Day 13 – July 30 – Stirling Castle

We got away early from Oban for the drive back across Scotland to Edinburgh and the end of our tour.   As we left the coast we kept encountering tidal waters for quite a while as we wound our way around many little villages and hills and the occasional ruined castle. Sometimes I think these old castle ruins dot the landscape like the oil companies “nodding-horses” dot the prairies. Once again the amount of forestry operations were quite remarkable.  Although there have been many comments that the pine they are growing is not a native species and grows far too quickly and therefore produces lesser quality wood than the native “Scots Pine”.  There is also concern that the planting of singular species across an entire cut block will diminish the ecosystem of the traditional forests that saw both conifers and deciduous trees strike a balance. As we tour many of the palaces and castles it’s not unusual to hear that 300 Oak trees from nearby forests were harvested to create the towering roofs that resemble an upside ships hull.

Midway on our journey we make a brief stop at Loch Lomond.  As we drove around the lake Roddy dug out a CD with the song “ ??? Loch Lomond “ and Roy provided some insight into the lyrics regarding two friends, one being sent free and the other about to be put to death, thus the lines “I’ll take the Low road and you take the other, and I’ll get to ??? before You!”  It is a beautiful community nestled on the side of Loch Lomond and surrounded by forested hills and mountains.   While we were stopped two girls in full dress uniforms pulled out their bagpipes and began playing.  The taller girl acted as the lead when they would start a new song.  They held their bagpipe out in front of them and on a specified count they both tucked the bag under their arms and began to play.  They played very well and many of us felt the desire to reward their impromptu concert by tossing some coins into their case.  What made this stop particularly amusing was a couple of our tour members.  Phil reached into his pocket and tossed in a coin.  After it landed in the case he realized it was just 20p (30 cents) that he had donated, so he reached down and retrieved the 20p coin and tossed in a £1 coin ($1.60) instead.  That might have been alright except that Bethany, with slightly southern accent, noticed and was quick enough to comment “Hey Phil, what are you doing? Making change?”  We all had a good chuckle and Phil later said he realized what he was doing as he stood up, but it was too late.  He figured it would have made a perfect “Mr. Bean moment!”  Referring of course to the famous British comedy actor who is well noted for acting out such a script.  I guess you had to be there and know those involved.

After Loch Lomond we continued to wind through the mountains until the terrain started to flatten out and it became obvious that we had left the Highlands and were once again in the Lowlands.  From a distance we could see Stirling Castle standing on a volcanic crag that was left standing when the glaciers retreated 10,000 years ago.  The carving of the glaciers left steep, impenetrable walls on three sides and a gentle incline to the Southeast. This made defending the Castle much easier and allowed for the town to grow up on the gentle slope.  The key purpose of the castle was to control the crossing on the Firth of Forth (River) to the east.

The castle is considered to have comparable prestige to Edinburgh castle and comes from a similar time.  It has been a Royal palace since 1110. Over the centuries it endured 15 sieges and played a key role in the War of Independence (1296-1357). One of the last was in January 1746 when it was attacked by a force of Jacobites.

The beautiful buildings of the Inner court were developed during the 15th century by successive monarchs.  As you wind your way up from the car park you encounter successive fortifications, many of which have been enhanced over the ages as the destructive power of the attacking armaments meant that sturdier walls had to be created.  Besides the longevity of slate roofs, they also offered protection from flaming arrows that were sometimes used “smoke out” those under siege.

We caught a tour of the grounds by “Gordon” who wanted to ensure we heard his name as periodically a secret review of the tour guides is done and they receive a big black “X” if they don’t mention their name.  We felt that this was one of our less inspiring tours on our trip.  He showed us the Queen Anne Garden and described the statues that line the Palace to the north of the garden.  They were intended to present James V as a powerful, just and learned monarch of the European renaissance.

We then made our way to the Palace where we stopped to admire the receiving room.  Although I’m sure they had gone to great lengths to return the room to its original look it almost looked a little ‘too perfect’ and that it should really still have a ‘wet paint’ sign on the walls. Possibly we’ve been in too many castles that have not been restored to this degree that we’ve come to expect them look a little more aged.

The King’s Old Building still shows evidence of being hit with cannon balls, leaving a round depression in the walls.

We crossed the Inner courtyard which had a surprising slope running from the King’s Old Building to the Great Hall.  The Great Hall, completed in 1503 for James IV, was the largest ever built in Scotland.  It is extremely large and it’s pretty easy to imagine a large gathering of hundreds of people singing and making merry.  There were also stained glass windows honouring many of the royalty that had lived here.

From the Great Hall we proceeded to the Chapel Royal that was completed in 1594 by James VI for the baptism of his first son, Henry.

We had some lunch in the Castle and continued to tour around on our own. We saw a cute sticker on a sandwich being sold in a shop “Made today. Gone today. No ‘sell-by date, No nightlife.”

Outside the Castle grounds to the southwest was the site for the Royal Garden Party.  You can still see some of the landscaping that was done originally on the left.

We got a picture of the William Wallace monument in the sights of one of the many cannons used to defend the castle in days gone by.

The Monument commemorates the Scottish hero, better known to use thanks to Mel Gibson in Braveheart, who rallied his forces at this point for his large victory against England’s King Edward I in 1297.

Outside the castle is a statue to King Robert the Bruce.  Whenever we see this it reminds of us of “The Bear” back home, who we could also just call “The Bruce”!

As our tour is drawing to a close Roy suggested a group photo on the lower battlements of Stirling Castle with the William Wallace monument just over David’s head.  Although we didn’t get a chance to know everyone, it was a terrific group of people, all anxious to learn as much as they could about Scotland.

From Left to Right:     Jim, Larry R., Larry H.,Steve, Jan, Cheryl, Roy (our awesome Guide), Terry, Linda, Joe, Lisa, Deb, David, Vicky, Peggy, Tim, Maxine, Kris, Sally, Phil, Bethany, Bea, Paula, Tim, Paul, Jared,Virgil, Deana, Jeff and of course Roddy (our coachman).

