Goodbye Scotland

We awoke, and had more haggis with our breakfast. We took one last walk down the beach, some final pictures on an absolutely gorgeous day - sunshine, clear skys... from there, it was to the airport. It is amazing how comfortable one can become driving the roundabouts and on the "wrong side" - it makes us wonder if we will even remember how to drive in the US after 2 weeks of adventure. We get to the airport, check our luggage, do some final shopping (including one last bottle of single malt) and prepare to come home. We have mixed emotions - ready to go home, but feeling a very compelling attachment to Scotland and what it has to offer. There is something here in this land that is hard to describe in a blog or any other writing. The place is truly mystic... so many times we ventured through the green glens, the stunning blue watery lochs, over hills, crossing waterfalls, the breeze hitting our face with a freshness that exudes life itself, the next view utterly aweinspiring - and you would literally have to stop for a moment, and catch your own breath to take it in. Just like your single malt whiskey, you literally breathe Scotland in - it is not so much a country... it is a special place.... a magical place... a place where dreams and legends come true and your imagination can run wild... we are truly thankful for the opportunity to experience such magic. thanks for listening....

Ayr / Isle of Arran

We both had haggis for breakfast and began to wish that we had ordered every day. We had mixed emotions - it was our last full day on our Scotland adventure. We had much to look forward to and yet it was so close to ending. We drove to Ardrossan to catch the ferry to the Isle of Arran. Bob was surprised at how big the ship was. After about a 45 minute ride, we arrived (during the boat trip, Ang kicked Bob's butt in rummy - which Bob had taught Ang the night before - even some adjacent passengers were laughing at Ang's rummy onslaught).

Upon landing, we walked through the town of Brodick and headed to the famous Goatfell mountain hike. To get there, you had to walk literally through a golf course, and we got to a cheese shop where we could sample many different yummy cheeses as well as watch them make the cheese. The actual hike was great, we got above the tree-line and could literally see the entire southside of the island below us. After the hike down, we stopped at Creelers Seafood restaurant where Ang had a yummy smoked haddock risotto and Bob had mussels, leak, and potato stew. We got back down to Brodick - Ang shopped and Bob enjoyed the view off the island and grabbed a beer. We met up for a last drink and then took the ship back to the mainland and Ang took unbelievable pictures of seagulls flying with the boat. We got back to Ayr and our B&B and we packed for the final time. We had one last dinner at the West Kirk before having to leave this beautiful country the next morning.

Ayr / Loudon

We have something very special to say about our trip to Scotland. As we planned this trip early in 2005, we played a round of golf in our Arizona 5G's league with a special person - Norm Duncan. Norm is from Scotland and retired from Motorola - he lives in the US in the winter to enjoy Phoenix weather and lives in Scotland in the summer to enjoy his homeland and the cooler temps. While we played at Maryvale in February, 2005, Norm graciously invited Ang and I to play his home course in Loudon (about 15 miles from Ayr)- based on our intinerary, we picked Friday, July 22 as the date - and Norm arranged for a golf outing for himself, his girlfriend Jessie, Ang, and myself. We were honored to be hosted by such a fantastic couple. We played 18 holes at their Loudon Gowf (yes, spelled G-O-W-F) Club with Norm and Jess. It was a great day that was highlighted by the fact that Norm tied his record round at his home course with a 75. We want to take this moment for profusely and graciously thanking Norm and Jess for the wonderful hospitality, friendship, and comraderie.

While we ate in the clubhouse after the round, Norm and Jess recommended that we take a drive to Troon Country Club (also of British Open fame) also very close to Ayr and our way home. We took their suggestion and parked right next to the famous course and took several fantastic pictures on the course (you can actually walk across it during the day) - and a couple of great shots on the beach adjacent to the course (including Bob's favorite "art-sie" pix of the trip).

As we walked the beach back to the care, we ran across up to 50 jellyfish that had "beached" themselves. They looked gross, but they were dead (even though we couldn't hardly bear to touch them). We came back to Ayr after the glorious evening for another dinner at the West Kirk and a sunset.

On the road to: Ayr

Drove down to Glen Coe, a beautiful, misty valley where a famous battle between two clans took place, and did two hikes. The first, went out on one of the "Sister" mountains. The second was a portion of the "Study" hike.

From there, we drove to romantically (and musically) famous Loch Lomand. We stopped at Loch Lomond National Park for a picnic lunch (that we had made for us when we were still in Fort William). We then stopped farther south on the lake and took some great pictures in the glorious sunshine and had a drink at Duck Bay.

