thought I might as well catch a quick nap, then we were off to the Gruinart Nature Preserve. We heard there was lots of sand and beaches so thought Cadie might get a chance to find more sea glass, but not really. They wanted the beach area clear of people for goose watching. There are two nature trails available for hiking and Tracy said we could see geese at home, so we decided to try the Moorland trail and maybe see some different wildlife and birds. It was pretty slim pickings for awhile, a few little songbirds, a couple of rabbits and a ton of flies and little bugs. We met a fellow coming the other way who said he’d just come across an adder, but it had slithered off into the grass, then we passed a woman and a dog coming towards us so we quit trying to be quiet and sneaky to see animals as we figured a dog would pretty well have chased everything away. Found a sign about Miner Bees so then Cadie was on the hunt for their holes and was having pretty good luck finding a bunch of them. She had just found another group when I looked over and way off in the distance were two red deer, a stag chasing a doe… I fired off a couple of pictures with my little lens and dropped behind a hedge to put on my telescopic lens, but by the time i had fought it out of my bag and got it on the camera they were gone. It didn’t matter though, I had finally got a couple of pictures of my Scottish deer, even if they were a long way away, I was happy. Got a couple of nice pictures of songbirds and a nice walk other than it being so buggy. I was willing to do the second trail, but the girls had had enough so we headed back to the car.
We discovered on our walk we were a darn sight closer to Kilchoman than we originally thought and through this new technology called a “paper map” discovered the back road home, which could have saved us a ton of driving time from the get go if someone had only told us about these things! On the way back we discovered where the Kilchoman distillery was cutting peat, and while they weren’t actively cutting today found a pile of cut bricks and the bank they were working on.
Went back to the cottage then off to the Bowmore Hotel for supper. Very friendly staff, Peter the barman being the most so! Cadie and I had Roast beef in red wine sauce, lasagna for Tracy and a tough ol steak for poor Morgan. The main part of the meal was served individually but all the sides were served “family style” so we supplemented Morgan’s meal and filled him up. The sticky toffee pudding afterwards helped as well.
After supper we thought we’d drive to Port Charlotte to try to get reservations at the ever-elusive seafood restaurant “Lochindale”. VERY popular and we haven’t been able to raise anyone when we have cell service, and there isn’t any service at the cottage. Popped in and nothing was available until after we leave. Instead, we booked a table at the Port Charlotte Hotel and got the VERY LAST seating for tomorrow night. Since we were so far down the road, we thought we might as well carry on and see if we could find the Highland cows we saw by the road during our last attempt at supper reservations. We did and they are very cute. Lots of pictures of them and very cute calves…
AND DEER! SO MANY DEER! Why go to a nature preserve, just drive to Portnahaven at 9pm and they almost crawl in the car with you! So now I have all sorts of red deer pictures and Highland cow pictures. Oh… and there were even some deer just by the Kilchoman distillery as well though not many areas to pull off to take pictures.
Back home now, tomorrow, a drive down to Port Ellen and the South East tip of Islay for some sightseeing.
July 28th Kilchoman- Port Ellen- Port Charlotte
We all slept in a little today. Up again really early for me so I played on my phone for an hour before finally dozing back off then suddenly it was quarter to 9!
Had some coffee with Tracy, then she and I hopped in the car and headed to Port Ellen to see what was shaking in the other major port on Islay. Not as scenic a drive as what we’ve gotten used to on the west and north side of the bay but did find out exactly where the airport is we fly out of on Saturday and noticed a lot of the peat pits where they have been harvesting peat for the three SW distilleries, Laphroaig, Lagavulin, and Ardbeg. The rest of the country is very flat and devoid of trees. Parked the car and headed out on foot.
Had a lovely walk down to the port, a large elevator for grain, lots of boats including fishing and sailing types, and a bit of a beach.
Hit a few shops, we haven’t found much Islay related touristy crap to bring home. I guess that’s a good thing, we’ll have to remember the trip with our good memories and the ton of photos I’ve been taking. I did find a sea glass necklace for Cadie, as her efforts finding sea glass in Machir Bay haven’t been very fruitful. Plus, every girl should have her dad buy her some jewelry sometime. Nothing that would spark Morgan’s interest, so we’ll owe him something.
Stopped at the Sea Salt Bistro, and just managed to beat the lunch rush. There was a cruise ship anchored in the bay and noticed a lot of “the ship people” wandering around town, so we got pretty lucky. Fish and chips for Tracy and I had a bowl of Cullen Skink and chicken schnitzel.
A little more poking around town and a wander on the beach and we hopped back in the car to head home as Cadie wanted us to go to the beach with her in the afternoon.
Got back and headed off to the beach. We looked and looked for sea glass, it wasn’t a very good afternoon but Cadie and I both found a piece, and now I can also say I’ve walked the whole length of that beach and touched the rocks on both sides. It was getting late in the afternoon, and we had 6:30 supper reservations so headed back to the cottage to de-sand before heading to town.
Headed in to Port Charlotte and the Port Charlotte Hotel for supper. as we had the very last reservation available yesterday, we wound up sitting in the pub part, not the restaurant. A nice cozy little eating area in the back with a view of the bay and lighthouse, and we didn’t feel too horrible that we didn’t end up in the restaurant proper (which Tracy had been in and said was very beautiful). Steak for me (with a “haggis gem” on top) Chicken for Cadie and Fish and chips for the other two. Morgan had a bad steak experience the night before and was kicking himself when he saw mine. He still enjoyed his order though.
After supper we decided we’d try one last time to find Cadie some sea glass as we have plans tomorrow and we weren’t sure we’d get another chance, so down to one of the beaches in Port Charlotte we went, and what a good thing we did… She left with a real pocket full of the stuff including some coloured glass which is kind of rare to find including teal, blue green and brown. Nothing extremely rare, but she was very excited… Now to get it all home… I’m afraid we are all coming home with a few pieces of Islay. I took a piece from the farmland near us, Cadie has a pocket full of rocks and sea glass from the beaches, and when Tracy asked her dad if he wanted a souvenir, he said he wanted a rock, so she has one as well. Morgan preferred skipping all the ones he picked up, and I think he may be the smartest of us all…
Tomorrow is the last day to cram in the last of the things we want to see, hard to believe our time on Islay is drawing to a close!! Off to the Museum of Islay Life in the morning and a real live Ceilidh at Kilchoman Distillery in the afternoon!!
July 29th Kilchoman- Port Charlotte
Had some coffee, got up Cadie and we loaded up the car and headed to Port Charlotte to see The Museum of Islay Life. A wonderful little museum that housed a lot of photos, objects and write ups about the life and times of the peoples of Islay. There was even a John Buie display in the back as the first man from Islay killed in combat in WW1. Not sure if he was related but will have to find out more if we are able. They even had a copy of “The Family Buie” (the family genealogy bible) in their research section. I told the front desk attendant who we were and why we were there, and she gave me the email address of the museum in case we had other questions later or wanted to find out more.
Mailed a couple of packages home from Bridgend on the way back, Tracy and I haven’t bought much but Cadie has… and there are some sundries we’ve been packing around we don’t need so sent them home as well.
Headed home for a quick lunch but stopped on the way at Sunderland Farm to see if they knew anything about the Buies. Found a man working on his combine and introduced myself and said why I’d stopped and if he had any Buie information. He didn’t, and said it was too bad we weren’t here a few years ago as there were a couple of old duffers who used to know quite a lot of local history but have passed on now. He said the current Sunderland Farm ends just before the distillery but alluded to the fact it might have been bigger before. So, I’m not sure if what I’ve been calling the “Buie Farm” is fully accurate or if it’s just a little North of that spot. I had sent the picture to John Buie of where I thought it was and he agreed, so…. The gentleman I talked to (I assume it was Raymond Stewart the owner) also got talking about how places in the area got their name, for example, they have a field called The Point because it comes to a point, etc. Anyhow, he said they called one of their fields the Canadian field and no one ever knew why… “But,” he said “I guess now that I know your family was here and moved to Canada, that’s a wee bit of something for both of us to think on” but never offered to take me to this field either… so I guess we’ll both think about it. In his defense, he was doing a pretty major repair on his combine. Either way I’m happy, I’ve walked where my ancestors walked, I’m coming home with a piece of the hills very near to where they were, if not where they were. This part of the trip has been a major success in my mind, and I’ll never forget that peaceful moment when I climbed to the top of the hill that first morning and the sense of calm and peace or that feeling of home that came over me. Or how bloody wet my pants and feet were.
Had lunch (tried to clean up some of the groceries before we leave) and then Tracy and I were off to the ceilidh at the Kilchoman distillery. Lovely music by the band Argyll, all a bunch of young kids, but very talented. One lad had what looked like an electric bagpipe! Never had to blow into it but had a canter and the bag and the pipe at the end, and it sounded like a bagpipe, so it was either some sort of electric bagpipe or once again I’ve been fooled by someone squeezing a cat in a bag again. Tracy bought one of their CDs for her dad, and we had a great time watching a bunch of kids twirl and dance the afternoon away. Some of the old folks got up and danced too. They had a performance the night before in Portnahaven as well, and we probably should have gone then as well as I think that would have been more like an old-time dance party at home, but by the time we were done supper and had gone sea-glass hunting we would have missed quite a bit of it. We had a nice taste of a ceilidh anyway.
Back home and started to get packed up Then I took the car to fill it up with diesel in Bowmore and got some take-away pizza from Peat-Zeria. Morgan had meatball, Cadie had pepperoni, Tracy Hawaiian, and I tried the Islay Scallop Pizza. Everyone really enjoyed their selections!
Just a relaxing evening now, tomorrow we leave our little fantasy island and head to the hustle and bustle of Edinburgh. Hope the kids got as relaxed as they needed (pretty sure Morgan did…) cause it’s back to being tourists!
July 30th Kilchoman-Edinburgh
Woke up at 6 so we could shower and have coffee before heading out to catch the plane, It was drizzling and foggy, I said it looked like Islay was so sad to see another group of Buie/Bowies leave she was crying. It was a quiet trip to the airport. Our little one-track road had zero traffic on it which was really nice because it was usually quite busy with distillery and beach traffic (Macir Bay having the nicest beach on all of Islay as well). Damned tourists… We even beat the tractor traffic.
