Our Scotland Adventure

Sunday, May 27, 2007
The flight over...
No problem with the flight to Atlanta. The problem is the lay over in Atlanta, almost six hours hanging out at the airport. So, it was off to the Sojourner cafe for lunch. We saw Robert Stroop, a buddy of Jordan's who was on his way to Zimbabwe with the Methodist church group. We had a chance to talk just before he and his group got on a sixteen hour trip to Africa. Wow!!

On the flight, Jordan and I are watching a terrible Hugh Grant movie.
More later...

Monday, May 28, 2007
We finally made it to Kilronan House in Bridge of Allan after touching down in Edinburgh around 9:00 am. We rented a car and drove past Stirling and on to Bridge of Allan and our B&B for our first two nights. When we arrived we were greeted by Colin George and he said our rooms were just about ready. We walked in their gardens for about ten minutes and we were shown to our rooms. We got two rooms with Susan in one by herself. She was concerned that the Georges's would think badly of her sleeping alone but I told her once they heard her snore that would understand.

A nice house and nice family, Kilronan House is an old Victorian House built in the 1800's and is in great shape. We took a short nap and dragged ourselves out of bed and into the shower. We got out and walked down to the village of Bridge of Allen and ate at a nice cafe. The steak pie was delicious. We walked around the town a bit and trudged back up the hill to Kilronan House. We enjoyed our first day in Scotland and first days are hard to enjoy with all the jet lag and tiredness. We are looking forward to tomorrow. It is 9:30 pm and it is broad daylight.
More later.....

Tuesday, May 29, 2007
We each slept different times and got up at different times. I woke up at 2:30 am for an hour or so, then back to sleep to wake up at again at 5:15 am when Jordan woke up and got up. I got up later after cat napping while Jordan was getting dressed. We all went down for breakfast about 8:30 am. We met a nice couple form West Sussex England that was here to visit their daughter and grandson. They were a happy couple and seemed to enjoy our visit with them.

We all had a wonderful full Scottish breakfast and loaded up the car for a day of sight seeing. We first headed to Falkirk to see the Falkirk wheel. It is an engineering marvel. It is a wheel that moves two gondolas up and down a 115 ft. drop between two canals. We got a little lost and finally stopped to get directions from a taxi driver and he put us on the route to the wheel. The signage was not too good and the wheel is not easy to find, but we really enjoyed the canal boat ride and the information about the wheel. We made many pictures.

From there we drove to Stirling and Jordan stepped up his navigational directions and we drove to the castle with no problem.
Stirling castle is very interesting and has more real old parts that even Edinburgh castle does not have. We joined a guided tour and enjoyed our visit there.

We hopped into the car and drove straight out to the Wallace Monument. A 220 foot tower built on a huge outcropping in Stirling.

We took a van to the top of the hill and then started climbing the 247 steps to the very top. It was draining and our legs felt like they were going to burst. Thank goodness there were four levels so that you could rest some and listen to information or look at the relics of William Wallace. His actual sword is on display and it is as tall as I am.

So, after a great day sightseeing and driving around without a wreck, we went back to Bridge of Allan and Kilronan House. We rested a little and drove into the village for dinner at the Royal Hotel. It was delicious. We topped it off with a group of deserts that we passed around. All was well.

We returned to Kilronan House and watched a little TV and talked to Linda George about breakfast and our day. This place is a great B&B.

It is 9:30 pm and it is still very light outside and I have recovered some from the trip over. Tomorrow is another great day is Scotland.
More later...

Wednesday, May 30, 2007
We got up Wednesday morning to another of Linda George's wonderful Scottish breakfasts. I woke up early and took a shower and began to pack up. We chatted with Colin and Linda and told them how much we enjoyed staying with them for the last two nights. We said our goodbyes and headed to the Rob Roy grave site in Balquidder and then on to Glencoe and the Corran Inn. It was raining off and on this entire leg of the trip. We found the grave down a small one lane road about two miles off the main road. We took some pictures and hit the road to Glencoe. It was not that long of a drive but it was raining hard some of the way. When we reached the Glencoe pass we were blown away by the mountains and the beauty of the pass. We stopped at the Glencoe Visitors Center for a few minutes but moved on. We did stop at a roadside pull over and Susan and Jordan walked up one of the smaller hills. We took many pictures.