Day 12 – July 29 – Isle of Iona

Oban (OB-in) is a great spot to start a trip to the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland.  Roy has given us clear, concise instructions on how to reach the ferry terminal from our B&B’s ….. at least half a dozen times (we won’t find out why until later).

As we approach the island of Mull we see a castle standing on a point of land just beyond the mouth of the harbour.  It turns out to be Duart Castle, which means “Dark Headland”.  It was originally built by the Clan MacDougall of Lorn, eventually growing to 100 apartments. It fell in to disrepair until it was purchased in 1911 by Sire Fitzroy Donald Maclean.

Duart Castle guarding the outer harbour on the Island of Mull

As we get off the ferry we are met by a coach to take us across Mull to Fionnphort.  Roddy would normally be our driver, but today is a required day-off from driving so we left him in Oban.  The driving on Mull is a little bit different and Richard our driver for this leg of our tour, is an inhabitant and knows the route very well and provides us with a running commentary.  The first thing he points out is that the roads on Mull are a single lane with regular wide spots to allow vehicles to pull off to let someone pass.  Richard’s line was “in the UK everyone drives on the Left and on Mull they drive on What’s Left!”.

Single lane roads on the Isle of Mull

Richard tells us that many people land on Mull thinking it’s just one of the hundreds of tiny islands off the coasts of Scotland. They ask if they could walk around the island in two hours?  The island of Mull is actually the 3rd largest in Scotland with 300 miles of coastline and a 3,169ft. mountain. So the coachmen reply “sure, give it a go!”

Richard entertained us with the steady stream of interesting facts, cute anecdotes, wildlife and flower sightings and some material he seemed to be practising for a possible career in stand-up comedy.  All this as he bobbed and weaved his full sized coach across to Fionnphort.  He told us that elementary school children attend local schools but high school students travel to Oban early on Monday mornings, board all week in Oban and then return home on Friday afternoon.  Once we reach the port we get off the coach and walk onto the ferry for the short ferry ride to the village of Baile Mor on the Isle of Iona.  This is one of those small islands at just 3 miles x 1.5 miles.

So how is this the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland?  In 563 AD Columba (not Columbus) arrived from Ireland with 12 disciples in a boat called a “coracle”.  A coracle was made of stout wickerwork covered with hides and then well caulked.  Ireland is just barely visible from Iona, on a clear day, if you stand on your tippy toes at the highest point, about 300 ft.  Now you’d probably think that Columba (later St. Columba) came to Iona as a missionary, but the reason is a little different.

Back in Ireland, one of Columba’s colleagues had returned from Rome with a copy of a simplified translation of the Gospels.  Columba, wanting to read and possess a copy of the translations for himself asked for a copy, but was refused.  But he secretly managed to secure a copy, but when this became known he was ordered to give up his copy. He refused and even when the High King insisted Columba still refused. That led to a heated dispute and ultimately a battle in which Columba side prevailed, but there was significant blood spilled.  At this point the story has two versions.  One is that Columba and his supporters were banished and told to sail away and not stop until they could no longer see Ireland (so Iona didn’t quite count due to the clear day, tippy toe thing, but close enough). Second was that Columba was overcome with remorse that he had caused such bloodshed that he went into voluntary exile.

But Columba didn’t sit idle in exile, he founded an abbey on Iona and he applied his missionary instincts.  The original abbey was simply built with wood and turf but eventually the monks developed masons skills.

The abbey on the Isle of Iona

Carving in the abbey church

Inside the abbey was ornately decorated with interesting figures and impish faces carved into the stone at various points. There is one point in the abbey where if you look up you can see the face carved in stone as seen in the picture. Time has eroded the fine detail but the mouth is wide open and there have been several interpretations of what this figure was inserted for:

1. If you project your voice at this height from the alter your voice will be carried through out the church
2. A reminder to raise your voice with a wide open mouth to ensure you have sufficient volume to fill the church
3. This is actually someone yawning in the back row, so stick to your sermon and keep it brief or people will start to nod off.

The monks continued their work completing the Abbey and spreading the word of god to a wider and wider audience across Scotland.

Four monks worked for years in the 8th century to create the Book of Kells, a wonderful copy of the four gospels on vellum (calfskin).  They extracted pigments from a variety of animals and plants, using advanced techniques, then created pages with a remarkable range of colours.  The  monks used unbelievable imagery for not just the biblical figures but also the text and the borders on each page.

A copy of the Book of Kells

As the Vikings began travelling south in search of gold and plunder, Iona and the monks were not spared their fury.  The morning of 825, Abbot Blathmac was celebrating Mass in the abbey church when Viking raiders burst into the building.  After slaying the rest of the brethren, they approached Blathmac, demanding he give up the jewelled casket containing the bones of St. Columba. The abbot refused and died a violent death before the alter. In 806 where 68 monks were massacred as the Vikings searched for gold and other valuables.  The raids continued and the monks eventually moved their valuables from Iona. The Book of Kells, was sent to Ireland for safekeeping.  It still resides today in Dublin’s Trinity Old Library.  There are many more accounts of Viking raids over the next 200 years. Despite the raids, Christianity was slowly being adopted by the Norsemen and by the time their domination had ended in the 13th century, the Bishop of Iona was being ordained at Trondheim in Norway, confirming the amazing job the monks had done.

The abbey church

Our guide for the Abbey was very informative and we learned that when the sculpture on a kings tomb depicts him with his crown at his feet it means that his body doesn’t reside here but is buried somewhere else.

The Duke of Argyll – crown at his feet

St. Martin’s Cross

The Nunnery

On the way back to the ferry we passed through the Nunnery, which has long since fallen into disrepair.

The water around Iona is very clear with some beautiful white beaches.  We spent some time walking around the cloisters and several of the buildings in the Abbey taking pictures and trying to imagine what it would have been like to have live here on this isolated island, so long ago.

Scottish Hairy “Koos”

We then returned to Fionnphort by ferry and coach across the island.  We managed to find a small group of Scottish Cows (pronounced “Koos”).

