Blogs from Perthshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 6

Saturday 9th we travelled by train via London to Edinburgh (about 6 hours) then by car from Edinburgh to Kinloch Rannoch for a one week stay. The train was a great way to see the countryside – a lot better than flying. It was all so green with villages dotted here and there. It was largely flat with lots of wheat, oats, rape seed crops etc and the occasional river/creek and canal. As we got closer to Edinburgh, the landscape became more undulating and we saw larger cities such as Duram and Newcastle, and the coastline. We had our first Edinburgh experience at about 2 pm – a brief glimpse on the way to the airport to collect our car. The two hour (90 mile!) drive to Rannoch was a combination of highway and narrow country ... read more

Greetings from the Scottish Highlands Thursday 8 September We picked up a little hire car, cute VW Polo and ventured up to the Highlands, with our first stop at Glencoe. Well the drive up was spectacular with lots of mountains, waterfalls and moors surrounding us. It is rather unique as you have access to beaches and sea lochs as well as freshwater lakes or lochs. Where we are staying is where they filmed the Harry Potter films, specifically for the shots of the Hogwarts School of Magic against the Glennfinnan Viaduct. We stayed at a lovely B&B, Scorrybreac Guest House. This weekend we can see the Ben Nevis or Highland Warrior Triathlon which is regarded as UK’s toughest triathlon with a 1.9km sea loch swim (very chilly I’d imagine on the plums!@$#!), then a 90km ... read more

Stepping outside early this morning to get some milk for our in-room breakfast the weather didn’t look too good but amazing what a difference an hour makes. Today we are heading north of the English border into Scotland. We ventured into the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed and found a great little spot beside the river to take a photo of the Royal Bridge, a fabulous railway bridge with 28 arches. While we were deciding on the best vantage point a local came along and we had a great chat about the city, the timetable of the next train, and a bit of history. One piece of history, which accounts for the accents in the area, is the border changed places thirteen times. The trains were on time and we headed north. We left the A1 and meandered ... read more

Well Well Well......... How on earth did that happen? One week to go?? The time has passed so quickly that it is quite frankly scary. The last couple of weeks, as you can imagine, have been a whirlwind of black bags and boxes, paperwork and dilemas. What to keep? What to bin? Anyway, I think I'm making headway now. Its also been full of laughs and tears. I played my last pipeband competition with Dysart and Dundonald at Cowal Games on Saturday. What a fantastic group of people who will never quite appreciate what they have been to and done for me over the last 8 months. On a practical note, I have now got good travel insurance, euro card is sorted, ferry is booked as is my camping for my 'Scottish Weekend' in Alden Biesen. ... read more

Today the weather was very much like Ireland. We sampled all the Scottish seasons in one day. From rain to scattered showers to a stiff breeze or warm sunshine, we had it all. We arrived at the Firth of Forth in the early morning and passed under the Forth Rail Bridge. Built in the eighteenth century it was a master of construction for it’s time and is still in use today. My tour was to take me to a modern master of engineering, the Falkirk Wheel. This marvel was construction to celebrate the Millennium with a goal of restoring and connecting old waterways in the UK. This structure connects the Union Canal with the Forth River Canal using a water wheel instead of a series of locks. At this spot in Falkirk, there used to ... read more