Got to the airport and we were informed the plane was already delayed two hours because of crew turnaround issues and it might be delayed even further because of the fog and rain. The ticket agent said not to be surprised if they canceled all together, which is a fairly common occurrence for planes on Islay apparently. So, a flight that WAS supposed to take off at 9:30 was now going to be 11:30 at least if at all. We had a couple of ferry options but weren’t quite ready to make that call yet. We still had possession of the rental car, so Tracy sent an email asking if we could leave it at their Port Askaig return rather than the airport if the flight was canceled.
We waited, some didn’t. One group thought they might make it to the 9:45 ferry if they left immediately as they had a connecting flight to catch in Glasgow and couldn’t wait to see the outcome. We decided to wait until at least 11 then we could catch the 12:45 ferry to Oban then catch the train to Edinburgh if necessary. In the meantime, the rental car company emailed Tracy and said our insurance policy for the car ended as soon as we parked at the airport, and it was about 2 minutes after that email arrived that a kid showed up to collect the keys to be sure we didn’t just take it. So, we were on foot for sure now. And no where to stay if the flight were canceled though the airport said they’d put us up for the night.
We now knew, without a car, we’d have to call a taxi, and that would completely rule out the 12:45 ferry to Oban, leaving one option to get off the island, the 3:35 ferry to Kennacraig which would result in a 150-pound taxi ride to Glasgow, or hope to catch a bus with a spare seat. We asked the ticket agent what our next move would be, (her opinion as a local only not that of the airline) and she suggested we look hard at the ferry, if the plane weren’t cancelled, we couldn’t get a refund, but if it were cancelled, we would. Also, if the flight were cancelled, they would get us a room SOMEWHERE for the night and would try to fit us on the next available flight, however, today’s flight was completely full, as was tomorrows… so she didn’t know when we might get out. Suddenly the ferry was looking pretty darn attractive. We knew we wouldn’t have time to get to the 12:45 so were thinking how we’d swing the 3:35 option but at least with options being limited to the late afternoon now, we had some time to breathe and think things over.
Suddenly at 11 they told all passengers to proceed through security… we began to get hopeful. At 11:15 they said the flight had left Glasgow and SHOULD land around noon… we crossed our fingers… Then the plane landed, and we were allowed to board… we peed in our pants a little, but we could see another front starting to move in, so each second we sat on the tarmac was pure agony. FINALLY, we were taking off and we all let out a collective sigh.
Landed in Glasgow, collected our bags and hopped in a taxi. Got to the Queen Street Station and got tickets 5 MINS BEFORE THE TRAIN LEFT! Hopped aboard and headed to Edinburgh. (We had other later train options, so it was less dramatic than it sounds)
Got to Edinburgh and found our apartment a full 3 mins before check in time. As the lock is on a timer we literally sat and stared at our watches for three minutes till we could get in. Had some excitement on the walk from the station to the apartment, however. Cadie saw a person get pick-pocketed but didn’t realize what was happening and once she did was too embarrassed to say anything as he was away into the crowd.
Went to lunch/supper at a place called Whiski Bar & Restaurant. It was close, and none of us had eaten anything since the night before. Comfort food all around, the boys had burgers (Morgan has mentioned he’s getting homesick for “regular food”, so I think he was a pretty happy camper) Cadie had a steak, and Tracy had a Club Sandwich. I tried cranachan (Scottish dessert) and fell in love with it. I had been pretty consistent with my choice of sticky toffee pudding lately, but I may have a new go to.
After the stressful day and all the travel, the kids were pretty wiped so Tracy and I decided to scope out the Royal Mile, and do some light shopping. There is a kilt shop literally next door to our flat so that was an easy stop in. Then Tracy found 100 cashmere shops…. and leather shops… and… we decided to go back again in the morning when we weren’t so overwhelmed. We’ve gone from sleepy little Islay to full on packed streets and tourist mayhem in the blink of an eye.
Tomorrow, sightseeing in old town Edinburgh! (and shopping shopping shopping)
July 31st Edinburgh
Cadie had a pretty rough night last night. The great thing about having an apartment right on the Royal Mile is you are right in the heart of all the action. The bad part is, you’re right in the heart of all the action. The room Cadie chose faces the street, and of course last night until well after 3am the bar crowd was out on the street hollering, yelling, fighting, and an ambulance was called. Not great for a kid trying to sleep. She finally came to our room to sleep on the floor, but we decided that was silly, so Tracy and I gave her our bed and we slept in her room. We old people have slept through those party nights in our youth so are able to tune it out I guess.
Got up after that eventful bit of an evening for some coffee. Cadie was up with us in spite of her night as well. Morgan continued with his teen holiday and continued to sleep.
We decided to do a little sightseeing and found the hop-on-hop-off buses so, hopped on. The whole circuit for the bus was to take around 70 minutes and had a live guide to tell us about the sights so rather than use the hop-off feature, we just stayed on for the whole ride to familiarize ourselves with the main attractions of the city. A lovely city but built on many levels so some hill climbing will be required if we wander too much (and we have, and there is).
The kids have been feeling a little homesick for “regular food” so when Cadie saw a KFC on the way to the bus she decided that’s what she and Morgan should have for lunch. On the way back we stopped and ordered the kids some meals to “enjoy” at the apartment. Dropped the food and Cadie off and Tracy and I went to scrounge up some lunch for us. We wound up at the Malt Shovel Inn. Had my first Scotch Egg and was it ever good! Also had the Haggis and potato pie. Tracy had Mac and Cheese.
Went back and collected the kids and headed up to Edinburgh Castle to tour around. Lots of interesting exhibits about the role of the Scottish military, the history of the castle, the Prisoners and POWs that have been held there, the Scottish war memorial including the tomb of the unknown soldier, the royal jewels (Morgan and I gave that a miss as the line up was a mile long, a Royal Mile if you will, but the girls braved it) and the history of the Dragoons. By the time we were done, the KFC was making Morgan feel a little ill, so we decided to drop him off back at the flat. Cadie wanted a bit of a rest too so Tracy and I headed back out on the streets.
It was quite late in the afternoon by this point and not a lot of time to do too much. I had pretty much made up my mind at this point I was going to get a kilt and since the kilt shop was so close anyway… we popped in and I pulled the trigger. They didn’t have a Buie tartan, which I knew they wouldn’t, so went with the McDonald of the Isles ancient hunting tartan. Tracy then talked me into getting the rest of the ensemble, so by the time we were out of there I had ordered a kilt, coat, waistcoat, hose, flashing, shoes (Ghillie Brogues), sporran and sgain dubh. They never tried to sell me any underwear, so I guess that answers the question about what is to be worn under the kilt… They needed to order the waistcoat and the kilt is custom made to my body specs so they will be shipping the whole kit and kaboodle home for me. Of course with Covid, the supply chain blah blah blah, they said it may take up to 10 weeks to get it made and shipped… I’ll have it for Christmas and Robbie Burns Day at least. Look out Ross and Roy Martin, there’s a sexy new set of ghost white legs in town….
That whole process took quite a while longer than I expected so we grabbed Cadie (Morgan still wasn’t feeling that great) and headed to the Italian restaurant just up the street from our apartment, the Bella Italia. Really good Italian food, and Tracy grabbed some Meatballs and garlic bread for Morgan on the way out (ordered, not like took them off someone’s plate or anything) delivered that and went to do a little window shopping for the rest of the evening as most of the stores were closing.
Tomorrow is the Royal Yacht Britannia, and Holyrood palace and? another Hop-On-Hop Off bus ticket so lots of options!
August 1st Edinburgh
Got up ready to rumble, or at least drink the hell out of some coffee. Waited for the rest of the crew to get rolling, and we headed out on another day of adventure. Today we decided to utilize the hop-off portion of the hop-on-hop-off buses. Today was a “Tracy day” and was planned around her Scottish interests, the Royals.
Caught our bus and rode to Leith to view the Royal Yacht Britannia. I was expecting a much larger boat, but like they always say, it’s not the size of the boat it’s the motion of the ocean. I had assumed the Royals’ would just be…bigger.
It’s quite a deceptive ship though, it seemed much bigger once you entered her. (That’s what she said). The Queen also has quite lovely and muted taste, there was nothing particularly garish in any of the trimmings or accouterments. It was a little awe inspiring when you entered the grand dining hall, but it also was used to welcome and entertain some of the most powerful people in the world.
We learned the Queen and Prince Phillip had separate sleeping quarters and studies, and the first double bed on board was for Charles and Diana’s honeymoon voyage, the ol horn-dog.
It was a very interesting tour and a nice insight into a bit of the royal’s private life. I wasn’t really thrilled to go originally, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!
We had a bite of lunch in the mall attached to the yacht’s docking port, yes, there’s a whole mall there. Nothing too exciting, a burger for me, American breakfast for Cadie and a panini for Tracy, then back on the bus.
Got off at Holyrood Palace, the official residence of the Queen in Edinburgh. open to the public when she’s not there, and she wasn’t today. Now this was a big, impressive building inside and out, to satisfy all the size queens!
One of the most famous royal residents was Mary Queen of Scots and is also where her secretary David Rizzo was murdered when she was forced to abdicate. The ruins of the Holyrood Abbey are still there (built in 1128) but they were closed today as earlier this year they found some crumbling stonework and have closed it for public safety reasons till they are sorted.
Many original tapestries adorn the walls as well as furniture and paintings, and damage and visible repairs to items (like paintings in the great hall that had been slashed by sword during the Jacobite uprising) could be seen. Some of Mary Queen of Scots jewels were also on display. It really is a beautiful palace, and I spent viewing most of it trying to capture its beauty through my camera’s eyepiece. I was a walking tourist cliche.
I think Tracy really enjoyed both tours!
We had to be home by four to catch a grocery delivery, so we hustled back to the flat, and just made it before four. Of course, the delivery guy was 45 minutes late, so by the time he was unloaded we decided we’d poke around in the shops near us and then head to supper.
Supper was at the “Filling Station”, an American style restaurant for the kids. Milkshakes all around except for me who had an Elvis Juice (grapefruit beer, I dunno folks, I don’t make this stuff up, I just try it). A bacon cheeseburger for Morgan, Ribs for Cadie, A BBQ melt for Tracy and ribs and chicken for me.
After supper we walked down to Victoria Street, the inspiration for “Diagon Alley” in the Harry Potter series and was a filming location in the Marvel movie Dr. Strange. A beautiful street, however, because of Covid they’ve added some very ugly outdoor patios on the street and have wrecked some of the aesthetic.
