Blogs from Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 9

This weather is just crazy. We were laying in bed planning our day after having our brekkie (lovely habit we’re in) exclaiming over the giant yellow thing in the sky shining radiance upon everything in the land … and then it was snowing. Then it was sunny …. Then it was snowing. We thought we’d venture out nice and early on Wednesday’s itinerary and drove as far as the turnoff to Keith, but the Yaris wasn’t so keen. It wanted to slide around on the snow, so we turned around to return and promptly passed the snow plough on his way to plough the road to Keith and throw salt on it. But return to our cottage we did, where we just relaxed until it was almost lunchtime, then set out again. We drove down the ... read more

We woke really early this morning which was handy because today we left Rothbury and headed north, back into Scotland. We stopped off at a Morrison’s supermarket, our favourite, at Dalkeith, on the Edinburgh bypass, for some groceries and then continued, taking the long scenic way because we didn’t need to be at our accommodation till later in the afternoon. At Morrisons we bought a meal deal each where we got a choice of sandwich (which was really soft and fresh, and the roast beef was sooooo tender), a snack (I chose the millionaires shortbread, which is shortbread, caramel and chocolate) and a drink (we both chose Starbucks chilled coffee). We also stocked up on porridge, frozen curries, chips and cheese and crackers. The Sharwoods frozen curries are sooo good. They are for 1 but we ... read more

INTRODUCTION: Scotland has a multi-layered history based in a turbulent past. There are hundreds of castles, fine whiskey, kilts, bagpipes and it is the birthplace of golf. The official animal is the unicorn. The unicorn has a reputation for nobility & purity and most importantly, it is the mortal enemy of the lion, the figurehead of England. Scotland has always had a troubled history with the English government that continues today. It is said that if standing at a bus stop, say hello to an Englishman and they will respond. Say hello to a Scotsman and prepare for a 2-hour conversation. The people are generally down-to-earth and hospitable. In Ireland they speak Gaelic pronounced gay-lick, in Scotland they speak Gaelic pronounced gah-lick. The population of Scotland is approximately 5 1/2 million with only about 60,000 speaking ... read more

This is a continuation of my previous post . Several months ago Adele, my travel buddy, and I hatched a plan to recreate last year's road trip around Iceland, but this time around the highlands of Scotland. Coming from Tucson, Adele is attracted to cool climates. In two months, she'll be spending the night on an Antarctic ice shelf (without me, thankfully). But there was another reason. After the war, Adele's father spent time in Inverness. He was so enchanted by it that he named his farm back home Inverness. It became a long-standing ambition for Adele to visit the place that inspired her father. (We did end up spending a few nights in Inverness. It had its charms, but in 2022 it's just another mid-size city filled with cars and kebob stands.) The day after ... read more

Our night in the castle was lovely. Although Don swears he heard a ghost in our room in the middle of the night. I slept through it all so I can’t confirm or deny but they do say the castle is haunted. After a hearty breakfast, we set off the the Culloden battlefield and Visitors Center. This was a fascinating stop. We had no idea of this pact of this battle on the UK or the world. It decided the UK civil war which had huge impact on the US revolutionary war and the way the Uk moved forward. From there, we did a totally touristy thing - a cruise on Loch Ness. No we didn’t see anything unusual in the water - but we did get a dog toy for Sadie. It also covered history ... read more