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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Midlothian » Edinburgh July 13th 2022

I started planning this trip to find Linda and my Scottish ancestors in October 2019, but due to the Covid pandemic the trip had to be postponed from June 2020 to June 2021 to August 2021 to August 2022. Many changes were made to my original planning blog as I found out more about our Scottish ancestors. Consequently, I cancelled that planning blog and am now publishing what I hope is the final version. I've been in search of ancestors for quite some time. In May 1995, before returning to the States after living 18 years in Europe, we visited Norway to find my paternal Carlsen ancestors who came from the island of Notteroy on the Oslo fjord (see ). More recently I've resumed my search. In May 2019, I visited Devon, England to visit the ... read more
Scots in full regalia in Glen Coe
Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness
Firth of Forth Bridge

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Argyll » Kinlochleven July 13th 2022

Wednesday, 13 July 2022, Day 9 West Highland Way. Kingshouse Hotel to Kinlochleven. 10 miles, 4 hours 43 minutes 1341 elevation gain. If you are looking for a wonderful luxury hotel in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by beautiful mountains and close to a ski lift up one of the UKs tallest mountains, this is the place. After our walk yesterday, I had a Stella Artois. The lady at the bar asked me if I knew about the hotel. Answering no, she proceeded to tell me that after the fire it was bought and restored to its current condition by the family that owns and brews this beer in Belgium. They come a couple of times a year she told me. The rooms are very lovely with views of the mountains and they have a relatively ... read more
Another rainy start on the WHW
our wet morning start on this segment of WHW
a look back at Jo and the valley near Kingshouse Hotel

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Fife » Saint Andrews July 12th 2022

From 2015: Locals do not say Saint Andrews, they say "sun-Andrews", with great pride. This is golf's holy land, the sacred fairways of St. Andrews. Golf has been played here since the 1100s, well before Columbus landed somewhere on the Western Hemisphere. And yes, anyone with a handicap below 15 can play here. It is possible to breathe the same air, take divots from the same turf, as Old Tom Morris, Bobby Jones, and Arnold Palmer. But on most Sundays, it is a public park, where you are free to walk, run, and picnic anywhere on the course. This year's Open (2015), as the Brits call the British Open, is the 29th on the Old Course. The biggest difference in the Old Course is the enlargement of the famous Road Hole Bunker on the 17th hole. ... read more
4th hole, first ocean hole, par 4, Pebble Beach

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » The Highlands » Glencoe July 12th 2022

Tuesday 12 July 2022, Day 8 on the West Highland Way (WHW) Bridge of Orchy to Kingshouse Hotel, Glencoe. 12.5 miles by Garmin, 1601 elevation gain by All Trails, 5 hours 30 minutes walking. This is our fastest rate of walking on the Way. The accommodations at the Bridge of Orchy Hotel were new, small, modern rooms that have recently been added outside the main hotel in the photos. In Scotland there is no cooling, only heating of rooms. So on a relatively warm day there is no cooling air circulating in the rooms. Opening the windows runs the risk of midges. Plus we have to remove the inside of the duvet and sleep only under the cover. In spite of this we both had a good night's sleep. We had our breakfast at 0730 and ... read more
lamp and wall paper Bridge of Orchy dining room
table that interested Karen
Beginning of Day 8 on the Bridge

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Argyll » Bridge of Orchy July 11th 2022

Sunday 10 July 2022, our second rest day - no walking on the WHW today. Monday 11 July 2022, Day 7 on the WHW. Tyndrum to Bridge of Orchy, 7.3 miles by Garmin, 489 feet elevation gain, 3 hours 30 minutes walking. Our rest day around Tyndrum saw bright sunshine and motorcyclists and more people enjoying this beautiful area. Tyndrum, although small, fits the description of a mountain resort community. The place is full of 'bikers,' hikers, and folks out just loving the sunshine in Scotland. We have our first introduction to a box breakfast. A paper bag with croissant, yogurt, juice, freeze dried coffee and a box of make your own porridge that once mixed up with boiling water, looks and tastes like wallpaper paste. We all head for the Real Food Cafe, for a ... read more
more motorcycles
Upper Tyndrum Station - an up hill hike!
The Gruffalo Trail