We made our way through Glencoe, Ballenchullish and checked in at the Corran Inn on the slipway of the Corran Ferry. We had a family room and it was just okay, barely, but only for one night. Andy Ross bought the Inn about a year ago and is working hard to make it better. The food at Corran Inn was good, but not great. We ate dinner there and breakfast and we all said that is was okay. We took the Corran Ferry over and back just for the ride, pedestrians ride for free. Slept okay, and the wifi was very fast. I learned that I could not send email but could receive emails.

Thursday, May 31, 2007
We dressed and checked out and headed to Mallaig for the ferry to the Isle of Skye. The sun was shining and it looked like the best weather day of the trip. We drove through Glenfinnan and stopped at the Monument to Bonnie Prince Charlie. It was a beautiful setting and we took many pictures. Susan saw a family pull in to the car park with an Airedale in the back, so she followed them to their parking place to pet their dog.

We drove on to the ferry in Mallaig and got our first taste of single track roads. We did just fine. Jordan is a good navigator and a good look out for oncoming cars on the single track roads.

The ferry to Skye was fun. It was a huge ship that ferried us over to Armadale on Skye. It takes about twenty minutes. It was sunny and glorious.

We departed the ferry and was shocked by the breathtaking scenery on Skye. There were some single track roads but there were wide nice highways as well. We stopped several times to take pictures. We also took a small detour to the Talisker Distillery. They make their own brand single malt whiskey and for Johnnie Walker and others. It was not new for us since we had been to the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg, TN.

We drove on to Portree and drove straight to the Ben Tianavaig B&B. We met Gill Cudworth and checked into our rooms. We had a double and a twin rooms and they looked great. We walked around Portree and ate great pizza at Capuccino's.

After dinner we decided we take a walk along the water's edge of the bay. It was absolutely gorgeous. We decided to go the entire walk around and come out at the Cuillin Hills Hotel. We met a nice lady and her daughter on the trail who had just come down the "hill" from the top. We decided we would go up the hill instead of turning around and going back the way we came. What a mistake! The hill was at least 600 fit high and straight up. The trail was a series of switchbacks all the way up to the crest. It was beautiful but I did not think that I was going to ever get up the hill. We finally made it, we had done it in reverse. I thought we deserved some sort of medal.

We made it back to Ben Tianavaig and watch the sun go down from our room windows. What a beautiful place and what a comfortable room. All was well.
More later...

Friday, June 1, 2007- Saturday, June 2, 2007
Friday morning after a full Scottish breakfast, we drove out to the Old Man of Storr. We talked to an Australian couple at breakfast on an extended vacation. She said that her husband had sold his business and they travel 2-3 months each year. They were walkers as I later learned at the Old Man of Storr. She had written and published a book called End to End about their walk the entire length of the UK. They said that their book was on Amazon in PDF form.
As we climbed the hill to Old Man of Storr we came upon a gate where there was a warning of rock slides and injury potential. I stayed at the gate and Susan and Jordan made their way all the way up the steep trail to the top of the peek. It was amazing.
The Australian couple came down as Susan and Jordan were on their way up. They stopped and talked a bit. They were interested in my Palm, so I pulled it out and showed them. They were a nice couple and told me to look up their book and email them what I thought of it.

After the Old Man of Storr we proceeded to north around the peninsula of Trotternish. We stopped along the way to see a beautiful waterfall at the Kilt Rock. Most of the roads north are single track roads but everyone was very courteous and the drive was fun. We found that as people approached a pull off, they would flash their lights to let you know to proceed while they waited. It is a funny way to travel but I enjoyed it.

