Blogs from Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe
A Tale of Three Rabbies - Part I: Robert The Poet
Published: November 17th 2011Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Ayrshire » Ayr
October 29th 2011
After the debacle with the hire car in the Lake District, we had to engage Contingency Plan #437, not to be misunderstood for #473, which would have been impossible to implement anyway as we had a limited supply of coffee and were in no proximity to olive trees or for that matter a mongoose. This meant missing out on seeing Hadrian’s Wall near Carlisle, as well as foregoing the tour of the Smugglers’ Coast in south-west Scotland. We still made it to Dumfries, albeit a brief visit, limited to an overnight stay in the last two available rooms in a Travelodge, a quick break-of-dawn driving tour of the city, and a raid of the local Tesco Extra for supplies. We were willing to miss all this as a priority was to spend some time in Ayr. ... read more
Scotland has more distilleries per square meter than any other place
Published: January 12th 2010Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Ayrshire » Ayr
December 19th 2009
Saturday 19.12.2009 Day 66 Scotland has more distilleries per square meter than any other place It is our last day in Scotland for now and we are very sad to leave we have loved the place and the people and have had lots of fun. Wales says that they have the most castles per square meter than any other place in the world. Well I think that Scotland has more distilleries per square meter than any other place there is at least one or two in ever little town or village. We drove to the lakes today and checked into our new place where we will spend the next week. ... read more
December 17th 2009
Thursday 17.12.2009 Day 64 Pool We were good and did all our washing and while washing we played pool and it was 2 all so we decided not to play another game and keep it as a draw but we both insist that we would have one the last game! The area we are in is where Robbie Burns lived so there are lots of things about him around here. It is 200 years since his birth this year so they did home coming to Scotland to commerce his birth. Robbie Burns is Scotland’s most famous poet and one of the most translated poets mostly due to his most famous work Auld Lang syne. ... read more
December 16th 2009
Wednesday 16.12.2009 Day 63 Brunston castle We woke up to more snow again today and fed our Robin again then we decided to go for a walk around where we are staying. We tried to go for a walk to Brunstane Brunston Castle which is now very dilapidated. It was built on a courtyard plan in the 16th century. It comprises an oblong enclosure, with a dwelling-house on the SE side and a projecting square tower at the N angle. Both were originally of two storeys and a garret. The date 1568 is cut above the lintel over the entrance to the house. The castle was still surrounded by a deep ditch at the beginning of the 19th century. The castle was burnt to the ground by the English under Lord Grey (in 1547), and ... read more
Galloway forest and St Clair
Published: January 12th 2010Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Ayrshire » Ayr
December 15th 2009
Tuesday 15.12.2009 Day 62 Galloway forest and St Clair We work up and there was all snow on our car and the ground again it had snowed more last night. Our robin We went for around again so we feed him again and he sung us a little song. We drive to Galloway forest and had a look around it was very beautiful .and then on to the Coastal town of St Clair that is the furthest most south point in Scotland it was a very quaint fishing village. We had lunch there and then went back home. ... read more
December 14th 2009
Monday 14.12.2009 Day 61 Electric Brae We woke up more snow on the ground again we decided to still go out it was good that the griters where out doing the road making it safe to drive on even though there was lots of snow all over the ground. We drove to The Electric Brae is located on the coastal road from Girvan to Ayr, just 1m south of Dunure. Also sometimes known as Croy Brae, it is a well known scenic stretch of road where the configuration of the land gives the impression that a vehicle can freewheel uphill. How does it work? Well the land on either side of the road creates an optical illusion so it looks as if the slope is going the other way. There is a past belief that ... read more
December 13th 2009
Sunday 13.12.2009 Day 60 Chestnuts We woke up and there was snow all over the ground it had snowed last night. We found a little Robin close to our car that we feed. We did some maintains work on our car. We went to the welcome talk and then went and got lots of chestnuts to roast yumm. We had been looking for chestnuts after having then in Malian but had not found any. We saw some last night while doing our shopping but did not think we had a oven to cook them in so did not get any but when we found we had a oven in our cabin we went to 4 shops looking for chestnuts in the ice and cold and no one had them. We asked where we could get them ... read more
December 11th 2009
Friday 11.12.2009 Day 58 Ayr We had the most fantastic bfast we have had all trip in the drawing room at stonefield castle. The views where over Loch Fyne were fantastic. We then went back to our room for a rest and then went for a walk around the castle grounds. We then drove to Helensburgh and had lunch on the water. We planned to then go to the Glasgow botanical gardens but the fog and the traffic into Glasgow was making it very slow so we decided to go to Ayr instead. We went for a drive along the beach it is the nicest beach I have seen in the UK so far. We found a nice hotel called the Chesnutt hotel it was a good price £60 ($108 aus) bed and bfast. They had ... read more
December 11th 2009
Saturday 11.12.2009 Day 59 Brunston castle We checked into our new resort today. We have a fantastic 3 bedroom place with a great kitchen. The place is called Brunston castle and has it’s own golf course and lots of things to do. We are looking forward to exploring this area. ... read more
Turnberry and the British Open
Published: July 22nd 2009Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Ayrshire » Ayr
July 18th 2009
This year we attended the first round of the British Open at Turnberry, on the Ayrshire coast, southwest of Glasgow. (The officials do not let spectators bring phones or cameras onto the course, so we had to reenact the key moments on the pitch and putt course near our Edinburgh flat.) It was a lot of fun. Thursday was a lovely, sunny day, and the course was beautiful. We camped at the par 3 #6 and saw a bunch of big names come through, including Tiger Woods, Camilo Villegas, Justin Leonard, Vijay Singh, Darren Clarke. Then we went to the par 4 #16, which was a brutally difficult hole on Thursday. The green is bordered by a creek on 2 sides, and the pin placement led about 25% of the 30 players we saw to hit ... read more