Also took a little walk down Grassmarket, named so because it was where they would market livestock that ate grass so, you know… original. Had a look at the Covenantor’s memorial where they used to hold the public executions.
Climbed a buttload of stairs and ended up at the entrance to Edinburgh Castle where the military tattoo was practicing. Looks like it will be a great show, and we can’t wait to attend. Headed back to the flat but got caught in a bit of a rain storm so we were a wee bit damp by the time we got back.
Tomorrow, up early and off to Alnwick Castle
August 2nd Edinburgh – Alnwick Castle
Up and at em early, as we had to catch the Rabbie’s tour bus at 8:30. We were there in plenty of time, so we wandered around the Calton Cemetery where David Hume is buried, and some other Edinburgh notables are as well. I was taking some pictures when a couple of homeless people told me I had spent enough time around them and to move along. Apparently roofed crypts make excellent accommodations in rainy towns, just a little creepy and disrespectful for my taste.
Bus took off, a little late as we had an Asian family on board who were quite late, and were perpetually late all day.
We had a short stop in the town of Kelso, mostly for a bathroom break for everyone but they did allow us a bit of time to wander. A lovely ruins of the Kelso Abbey, and I found two antique stores but only enough time for a quick browse through one and then only a very short browse once I found their photo/postcard section.
Left there and headed off towards Alnwick Castle, and had a Border Marriage House pointed out to us just before leaving Scotland on the river Tweed. When England changed their legal marriage age to 21 Scotland left theirs at 16 (which it still is today) couples would run to one of these border cottages to tie the knot (witnesses were not required) and skip back home to England to share the glad tidings with their parents. I told the kids they better hurry up and find someone if they wanted to partake in that little Scottish tradition.
We arrived at Alnwick Castle (pronounced Anick) in jolly old England and we Scots, two groups of Americans, and some late Asians stormed their castle. It was a very different experience than Holyrood Castle. As they had done a bit of filming of the Harry Potter movies there as well as a Robin Hood movie, they were using that as a bit of a selling point. There was also a “Dragon Experience”, archery lessons, Harry Potter broom riding lessons, movie experience tour, and some museum rooms. Quite a tourist spot, and mostly a courtyard experience. Interesting to walk the ramparts, and look at the museum rooms, but we gave the rest a miss, as it was mostly geared to younger families.
Had a spot of lunch at the castle, and of course a look through the heavily Harry Potter themed gift shop and decided to take a wander through the town of Alnwick and see what their shops had to offer. Unfortunately, they were suffering through a power shortage, so most of the shops were closed, and those that were open were dark, so not much of a shopping experience. There is a “famous” bookstore there housed in the former rail station but there was no time to get there, and shop and we were unsure of their power situation so never got to see it either. Another antique store was found but was closed due to the power issue as well!
Headed back at the appointed time and boarded the bus. Drove a little way down the road and stopped at the town of Bambrugh. Admired their very large castle from a distance but there wasn’t enough time to tour it as well. Bambrugh turned into basically another bathroom break, but there was enough time that I could race down to the Bambrugh Abbey and take some pictures of a beautiful church. They recently opened the crypts for public viewing as well, but no time to investigate!
Back on the bus and back to Edinburgh. Morgan was tired and didn’t feel like supper, so we dropped him off at the flat and the three of us headed down to see the fountain dedicated to Greyfriars Bobby, the little dog who waited around for 14 years for his dead master to return, like a Scottish “Shep”. Pet his nose as is the local custom and then went for supper at the Greyfriars Bobby Pub. Cadie had Mac & Cheese, Tracy had the Chicken and Mushroom pot pie, and I had the Balmoral Chicken (bacon wrapped chicken on a bed of haggis and tatties covered in a whisky sauce as recommended by Bruce Nickel) A very enjoyable meal topped off with apple pie for the ladies and Cranachan for myself.
After supper we had to stop and get a purse Cadie has been drooling over since we got here then back to the flat to put up our barking (stinky) dogs and relax.
Tomorrow, we have a free morning to explore, let the kids sleep in, followed by a Harry Potter tour and Camera Obscura
August 3rd Edinburgh- Harry Potter- Camera Obscura
I had a rather early morning. Got up at 5:30 and headed out to take some Edinburgh pictures without 5 billion people in them. The light was decent, and there were very few people out. A couple of joggers and some delivery people, otherwise I was all alone. Headed first to Victoria Street, then the Writer’s museum, found the witches well (commemorates those killed during the witch trials), then it started to rain a bit so got some lovely rainbow pictures with Tolbooth Kirk in it (used to be a Gaelic speaking church), and finally had a chance to wander the streets and really look at some things that you can’t really notice while dodging people or are being hustled down the street by someone pushing from behind.
Came back to the flat and had a bit of coffee and a shower, then Tracy and I headed out to do some housekeeping issues and some shopping. We were a bit early for most shops so decided to have a bit of breakfast at Scott’s on Victoria Street. Poached eggs with Lorne sausage and mushrooms for me and toast and jam for Tracy.
Finished up and hit a few shops, Tracy has been looking for a nice leather bag as leather goods are quite cheap here and some wool clothing. Not much luck though, so we headed to the Royal Tattoo office and exchanged vouchers for tickets (going Friday night). Then back to the flat to collect any teens interested in lunch.
Headed to the “Worlds End Pub” at the recommendation of Michael Morrow. Tracy and I had the fish and chips per his suggestion (I also had a scotch egg) and Cadie had sausages and mash. After lunch we headed out to do some shopping. It’s a ton of fun shopping with the lady folk. We hit every tweed store we saw. That may not sound bad till you know every other store (or more) has tweed of some sort in it! Tracy finally found the wool poncho she had been looking for and Cadie found some more knick-knacks to take home.
About 2:30 we went back to the flat for a bit of a break and dropped off parcels. Then Tracy got an email saying the apartment we had reserved in Glasgow has been cancelled as it got flooded from the flat above it. So, she started looking for alternate accommodation. At 3:30 we had to leave as Cadie had a Harry Potter tour she wanted to go on.
The three of us headed down to Greyfriar Bobby’s fountain to meet the tour guides (with a quick stop to get Cadie a Greyfriar Bobby statuette). Met our tour guide Alex who took us on a tour of parts of Edinburgh that J.K. Rowling drew some inspiration from. The tour started in the Greyfriar’s cemetery where she got a few of the names of characters from,including stories of the actual people whose names were used. A look through the fence at the school (now a private school) used as inspiration for Hogwarts. Some buildings of architectural importance film-makers drew inspiration from for set design for the movie, the coffee shop owned by her brother-in-law where she wrote most of the first book, The White Elephant Cafe, which claims to be the birthplace of Harry Potter but is simply a cafe where she wrote some of the later books, and finally ending on Victoria Street which is the inspiration for Diagon Alley in the series. (Many anecdotes filled out the tour as well).
We were a bit rushed for supper as we had tickets to the Camera Obscura Illusion Centre at 7 so as soon as the tour ended Tracy tried to order some Pizza Hut so we could grab it our way past and eat it in the flat before heading back out (meal service is very slow!) Before she could finish her order though the website crashed so we decided to just pop in and place an order as take away. Guess what? Since their website crashed, they couldn’t do ANY takeaways apparently! So we popped into a convenience store beside the Pizza Hut and grabbed some chips and sandwiches, took them back to the flat, ate, and headed back out with Morgan the potato (Mortato?) in tow.
The Illusion Centre was a bit of a bust, a lot of neat visual illusions but so many people (even though everyone had time slot tickets) you couldn’t muck with the exhibits much as people were always at them. Just as well, they were all touch things and a few coughing people (yay) so none of our crew were very comfortable touching things anyway. The actual Camera Obscura was neat, and the view from the top of the building was nice. Morgan really enjoyed the revolving light tunnel which made walking extremely difficult, and the crowd had thinned enough he was able to do that twice.
Back to the flat, and time to kick back and relax.
The Fringe Festival starts tomorrow and the sites for shows are getting ready and performers are starting to arrive and hand out flyers. I think she’s about to get really busy as it all starts Friday….
Tomorrow, Rosslyn Chapel
August 4th Edinburgh- Melrose- Rosslyn
Up and on the dusty trail for another Rabbies tour group tour (the first was to Alnwick Castle). Today we were off to Rosslyn Chapel with our trusty tour guide Barney, like the purple dinosaur… or Fife…
Hopped on the tour bus and away we went. Barney has a degree in history, so we heard lots of background about the things we were going to see today. A lot of medieval history including all the things historically incorrect with Braveheart and the William Wallace legacy. This all fit into our tour as the first stop was the William Wallace statue built outside the town of Melrose. This was not a sanctioned statue of any sort, just some random dude, who was an admirer, built it in the 1800s. Barney, having the degree, pointed out all the historical inaccuracies from the Dragon helmet on his head from the wrong time period, and his much too large sword also from the wrong time period, to the Roman shield, to the backwards kilt on a Lowland Scot who would never have worn a kilt, to the Roman armour. However, the statue had a beard, and at some point in his life William Wallace may have had a beard, so score one for the random 1800s dude!
The next stop was at the town of Melrose. A lovely little town with the huge ruins of an Abbey, Melrose Abbey to be exact. One of the more notable aspects of the abbey, other than the bagpipe playing pig gargoyle that is (yes, there really is a gargoyle pig, and yes it’s really playing the bagpipes) is it is the location where Robert the Bruce’s heart is buried. During his bid to become the king of the Scots, Robert the Bruce had an argument with the chief contender for the crown, John Comyn and wound up stabbing him to death in a church, leading to his excommunication from the church. In an attempt to win back favour with the Pope (for himself and the whole of Scotland which had become excommunicated as a whole country… google it if you don’t know the whole story and want to) he decided to send troops on a holy crusade, however he was dying of leprosy so as a dying wish asked his heart to be removed and sent along on the crusade. The Scots were wiped out by the Moors in Spain, save one, but he fought so bravely he was allowed to return home with the heart of Robert the Bruce; hence his heart is not interred with the other organs of his chest which presumably are still with his body, I’m guessing, Barney never said! Anyhow, time was short, so Tracy and the kids got take away and ate, while I went directly to the abbey for pictures and a quick romp through the abbey museum. They followed but never made the museum section.
Back on the bus and directly to the town of Rosslyn, at one time best known as the town where Dolly the sheep was cloned. Her cold dead body is currently in a museum in Edinburgh (we found her later!). The lab also no longer exists and is being replaced by tenement housing.
