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Published: December 15th 2008
greetings from the scottish land!
we are less than a fortnight from christmas and our trip back over the pond is quickly approaching. I've gotta tell you, travelling is exhausting! Chris and I grabbed a hotel down the street from my sistah's rez, and so we have become quite content spending the evenings in our room, order a movie, read, cards...quite luxurious actually. yesterday we went to the 'Edinburgh Dungeon', which almost scared me to the scottish loo!
last Tuesday chris rented a car and I attempted to be backwards and drive it. the three of us were on our way to Lochgelly (where chris' grandma Malloy was born) and then to Fort Agustus near Loc Ness. When we arrived in Lochgelly we drove around looking for a museum or town know-it-all. since there was no museum to be found, and chris and beth were insisting that I was driving too close to the parked cars... so beth and I decided the community centre was our best bet. so in I march, and I ask the nice scottish ladies baking for some town function if they can help us out, and the good ol' scots they are they asked all the ladies there if they knew anything about the Malloys. unfortunantely, there are no Malloys in Lochgelly, but we did have a very authentic rural scottish encounter. the elder of the ladies had such a thick accent that all of us thought she was speaking her native gaelic tongue...oh but wrong we were. beth was quite stressed when gaelic sounding scottish ol' lass was talking away asking her many of questions. it was so wonderful, quite bonnie actually! nothin' like a nice visit with rural scot ladies and us responding with the trusty nod and smile-the international sign of friendship and good tidings. so on we drove, I told beth and chris to yell "left" everytime I turned a corner, for this was the tricksiest part of opposite driving. actually I was quite impressed how much I didn't freak out driving as a UK lefty! anyways, we headed for the highlands. ohh what joy lay ahead, for nothing compares to the highlands. beautiful mountains, wandering sheep, and harry coo (that'd be the highland cow). as we drove further and further north to the lands of high I couldn't help thinking "has anyone told these people they drive on the wrong side of the road?!" people in those lands drive fast, 90kmh where in canadiana it would be 70 on similar roads. never before have I been such an old granny driver. much into darkness we arrived in Fort Agustus on Loch Ness at our in the boons hostel. chris was beat so he hit the highland sack, and sistah and I proceeded to the hostel bar. we drank some irish cider (aka beer that doesn't taste like beer) and since our day long travels prevented adequate food intake the cider worked very efficiently through our lass bods. the more cider I drank the more I thought a wee visit with the scot and irish bar men was a grande idea. I kept asking my sistah "is it time to visit with our friends yet?" and the good younger sister that she is always responded with "no sisser". but little did she know that once the pub closed we would be invited by our mates for a drink. so we had a good ol' visit with the funny irish man, and the ladies man scot. I did decide later that my sistah should kiss the irish man, however I seemed to be more on board for that than her. anyways, after our cider we raided the 'free food' cupboard and crawled into bed, for the morn brought a new adventure!
we attempted a nessie tour, but it was a no go with the off-season. so my sistah told me the tales of nessie from when she did the tour back in september. she told me of the boat tour man, and the tales that he sees nessie often, and has funding from american universities to do with nessie. after this tale sistah and I decided that he has the boat tour so that he can protect nessie, he tells nessie not to go where the boat will be. beth's tour guide's best mate has seen nessie. apparently it isn't an old myth of sightings. sistah and I told nessy that we don't eat her animal friends so she could trust us, I even sang a nessie song to bring her to us. 😞 but no nessie.
so on we had to go to a beautiful mythical place, Tobermory. My Canadian family has a cottage in Tobermory on Georgian Bay...so Tobermory Scotland on the isle of Mull was a very exciting destination! it took us 2 short ferries and many, many dark and weavy roads. the roads on these isles were horrendous! pitch black, no civilization, driving at water's edge while on cliffs, town signs painted on scrap wood, and a one lane road for nearly 2 hours. the one lane road where there were big shoulders periodically to pull over for oncoming traffic, which again were going 80kmh. meanwhile there were sheep on road's edge, hanging off rock cuts eating there grass, deer that chris said were "10 pointers". now I am a seasoned northern driver and even this was making me nervous. chris bursted out laughing everytime he saw the munching sheep along the road. the scottish image of cars stopped because of wandering sheep is alive and true! unfortunatley we arrived in Tobermory in darkness, and had to leave at 7am the next morn to make our ferry back to edinburgh. however, it was beautiful and perfect! it actually had a similar feeling to our tobermory. small harbour community, little shops, boat tours... beth and I got a picture infront of the tobermory whiskey distillery for our papa hop and dad. our dad does like the scottish tobermory whiskey, which of course they have back at our cottage.
we ferry it back, stop in callander, scotland to visit Hamish the famous harry coo. he's the fella on all the postcards and scottish tourist stuff. I fed him and he majorly tongued my hand with his very gooey and dirty mouth, but it was pure happiness in it's harry coo way. he was adorable and huge.
anyways we arrived back in edinburgh safe and exhausted, and i still thought and yelled quite often on our driving travels "has anyone told these people they drive on the wrong side of the road?!?!?!?" I now fear my driving ways once canadian again.
chris and I went on a couple bus tours today. our tour guide was a lovely ol' scots man, Bruce. He had a gorgeous accent and knew of our visit destination to Tobermory. Chris made fun of me, because I was apparently waaay to into his tour words and would respond to everything he said. siiigh he was a great scotsman. tomorrow the three of us are off to Newcastle for the day. a childhood friend of mine lives there, so I am tres excited!
friday we fly home out of glasgow. we're tastin' our homeland, for backpacking is exhausting, and being dirty gets smelly.
love chris and bonnie meg in edinburgh
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MOM--Sue
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Bonnie, bonnie babes
When I called your Holiday Inn Express last night and heard the Scottish brogue, I could feel my own come alive. I think it must be passed down thru the genes because my mother, Winifred Malloy, came to Canada when she was just a wee bonnie lass. But after years of listening to the elders of the family, it is really neat to hear something that resonates in your heart. It is like you are home again. So, I told you I should have been there to translate. I "get" it. I miss you both and look forward to seeing you later this week. And sharing more stories and pictures.