One of the stories Richard told us as he drove us across the island was about Sir Alex Ferguson, the long time but recently retired coach of the fabled Manchester United Football (soccer) club.  Sir Alex was visiting the area and a young boy heard of this and was really excited at the thought of getting his Man U jersey signed.  When Sir Alex arrived the boy was so nervous that he ran home without even seeing him.  When Sir Alex was told of this he asked for the boy’s address and went up to the door, rang the bell and when the boy answered the door he was gobsmacked when Sir Alex asked the boy if he could sign his jersey.

As we waited for the ferry back to Oban a rainbow appeared above our ferry.

Rainbow over the approaching ferry

Glenburnie House – our B&B

On the way back into Oban we got a great view of our Bed & Breakfast, probably the nicest accommodation on our trip and we’ve had some great lodgings.

Once in Oban we made a dinner reservation at Ee’usk (Scottish Gaelic for “fish”) which left enough time for a quick visit to the Oban Distillery, which just happens to be located about 100 yds from the restaurant.  Upon arriving at the distillery we were informed that all of the remaining tours for the day were full, but we could go up to the tasting room. We couldn’t see the downside in that so we made our way up to their mini museum and tasted a couple of their finer Whiskeys.  They don’t call it Scotch here, just Whiskey.

We joined Sally & Kris, Cheryl & Jim for dinner trying all sorts of seafood.  In particular, the mussels were especially tasty.

Later in the day we learned why Roy was so emphatic about the ferry. Many, many tours ago someone got on the first ferry from Oban to the island of Mull with the rest of the group.  Then everyone got off the ferry and boarded the bus for the drive across Mull to the port of Fionnphort for the second ferry to Iona.  However, someone didn’t get off the first ferry. Thinking (somehow) that the second ferry was the ride back to Oban?  Not sure how you do this, but Roy was determined that this wasn’t going to happen with our group and he was successful.

Just a short distance up the coast is the Scottish end of the Giant’s Causeway, at Staffa. There’s a great bit of lore relating to that, but more about that once we get to Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Day 11 – July 28 – Loch Ness and Glencoe

We woke up to the sound of raindrops and we figure, what better day to go have a look see for Nessie!  Loch Ness (Lake Ness) is a short distance from Inverness and so we packed the bus and headed off for the Castle Urquhart on Loch Ness.  “Inver” is apparently the Gaelic word for “opening out” so Inver-ness = “Opening Out of the River Ness”. Our driver, Roddy, clarified that “Loch” means a body of water with land on two sides.  So this means that the water can be either fresh or salt.

Castle Urquhart on the left overlooks Loch Ness

If you look really hard you might see Nessie ….. but we didn’t.  Loch Ness is 23 miles long and 900 feet deep.  We’re told there is more water in Loch Ness than all the other lakes in Scotland combined. So it’s understandable that people might think that somewhere in the depths could lurk an animal from some prehistoric era.  Of course our guide, Roy, was able to ream off chapter and verse as to why Nessie couldn’t exist, lack of food below 60 ft., would need to have at least 30 individuals to sustain the breeding stock, there would have to have been some corpses wash up on the shore over all these years.  Roy also told us that the Urquhart Castle gift shop would not have any trappings of the Loch Ness Monster.  In fact, Roy mentioned that Rick Steves was told that he could not mention the Loch Ness Monster when he was recording his TV show for this area. As we waited for the video to start for Castle Urquhart we found a small stuffed animal with the likeness of Nessie, so we bought it for Roy to be his mascot on future tours.

The ruins of Castle Urquhart

At Castle Urquhart they invited you to a 10 min video before you walked down to the castle grounds.  The film describe how St. Columba came to these parts around the 6th Century as he was looking to bring Christianity to the Pictish people.  The construction of the castle began about 1230.  Over the next 3 centuries the castle was added to and reshaped and laid siege to until the Jacobites in the late 17th century.  Although the reining lord of the castle was able to withstand this siege by the Jacobites, soon after they left he used gun powder to destroy the castle so it could not be inhabited by anyone else.  From the film it appeared that they didn’t destroy the castle while it was under siege, but when there was no enemy present to force their hand.  Roy indicated that this is extremely common with the castles in England.  They are rarely destroyed as a result of foreign forces, but rather the last inhabitants wanting to ensure that no one else would be able to use the fortification.

You can see in the picture the ingenuity they had in those times to ensure that water was routed to the outside and away from the edge of the castle, to reduce premature erosion.

The “gutters” used to channel water outside the castle

When the film ended the screen was lifted and the blackout curtains withdrawn to reveal a beautiful view of the entire castle and the Loch (lake).  So we headed out and explored Urquhart Castle.

Jeff at the Locks at Fort Augustus

We stopped in Fort Augustus for lunch.  The locks here are part of the Caledonia Canal that links the West side of Scotland with the East side at Inverness.  This canal helps mariners avoid having to travel through the treacherous seas around the northern tip of Scotland.  Once again had the opportunity to talk with some of the other people on our tour over lunch.  Generally we don’t have much conversation while we are on the tour bus, but it is the meals where we have a chance to learn more about some of the other people on the tour.

Deana with Jim and Cheryl outside our lunch spot

As I mentioned at the beginning of the tour we are the only people from outside the USA, but the common thread is that we all love to travel.  For some, like us, this is their first time on a Rick Steves tour. There are a few couples who have been on multiple Rick Steves tours.  Some people are continuing their trip elsewhere, like a River Cruise in Europe, while others are finishing up their trip with this tour after having been in Ireland for 2 weeks.  They all have interesting stories to tell and experiences to share and that has certainly added to the trip.

David, Cheryl and Deana admiring this lady’s mode of transportation

Memorial to the UK’s Comandos

After leaving Loch Ness, with nary a sighting among us, we reached the West side of Scotland and the valley of Glencoe.  The scenery here is absolutely beautiful, even though it continued to rain in the mountains.  It’s easy to see why so many Scots become mountain climbers.  Roddy took us up a little further than we would normally go in Glencoe because the pull-outs were all full of tourists. Imagine!  We almost made it as far as the sight used in the latest James Bond movie, Skyfall, when his old home gets attacked.  But we finally found a place to turn around and got a second look at the beautiful mountains teeming with waterfalls and lush green vegetation, compliments of some recent rainfall.