We decided to cut across Waternish to Dunvegan Castle. I had promised Mike Sadler that I would bring him back an artifact (a stone) from the castle since his mother was a McCleod. Dunvegan is the ancestral home of the McCleods. It was a beautiful place with wonderful spring gardens and flowers. As we entered the castle, Jordan told me he did not feel very well. At first I thought he was just tired from the climb earlier. But as we went through the castle grounds, he began to feel worse. His stomach was very upset. We decided to leave and go back to Portree. Jordan was sick, very sick for the next several hours on into Saturday. It is 12:00 noon on Saturday as I write this and he is asleep after a very rough night. We have tried many home remedies but nothing seems to help. He has begun to keep things down now, but it seems he has an intestinal virus. Gill and David Cudworth have been very nice and offered help and even a tray of warm toast and black currant jam. Susan is off to the chemist for some stronger medicines and I am sitting with the sleeping Jordan. He has been great through a terrible rough sick spell. We all are holding our breath hoping that we all don't get it. I don't think Susan wants to drive, if I were to get sick. I don't either. So, if all goes well and Jordan recovers, we will drive to Ullapool tomorrow.
More later...

Sunday, June 3, 2007
We did make it to Ullapool after about a three hour drive through some beautiful country. We had some single track roads but mostly two lane roads with some that would qualify as a super highway.

We found the Dromnan Guest House with no trouble. It is a beautiful house with views of mountains on one side and a pathway to the shore line in the back.
FYI, Jordan made a recovery from his illness late yesterday and last night. I went out to buy Ritz crackers and Sprites from Summerfields grocery right down the block from us. Susan and I went out to eat on the Portree docks and I believe I had the best lemon smoked sole that I have ever had at the Sea Breezes restaurant. It was a very windy day with rain most of the day. Jordan picked the best day to recover.

Back to Ullapool, Susan and I left Jordan at the B&B and we took dirty laundry to the laundry and dry cleaners downtown. We barely made it before closing. We walked about town and lunched at Frigate Bistro and talked to an older English couple from Manchester. They were on a week long bus tour. A cruise ship was in the harbor, the same one we saw in Portree harbor. Tourist were everywhere. We are making plans for a short cruise out to the Summer Isles tomorrow. As I am writing this there is slight drizzle I can see against the mountain outside our window. Purple rhododendron is growing up the mountain side. It is a beautiful place and very remote, but Jordan is enjoying the flat screen television with digital HD.
More later...

Monday, June 4, 2007
Susan and I got up early for breakfast at least Susan and I got up. Jordan was just not ready for breakfast yet.

Susan MacDonald, the daughter of the Dromnan Guesthouse owner offered to prepare some dry toast and jam for Jordan. We had met her the night before when she showed us her wireless internet and her security code to connect. It was nice to check email in our room and to read the Daily Journal.

Susan and I had taken a wet walk along the shore of Loch Broom. It was hard walking on large stones and the rain did not help much either. We did pick up some nice white and black stones. When we came back in to the guest lounge there was a couple sitting near the fireplace and we came back down to talk with them.

Amy and Alistair were on holiday from their home in Fife. They had ridden their motorbike and were kind of stuck in the B&B out of the rain. We had a great chat with them. She was an American from Virginia who had come over to Scotland with the Southern Baptist group for a two year mission. She met Alistair, fell in love and got married. That was twenty years ago. They have two children, a ten and a fourteen year old. Her accent was kind of southern and Scottish. She was a short red head and he was a tall thin dark headed Scot. They were fun to talk to and to find out as much as we could about Scotland.

After breakfast, our first day, we rushed off to Ullapool Harbor to board the Summer Queen for a boat trip out to the Summer Isles. We left the dock about ten o'clock and headed out for a four hour tour. It was absolutely beautiful. We took pictures of the Cathedral cave, birds and seals. We went out to Tanera Mor island for about an hour on shore. What a strange and wonderful day, the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It reminded us of scenes we had seen of Alaska. The ground was spongy and there was heather everywhere. It was the most remote place that I have ever been. And as usual, Susan went off on a wee hike and was no where to be found as Jordan and I waited at the boat shack. Finally, she and an old English fellow came over the hill and down to the boat. Just as Jordan and I predicted, Susan was the last to board the boat. It was a great day out on the boat. Jordan and I got sun burned or wind burned to a crisp.

