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Published: October 4th 2010
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Woohoo!
the world rushes by the train We're off to Scotland, catching a train from Kings Cross to Inverness, covering a very large portion of Britain in one day. As we pass through the countryside England seems very flat and when we reach Scotland there are a lot more hills, and the transition from the lowlands to the highlands is pretty stark with the trees replaced by the purple heather in flower.
The journey gives Tessa and me a taste for the country with glimpses of castles, stately homes and cathedrals as well as beautiful countryside and rivers and quaint towns with picturesque bridges. Keith gets to reminisce as we're on his old train route to the Highlands. We spot a couple of wild deer undisturbed by the passing train. We're now into another culture, and station names have Gaelic versions underneath. At the end of our day on the train it's wonderful to be met at Inverness by Keith's Mum, Marnie, who he hasn't seen for 5 years.
For the next couple of months we'll be based at Marnie and Pat's in Muir of Ord, a wee town at the head of the Beauly Firth, only about 20 minutes drive from the city of Inverness.
The setting
Muir of Ord on left, Inverness in distance This is rolling lush countryside with harvest hay bales scattered across fields and whisky coloured peat-tinted water in the burns (rivers). Once you get off a major road, it quickly narrows to a single lane, with regular 'passing places' signposted - just enough space for a car to stop and let another pass. We have to come to grips with a new accent, the Scottish brogue. Initially it seems people are speaking a foreign language, but we start to get our heads around it, even practising our pronunciation of 'loch', a Scottish lake. Quite important not to say 'lock', as its more like a throat clearing sound! Tessa and I get our first taste of freshly caught haggis, which is toasted appropriately and addressed with Robbie Burns' words, stabbed by Keith and served with "tatties and neeps" (potatoes and turnips).
We get to spend some valuable time with Keith's Mum, visit other relatives and reminisce. And we've got great neighbours in the form of Nicole and Becky and their Mum and Dad. The girls keep us entertained playing on the trampoline, riding bikes, going for walks and making us creative, surprisingly tasty sandwiches.
We're really close to all
Keith and his Mum
His grandparents old house at Moy sorts of interesting places and we make regular day trips in all directions. Its iron age forts one day, photographing fungi by the loch another. We've arrived in salmon fishing season and the rivers are alive with fish making their way up river to spawn and equally keen fly fisherman attempting to catch them.
We visit the Clootie Well, a natural spring for many years believed to have healing powers. People take an item of clothing belonging to a sick person to the water, wish for healing and walk away. The area around the spring is festooned with articles of clothing and bits of cloth, many rotting away. Its an eerie place to visit, especially at dusk.
We go on coastal walks, see smuggler's caves, eat fish and chips while watching for dolphins and visit art galleries, churches and ruins. Its light 'til after 9:30 at night, so there's plenty of time to explore.
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