Deana and Jeff in the Glencoe Highlands

We took a few pictures and then made out way to the Glencoe visitor center.  Roy had briefed us on the massacre that we were going to learn more about, but the start of the visitor center concentrated on the outdoor experiences available in Glencoe.  At the back of the exhibition hall was a video describing how the Government troops had come to this area in February, when there was plenty of snow on the ground and billeted themselves out amongst the people from the local clan.  After almost 2 weeks the 120 soldiers were given orders to murder their hosts and to drive any possible witnesses out into the snow to a certain death from hypothermia.  The fact that these soldiers had received lodging and food from their billets meant that they had developed a trust.  Therefore the charge of “Murder under Trust” could be assigned in this situation.  The Government’s argument was that the head of the clan had not sworn an oath to the King, but many feel that this was a massacre guilty of the Murder under Trust offense and therefore to this day, some people will not accept any Government explanation for why this happened.

Waterfall in the Glencoe Highlands

We then drove on to the town of Oban on the west coast.  We’re stopping here for 2 nights before we return to Edinburgh.  Roy is buying dinner tonight and he’s asked a local musician to entertain us.  Alex did a wonderful job with his accordion, guitar, drum and whistle and in no time we were all trapping our feet and singing along.  A wonderful end to another wonderful day.

Alex entertaining us with his drum

One of the two “whistles” Alex played for us

Sunset over the Oban harbour

Good night!

Day 10 July 27 Inverness

This morning we visited the site of a historic battle in the evolution of Scotland.  On the upland plain of Drummossie Moor, just 5 files to the east of Inverness.  The Battle of Culloden was fought on April 16, 1746 and lasted less than an hour.  To understand the significance of this battle you have to understand some of the history that preceded it.

Early in the 17th Century, 1603, the crowns of England and Scotland where united under the Stuart King James VI (Scotland) and James I (England) (same person), but not the governments. With the death of James VI in 1625 his son Charles I inherited the throne.  He married the Roman Catholic French princess Henrietta Maria and proposed the use of more formal rituals of the Church of England, which were unpopular, especially with the Scots, as this was viewed as an attack against their Presbyterian principles. In 1649 King Charles was tried for treason, found guilty and condemned to be put to death.  As a result, England was declared a republic, but the Scots accepted Charles I’s son as king of both England and Scotland and crowned him Charles II in 1651. Following a defeat at the hands of Oliver Cromwell, Charles II was forced into exile on the Continent.  A decade later England restored its monarchy with Charles II as King.  Charles II tried to introduce tolerance of Roman Catholics.  By 1673, the Test Act excluded Roman Catholics from both Houses of Parliaments.  Charles II died in 1685 and his brother James, 51 and a convert to Catholicism came to the throne as James VII of Scotland and II of England & Ireland.  Three years later, his Catholic wife, Mary, gave birth to a son, James Francis Edward Stuart.  But within 5 months they were sent into exile and fled to France.  In their place, the Protestant William of Orange and his wife Mary were invited to rule.   In the constitutional upheaval Presbyterianism became the state religion in Scotland, ousting the Episcopal Church and threatening its supremacy in England.

*** maybe that was a bit too much detail ***

Jacobitism was the political movement dedicated to restoring the Stuart Kings to the thrones of Scotland and England.  They took their name from the Latin form of James, Jacobus, after their deposed King James VII.  Under pressure the Scottish parliament accepted the 1707 Act of Union.  This was a further irritant to those in Scotland who opposed a government based in London and thereby further English domination (which strikes a common thread with the Independence vote to be held in 2014 in Scotland).  The Jacobites hoped that a Stuart king would end the discriminatory laws against Catholics.

Fast forward to 1745 and James Francis Edward Stuart’s son, Charles Edward Stuart, as so known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie” crosses the English Channel from France to claim the throne of Scotland.

During 1745 he successfully amasses troops under the Jacobite name, takes control of Scotland and heads south into England.  He promises that as these Scots head south their numbers will swell with addition of Jacobites in England and additional support from the Continent.  They got within 125 miles of London when the lack of additional support from Europe and limited English Jacobites conscripts disheartens many of their key leaders of they stop short of London and return to the Highlands of Scotland for the winter and where their knowledge of the terrain would give them an advantage in a future fight.

This gave the English the opportunity to call troops home from battles abroad and “the Redcoats” followed the Jacobites back to Scotland. Many think of the Battle of Culloden as a fight between the English and the Scots, but this is an oversimplification.  The Jacobites were composed of mostly Scots, but there were supporters from England and Ireland as well.  They were fighting the Government troops who were composed of many British soldiers, but also many from Scottish regiments as well.  In many cases members of the same families and clans were fighting each other.

Against the advice of his best military advisor s, Bonnie Prince Charles marches his men onto Drummossie Moor (Culloden) and take up a position in anticipation of the Duke of Cumberland’s Red coats arriving for a battle from their camp some 12 miles away.  But they receive word that Cumberland’s troops are not coming that day, possibly because it is Cumberland’s birthday and his men have received a ration of spirits to celebrate.  Prince Charles has the idea that they should surprise them while they are sleeping off the effect of their spirits and suggests a night attack.  However, in order to avoid the obvious sentries on the road they must traverse the 12 miles, through the woods, at night, in order to reach the Government troops by 2 am.  The Jacobites are hungry and tired and the trek through the woods turns out to be folly and they end up returning to the Moor without ever reaching the enemy.

The next morning Prince Charles’ forces were tired from their night march and hungry as they were running low on provisions.  The 5,500 men marched out in the rain to the battlefield to face the 7,500 men who had made the 12 mile march to the Moor, well rested and well fed.

A number of factors, including the soggy wet conditions of the Moor, the terrain and the constant bombardment from the Government cannons and riflemen, led to the battle lasting less than an hour.  With 1,250 Jacobites being killed, the same number injured and nearly 400 being taken prisoner, the rest, including Prince Charles fled.  In contrast, the Government troops lost 50 men with another 300 injured.

To make an example of this resistance to the Government, the following weeks and months were spent rounding up Jacobites and administering justice.  In many cases it was not easy to tell a Jacobite from a Scot wearing a kilt, so the Government forces treated them equally harshly.  So it became dangerous to wear a kilt for fear of being labelled as Jacobite.  Eventually the Government forbid the wearing of kilts and the speaking of the Gaelic language.

