Blogs from Renfrewshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

We awoke as we were making our way through the Firth of Clyde to our port in Greenock. We had a leisurely brekkie and prepared to go ashore. There was a marquee set up on the dock of the cruise terminal, for both customs and security, and also for tourist and clan information. We were looking at a clan map on a board when a little man came over to assist us. Well, didn’t he have his work cut out for him? Of course he had a wealth of information on James Watt, and his grandparents who had been the ones to leave the Watt clan land and come down to Greenock. He also had a wealth of information on Tom‘s Cummings, Murrays and Bapties and my new Davidson and Rhind families. The Davidson tartan is ... read more

Home for my neice's wedding and to visit friends and family.... it's been a while.... read more

We started our second day at Skye retracing some of the previous days sites we had passed and then on to another loop road, visiting the Fairy Glen, a series of enchanting and strange grass covered rock formations and ruins giving it the appearance of well...a fairy glen or Hobbiton. We visited some old MacDonald castle ruins along the ocean, which is haunted by a noble who was tortured to death by being deprived water and fed only salted beef, and a nanny who was executed after she dropped a baby off one of the high walls. The only company we had was of a herd of sheep here, unfortunately no ghosts. We went to Neist Point lighthouse, quite literally the most beautiful setting for a lighthouse I have ever seen and straight from a postcard. ... read more

i can't believe gourock is on the map!! flying visit home for 12 days, reliving the days of the "SHOTS" and catching up... good times!... read more

Ik zal beginnen bij eind maart. Toen ben ik met Riikka, Milla (Finland) en Marie (Denmark) naar Stirling geweest. Smorgens eerst naar school en daarna de CityLink bus naar Stirling gepakt. Stirling is vooral bekend door het kasteel en het Wallace Monument, en natuurluk de geschiedenis van William Wallace (aka Braveheart). We hadden niet heel veel tijd, dus we hebben eigenluk alleen het kasteel bezocht. Dat viel jammer genoeg een beetje tegen. We kregen een rondleiding, maar het enige wat je eigenluk van binnen kon bezichtigen was “the great hall”, met schilderijen. Je kon niet bekijken hoe ze vroeger leefden, zoals je dat in andere kastelen wel kan. Ondanks dat hadden we wel een mooi uitzicht over Stirling. Na het bezoeken van het kasteel hebben we nog wat rondgelopen en zijn we in een pub ergens ... read more