We kept heading south down the west coast past Glasgow and knew we had to find a place to stay for the evening (we had no reservation). After a failure to find anything in Irvine, we had great success farther south in the town of Ayr. We found a B&B VERY close to the beautiful sandy beach and Atlantic Ocean (literally only 2 minute walk from our B&B) - and also close to the town centre where all the restaurants and shopping exist. It was the LAST room available in the entire town - we are fortunate - and they have the room available for all 3 days we want to stay to conclude our trip. We ate dinner at the "West Kirk", a church that was converted into a pub! It is a very fun place that would become our hang out while we were in Ayr. After a couple of drinks, we head to our B&B where we will sleep and plan to play our 2nd round of golf tomorrow (more details to come).

On the road to: Fort William

We woke up to a surprise - it turned out that there was a water problem, and we had no H2O for shower or bathroom - so we decided we smelled pretty fresh without a shower and headed on our way... We went to the very southwest part of the Isle to Armadale Castle - we toured the grounds and took some great pictures. As we headed back up to the road to leave the beautiful island, we stopped at Isle of Skye whiskey distillery for a free sample and inspiration.

We then headed back to the Scotland mainland - we didn't have a reservation for the night - so we decided that Fort William looked like a good place to find a B&B and call home base for 24 hours. We found a B&B quite easily and then stopped for lunch at Ben Nevis restaurant which had a fantastic view right on Lock Linnhe. Ang ate haggis for our first taste of the trip (which would become a staple later on). We hiked gorgeous Glen Nevis trail to the upper waterfalls with absolutely spectactular scenery. You even had to cross a "wire" bridge at one point of the hike - fun! We ate dinner at highly recommended restaurant called No. 4 - we at lots of seafood - I think Bob ate 100 mussels.

On the road to: Isle of Skye

We ate another b-fest of sausage, bacon, eggs, beans, tomato, toast, cereal, coffee (you get the idea, lots of food) and then headed down to Urquhart Castle leaving Lochness - great picture of the castle overlooking the Loch.

We then headed west towards the Isle of Skye and it was a beautiful valley - of mist, clouds, and a feel of surrealism.

Close to the Isle, we came to the famous castle, Eilean Donan - a quick stop there for pix and we were crossing the bridge to the Isle of Skye.

We checked into our B&B (Ashfield) and headed thru Broadford up the northeast coast of the island - for what was some of the most stunning landscape of the trip. Waterfalls, cliffs, rivers, the coastline and the landscape just kept coming towards us like a 3D movie as we took every crazy corner of the road. We stopped at the port of Portree for lunch right on the ocean and then made our way up the coast - besides a fantastic hike in the Quaraing that allowed us to see the ocean across a lake (picture shown), we saw the "Old Man of Storr" and "Kilt Rock". Fantastic views that take your breathe away... by the way, the isle is open range, so sheep would be literally on the road as you drove, you had to be careful or you might make your own unanticipated lamb chops. We made it to the castle on the north side of the island and then began to make our way back down around the loop. We stopped for dinner in Broadford at the Donollie Hotel and listened to a satirical (and hysterically funny) keyboard singer/entertainer. Then, it was time to go to sleep....

On the road to Lochness

Well, after three great days/nights in Pitlochry and surround area, it was time to head north further into the Highlands. Our first stop was up about 40 miles at town of Aviemore, where the Cairngorn mountains are located. We parked the car and walked to Loch Morlich, a smaller lake with a nice beach to take a couple of pictures. From there, we began our daily hike (you probably have already noticed, we got a lot of exercise nearly every day of the trip - usually at least 2-3 miles of hiking - which was good since we were eating lots of "not-so-healthy", but yummy food the entire time). We went up into the Glenmore Forest on a trail called Mealla Bhuachaille - where we saw a lot of black slugs various times on the path - Ang didn't like them too much...

Another short drive higher into the mountains got us to the Cairngorn Mtn. ski resort - where we took the funicular (that is the covered lift) up to the top of the mountain for fantastic views of the surrounding valley and mountains. We picked up sandwiches to and continued our drive north towards Inverness.

From there, we headed to the famous battlefield at Culloden - and we walked the fields where the Scotland revolutionist Jacobites fought their final battle against the English in 1745 - losing badly under the leadership of young Prince Charlie. It was after this loss that resulted in the combination of Scotland and England into Great Britain. The battlefield is supposed to be famous for people with psychic energies because of how many people died there - I am pretty sure we saw some ghosts.

From there, it was off to Cawdor Castle where we toured the beautiful gardens - lots of color and dynamic floral designs, a nature walk, and hedge labyrinth area. We drove back through Inverness and headed down slightly south, hitting the west side of the famous Lochness. We stopped to take pictures and we tried to see the famous monster, but he must have been sleeping (or maybe he was watching a movie). We stayed a very nice farm B&B called Drumbuie Farms in the town of Drumnadrochit - and it had a great view of Lochness right from the B&B front lawn - gorgeous. It is in Drumnadrochit that a well done exhibit called Lochness Monster 2000 is contained - and we went through the half hour audio/visual education of the pursuit of the monster. We then at dinner at Fiddlers and then headed back to our B&B for sleep.
Bob found many monsters!