The site of the battle has been remembered with a wonderful interpretive center and you can walk out on the battlefield with a GPS triggered audio guide that will take you through many of the events of the battle.  You can see Deana walking along the Red coats line, marked by a line of flag poles with the red flags.

As you walk closer to the Jacobite you come across burial mounds with tombstones inscribed with the names of the clans who’s men died that day.  There are no individual graves but a farmer in the 1800’s built a memorial in memory of the men who had fallen on that day.

This was an extremely powerful interpretive site.  The information and visuals inside the building provided the perfect background prior to walking out onto the ground where the actual battle took place.  The GPS triggered audio tour and the additional information available as you walked completed the experience.  This is definitely a “must see” if you are ever in the area.

On a lighter note, we left Culloden and visited Cawdor Castle.  This castle is reputed to have been built in the late 1300’s with just the center block at first.  It’s difficult to see in the picture, but if you look at the left window just above the wall on the center tower you can see a larger arched opening that has been bricked in to leave just the space for the window.

In that era you put the front entrance on the second level with some sort of removable steps so that you could more easily defend yourself.  Over the years more buildings were built and a draw-bridge installed.  They also have a beautiful garden that was buzzing with bees pollinating all of the flowers. Note the bumble bee hovering at the right edge of the photo below.

The castle is still inhabited by the Dowager (widow) Countess Cawdor.  She is at her cottage nearby, so her standard is flown at the top of the flagpole.

Deana is standing in the garden next to a decorative globe fountain that has been built from pieces of slate recovered when the roof was redone in the 1800’s.

On our way back into Inverness we stopped at Clava Cairns, which date back 3-4,000 years ago.  Roy has spent a good part of his education in this field of study and is currently working on his PhD, and it shows.  He did an excellent job of getting us to look at and understand these features from a perspective of 2,000 BC rather than our current 21st century AD. I’ve used the term “prehistoric” many times but I’m not sure I ever really understood what it meant.  To better understand “prehistoric” Roy took us through the periods where people are simply nomadic as they move from place to place in search of food.  Then they evolve to the point were they can settle down in one place and start to develop permanent structures.  However, if they have not gotten to the point of creating a record of their activities, practices and heritage then they are not establishing a “history” of their existence.  Thus they are pre-history or prehistoric.  As a result, we look at these burial mounds and without any form of written or pictorial record we can only surmise why the people did certain things.  However, the presence of only bones within these mounds leads us to the concept of a worship or belief of some type with the assumption that there is a difference between life and the “after-life”.

The mounds were created with the entrance way aligned to be illuminated with the setting sun on the winter solstice in December.  This level of accuracy suggests that these people were intelligent to the point of recognizing the repeating pattern of the sun and ingenious enough to construct a chamber within the mound from just stone, to hold the remains.  After Roy’s introduction the mounds took on far more significance than if we had just come and looked at these piles of rocks on our own.  Although, even Roy can only provide possible theories to explain what happened here as we don’t have any record of what actually took place.  In front of some of the vertical stones (similar to Stonehenge) there were people sitting quietly in some form of meditation, or possibly they believe these to be, as some people do, the result of alien contact and they are waiting for the aliens to return.  We didn’t stay around long enough to find out.

On the way back to Inverness we got a great panoramic view of the city on the south bank of the River Ness.  Tomorrow we go in search of the elusive monster up river in the Loch!

Day 9 – July 26 – Kenmore to Inverness

A short distance from our hotel in Kenmore (in fact the church steeple seen in the picture was about 100m. from our hotel) is a historic site called a Crannog.  They are manmade or modified natural islands, found throughout the lochs of Scotland and Ireland.  Today, they appear as tree-covered islands or remain hidden as submerged stony mounds.  These dwellings were first built as defensive homesteads in Scotland as early as 5,000 years ago.  Some were inhabited periodically up until the 17th century.

Their remains are found in many shapes and sizes, and the nature of their construction varied with their environment and the period of their occupation.

There are hundreds of crannogs in Scotland, but few have been examined.  Although we were looking at a recreation, it is modeled after a settlement found nearby where piles were driven in to the lakebed and then the round teepee-like structures were built on top of the piles.  The thatched roof is designed to shed the water and snow but still porous enough to allow the smoke form the fire to escape.  An entire family, as many as 15-25, would live there.  The livestock would live in the dwellings as well.

As we left Loch Tay we travelled north and we really started to understand why they call this area the “Highlands”.  It is much more mountainous and you can start to see the tree line identifying the upper limit for trees to grow.  Due to a variety of factors this line is at a much lower elevation than we see in Canada.

Enroute to Inverness we stopped in the rolling hills of the Highlands to the Leault Family farm.  Here we got a live demonstration of sheep dogs at work.  The shephard, Neil (seen in the far left of the photo) directed his dogs with several different whistles and a few commands.

As about a dozen boarder collies ran around 12-15 sheep, Neil gave commands to get most of the dogs to lie down and do nothing while one or two dogs worked the sheep, moving left then right then left again, based on their master’s command.

One of the dogs is blind so he works the sheep by their smell and listening to his master’s commands.

One of the most impressive displays was when he sent several dogs out into the field and had each one lay down as a pylons with about 15m. between each.  He then had another dog weave the sheep through the dogs like a slalom course.

He then invited people to come up as he sheared one of the sheep that was looking particularly woolly.  Once the shearing for that sheep was finished he took the fleece and rolled it up like a bedroll and put a loose tie on it to keep it from unravelling.

After this Neil took the opportunity to enlighten us on the plight of the sheep farmer in Scotland and how the National Trust for Scotland is trying to save the heritage and look of Scotland (in his case the Highlands) by paying the sheep farmers like himself not to farm.  One example was that there used to be 60,000 sheep in the Highlands and today there are only 5,000.  He and one other fellow are the only ones left.  He also noted that the price for a fleece used to be 5 pound when his Dad was doing it but a few years ago it got as low as 20 pence.  It has since risen to as high as 3 pound and now he’s getting just over 2 pounds per fleece.  He didn’t however draw a correlation between the drop in the price for a fleece, the reduction in the number of sheep farms and the reduction in demand for wool as more synthetic alternatives become more popular.

