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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Lanarkshire » Glasgow April 10th 2023

Scotland’s biggest city disarmingly blends sophistication and earthiness, evolving over the last couple of decades to become one of the UK’s most intriguing metropolises. Glaswegians definitely work to live, and the city comes into its own after 5pm - that’s not to say that locals don’t pop down for a cheeky lunchtime pint too! The city’s pubs are gloriously friendly places and you’re sure to have some entertaining blethers(chats) with the locals when you dive into one. Glasgow’s live music scene is also legendary - big bands play at iconic venues, with several lower-key pubs having regular gigs that are also excellent. Clubbing is very popular, with a couple of famous dance floors and the LGBTQ-focused Pink Triangle is a notably welcoming scene. Glasgow is where Scotland shops. The city packs out on weekends when highlanders, ... read more
Looking down Buchanan Street in Glasgow
Love a Man in a Kilt.
The Clyde Arc Glasgow

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Midlothian » Edinburgh April 2nd 2023

This morning we walked toward The Edinburgh Castle for a special place Chrissy picked out for breakfast. It was called The Deacon's House Cafe and was known for its traditional Scottish porridge and haggis breakfast sausage. It wasn't supposed to open until 10:00 so we took our time taking pictures and checking out shops that were open (most don't open until 10). When we arrived they had opened early but there was still one table open. We ordered the porridge (which is like oats) and the breakfast platter, which had scrambled eggs, blistered tomatoes. haggis sausage, bacon, beans, and wheat toast. We shared the items we ordered because we wanted to try their scones and shortbread too. The haggis sausage was amazing. The porridge wasn't far behind. The porridge was topped with red fruit which added ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Midlothian » Edinburgh April 1st 2023

Last night Chrissy and I flew from JFK to Edinburgh. I like the night time flights so you can sleep on the plane and be somewhat on the time of your arrival Country. Sadly we didn’t sleep very much…Chrissy much less than me. When we arrived we went through border control faster than any country I’ve visited. Our plane arrived 20 minutes early. We did disembarked the plane, border control, picked up our luggage, and we’re ready for our hotel taxi by 10:30. Our planed arrival time was 10:005 so I didn’t engage the taxi until noon. We couldn’t reach the taxi nor Booking, so we had to wait Our taxi driver was awesome. He was born in London and moved to Edinburgh when he was five. He shared a wealth of knowledge about the city ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Caithness County March 21st 2023

What a sad day, our last day of exploring in Scotland, for tomorrow we drive to edinburgh and fly to London. Caithness was bright and shiny. We drove through and around more town lands of my ancestors. Just Kirkstyle and Canisbay. A number of our Davidsons, Dunnets and Cormack lived in Kirkstyle over the years, and so many of our cousins are buried in Canisbay The Canisbay Kirk is the most northerly church on mainland Britain, and it looks out to the Orkney Islands. From 1959 until her death, the Queen Mother worshipped here, as her local parish church for her holiday home, Castle Mey. Now it belongs to King Charles (and is currently closed). Jan de Groot, the man who found John o’Groats is buried here, as are many, many of our distant cousins. We ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Caithness County March 20th 2023

We had another amazing breakfast by Sheila today (included in our tariff) - the food is delicious, but she has such a sense of style in the plating up. Her sons wedding happening in 3 weeks time has an amazing story. It was supposed to happen 3 years ago, but then they went into lockdown and it was postponed indefinitely. During the covid lockdowns they decided to continue with their plans for a family (hence the highchair at our table last night), but first off, Sheila tells us, during the lockdown her husband said “Sheila, I need you for an hour or so today”. She asked if she needed to get changed and he said no, we’ve got to go now and they drove off. She thought it was to see her son’s plot of land ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Caithness County March 19th 2023

Today was unexpectedly and very happily turned topsy turvy. We were about to head out this morning when Shannon instigated a full family face time, which was just lovely, especially as it is Mothers Day over here. So we all chatted for over an hour, catching up on everyone’s goings on. Then Sheila came in and offered us a chance to have a real meal with lots of vegies. We’d had a conversation about the lack of veggies in pub meals and all the local dining places are booked out for Mothers Day. Sheila’s son had a booking for today at a buffet, but his fiancée had her hens night last night and is not feeling up to dining out today, so they offered us their booking. So lucky!! So we abandoned our plans. Tom wanted ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Caithness County March 18th 2023

Sorry I didn’t write this up yesterday - I was not in the right headspace. This morning we left Sandend - so sorry to leave, we’ve had the loveliest time. We set off with lovely plans for stopping enroute to Dunnet, but these did not eventuate. We had planned to stop off at a distillery as we were passing right by, but unfortunately they were unexpectedly closed. So we continued on to Glen Morangie, but they were open only for sales in the shop. We had planned to have lunch at the Morangie House Hotel, but contrary to their website, they were not open at all, until Sunday (Mothers Day). It was about this point that the Optus coverage ceased. It seems they cover the UK, just not the highlands of Scotland. So we drove on ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Caithness County March 18th 2023

This accommodation includes brekkie delivered to our suite - and what a brekkie it was! We both chose porridge as a starter, then Tom had pancakes with bacon and maple syrup - I had smashed avocado on sourdough with smoked salmon - it was delightful. And we met Sylvia, a local who met and married John. She is just lovely and was so delighted that we’re on a family history jaunt. Our first engagement today was a gin distillery tour and tasting at the gin distillery 500 metres up the road at 11am. It was great. This distillery was started by a chemical engineer who wanted a change from working at the nuclear research station. They gave a gin and tonic to start, in the most elegant glass, and it was soooo smooth and lovely. Then ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Banffshire March 16th 2023

Very sad, our last day exploring in Banffshire. We are pleased though that we did our outdoor things yesterday, our only 100% fine day We drove firstly through Glasshaugh where my 4 greats grandmother was born back in the 1700s, and then continued on to Fordyce. I was really hoping to see a wild deer over the stone wall, as Tom did the other day, but no such luck. We do still see pheasants by the sides of the roads and in paddocks. They have an “old Kirk” at Fordyce that has been turned into a bistro and I thought “great, we’ll dine in my ancestors old church” but then I read that it had been consecrated in 1804 and that’s too recent for my family! The old, old Kirk is my family’s Kirk - St ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Banffshire » Portsoy March 15th 2023

Well! What a difference a day makes - after our snowy day yesterday, today was quiet, calm and sunny! ‘Twas lovely. We decided to spend the morning doing the one activity that needed to be rain free, and spent the morning walking and driving the streets of Portsoy - the village where my dad’s grandad Davidson (who died in Sydney in 1954) was born, and where the various branches of our family lived 1792-1919. We found two of the streets they lived in and walked up and down them, as well as the main shopping street. We also found one of the houses, if they haven’t been been renumbered since 1895. Grandad Davidson became a baker here in Portsoy (his father was a Cooper in the fish curing business), before moving to Northumberland. We came across ... read more
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