Our last stop was at Rosslyn Chapel. Best known for its starring role in the Dan Brown novel “The Da Vinci Code ” and was used in the Tom Hanks film of the same name. There is all sorts of interesting carvings inside the church and links to stonemason imagery and the Knights Templar and have all sorts of fun conspiracy theories about hidden meanings, hidden treasures, even the holy grail perhaps being hidden in the crypt room (being 42 feet from ground to roof under the chapel floor) The tour guide gave a bit of a talk and pointed out some of the more interesting carvings and some of the theories. You’ll have to try to find images of the interior online as photography was verboten! and I followed the rules (for once). After the talk we were given free time to investigate the chapel and grounds, and if one wanted, a chance to wander down to the Rosslyn castle ruins as well, which I did but the call of hot chocolate made from real chocolate was too strong for certain members of our group so I made the trek alone. A long VERY VERY high bridge made for an interesting walk to the ruins (dad would never have made it) a few photos, and then a race back to the bus to head home.
Once back in Edinburgh we headed back to the flat to relax, then supper, at Le Bistrot on the Royal Mile. A very French experience, I even ordered in le francais and must have done ok, because the ladies ordered in anglais and the waitress had some trouble figuring out what they wanted (a steak and chicken and mushrooms) yet when I ordered Souris d’ Agneau Confit she knew exactly what I was after… and also what I wanted for supper honh-honh-honh ( French laughter) Excellent bakery goods from there as well for dessert, and back home for an early bed as we are all kind of tired today (Morg was already lounging in bed in his PJs having declined supper he was so tired)
Tomorrow, the Surgeon’s Museum for all the dark creepy types in our group (body-snatcher wannabes), Mary King’s Close (old town historical tour) and the Royal Military Tattoo.
August 5 Edinburgh
A bit of a history day planned today but first coffee! A slower start to the day, and we are letting the kids sleep in a bit if they want. As the Fringe Festival kicked off last night with a few shows, the bars had been full, and we could even hear the partiers in our room at the back of the flat at 3 am onwards. We have discovered there is a designated taxi stand right across from our building, so it is a designated gathering spot for the goon squad to gather. And whoop. And holler.
Cadie was up fairly early for a teen, and we woke Morgan up at 10 as he had expressed an interest in the Surgeons’ Hall Museum. Last minute he decided not to come which thrilled Tracy who also decided to stay home “to look after him”… but she was not keen in the first place, and I’m glad she did as she’s quite squeamish and I wouldn’t have wanted to haul her passed out/vomiting butt out of there. Cadie and I found it VERY interesting though. The first section was devoted to a history of surgery, tools, notable cases and doctors, and the nefarious cases and doctors of Edinburgh. The day before, on our Rabbies tour to Rosslyn, tour guide Barney told us about Burke and Hare, two innkeepers that would kill random people and sell them to the Edinburgh university for dissection and study. When they were finally caught (no totals of how many they killed are known, but at least 16) Hare turned king’s evidence and gave evidence against Burke for his freedom. Burke was hung, his skin removed and tanned and turned into products and his skeleton donated to the university. Pretty macabre stuff, well, as luck would have it, in the first section we got to see his death mask, a book whose cover was bound in his skin, a death mask of a possible associate and more info. So that’s the kind of thing that was in the first section and so much more! The museum then had a section on dentistry, which was the only section that seemed to creep Cadie out. It was mostly tools and the advancements in the industry. Then there was a very interactive section on robotics and the future of surgery. Fun interactive games included a keyhole surgery game where you tried to stack blocks with tools from a distance, robotic hip surgery, remote surgery from a remote location, and many more. The one that brought the most teasing was the “Are you too shaky to be a surgeon” tester. you held your hands above a sensor, and it tested how steady your hands were. Cadie did great, they said in the high 20s her hands were steady enough to be a brain surgeon. I was in the high 40s, I blamed the multiple cups of coffee while waiting for her to get up, I could be a competent surgeon, but they suggested I refrain from poking around in the ol grey matter for a bit. The third section was pathology specimens, lots of bits in jars, from multiple surgeons’ collections. Two floors of a massive room held this exhibit. One staggering thought hit me was if you considered that each specimen would have come from one person, the amount of people that filled out that exhibit… As well as the usual and unusual specimens there was a section devoted to war injuries which was also very interesting. The museum ended with a temporary exhibit that dealt with facial reconstruction from skulls with heavy influence on untreated syphilis cases.
A quick stop up the street to take a couple of photos for David Stewart of his Great Great Great Grandparents George and Janet Stewart’s old shop and apartments then back to our flat to grab Tracy for lunch. We headed down to The Nether Bow Port for lunch where I had the Robbie Burns Haggis burger, Cadie had french toast and bacon, and Tracy had a baked potato with ham on it. (Just a baked potato is a thing here, there’s a whole baked potato shop just down the street from us!)
Cadie wanted some down time, so Tracy and I took her back to the flat and then Tracy and I wandered the shops. Tracy is looking for a leather bag as they are quite cheap in Scotland but can’t find just the right one, so we keep looking. There have been a couple of shops we haven’t been to we wanted to (like The Cadies & Witchery shop) which are either closed or super busy and haven’t stopped in so hit some of those at this time.
At 5 we had a tour booked at the Real Mary King’s Close. A close is simply a very narrow street (about wide enough for a couple of people to walk side by side down), Edinburgh is full of them, and this one was named after Mary King who was an early resident and had her own shop on the street which was a rarity. Edinburgh was a walled city, which meant space was extremely limited, so they built up rather than spreading out, resulting in some of the world’s first skyscrapers. In time the walls were less relevant so they built structures over top of the old closes effectively closing off some of the lower levels of buildings and preserving them, and that’s where our tour would take place, directly under the City Council building (so of course no photos as it’s under a government building). It was a very interesting tour as it was just like stepping back into time. The tour consisted of a home of the very poor, a one room windowless hole in the wall that would hold about 12 people, uncomfortably no doubt, a wealthier home that had three rooms, and a suspected child ghost, I never had an experience, but a lot, I mean A LOT of people left money and toys for her, and a rich family’s home which even had wallpaper and an indoor toilet. There was also a shop, and a byre (cow barn) that would hold a dozen cows, and a section about the plague which had hit Edinburgh very hard due to close and cramped living conditions. As I said, it was a very enjoyable and interesting tour.
We trundled off for supper, hitting the Whiski pub as we did on the first day to town (best Cranachan in town!), Steak for me, burgers for the kids, and mushroom chicken for Tracy, then off to the Royal Edinburgh Tattoo for the evening. A great show! Pipe and drum bands, dancing, singing, a real grand production ending in fireworks. Videoed a great deal of it. Kind of cold, but everyone had a great time (though the Americans behind us were sooooo American, it was quite annoying). Came home to warm up but had a tougher time getting the kids to bed as they were quite wound up.
Tomorrow, The planetarium and Double Dead ghost tour! If we thought it was tough to get the kids to bed tonight… look out…
August 6th Edinburgh
Today is to be mostly spent at the Discovery Earth Planetarium, but after a later night sleeping in was the first order of the day for 3/4 of us. Even though we are on vacation, I can’t seem to make myself do that. Had some coffee and wrote the journal entry, as it was too late to do the night before and waited.
Got the crew up finally and we headed down to the Discovery Earth Centre where we had some lunch at their “Food Chain Cafe” which was really just a glorified cafeteria. Morgan decided he wasn’t hungry so picked off our plates, and had a cup of hot chocolate, I had a “Hot Dog” which was described as an “original Scottish Hot Dog” which was a giant pork breakfast sausage in a bun, Cadie had mac and cheese (which actually tasted a bit like a Canadian hot dog for some reason) and Tracy had the Crispy Chicken Stack Burger. Not a great meal but filled the holes in our tummies so we could have a day of science. Our first experience was a short movie in the planetarium titled “We are stars” which was a cartoon like movie starting at the Big Bang working toward today and how atoms are formed and go one to make up everything, and a very condensed history of time. A fun wee movie but a bit below our kids’ education, but not too immature that we couldn’t enjoy it. We then toured the centre’s gallery, a walk through the history of the earth, a bit interactive, during the forming of the earth the floor moved like tectonic plates shifting, there was a polar room where we could touch a chunk of glacier, a 3D flight simulator where you could be in the “splash zone” when you went in the arctic and got covered in snow (our side of the splash zone didn’t work so wound up with three snowflakes on the 4 of us… lame!) a rainforest with rain, etc. The kids seemed to have a good time in that section. After the gallery tour, we had a bit of time so we had high tea… well, snacks. The cafe had a nice selection of baked goods, so the kids had muffins and Morgan had a lemon tart and Cadie had a cupcake, Tracy had a strawberry tart and I had a raisin scone with clotted cream and jam. Then we went back for another presentation in the planetarium titled “Under Pressure” which was a “movie” of sorts narrated by one of the centre’s astronomers. It was all about under sea life and variations of it the deeper you go and general ocean information. After that was over, we decided we should have an early supper. It takes a while to eat here (usually) and by the time our evening movie was over it would be kind of late for supper. Tried a couple of pubs, but they were full of Fringe go-ers drinking, so wound up in a little restaurant called Luscious Edinburgh. Of course, this was the fastest meal we’ve had in all of Edinburgh when we actually had some time to luxuriate! I had Pasta Bolognese, Tracy had Pasta Carbonara, Cadie had a Chicken Salad, and Morgan had a bacon cheeseburger. Not a great meal but tasty and very fast! So back to the Discovery Centre to wait for our evening movie. The time finally came and back into the planetarium for the show “You are Here”. It was the same concept as the under the sea show, where a live astronomer narrated the images shown on the screen. The show started in Edinburgh and expanded out to the farthest reaches of space, including a bit of space travel history. I think it was the best show of the set. Very interesting and humbling. After the show we headed back to the flat to wait for our next adventure.