Our hotel can be seen as the 4 storey building on the right side of this photo of the Ness river.

An opportunity to brush up on our Gaelic on the local street signs.

From there we headed to Inverness to stay for the next 2 nights.  A trip to the Blackfriars pub by a few members of the tour to taste the local Bitter and Ale was a great end to another wonderful day.

Day 8 – July 25 – Waterfalls and Whiskey

We awoke to the sounds of birds singing in this beautiful setting at the mouth of Loch Tay.

After a brief drive we arrive at Hermitage and wander up the river to see the Black Linn Falls. With all the rainfall the Falls were running pretty good, but there weren’t any salmon making a break for it by heading upstream.

Jeff was really intrigued by the forest of Douglas Fir trees.  Pseudotsuga menzesii is native to the west coast of British Columbia and it is unusual to see such a large number of them growing to such heights.  Having spent many years walking in the forests of BC, Jeff felt quite at home here and many of the old memories came flooding back to him.

After the falls we headed for Dunkeld and the Cathedral.  Originally established by Celtic missionaries in 570 AD as a monastery it was rebuilt in 848 in stone by Kenneth MacAlpin, King of the Scots.  The cathedral itself was built over a period of 200 years from 1260 to 1501, but has had a turbulent history. Following the Reformation in 1560 the Privy Council issued instructions to local lairds to destroy “images of idolatry”.  They interpreted this order freely as an excuse for widespread destruction.  The building was partially re-roofed in 1600, but the Nave has never  been restored.  In 1689, during the Battle of Kunkeld which follwed the Jacobite victory at Kilecracnkie, the Cameronians, fighting against the Jacobites, won a significant victory but at a considerable cost – the Cathedral with most of the town was devastated by fire. Note the scaffolding on in the center of the picture and the height of the Larch and Douglas Fir trees surrounding the cathedral

What caught our attention was the large portion of the church that had been left to the elements and the size of the trees on the grounds surrounding the cathedral.

Now this is our first formal Tour, but we’re thinking it’s a bad sign when the Tour Guide (Roy–right) and Coachman (Roddy-left) are both studying the map before we re-board the bus.

At the Public Restrooms we learned that they have awards for almost everything here in the UK.

Next stop was the Grouse Distillery, carefully nestled in the hillside so as not to arouse suspicion from the tax collectors.  We learned a considerable amount about the distilling process required to produce Whiskey (or as we know it, Single Malt Scotch).  There was even an opportunity to taste the various brands under the Grouse name, including Glenturret.  It was a very enjoyable education!

End of the day got an incredible surprise.  Roy an Roddy (almost sounds like it could be a comedy team like the Two Ronnies!) managed to get us access to the Taymouth Castle, which is very close to Kenmore.  This castle is several hundred years old but has most recently served as: a military hospital in WW II and also as a base for the commanders during the same war.  In the 1970’s it was used as a school.  We were given a tour of most of the building and saw the restoration and rehabilitation in many phases.  Such a restoration effort requires considerable sums of money which have required replenishing from time to time.  As this beautiful castle has not been completely restored we were asked to restrict any pictures to the outside of the building.

Why was this castle significant, besides the fact that it is in a beautiful setting just below Loch Tay?  Well maybe because this is the castle where Queen Victoria spend part of her honeymoon.  Once the renovations are completed and the site becomes public, there will be other pictures available.  Possibly, some day this site will be featured as part of an official PGA golf event.

Later we learned that two of the architects responsible for this wonderful castle had contributed to the Georgian area we stayed in while we were in Edinburgh and the other was responsible for the architecture in the British Houses of Parliament.

Day 7 – July 24 – Edinburgh to Kenmore

As we left Edinburgh for a short drive to Culross (Koo-ross) Roy talked about the education system in Scotland.  One of the benefits of the “Reformation” was the belief that every person should be able to read the bible without the aid of the clergy or church.  As a result, Scotland became one of the leaders in education with noted Universities, such as St. Andrews (more later today) taking a place up there with Oxford and Cambridge.

Scottish Reformation (reformation of Christian worship)– while England’s King Henry VIII was separating from the Catholic church to create the Church of England (we know it as the Anglican church) Scotland was still an independent country.  Henry’s separation was a mandate from the highest authority in the country.  In Scotland it was more of a grassroots movement that lead to the creation of the Church of Scotland which was led by groups of elected leaders called “presbyteries”.  On continental Europe two of the noted reformists were John Calvin and Martin Luther.  In Scotland, John Knox (1514-1572) was a follower of Calvin and was one of the leaders of the Scottish Reformation.  Knox gave sermons from the pulpit encouraging people to dispense with the “trappings” of the Pope and Vatican and any worship where the church suggests that communicating with God can only be done through the clergy.

Some notable dates in Scottish history:

1559 – John Knox – stirring sermons from the pulpit, as part of the “Reformation” which was designed to remove the trappings of the “popalty”

1603 – Uniting of the Crowns of England, Scotland and Wales

1707 – Act of Union – the centralization of the Parliament was made in London.  Scotland and Wales have their own government, but not over issues of State, only local issues.  This was resisted by many and why Scotland is scheduled to undertake a Referendum in 2014 on whether to once again be separate from England.  Many of the arguments, on both sides, of the debate sound a lot like the discussions in Quebec regarding separating from Canada

Culross (koo-ross)

In Culross we found a quaint little village on the banks of the Firth of Fourth.  Originally this was a port for shipping coal to the Continent. In the early 1600’s they even built a breakwater out a few hundred feet from shore.  They then dug a mineshaft under the Firth to reach a coal seam and then brought the coal to a platform that extended above the high tide level so that they could load the ships directly from this point.

The orangey colour is a sign of the wealth of the owner as this was a significant expense to tint the exterior coating (looks like stucco). The red tile for the roofs where brought back from the Continent.  Ships carrying raw materials, such as coal, to the continent would have to return across the North Sea virtually empty and therefore they would load up with these very heavy red clay tiles to provide a form of ballast on the journey.