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Perthshire » Tyndrum July 9th 2022

Saturday 9 July 2022, Day 6 on the West Highland Way (WHW) Crainlarish to Tyndrum. 7.14 miles by Garmin, 1253 elevation gain by All Trails, 3 hours 30 minutes walking. Today one device or the other went to sleep on me so all numbers are highly suspect but within the ballpark of the distance in the booklet for this leg. Our group is in two different places that are side by side in Crainlarish. This is more of a town. The night before there was a lot of discussion about taking the taxi to the Ewich House, where the WHW meets the A82 highway about 2.5 miles along the walk. I look at my All Trails navigation app and determine this is more than 1/3 of the distance for the day. I decide that I will ... read more
Looking down on Crianlarish
view looking back
scene from high on the path

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Perthshire » Crianlarich July 8th 2022

Thursday 7 July 2022, no walking rest day around Ardlui. Friday 8 July 2022, Day 5 on the WHW. Ardlui to Crianlarish. 9.75 miles by Garmin, 1132 feet elevation gain, 9 hours of walking. Our day off we lounged around the nice hotel, restaurant and bar at Ardlui Hotel. Things close down after breakfast at 0900 because they are short on help. The young man who serves us breakfast is a landscape architect from the Patagonia area of Argentina. He works remotely for a man in Chicago and works at Ardlui Bar and Restaurant. He was one of those so helpful to Jo the night before. There are many campsites and Park Model homes around this northernmost bay on Loch Lomond that are both for sale and for rent. Many boats and other water sports equipment ... read more
Ardlui Hotel
The marina and pier at Ardlui
Ardlui Ferry Schedule - now they tell us

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Lanarkshire » Glasgow July 7th 2022

Glasgow is a great small city to spend a few days, but there isn’t much more to write other than a few observations: - I walked to Kelvingrove Park and happened upon a free concert of traditional Scottish music: https://youtu.be/ZEqCvJvlnNQ - There are a lot of pubs. The beers and whiskys are nice but the best part is simply having a Scottish bartender. But really any conversation with locals is entertaining, since they’re so friendly and inquisitive. - We’ve estimated that we understand less than 10% of what Scots are saying when talking to one another. This rises to barely over 50% when they slow it down and avoid idioms when speaking directly to us. This made me feel a little better about misunderstanding basic questions in Eastern Spain after learning Latin American Spanish. We may ... read more
Glasgow sunbathers
Glasgow University tower
Glasgow Cathedral

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » The Highlands July 6th 2022

Wednesday 6 July 2022. Day 4 on the West Highland Way (WHW) from Rowardennan to Ardlui via ferry at Ardleish 14 miles by Garmin. 1598 feet Elevation gain. 11 hours walking. Ardlui our destination is in the Arrochar district of Scotland but not on the region selection list for TravelBlog. Nor is Rowardennan which is in the Stirling council. Both are shown on Google Maps in these locales. Rowardennan has the last road from the south and east into this side of the loch. All other places north and east of here on the loch are served only by boat. The main highway route A82 runs up the west side of the loch. This means it is a long way around the southern end of the loch to bring our bags up the west side to ... read more
dressed for Scotland weather
Bill Lobban memorial
Waterfall 1

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Lanarkshire » Balmaha July 5th 2022

Tuesday 5 July 2022. Day 3 on the West Highland Way (WHW) from Balmaha to Rowardennan. 8.7 miles by Garmin. 784 feet Elevation gain. 6 hours 23 minutes walking. This will be called our day of the flowers as we saw so many very minute and beautiful species. With the help of the app - SEEK - we were able to identify many of them. The Oak Tree Inn was a very nice accommodation. We are in a cabin a short walk from the reception but the lovely lady, Rosemary, helped find our bags, tote a bag and walk us to the room and then had to go back to get our key. She let us in a room which had twin beds. We quickly scarfed down the biscuits on the table with the coffee makings ... read more
statue Tom Weir rest
A hedge of flowers
loch lomond looking south from north of Balmaha




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