After a full day of science, why not delve into the supernatural with a ghost tour? Tracy refused to go, and although very nervous, Cadie decided to come along… Morgan and I were onboard from the get-go! The tour, led by Charlie (a woman of many talents, tour guide by night and medical anatomist during the day). The tour started in the vaults of Edinburgh. Absolute darkness rules the day, and mostly silent (though a couple of the vaults were on the other side of fringe venues so you could hear music in the one room. Multiple ghost tales were told, of course Burke and Hare was the first story told as the vaults (slums) were where they collected the majority of their victims, as they were the new to the city, or the ones that would go missing unnoticed. In the first room, something kept tickling my hairline. I assumed it was my coat, but it never bothered me the rest of the night so… whooooooo (ghost noise) … Another room was a large vault where we crowded into the back and were told about the cursed South Bridge, the current ghosts, The Watcher, Jack the little boy, and the Victorian Woman. Charlie had a couple of “experiences” in this room of someone whispering in her ear the name “Barbara”… “”coincidentally” the name of a woman on the tour, and a guy from California claimed something was tickling his hair in this room too…whooooo… Cadie and I heard tapping from the front of the room multiple times. A little creepy when you consider The Watcher supposedly carries a cane. We went to a couple of more rooms, but these were the most notable. Then off to Greyfriars Kirkyard to tour the cemetery, home of the McKenzie poltergeist. While there we visited the “grave” of Greyfriars Bobby’s master Jock, only to find out the whole Bobby affair is a bit of a myth. The real Jock is buried two miles from the Greyfriars Kirkyard, and while Bobby was a real dog, the first dog disappeared two years after first making his appearance in the cemetery but had become so beloved he was replaced with an identical dog. The whole “waiting by his master” myth had been concocted by an American woman who had never set foot in Scotland in 1921 and had been picked up by the Disney company and popularized even more in a movie. I think Cadie’s heart broke a little when learning the truth, but the blow had been softened because we had heard this before from one of the Rabbies tour guides but this kind of confirmed it. We then went to the Black Mausoleum where the poltergeist is said to be. They needed a volunteer to lead the group, so I did and was the first through the locked gates and they waited till I was at the end of the row to follow. No incidents to report. We then went into the mausoleum (which Charlie refused to do) and listened to ghostly tales told from the doorway as we waited inside. After 10 minutes Charlie told us we had to get out as that was sort of the allotted “safe time” to be in there. The Covenanter’s prison was a horrible part of history led by “Bloody” George Mackenzie where he locked up the covenanters and let them starve to death, and die from exposure for 9 months, until he decided those that would repent could go free and those that would make good “breeding stock” were to be shipped off to Virginia. The boat sank drowning all. Google it for the whole story. The final part of the tour was to knock two times on his tomb saying “Bloody Mackenzie” (a third would be to invite him out) and as it was after 9 pm Charlie refused but invited any of the bravest to come back after she was long gone to try it if they dared.
We returned to the flat through the throngs of bar going Fringe attendees (scarier than the ghost tour I think) and try to put two very wired kids to bed.
Tomorrow, basically a free day to explore, though the ladies have a high tea booked in the afternoon.
August 7 Edinburgh
It was a nice quiet Sunday for the Bowie clan today. We didn’t get in until after midnight from the ghost tour, and then the kids stayed up until at least one regaling their mother with tales from the trek and I’m sure they stayed up beyond that thinking about the experience. The good news is, we were all so tired we never heard the 3 am revelers waiting at the taxi stand across the road from our flat whooping and hollering once the bars let out.
Made sure the kids were up at 11:30 in case they wanted to go to lunch, which neither did, so Tracy and I headed out and went to the new fav on the Royal Mile “Whiski”. Another good meal, however, the Cranachan was rather soupy, I think the cream broke or something, anyway it was rather disappointing after multiple good desserts there. The meal was still good, though service was very slow. Cadie asked Tracy to bring something back, so We found her a sandwich at a little coffee shop, and I found some lemon poppy seed cake to make up for my bad cranachan.
After we got back to the flat and Cadie had her lunch, the girls headed out for high tea on the bistro bus. They had a lovely tour of the city while sipping prosecco, tea, and nibblies. The only setback was a hen party that held up the bus numerous times. We had seen the exact same group the night before on the streets when we went for our ghost tour, and Cadie said the bride was wearing the exact same clothes as the night before, so they might have just been running on empty sleep tanks and full wine ones.
While the girls were gone, I headed up the street to tour the Writers’ Museum. Three floors celebrating Robert Lewis Stevenson, Robbie Burns, and Sir Walter Scott. The museum is full of painted portraits and statues depicting the writers as well as some of their personal items, like Burns’ writing desk, Scott’s chess set, and one of my favourite pieces, a wardrobe made for Stevenson by Deacon Brodie who was the inspiration for Dr Jeckle and Mr. Hyde, as Brodie would weasel his way into the good graces of the rich by his carpentry skill then rob them. A small museum but worth the trip through the Fringe mobs to see.
A couple of short little shopping excursions (including topping up the shortbread supply, we can’t keep ANY in this house!) and I made it back shortly before the ladies. We then lazed around until it was time to go out for supper. We headed to No. 1 High Street pub, and I had the Steak and Ale meat pie, Morgan had the Haggis Tower (haggis on potatoes and turnips piled high) and Cadie and Tracy had Mac and Cheese. For dessert Morgan had Cranachan, and I tried the Strawberry Eton Mess, which was a heaping bowl full of thick whipped cream, meringues and strawberries.
We then walked back up to Mary King’s Close as the kids had a couple of souvenirs they wanted from there, then back home to kick at our bellies.
Tomorrow, mailing home souvenirs and unwanted extras like clothes no longer needed, and last things to see in Edinburgh as it’s our last day before heading back to the Highlands and the town of Inverness. (And NO MORE FRINGE!!)
August 8th Edinburgh
Our last day in Edinburgh saw the crew sleep in again. Tracy finally joined me in the living room for some coffee and we headed down to ship some souvenirs and excess baggage home. It’s a good thing Cadie still has a penchant for stuffed animals as they worked well as padding for a few of the more delicate items. You could probably drop the box out of a plane, and all would survive.
Since the kids were still sleeping Tracy and I headed down to the Grassmarket section of town and poked around in a few shops and decided to go for a bite of lunch. We stopped at the Black Bull, but there was absolutely no service, and some guy a couple of tables over had a very bad “cold”, lots of snot and coughing, so we decided to try a different place. Wound up in a Cafe called Biddy’s and I had the Scottish breakfast, and Tracy had fish and chips. We poked around a little more then headed back to the flat.
The kids were starting to rouse, and Cadie was hungry, so I ran to a little coffee shop/ sandwich shop down the road that she likes and grabbed her a sammy and I had a couple of toiletries I needed so stopped and grabbed those and went back home.
No one wanted to do a whole bunch, so Tracy and I headed off to the National Museum of Scotland. A HUGE building with four floors of exhibits broken into multiple sections, animal life, technology, humanity and culture, space and geology, and a temporary exhibit space, the current exhibit being “Anatomy”. Having just been to the Surgeons Museum and Tracy being quite squeamish about such things we gave it a miss, and due to time constraints, I don’t think we’d have gotten through the whole museum if we had. We were pretty rushed as we were, it’s really not a “see it in an afternoon” kind of place. It was almost too much to be honest, quite overwhelming, but very enjoyable and well worth the stop.
Headed back to the flat for a supper consensus. We already knew Morgan wanted Pizza Hut as he’s been hounding us all week for it, Cadie also thought that was a great plan, so we ALL had Pizza Hut.
The rest of the night is packing up the rest of our things as we have an early train tomorrow and feeling sorry for ourselves as I think we’ve all quite enjoyed Edinburgh and the surrounding area (other than all the people at Fringe!) One consolation is we are heading back to the Highlands, one of our favourites, and truly beautiful spots in Scotland.
Tomorrow, travel day to Inverness.
August 9th Edinburgh – Inverness
Had to get up at a decent hour so we could catch the train from Edinburgh. Last bits of packing and rummaging through the flat to make sure we hadn’t forgotten anything. No one had a great night’s sleep, the kids were up a couple of times to use the bathroom and when they got up, Tracy would get up to see if they were ok, and when Tracy would get up, she’d wake me up. So, everyone was a little short, which is a ton of fun on a travel day in tighter quarters.
Got on the train at Waverly Station and had first class tickets, so in “the lap of luxury” or so they’d like you to believe. A free cup of coffee and a free cookie. Otherwise, the seats are a little bigger. It was a nice ride to Aberdeen but we were running a little behind so had to trot to catch the connecting train from Aberdeen to Inverness, and though we paid for first class tickets all the way, there is no first class car to Inverness, and not even reserved seating for first class ticket holders, we were thrust into the thick of the unwashed peons… ick…
The second part of the ride was a lot more cramped (and sticky, no one had wiped down the table we got so it was kind of gross, we’ll have to have a serious talk with the maid) but through diversity we arrived in Inverness and without too much issue found our flat. We weren’t supposed to be able to check into our room till four, but the fellow cleaning it met us in the lobby and took us up and let us in anyway. Such a nice boy.
We headed out for lunch and went to Zizzi, an Italian joint directly under our flat. Morgan had his traditional pepperoni pizza, though it was as big as his torso, I had a chicken and spinach Calzone, Cadie had spaghetti Bolognese and Tracy had mushroom and chicken rigatoni. An excellent meal, enjoyed by all. The kids were tired so headed back to the flat for a rest, and Tracy and I wandered the riverfront. We tried to check out Inverness castle, but it is completely shut down for some construction projects, so I guess we’ll have to come back in a couple of years for a tour. For now, we’ll just have to admire it from afar.
Unfortunately, during our waterfront lovers walk, we stumbled into a couple of stores and Tracy bought some Scottish charms for her bracelet, and I got a wool sweater. We did find a lovely steak and seafood restaurant on the riverfront so made reservations for tomorrow night.
Headed back to the flat and grabbed Cadie for supper, Morgan was still full from his larger-than-life pizza. We headed to the “Filling Station” for supper, we’d eaten at one in Edinburgh and enjoyed it so tried this one as well. A double BBQ burger for me with a mint chocolate milkshake, Tracy had a bacon cheeseburger with a chocolate shake, and Cadie had a rack of ribs and Coke float. It was as fine a dining experience as we had discovered in Edinburgh.
Headed back to the flat to shake off the travel cobwebs and passed a pipe and drum band in the middle of the street. We can’t figure out why they were there, but we enjoyed a tune before Cadie drug us down the street to go home. “Old People” and an eyeroll may have been the accompanying comment…
Tomorrow, on a boat to look for dolphins! (Though Cadie already spotted 4 along the coast from the train today!)