After hanging about in town for a while, and having lunch at the bistro on the harbor, we decided that we would go back to the room and rest a while.
We decided about mid afternoon that we would drive out to the Corrieshalloch Gorge to see the dramatic waterfall. It was just a twelve mile drive to the top of the gorge which has been taken over by the Scottish National Trust. It has had a lot off work done on the facilities. We took the short walk down to the swinging suspension bridge in front of the falls. It gave me the willey's. Jordan was making the bridge sway and when I looked down to the raging water falling six hundred feet, I had to rush off the bridge. We walked on to the observation deck which cantilevers out over the gorge with the falls and the gorge under you feet. It was spooky but very beautiful. We were glad we did this small trip to see such an unusual site.

On the way back, we decided to stop by a woodturner's shop on the road back to town. We made the turn we thought was his but as it turned out we drove up into the yard of the local plumber. He came out to greet us and was very nice and understanding. We got turned around and made it to the woodturner's shop and look over his wares. It was a fun little trip.

Back to the room, we checked and sent emails and read the news. It was a great couple of days in Ullapool.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007
We got up this morning to a slightly overcast day. Susan and I had our breakfast and began to pack up the car. Jordan had gotten up while we were at breakfast and felt good. He had been eating Ritz crackers and other snacks that we had brought.

We headed over to Inverness and on to Nairn. We found the B&B and were very surprised to find a beautiful large hotel-looking home called the Invernairne Guest House. The rooms were large and very bright and comfy. We were very pleased with it as the beach on the Moray Firth was just a few steps out back. It was just great.

We decided we would grab a quick bite and head over to Fort George. It was a huge fort on the point of a peninsula in the Moray Firth. Great fun but cold and windy.
We decided we would go on to Cawdor Castle. It was a good idea. The castle was absolutely gorgeous. It was out in the country from Nairn and was set in a beautiful spot with wonderful gardens. We took wonderful pictures. This was probably the most beautiful castle that we have seen. The Lady Dowager was in her office and had a peat fire. It was a great afternoon and for Jordan it was just about to get better. We drove into Nairn and found the pizza shop open. We each got a nine inch pizza and a coke and headed to our rooms. All was right in the world.

After pizza we went down to the bar for Susan some wine. We took a long walk down on the beach. It was the first sand beach that we had actually set foot on in Scotland. It was a bit windy but wonderful. Tomorrow Susan is in charge of the event planning. I think it has something to do with Loch Ness. Who knows?
More later...
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Today, Susan and I went down for breakfast in the Invernairne House dining room. It is a bright and sunny room looking out over the Moray Firth. We enjoyed our meal and talked to three Scottish ladies at the next table. They were three generations of the same family on holiday from their home in Fife, near Edinburgh. They said they were heading to the west to Dromnadrochit and Loch Ness. They were very nice to us and we enjoyed their conversation.

After breakfast we talked to Doug and Kay about where we should go and we all decided that we should also go to Dromnadrochit and Loch Ness. We got Jordan up and headed south and west through Inverness to Loch Ness.

It was not a bad drive and we arrived in Dromnadrochit at the Loch Ness center for a video presentation on the history, science and myths of the Loch Ness Monster. It was informative.

We decided to take a boat ride on Loch Ness later in the afternoon. We drove over to Uruquart Castle and took pictures from the car park. The castle is set on a peninsula in the loch.

We decided to drive out to Glen Affric, the most beautiful glen in Scotland. It was a fun and entertaining ride with a short hike at the end. The road turned into miles of very small single track roads with beautiful forests on the sides of lochs and rivers. At the end of the hard road are the Affric River and a short hike with a small falls and rapids in the middle of huge mountains. The trees are all huge old growth trees. We stopped and talked to an English couple from Sussex on holiday. They said they had visited before and on a previous visit had driven up on the filming of Braveheart, the movie. The English gentleman said that he was looking at deer with binoculars and he saw a "load of savages in kilts" running down the mountain. We all had a laugh and we headed back to Loch Ness for a one hour boat ride. We shopped around while waiting for the shuttle to the boat. I bought a Scottish thistle charm for my chain and Paul Taylor a family crest shot glass.

The boat ride was windy and cool. We were on the boat with a family from Australia. We took pictures of each other's family. It was a fun time. Susan took many pictures of Uruquart Castle and the loch.

We drove back to Inverness and stopped at a shopping mall with a Pizza Hut and Burger King. We decided on the Burger King and had a good ole American meal of burgers and fries, of course, the cokes had no ice. Jordan and I bought some tee shirts at a huge sporting goods store called JJB. We drove back to the room and rested a while.

