After the late night before, sleeping in would have been nice but that would leave the city of London without our wondrous presence...or something like that. Instead, when the alarm went off at 6:00am we were all up and showering (actually Cindy's mom told us her dad had been up since 4am talking about the previous day and his ancestors) so we could be down for breakfast when it was first served at 7am. We enjoyed another nice meal seated next to the window facing the back garden, watching the sunlight dapple the trees and grass with its rays. It looked [View Full Entry]

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HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! (They don't observe that here in England) We woke up and were downstairs for breakfast by 7:30am, enjoying a nice meal of cereal, eggs (fried or scrambled), bacon (well, a Londoner's version of bacon which is more like what we consider Canadian bacon in the states) toast and orange juice. We also had a nice view of the back garden with squirrels scampering about, birds flitting about and a cat prowling about but, thankfully, never being successful in its hunting. Cindy's dad has 2 cousins who live in London; Jenny, who is married to Frank has a son [View Full Entry]

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NOTE: A little administrative note here-in the whirlwind that has been happening since leaving Scotland and arriving in London, I mistakenly posted parts of 2 different entries in the last post. I have deleted that entry and am posting the correct the 2 separate posts. Sorry for the confusion :(--Jeff ADDITIONAL NOTE:Between trying to cram a week's worth of sightseeing, visiting with family and genealogical investigations and not having time to get to an Internet cafe or find a usable signal where we were staying, I will end up completing the remainder of the travel [View Full Entry]

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NOTE: A little administrative note here-in the whirlwind that has been happening since leaving Scotland and arrivin gin London, I mistakenly posted parts of 2 different entries in the last post. I have deleted that entry and am posting the correct the 2 separate posts. Sorry for the confusion :(--Jeff I awaken at 4:30am to the sounds of sheep grazing, birds singing and the ocean as its waves break against the rocks in the distance. This is our final full day in Scotland and we'll use most of it preparing to leave. We have laundry to do, suitcases to overpack (see [View Full Entry]

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Thursday morning dawned as another perfect day weather-wise. We have been very fortunate that, other than our first few days, the weather here has been delightful. The excellent weather led us to decide to re-visit Kilmartin and finish viewing the ruins and a castle there that we missed last week due to the freezing rain. Well, I should amend that...three of us will return to Kilmartin and Cindy's dad will explore the mountain tops around the Gallanach Estate when Charlie stops by around noon and takes him up in his 4x4 ATV. Cindy, her mom and I left the cottage around [View Full Entry]

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The weather as we awoke this morning was like a dream come true. The sky was clear and blue and there was a cool light breeze blowing in off the ocean. The air here seems to have the dual ability to invigorate you and to make you relaxed all the time. Cindy appears to be completely over her cold now and is feeling like her usual self. Everyone else was up before me this morning and when I got up I worked on choosing and preparing the photos for the Dunstaffnage Castle entry I would post later in the day to [View Full Entry]

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NOTE: SUCCESS!! I was able to upload all of the Edinburgh Road trip pictures for that post, the one that was missing from The Highlands post as well as these from yesterday's activities. I slept until 9am this morning, but I awoke feeling like a new man. Between the driving and the walking yesterday I was whipped when we got back to the cottage last night. The weather has turned warm (80 degrees) and if it weren't for the cool sea breeze we could wear shorts and sandals...if we had them. Cindy and her parents spent most of the morning wandering [View Full Entry]

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NOTE: This is a long one. ANOTHER NOTE: I've tried for several minutes to upload the photos fro this entry, but Travelblog is apparently having some kind of problems in that area. I'll try again next time to upload them, even if they don't go with that particular post, or edit this one to add them in. Apologies for the inconvenience. I almost beat the sun up by rising at 4:30 this morning, but it's first, faint rays were already reaching across the early morning sky. I listened as the birds chirped and I could just barely make out the sheep [View Full Entry]

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I awoke early this morning and began writing before everyone else got up. It was quiet and from where I write I can look out the window and see the sheep and their lambs grazing and watch the ducks flying down to the inlet beach and back. The rest of the world seems so far away. We've only watched the news on TV twice since we've been here (trying to find weather forecasts more than to see the news) and though I buy a newspaper most every day and check the local headlines back home when I get Internet access, this [View Full Entry]

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If there's one thing everyone knows about Scotland (besides their whisky, golf and thriftiness) it's the Loch Ness Monster or "Nessie" as she (he? it?) is affectionately known. One of Cindy's many reasons for coming to Scotland was to visit the Loch Ness in the hopes of spying Nessie in the water. She also wanted to visit the Glencoe area to walk through the part of the land that saw the betrayal of the MacDonald Clan by the Campbell Clan back in 1692. Both were on our agenda for today, since they are near each other. Loch Ness is located about [View Full Entry]

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