August 10th Inverness
Had to get the kids up a little earlier than they liked because we had to catch a taxi at 9:25 to get to the pier on time for our dolphin excursion.
Arrived at the pier and got checked in at “Dolphin Spirit”, an aptly named company as it was also the name of the tour boat, we’d be using that day. We arrived in time to watch tourists get the “safety talk” and put on cold-water survival suits and life jackets for one of the other tours the company puts on, an open-air speedboat tour on “The Mischief”. It didn’t look like my cup of tea, but more about that later.
Left the pier and headed out along the shoreline. We saw the headwaters to the Caledonian Canal. You may remember when we were still in Fort William we saw “Neptune’s Stairs” which is a series of locks that raise the ships passing through the canal, well, this is where it all starts, or ends depending which way you’re going. Other sights along the way included the Life Boats headquarters (ocean rescue service), The Black Isle (actually a peninsula) and a lighthouse by Fort George. About the only thing we didn’t see were dolphins and birds which is what this tour was billed as. There was apparently a seal which I think only the tour guide saw and a couple of gulls at the pier. Of the whole trip, this was the biggest disappointment.
We got back on dry land and Tracy went in to see if there were any seats available on “The Mischief” for Friday, our free day at Inverness, there were, so she booked seats for herself and Cadie. Morgan and I weren’t interested. I plan on spending the day in an antique shop down the street and Morgan wants to do what Morgan does when we’re out, though he says if I can find a cannon and suit of armour at said shop, he’ll help me lay siege to the closed to the public Castle Inverness. The “Mischief” tour is longer, and they head a lot farther out so the chances of seeing something is much better. Hopefully they have better luck than we did today, but not as much luck if I find a cannon and armour.
It was a 30-40 minute wait for a taxi, so we decided we’d walk back to the flat. It was only about a mile. By the time we got back it was lunch time, but neither kid was hungry, so Tracy and I went to the River Grill across from the street. She had a chicken sandwich, and I had the sizzling lamb. I’m trying my best to keep worldwide sheep numbers down.
After lunch Tracy and I hit the shopping district. Browsed their wares but didn’t pick up much. I think Tracy has a bit of a list to get on Friday before we leave but will think about it some first. I guess it will depend on how big a cannon I can get.
Back to the flat for a bit to put our feet up before heading to “Prime” for a steak and seafood supper. Morgan and I both had steak and lobster and both ladies just had the steak. It wasn’t The Keg, but a good meal was had by all. After supper Tracy and the kids went down the street for ice cream.
Tomorrow, published Author and Historian, Hugh Allison and the MacDonald Clan tour.
August 11th McDonald Clan Tour
Met Hugh Allison at 8:30 in front of our apartment building. A van was to be the mode of transport for the day. Things had to be on a bit of a tight schedule as we couldn’t miss our ferry after lunch so off we went.
Our first stop of the day was at Culloden, the final battle of the Jacobite uprising in 1745, and what better person to give us the tour of the site than the former site manager, Hugh Allison himself, also the author of the book Culloden Tales. The tour of the site started at the Visitor Centre (that Hugh helped design though we didn’t have time to go through). The wall of the Visitor Centre that leads out to the battlefield had a very interesting visual aid to help people realize the scope of the battle. There is a displaced brick for every death on either side with a flat space on the wall separating the two. The difference in losses is staggering. Then on to the battlefield with flags marking the redcoat line, and blue flags marking where the clans would have been. We saw how far the clans would have had to approach under cannon fire, until 45 yards apart before charging with swords. It’s not much of a surprise there was a wholesale slaughter. We then toured the individual clans’ headstones (mass graves at each) and saw a house that had been there since the battle (inhabited by the same family until 1921) though repairs have been done to most of it at some point. Then back in the van.
Many MacDonald clan and Culloden tales helped to eat up the miles and a couple of short hops out for scenic photo stops along the way, even one with Highland Cows for Tracy. And our next stop was at the Well of Seven Heads. Two MacDonalds had been murdered, and their murderers were killed in retribution and beheaded. The gang that took out revenge were carrying the heads back to show the clan leader that the wrong had been righted, stopped to wash and generally pretty up the heads before their presentation to the clan chief was done at this well. Then they put up a monument. The Scots are a different breed. We entered the well, which is still flowing and potable, though none of us were brave enough to try it, in fact we had a hard time even getting into the well proper as it’s a very small narrow opening.
More history and clan tales then a quick stop at Glenfinnan to hop out of the car to try to take a photo of the Jacobite steam train viaduct (we rode the train across) and a quick snap of the monument where Bonnie Prince Charlie landed to start the 1745 Jacobite uprising from. We also got a picture of the monument from where he escaped Scotland after his crushing defeat… it’s a LOT smaller for some reason…
Then a rushed lunch at Sound Bites in Arisaig (traffic was bad so we were running late) Hugh had the soup du jour (lentil) I had the Cullen Skink, the girls had grilled chicken salad, and Morgan had fish and chips. They had a lovely dessert section, unfortunately, no time, so back in the van.
Got to Mallaig with a couple of minutes to spare, and got on the ferry to the Isle of Skye. It was a cold cloudy trip, but by gollies we got to see some dolphins!! Who needs lame boat tours when they swim right beside your ferry?!?! Apparently, there are also whales and orcas occasionally spotted on the trip but we weren’t that lucky, but hey, dolphins were a pretty nice surprise too… oh, and a seal in the harbour at Mallaig as well!
After the ferry it was a 5-minute drive to Armadale castle, the seat of power for the MacDonald of the Isles. A lovely castle ruins with garden as well as the Clan MacDonald Museum. Hugh took us on a bit of a tour of the museum before letting us loose to explore it ourselves. A great museum with a lot of clan specific history. We then toured the gardens and grounds and of course the gift shop (which you have to exit through).
We got back to the van and headed back to Inverness with more history lessons, clan info, and stories of the horrors of the clearances (also the content of the book I’m reading right now written by John Prebble, who has Sask. ties, so I wonder if he’s a relation to former MLA Peter Prebble). We made it back to Inverness about 7, then the search for supper began. Unfortunately, prime mealtime in the UK seems to be 7pm and though we tried 6 different restaurants EVERY one was full… so… McDonald’s take away it was…blech… but it filled our stomachs so whatever I guess…Relaxing time for the rest of the evening.
Tomorrow, the girls head out on their second attempt at dolphin spotting (though we saw some today so if they get skunked, they weren’t really skunked) I’m cannon and armour shopping at the antique store, oh, and I found a used book store too heh-heh-heh (don’t tell Tracy) and Morgan will no doubt continue his evolution to full fledged potato.
August 12th Inverness
Cadie and Tracy were up and out of the room fairly early so they could get to round two of dolphin search. The speed boat tour was to start at nine, but they had to be there a half hour early so they could attend the safety and cold water survival class before heading out. THIS is why I didn’t want to go! They went out on a Rib boat which is basically a rubber boat with many large motors strapped to it. Very few birds, but the “skipper” said that seems to be the case this year and he thinks the avian flu has hit them very hard in the area. They did see one seal bob-bob-bobbing along, and a couple of dolphins but too close to shore to get very near to, but it was more successful than the first tour, yet less successful than on the ferry.
While the girls were gone, some genius decided Jon should be left alone in the vicinity of an antique store, and a used/antique bookstore. Duh. Hit the bookstore first as the antique store didn’t open until 11. Leakey’s Bookshop by name, leaky wallet by trade. It’s a very lucky thing we are trying to keep our luggage light and minimal or I may have come home with half the shop! Unfortunately for the ol luggage, there was an extensive collection of book plates and wound up buying some of those… hey… they’re flat and light, give me a break.
Then I went to the antique shop. Luckily for all involved, there were mostly newer items, though a few items DID catch my eye, including a rather ornate silver cigarette case, but I refrained! I did weaken however and buy a whale bone handled ship’s rum measure. A lovely, silver-plated piece that is small and light and fits snuggly buggly in my suitcase. So that ate up my morning.
Morgan morged his best morg.
Met the girls back at the flat for lunch and said I needed help bringing up an antique piece I bought, it wasn’t heavy but it was really awkward, and Tracy just blindly started following me, no argument or shocked or disgusted noises at all. Totally disappointed, not so much for the lack of a reaction, but if I had known I could have gotten away with it I could have bought so MUCH MORE!!!
Cadie was tired from the boat so stayed home to eat her supper leftovers from the other night, and Tracy and I headed out to get supper reservations, so we weren’t stuck at McDonald’s again. It was trickier than expected! Some concert is in town tonight so everything is quite booked! Finally on our third restaurant the barman gave us a list of places to try that are usually a little quieter and we lucked out and got one at the Castle Restaurant. With that looked after, Tracy and I headed to “Nar” a Mediterranean restaurant that offered a starter and main special for lunch, Tracy had Garlic Mushrooms and the Pollo Penne, and I had Calamari and Chicken Shish (more east Indian Curry than Mediterranean but whatevs)
After lunch we went and collected Cadie and headed out to do the last of the shopping the girls wanted to accomplish in Inverness. A long and warm afternoon but with an ice cream cone break in the middle of the day to break it up.
Went and collected Morgan for supper and headed to the Castle restaurant for Castle Burgers for the boys, and Fish and Chips for the ladies, The Castle Burgers were a mistake as they were HUGE (a beef patty, chicken breast, haggis, and onion rings) and “everyone” was feeling a bit uncomfortable afterwards. Then back to the flat to get repacked/organized as…
Tomorrow, travel to Glasgow to start the final leg of our journey.
August 13th Inverness- Glasgow
Got up early-ish to pack the last of our things and get ready to catch the 9:45 train to Glasgow. No first class car so even though we paid for first class, once again, no benefits, at least this time the ticket agent told us we could get them refunded, and later gave us the tip that rather than buy first class tickets, just buy regular tickets then if there is a first class car, just sit in it and pay the upgrade fee when the ticket dude comes around. Too bad that was our last train ride, other than the Caledonian Sleeper which we have actual beds booked on so it’s a rather moot point. But the next time we come, look out Scotsrail… we’ll be prepared.
A lovely train ride (other than a party crew, we assumed a wedding group that was drinking from Inverness to the stop at Perth. One of the crew was an older guy who laughed and sounded and laughed EXACTLY like Wayne Newkirk right down to laughing halfway through a story) and arrived in Glasgow at 1:15. Found our hotel and got checked in.