The “palace” is not as elaborate as some of the ones we’ve seen but is given this name more because it belonged to the owner, Sir George Bruce of Carnock, of the coal mine and it was the biggest home in the village.  If you look closely at the picture of George Bruce you might notice that something isn’t right.  Apparently it was popular in those days to have someone come in to paint your portrait and to save time they might even have painted the body first ….. but you think they might have been able to match the gender.

Inside the palace has been rebuilt by the Historical Society of Scotland as many of the panels and ceiling materials had been removed and piled in the yard, exposed to the elements.

The doorways were low and several of the ceilings had a distinctive barrel shape.  There were two separate dining rooms, one for the men and a second for the ladies.  From a brief description of the boorish things the men did around the table we could understand why the ladies might want to eat separately.  In one of the rooms the ceiling was adorned with pictures an little sayings.  In the one pictured below the caption appears to say

“Men’s pleasures rond, do promise only Joys. But he that yields, at length himself destroys”.

The other notable portion of this site is the garden that was built behind the palace against the south facing retaining wall.  The gardener for the property was good enough to give us a tour of the palace as the regular tour guide was not available today.

St. Andrews

From here we made had a short drive to St. Andrews.  We had already been to St. Andrews, but we only had time to see the golf course the first time.  St. Andrews is a town of approx. 16,000 and grows by another 5-6,000 students when the University is in session.  Word is that when Prince William announced that he would be attending St. Andrews, the number of requests by females to register went up 65%.  There is even a shop claiming to have been the location “Where Kate met Wills (for coffee)”. With their first child being born just 2 days ago this seemed worth recording.

The Castle at St. Andrews was built by the bishop in the late 12th century to entertain visiting diplomats.  It was home to powerful bishops and cardinals over the years.  In 1546 the cardinal burned a Protestant preacher, George Wishart, at the stake in front of the castle.  The Protestant Reformers then captured the castle and killed the cardinal, hanging his body from the ramparts. In 1547, the French attacked the castle on behalf of their friend and ally Mary, Queen of Scots.  There was a siege and a young Protestant named John Knox was captured and put to work rowing on a galley ship headed back to France.  He would later return as one of the strongest leaders of the Scottish Reformation.  The Reformationists and the elements have been hard on the castle and very little remains today.  If you look north from the castle you can see a long strip of beach that was used in the opening scene of the movie “Chariots of Fire”.

In the early middle ages, the presence of the remains of the Apostle Andrew made the cathedral one of the most important pilgrimage sites for all Christians. However, that same importance for the church, originally the Catholic church, made the cathedral the prime target for the Reformationists.  The cathedral was started in 1160 which is all the more impressive when you see the size of the remains.

St. Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland.  St. Andrew chose a cross in the shape of an “X” because he didn’t feel worthy of being crucified in the same way as Jesus.  Thus the white X on a blue background used as the flag of Scotland.

At the end of the day we drove to Kenmore at the mouth of Loch Tay.  This is a very small town nestled between the hills in a beautiful valley.

Day 6 – July 23 – Edinburgh

For our introduction to Edinburgh, our Tour guide Roy put us in the more than capable hands of Ken Hanley, a local Blue Badge Guide.

Kenny did an excellent job of immersing us in his love of Edinburgh and showing us some of the subtle things you wouldn’t normally see.

We started the tour in the “New Town”.  It’s easy to know when you’re in the Old Town vs the New Town because the New Town follows the grid systems you find in younger cities.  The Old Town has the winding streets that follow the topography more closely.

Kenny pointed out how the architecture in the New town was a bit of mix of several styles.  Note in the picture how the columns are worked into the facade of this block of homes.  Apparently the idea of having bedrooms between the columns was long considered a “no-no”!

As we walked along, Kenny pointed out where some of the homes have stoned up windows that they didn’t need and thereby reduced their tax bill because it was based on the number of windows in your home.

In some cases they painted the outside surface to hide the fact that they were bricked up.

As we walked towards the Edinburgh Castle the sound of “God throwing coal on the fire” (according to Ken) quickly accelerated to frequent strikes of lightning and a torrential downpour.  As we pulled out our umbrella we watched as Kenny tried to find refuge for his 28 charges and keep us from getting soaked to the bone.  We briskly made our way into the Princes St. Gardens where the canopy of trees provided some shelter.  Here Kenny took some time to provide some insight into the Edinburgh history.

Most cities divert a river around the city core and this allows them to use the river to carry away their effluent away from the city. Edinburgh used a volcanic plug as the site for the castle and surrounding buildings. This prevented the traditional technique and instead the waste was allowed to collect in a toxic dump that led to widespread disease, often referred to as “The Plague”.  It was determined that a new development needed to be undertaken to remove this source of disease and from this the New Town was born.

Kenny walked us around the base of the castle on the west side and we started to climb through the streets to the south.  We passed through squares that continue to be used as markets however the goods being sold has likely changed considerably from the local produce that would have been available centuries ago.

There’s a story of a small terrier that was the devout companion for a local policeman. Stories tell that when the policeman died in 1858 the dog, affectionately referred to as “The Greyfriars Bobby” walked ahead of the coffin in the procession to the cemetery and slept on his master’s grave each night until the dog finally passed in 1872, some 14 years later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kenny noted that because all dogs had to be licensed there was no one to claim ownership of “Bobby” and therefore pay for the license.  Ownerless, Bobby was in danger of being put down but there was such an outcry from the public that the case went to court and many witnesses were called.  It is from the court records of these court proceedings, still viewable today, that we are able to read about the testimony given during the court case.  Ultimately it was determined that Bobby had was a valued member of the community and he was granted a license that would last the rest of his life.  There was even a plaque put up to commemorate the spot where a couple who owned a restaurant near the Greyfriars Kirk (Kirk = church) had fed Bobby every day for 14 years.

Roy recommended that we spend some time in the Royal Museum of Scotland getting a better understanding of the history in Scotland through the transition periods in Scottish history.

Kenny then led us up the steep streets to the Royal Mile.  This is the road connecting Edinburgh Castle (where the royalty could be protected) to Holyrood Palace (where the royalty could relax). Today it is very busy, much as it would have been when it was a center for commerce and trade.  Apparently, if you were to look at the Royal Mile from above it looks like the spine of a fish and then all the streets radiate from there.