Later, we took a walk on the beach promenade and Jordan called home to talk to Clair Johnson. He seemed to enjoy it. We went back to the room to watch some TV and of course Big Brother. We have been watching it every night we could.

We plan to drive to Edinburgh tomorrow to turn in the car and taxi into the city to check in the Apartment By Castle for our last three nights in Scotland. This trip has just blown by.
More later...

Thursday, June 7, 2007
We made the drive to Edinburgh without any trouble and in great time. We stopped in Perth so Jordan could get a Burger King burger and a Coke. We missed the turn to Edinburgh airport as we came over the Firth of Fourth Bridge as there was road work and we just missed it. We turned around and came back and made it to the car return with no problem.

I called Moira Bowman from the airport and arranged to meet her at the apartment. We got a taxi and in twenty minutes we were pulling up to the apartment. As we got out, I saw a lady on the sidewalk, and when I made eye contact she asked if we were the Carter family. We talked for a bit and walked up the steps to the apartment. Her husband Eric came up with us and we spent thirty minutes or so, chatting about the apartment and all the amenities and information that they have for their guests.

We settled in and Jordan wanted to watch TV as Susan and I went out to walk on the Royal Mile. It was a fun walk with all the stuff going on the Royal Mile. When we came back and rested for a while we went out to eat at Deacon Brodie's upstairs. It was a good dinner. We walked about some and strolled up to the castle. It was just beautiful. We went back to the apartment and watched Big Brother and went to bed. We all slept very soundly and I got up about eight o'clock the next morning. Everyone else slept in. Moira called us about 9:00 am to ask if we were okay since there had been a huge storm that night. We had not heard a thing.

Friday, June 8, 2007
We finally got out of the apartment and decided to walk about the streets. We walked down to Holyrood Palace and took the tour. It was very interesting and the gardens were gorgeous. We took a taxi out to the Britannia to tour the Royal yacht. We really enjoyed the tour. There is a large mall there in Leith attached to the Britannia called Ocean Terminal. We walked around the mall and had lunch there at the Sky Bar and Restaurant. It was very good. We got on a city bus and rode back to the Royal Mile. We signed up for a tour of Mary King's Close. It was an underground tour of Edinburgh as it existed in the sixteenth century and up. It was spooky and informative at the same time. We enjoyed the tour very much. We went back to the apartment to rest. Susan and Jordan went down to the Grassmarket area and got some Cokes and pizza. It was enjoyed by all. Tomorrow is our last full day in Scotland, I think Jordan is ready to get back home.
More later...

Saturday, June 9, 2007
I got up early Saturday morning and fixed some coffee and toast. We decided we would walk down to Waverly Station to check on train tickets to St Andrews We got Jordan up and headed off. We got tickets on the next train to Leukars the nearest station to St. Andrews where we could get a taxi. We enjoyed the one hour train ride and short taxi ride over to the Old Course. We could not believe we could walk out on the course. They were having the World Amateur Tournament. We walked along eighteen and one. We crossed over the road hole and took pictures everywhere. We had lunch on the corner of Golf Place at a famous pub called Dunvegan Hotel and Pub. What a hoot that was. We were all glad we went.
We went for some ice cream and last shopping on the Royal Mile then to the apartment to rest and packing for our flight home Sunday. We all have had a great time but I think we are ready to get home.
More later...

Sunday, June 10, 2007
We got up Sunday morning and got dressed for our 1:15 pm flight. Moira and Eric came over to see us off. I called a taxi for 10:30 am and he was a bit early. We said our goodbyes and we were off. We found out at the Delta ticket counter our flight was 1 hour late. We hope we make our connection to Tupelo.
More later...

Well, long story short; our flight was late and the baggage claim at Atlanta took forty-five minutes for our bags to come. We ran to our gate to be told that the flight home had just pulled away from the gate and there was nothing they could do. I asked to speak to supervisor and finally got on a flight to Columbus, MS. We were exhausted after running through the airport to catch our flight. We rented a car in Columbus and drove home.

It was a wonderful trip that we all enjoyed. We are already thinking about what to do when we go again.