Then the ladies and I headed to lunch at Tracy’s favourite Glasgow restaurant “La Vita”. I had Spicy Sausage fettuccine, Cadie had Lasagna, and Tracy had Pollo Penne. Then for dessert Cadie had a Kit Kat cheesecake, and I had a clotted cream and strawberry tart. We explored a little then Cadie had a bit of travel tummy, so she went back to the hotel, so Tracy and I carried on.
Saw a wedding, and a Jesus freak preaching in George Square. The Prince Albert Statue, which famously wears a traffic cone, was cone-less today, so we’ll keep a close eye on him to see when it reappears ( we later discovered the Prince Albert statue was the wrong statue, it was the Duke of Wellington statue that wears the traffic cone, someone had just put a cone on Prince Albert the day we first arrived in Scotland!!). Added bonus, our hotel room overlooks the square so we might catch the perps in the act. Double added bonus, we found a traffic cone in case no one else is brave enough to do it, we can!!!
Stopped in a couple of shops but there really isn’t much touristy here. If you’re looking for high fashion, or day to day regular stuff there’s lots of shops, but otherwise, meh. Glad we filled our wish lists before coming. I DID find another antique shop and rare bookstore, and Tracy has some free time for us booked soooo… if left to my own devices… CANNON!!!
Supper was at… you guessed it, La Vita, in fact Tracy stopped in and booked reservations for our remaining suppers to be had there… The boys had lobster ravioli, Cadie had Pollo au Poivre, and Tracy had the grilled chicken Caesar. Everyone was too full for dessert, so supper sufficed. We did get to sing Happy Birthday to two groups. One a table of four, and the other a table of thirty-year-old chicks we nicknamed the Boob Squad as they all were a bunch of cloned plastic blondes with their decolletage on full display… not that I was complaining, and Morgan got rather giggly…
Back to our rooms to relax for the evening.
Tomorrow a tour outside of Glasgow to the Kelpies, Falkirk Wheel, Bannockburn, and Stirling.
August 14 Glasgow- Kelpies- Stirling- Bannockburn
Quite a busy day today so up early for a bit of coffee before hitting the road with Lesley Watson of Solway Tours.
Lesley met us with her van at 9 am sharp and we headed down the road. A lovely lass from Galloway who was very impressed when I knew the three mascots in her van were Belted Galloway cattle. One had been very much loved during its lifetime however and looked more like a drowned cat, but you know, whatevs.
Our first stop was at the world-famous Kelpies, designed and built by artist and former ship builder Andy Scott. They are made out of surprisingly thin metal and riveted together using the same methods Andy once used to build ships. They were much bigger than I expected, standing at 98 & 1/2 feet. One fun fact we learned today was it took 90 days to assemble the two statues (built in England and hauled and assembled on site) and took a year and a half to build the little visitors centre that is on site. Part of the Kelpies’ site is the Helix Park, an environmental rejuvenation project, once the site of an iron foundry for ship building then abandoned, the site was basically a toxic dump. It was totally cleaned up and a beautiful park is now there. Another feature is the old canal system used to transport raw and finished materials to the foundry. It is now used for pleasure craft and the European “houseboat” A long narrow enclosed motorized boat. The barges on the canal used to be pulled by Clydesdales hence some of the inspiration for the statues, and the Scottish folklore of the kelpie which while landlubbers claimed would drag you to the sea, it was considered a protector spirit by fishermen. The two actual Clydesdales used for inspiration were named Duke and Baron so that is the name given to the two statues by Princess Anne when she opened the exhibit. Duke is looking down to symbolize looking to Scotland’s past while Baron looks skyward, or Scotland’s future. One more added feature was there were locks placed between the two statues so the boats could sail between them.
Back into the van and off to the Falkirk Wheel. Got there just in time to watch it bring two boats from the top lock to the bottom lock, and one from the bottom to the top. Then we got to watch the old lock system in action as one of the boats was a pleasure craft and continued down the locks, We didn’t really have the option to ride the wheel as it is an hour and a half boat ride, they put you on the tour boat, take you up the wheel (four minutes) then take you on a one hour 20 minute boat ride before returning for another 4 minute trip. We had lots to see yet so decided no to. Lesley offered to stop on our way back but with supper reservations we decided against that option as well.
Back in the van and off we went to Stirling Castle. A heavily contested piece of property that changed hands between the English and Scots 8 times over the years, as it was considered the gateway to conquer Scotland or reclaim her whichever side you were on. A lovely castle with restored rooms, as it was used by the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders army units for years as barracks and base. We stopped for lunch at the castle’s cafe (formerly the castle’s stables) before touring, burgers for the three kids, Tracy had Mac and Cheese and Lesley had a sandwich and haggis crisps, a gal after my own heart! Lesley then took us on a bit of a guided tour of the castle before turning us loose to explore and take photos. Highlights included the Great Kitchen (no shocker, food came up first), the Queen Anne Garden, Great Hall, castle wall walk, Castle Exhibition room, Cathedral (where James the 6th & 1st was baptized), carved head exhibit, and Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders museum.
After Stirling Castle we went to the Stirling Auld Bridge which played a pivotal role in William Wallace’s defeat of the English when he pulled down the bridge while they were on it drowning some and making it possible to pick off the others as they pulled themselves from the river and trapping the rest against the river in a complete route. The bridge was rebuilt and is a lovely stone one now.
We then went off to the Bannockburn battlefield, another spot just down the road from Wallace’s win over the English to the sight of another Scottish win, this time by Robert the Bruce. It was a two-day battle with Robert winning. it was after this battle that Robert was recognized as the king of the Scots.
Then it was back into the van and back home. We quite enjoyed Lesley as she was a very happy and bubbly guide, and she was very knowledgeable. She also got her history degree at the University at Stirling and has a real love of the area which came out in today’s tour.
We had supper once again at La Vita, tonight I had the Calzone a la casa, Tracy had the Pollo Portofino, and Cadie had the Ribeye. Morgan got into the shortbread and Edinburgh rock so wasn’t hungry come supper time. Dessert consisted of Tiramisu for Tracy, Terry’s Chocolate Orange Cake for Cadie, and a Cadbury Crunchie Sundae for me.
Back to the hotel for some R&R before bed. And just in time as there was some thunder and a pretty good shower right after we got back.
Tomorrow, the Glasgow Science Centre.
August 15th Glasgow Science Centre
We had a bit of a rough start to the morning with garbage trucks and construction crews outside of our window banging and crashing around at 6. Tracy even dropped the f-bomb at 6:30 and we finally got up. Coffee smoothed over some of the hurt feelings for her though it was mentioned a few times throughout the day. A full day of rain was also ahead so luckily all activities planned were inside.
Gathered up our spawn and headed down to the subway for the family’s first ever subway ride. It is a great line to test on as it is an oval and only takes 25 minutes to complete a full circuit so if you miss your stop, you can just stay on until your stop comes up again OR get on the second subway line which makes the same loop in reverse! So easy peasy even the prairie hicks managed it!
After the subway we walked to the Glasgow Science Centre. Morgan had a flight simulator experience booked at 10:30 and Cadie had one booked at 11:30. The Science Centre opened at 10 and we had to be there for Morgan’s pre-flight checks at 10:15. We were there at 10 so had a bit of time to play with the exhibits before the crash and burn, errrm, flight. Got to the flight school and they had an opening for Cadie which worked well, so we got both kids in at the same time. Both kids had the best time, possibly the best part of their holiday even, and grins could be seen for miles. Both had a flight over Glasgow for instruction purposes then both chose Paris for their free flight time, and as Morgan was finished with Paris a little earlier than Cadie he also had a few minutes cruising through the Grand Canyon, unfortunately there was a crash incident but we were able to recover the bodies (including that of the co-pilot, his mother) and we were able to continue on with our day. All plane instrumentation was exactly as it is in a real plane so both kids had a very realistic simulation.
After the flight we continued enjoying the exhibits. All are very hands-on and fun for the whole family. It is geared a bit to the younger crowd, but even Tracy and I were having fun playing with them. It was broken into many sections, like the human body, energy (oils, electricity etc), physics, metals, and so on. A break for burgers at the Centre’s cafe, then a bit more play time until 2pm.
At 2 we had a movie at the planetarium titled “We are aliens” I wish I could tell you a bunch about it, but being full of burgers and an early morning, once i reclined in those comfy theatre seats I somehow missed a bit of it. There was a shark at one point, and a couple of, like, planets, Rupert Grint from Harry Potter was talking… I dunno, the horrid B.O. from the dude beside me must have knocked me out.
After the planetarium there were just a couple of exhibits, we hadn’t seen, so we hit those and went back to the subway to head home. As luck would have it, the inner route of the subway drops us off right outside the Buchanan Gallery (fancy word for a mall) so we decided since we were that close we might as well hop in so we could say we had visited a Scottish Mall. So, it’s basically like a Canadian one. The End.
There was a Krispy Kreme store in the mall so that got Morgan to thinking he’d really like a donut, but rather than waste the idea in the mall we’d try the newly opened Glasgow Tim Horton’s! (Complete with two police officers hanging around outside!) After the first bite of donut Morgan exclaimed “You know, I really miss home!” home being Timmy’s apparently. It was a bit of a walk to get there from the mall, but it was a useful exercise as it is right beside the train station we need to use to get back to London when we fly out, so know the most direct way to get there now.
After Tim’s we walked back to the hotel for a potty break, and realized it was a bit late to start out on another adventure as suppertime was quickly approaching so we just hung out and visited a bit till it was time to go to, you guessed it, La Vita, might as well wreck the surprise, Tracy has reservations there for every Glasgow supper, She had the Pollo Milanese, Cadie had a double pepperoni pizza, Morgan had the lobster ravioli and I had the Pesto Gamberetti with prawns. Dessert was a Strawberry and clotted cream tart for me, Tracy had the Ferrero Rocher cheesecake and Cadie had the Millionaire’s cheesecake (shortbread crust, caramel cheesecake, chocolate topping) and Morgan was the smartest one of all of us and abstained so is the only one not regretting his life choices this evening.
Back to the hotel to kick at our bellies and bedtime.