On the way up the Royal Mile Kenny took us into the Court house to show us the Scotland legal system in action.  As solicitors wandered back and forth in a magnificant hall we speculated on the conversations taking place between potential rivals.

Kenny took us through a few back streets before we reached the Castle and as we looked at the outside of the buildings you could see how a lack of “indoor plumbing” was solved.

From the Castle (protection for the Royalty) to the Palace (place for Royalty to relax) runs the Royal Mile, which if looked at from above looks like the spine of a fish and then all the streets radiate from there.

In the Edinburgh Castle, the Crown jewels of Scotland are on display in a similar way to the English Crown jewels held in the Tower of London.  Although we couldn’t take any pictures of the jewels we did happen to be present for a surprise audience with Mary Queen of Scots.

On the way back to our hotel we managed to find some sun and the opportunity to take a picture in Princes St. Garden with the Ross Fountain, that was first shown at the Exhibition of 1862 in London.

Day 5 – 22 July – St. Andrews – Golf

We got up early to walk to the St. Andrews Links Golf course Clubhouse in plenty of time to collect our rental clubs and shoes prior to our 7:20am tee time on the Jubilee course.  Last night we had picked up a book about St. Andrews Golf Links and we noticed that on the opening page for the Jubilee Course it asked the question “Is this the toughest course at St. Andrews?”.  So we also approached the clubhouse with a little trepidation.

It turned out that there weren’t any golfers visible in front of us and with just the two of us golfing we quickly lost sight of the foursome behind us.  It took a little to get used to how hard the fairways were and the manner in which a ball could bounce in front of the green, roll across the green, past the pin and continue right off the back.

But after making a par on the 2nd hole, Deana was feeling pretty confident with her play as seen on her approach shot on #2.  Note the bunker on the left side of the picture.  We began to think that maybe the bunkers of St. Andrews were used as models for building bunkers in WW I.  They are so formidable that sometimes the best strategy is to hit the ball back the same way it came in, rather than trying to clear the layers of turf stacked between your ball and the pin.

We didn’t bring any balls with us, so we purchased what we felt would be enough balls to play the round.  But you still worry about hitting the ball into the long grass.  In addition, there is the occasional clump of “Gorse” which looks like some low growing evergreen bush until you discover the thorns protruding from the branches.  I’m not sure these are considered out of bounds, but even if you see your ball under a gorse bush, you should consider using a new ball.

The best way I can think of to describe the 3 courses that start from the Clubhouse that is just a stones throw from the beach used in the opening scene of Chariots of Fire, is the shape of a golf club.  You head east (down the shaft of the club), parallel to the beach, until you get to the 8th hole at which point you turn 90 degrees to the right and the same again for the 9th hole.  The 10th starts the route back to the beginning, essentially parallel to the front nine.  The “New Course”, so named because it was the second course built and not the “Old Course”, was built next to the Old course, but closer to the beach.  A few years later the Jubilee Course was placed on the last piece of land available between the Old/New courses and the beach.

It soon became apparent that avoiding bunkers …. at all costs …. was a good strategy.

We walked off the 18th green having hit a few more strokes than we normally would but the entire experience was absolutely fabulous.  It’s tough to describe, but we both thoroughly enjoyed our round of golf and the entire experience.

The Women’s British Open is taking place after our Tour of Scotland is over, August 1-4, so there isn’t even an option to put our names into the ballot to play the Old Course before we head to Wales.  That just means we’ll have to come back again … and we will!

After the golf, a little bit of food and a beer to replace the electrolytes and a little shopping in the golf store we returned to our B&B, grabbed our bags and headed to the train station to return Edinburgh.

Our tour group was to meet up at 5pm at our hotel so we arrived with enough time to relax.

Roy, our guide for the tour introduced himself and told us how he took a job as a guide for just one summer during University and that was 25+ years ago.  He’s now working on his PhD in Landscape Archaeology and thoroughly enjoys guiding the Rick Steves tours.  We then started around the room and as it appeared that all of our fellow tour members were from an assortment of the 50 United States, Jeff introduced us as being from the 51st State, just a little north or most of them, in Canada.

We then took a short walk to a local restaurant and we both tried Haggis for the first time and enjoyed it. We certainly had a positive experience with Haggis and it’s possible that we may not push our luck by ordering it again, but at least we can say we’ve had it once!

Day 4 – 21 July – Travel to St. Andrew

In order to get a reservation on a train to St. Andrews (Leuchars station and a £12 taxi fare into St. Andrews) we had to leave earlier than Eirwen had originally anticipated.  She was disappointed that she wasn’t able to cook us a traditional English breakfast. We got a picture of Eirwen and Peter before they drove us to the train station to start our journey, first south to London and then north to Scotland.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time with them and Jacqueline and Gareth.  Every time we get together we have a terrific time and the time seems to fly by.  They had a number of very interesting things for us to see within a reasonable drive from Princes Risborough.  We hope we can encourage them to come and visit us sometime soon.

We took the train into the London Marylebone station and then used the Tube to get us to Kings Cross.  We’ve been in London enough times now that navigating the Tube is very straight forward ….. at least for Jeff ….. it really is an excellent way to get around this rather large city.  We settled into our reserved seats for the 4 1/2 hour train ride to Edinburgh.  The weather was overcast but as we got closer to Edinburgh the sun started to break through.  We got a some views of the English coastline but train was a little too far away to say we ‘saw the coast’.

Edinburgh was an easy change of trains and we were soon off on a train destined for Aberdeen (the former capital of Scotland).  After a quick 1 hour journey we arrived at Leuchars and caught a cab to our B&B.  We dropped our bags and headed out on foot to familiarize ourselves with the route to the Clubhouse for St. Andrews Links golf course.  Our tee time is at 7:20am so we don’t want to take any wrong turns on the way to the course in the morning.

We walked around St. Andrews and purchase some of the local holy water GlenKinchie (distilled in Edinburgh) and then had a lovely dinner at a pub just around the corner from our hotel.  Deana took a liking to a brew called Tennant and Jeff had one called Belhaven Best. ….. the GlenKinchie was for later!