Tomorrow, the hop-on-hop-off bus to sightsee through Glasgow. Did I mention there’s a rare bookstore and antique store just up the street. Though Tracy has also found a jewelry store owned by a famous Scottish designer Sheila Fleet nearby, so it might be a race to shame tomorrow if there’s time for shopping…
August 16th Glasgow
A better night was had by all last night, nice and quiet in the streets and hotel. I was still up at 6 but seems to be a me thing. Tracy slept till 7:30. We got up and got ready for the day and had some coffee then ran down to the kids’ room to grab Cadie at 9 for the hop-on-hop-off bus experience. Morgan morgated.
Caught the bus, but it was still raining a bit so we never got onto the upper open air deck, instead hid out and stayed dry on the bottom half. Unfortunately, this does not make for great picture taking opportunities. We did see where the attractions are however and depending on time may still hit a couple of them. We saw where our other (flooded) apartment was supposed to be and the new accommodations actually work out better as we are a lot closer to the action and the majority of the attractions. It is also a heck of a lot closer to the train station so when we are pushed out of our homeland, (highland clearances re-visted anyone?) it isn’t a taxi or bus ride to get there, just a short walk. Cadie was still pretty tired, having their own hotel room, I doubt bedtimes are that strictly observed, so once the bus ride had made it’s loop, we dropped her off back at the hotel and Tracy and I headed out to visit some shops.
I found a Scottish cologne I quite like so grabbed a bottle of that, then we headed to the Sheila Fleet jewelry store Tracy wanted to find. Sheila is a well-known Orkney jewelry artist she is a huge fan of and has been wanting one of her pieces since she has started planning this trip. Luckily, she has a satellite store in Glasgow. Even more luck was had when they had the specific ring she had been looking for, and it was fate she was going to get it when she tried it on and the ring in sore fit her! Of course, we couldn’t let her leave without it! So now that Tracy was in a good mood, I told her we should find the antique store and rare bookstore. My luck didn’t hold as true as the antique store was empty, it looked like renovations were underway. The rare bookstore was open however, and I found a really neat, two volume travel journal from 1852 that basically visits the exact spots we visited, so I wound up getting that as well.
We then decided to scope out the train station we will need to leave from, as it is quite a large station and rather than wander around carrying all of our luggage, it would be easier to find it while we were “naked” if you will.
We then went and had a late lunch at Cairns Pub, I had Haggis fritters, and a steak skewer, and Tracy had a chicken burger. We then grabbed a sandwich and bag of chips for Cadie, a pink jam donut for Morgan and an Empire Cookie for Cadie’s dessert. (Empire cookies are one of the kids’ new favourites and are harder to keep in the snack pile than shortbread even!!)
Tracy and I then hopped on the on-off bus again, and headed to the Glasgow Cathedral, and wandered around the church and visited the crypts where St. Mungo lays and then took a trip up to the Necropolis and wandered around there marvelling at the opulence of some of the mausoleums and headstones. This took the rest of the afternoon, and caught the bus back to our hotel (not the front door, but one of the stops is almost right there) and relaxed for the 45 min. till our supper reservation kicked in.
Supper at La Vita, Mixed Meat pizza for me, Pollo Penne for Tracy (she only eats chicken these days apparently) and Spaghetti Bolognese for Cadie. Morgan had leftover pizza for lunch so wasn’t hungry for supper. We all were a little wiser tonight and gave dessert a miss (begrudgingly).
The rest of the night was spent getting some luggage and customs issues sorted out. Rather than pack around souvenirs everywhere we’ve been, we shipped dome home with some unused clothes. Apparently, customs has an issue with the used clothes and won’t release the packages unless personally claimed. Luckily, they are sitting in Calgary right now so we can deal with it before we come home and won’t require a special trip back to Calgary for dirty undies.
Tomorrow, I don’t even want to discuss tomorrow. A little bit of sightseeing then pack and catch the sleeper train to London. Not sure I’ll get another newsletter done before we leave by train but will try to.
August 17th Glasgow
Started off the day with high hopes and thoughts of sightseeing visits we might attempt for the day, but first, we had breakfast plans at La Vita. It was the first place we had breakfast on our first day in Scotland, so we decided it should be our last breakfast on our last day in Scotland!
Went down to collect Cadie as she wanted to join us, but while there a monkey wrench was thrown into our whole last day. Tracy just happened to look at the Caledonian Sleeper Train website and low and behold they had cancelled the August 17th train because the British rail service was having a strike on the 18th. So now we were feeling kind of screwed and anxious as we had a flight home the next day.
We had breakfast, but the whole meal was kind of ruined and eaten under a black cloud of doom and indecision. I still had the Full Scottish breakfast and Cadie had the French Toast like we did on that first morning, and Tracy had an omelette.
After breakfast we headed down to the station to make sure the train really was cancelled as Tracy hadn’t received an email saying it was cancelled (she NEVER did!!). The ticket agent didn’t know anything about a cancellation, so he looked it up and sure enough, it had been. He assured us they had hourly trains running to London, but this is the company that ALSO cancelled our train on the first day we were in country to get to Glasgow 15 minutes before boarding time. There was a real lack of trust between us and this company and we didn’t want to leave getting to London to catch our flight home to the whim of THAT company. Tracy emailed Solway Tours host Lesley who took us to Stirling Castle to see if they had any suggestions. She said a train or a bus might work but would be really tough to catch now that other services were being cancelled due to the strike.
Tracy asked if Lesley would be willing to take us herself. It was a big ask, but one never knows, right? Lesley said she’d have to shuffle some things on the schedule, but she’d see what she could do, so we went to Tim Horton’s for coffee and to wait. Lesley called back and said that even though it was a 7-8 hour drive she and her company partner Mark would be willing to do it and would charge us the standard day tour rate, so we agreed to it. Unfortunately, it turns out the schedule arranging was due to the fact it was both Lesley and Mark’s vacation days, and Mark has been trying to get his one daughter off to university. So, we were feeling extremely guilty but they agreed to do it and our options while very limited were getting even more so as the day wore on.
With that weight off our shoulders, we went and grabbed Cadie who had some last minute shopping to do in the Glaswegian mall which we accomplished in short manner. We dropped her back off at home and had to find a print shop to look after some paperwork for Customs when we arrived. Then it was last minute packing, and an early supper at La Vita, to finish off the day. Tracy had a chicken burger (?!?), Cadie had a steak, and I had Penne Metteo. Very last-minute packing, and nervous last sweeps of the room to make sure nothing was missing, and we went to meet Lesley and Mark. We loaded the van and started our trek to London with Mark driving the first leg.
August 18th Glasgow- London – Calgary
Before 10 pm Lesley and Mark played to their strengths as tour guides and not just a saviour taxi service and pointed out some really interesting sights and historical facts on the way, including a hill where the Roman invaders had trained their troops in catapult and trebuchet usage and where the Lockerbie terrorist attack had happened. After 10 we tried to keep kind of quiet so the kids could be coerced into slumber. We all tried to sleep, well the tourists did… but I don’t think anyone was too successful. At the 3-hour mark we pulled into a little truck stop for a “comfort break”. Then back on the road, it was only a 4-hour trip to get to Heathrow, so we decided to just go for it. Luckily, traffic was very light (it was the middle of the night after all) and they dropped us off, and Mark stayed with the van while Lesley walked us in. Once we were settled in, Lesley and Mark headed home (another 7-hour journey!) Being only 2 AM those that could nap did. Midmorning we got the news our flight was delayed, so more “excitement” for everyone which tripled when an old guy walked in whose flight the day before had been completely cancelled. More stress! yay!
Finally, we were able to check in to the flight at 10 and proceeded to security. No issues there, other than they confiscated my toothpaste for being “too big”. It’s a problem I often have though, things being too big… But I tricked them, once we were through security and into the shops in the waiting lounges, I bought some more! Take that “the man”! Had some sandwiches and drinks and people watched and played on our phones until it was time to board.
Got on the plane no problem, and the flight was fine other than Morgan’s and my in-flight entertainment screens weren’t working, but he had previously downloaded some movies on his phone, and I had the WestJet app so was still able to access the inflight movies just on a really tiny little screen. It didn’t matter much anyway, I started to watch three movies at different points, and it was just enough to make me catch a catnap part way through and miss the plot anyway.
Landed in Calgary with no problem at about 3:30 pm, and other than having to wait in customs to declare some items we’d shipped ahead, we were out without incident, even our checked baggage arrived as promised.
Caught a taxi to the hotel, had supper in the lounge (the restaurant was booked for a private function). Cadie had a bit of a traveller tummy so didn’t join us, but Tracy had a Club sandwich, Morgan had the Herculean pizza, and I had the F-16 steak. Then off to bed, where everyone had a good night’s sleep (no bar releases at 3 am near us this time!!)
August 19 Calgary
Everyone was awake at 7:30 so got dressed and showered and headed down for breakfast at the Port-O-Call hotel restaurant. A breakfast buffet, and refills on the coffee! What a nice treat, it was the little things we missed!
Checked out and went to retrieve the parcels we had shipped home from Scotland. (Still, some haven’t arrived that we shipped from Islay). It was a bit of a run around. We declared the shipped things at customs at the airport, but that wasn’t quite enough, as we still had to go to Border Services just down the road from the Fed-Ex building to pay Duty (even though at the airport they said we wouldn’t) returned to the Fed-Ex building at retrieved our packages and hit the road. I drove through Calgary, and to Strathmore, where we stopped at Tim Horton’s for treats and coffees, changed drivers and headed off.
Made the Hat in pretty good time, stopped and got some gas, had lunch at Tony Roma’s, we started the trip out there, and decided we might as well end it there too. I had a brisket sandwich with baked potato soup, Tracy had a clubhouse sandwich, and the kids had steaks. We then went and got a few groceries, just fresh veggies milk and bread etc, that we knew we’d need, though Elayna and Barry came home for Mom’s birthday as well and offered to do the cooking this weekend, so we wouldn’t have to worry about it, then back on the road to finish the journey.
Got to the ranch and were met by the greeting committee, Dad, Barry and Elayna, 3 dogs and various cats all at our house to say welcome back! Copper was pretty laid back about the whole thing, which was a little disappointing, but I got lots of snuggles from him later on in the evening once he wasn’t so overwhelmed… (at least I tell myself he was overwhelmed).
We all pitched in and unloaded the car, had a bit of a visit, then headed to Mom and Dad’s, where Barry and Elayna made us Barry’s famous ribs for supper. We then showed everyone our purchases from the trip and handed out the souvenirs we brought them, before heading to bed for a well-deserved sleep in our own beds.
Jon Bowie's Thoughts and Photos 