Pitlochry Day 2

Full morning agenda today. First, we headed off to Queen's View about 10 miles away. Queen Victoria visited Scotland (becoming the first sitting Queen to visit Scotland after unification with England) in the mid-19th century and she declared the lookout view there to be the most beautiful. It was truly gorgeous.

From there, we headed to Blair Castle, where we toured inside the castle (Ang was particularly impressed with the room that had about 300 different sets of china) and across the vast grounds outside.

Then it was off to Bruar Falls - where we hiked a good mile back into the woods to see the falls themselves. That is a lot accomplished and it was barely 1pm.










We had one more spot on our agenda before lunch and that was Edradour whiskey distillery - the smallest distillery in all of Scotland. There, they let us have a free sample (tasty) and then a tour of how they make whiskey the way it was always done before larger, higher technology took over. Their single malt whiskey is famous all over Scotland as being one of the superior products - and we bought a bottle to enjoy back home. We headed back to our B&B and then had lunch at McKay's - where Bob parked it after a exercise filled morning to watch the final round of the British Open. Ang went shopping briefly and then came back to watch Tiger win the Open and his 10th major.

By 7pm, we headed off to walk more of the town and came across a huge 18 hole putting green - where you pay a couple pounds to play a round. This is better than miniature golf since it is a real grass green - and it is much better than what you find at a golf course in State as it was huge... we had a blast... We continued to walk around and make it to the dam in the town, where the Salmon jump in season. From there, we had dinner at a local Indian restaurant just to do something different than the pubs.

Pitlochry

After another great breakfast, we headed to the Pitlochry Golf Club to play 18 holes ourselves! We enjoyed it very much - it was very hilly and we walked, so afterwards, we had a late lunch at a Fish & Chips place and then took a much needed nap. Bob then went down to McKays to watch the end of Round 3 of the Open and Ang did a little shopping (sounds like a trend, huh?). There was a factory in Pitlochry that Ang went to where they take heather stems, dye them, & crush them together to make really cool jewelry called HeatherGems. We met up with our English friends again (who had gone down to St. Andrews for the 3rd round) - and we met some other new friends too...

St. Andrews

We checked out of our B&B and drove to St. Andrews. It was a pretty easy ride with good navigation by Ang... it was easy that is, until about 5 miles from the open, and then it was crazy traffic. Once we got parked where the bus picked us up, we could see the course in the distance. St. Andrews - it was awesome! We first positioned ourselves in a grandstand overlooking the 3rd and 16th adjoining greens. We saw many great players come through - Jose Maria Olazabel, Mark Calcavecchia, Phil Mickelson, Darren Clarke, Sergio Garcia to name just a few... then Jack Nicklaus came through on 3 - what a treat! Playing with Tom Watson, it was truly a treat and pleasure (I should mention, that we learned just after we landed that there was a commemorative 5 pound note with Jack's picture on it, making him only the 3rd person the their 5 pound bill - Ang picked up a couple, so that we could have a nice momento).

Several groups after Jack, it was Tiger - that was very cool... Tiger is leading the tournament and looks solid to win (as it would turn out, he did!). We had some lunch and then moved to the 15th green, we were right next to it, sitting in the front row on the grass! We saw everyone come through again - and got a couple of great pictures of Tiger and Jack putting. We then walked back to the 12th tee, seeing many other players such as Sean O'Hair, Tim Herron, and Chris Riley. From there, we walked up the 17th (the famous Road Hole) and 18th (home hole in front of the clubhouse). We walked to the practice area and saw Ernie Els and Vijay Singh. Ang tried to get Vijay's autograph, but he stopped signing just as she stood right next to him. After many more pictures of the town and the famous 18th Stone Bridge, we watched some final golf of the last groups coming through the Road Hole and then hopped on bus to get back to our car.

We then began the drive to Pitlochry, our home base for the next 3 nights. Found our very nice B&B surprisingly easy and went down for a pint (or two) at McKay's - a pub within crawling distance of our B&B. We met some nice English guys up from Birmingham to see the Open, and talked golf (and they bought us a couple of pints).

Edinburgh Day 2

After b-fest, walked back up the Royal Mile and visited the Royal Museum of Scotland and the Scotland Museum (these are two adjoining museums) - there is a lot of history to see there, you could spend a couple days getting lost inside there, but we didn't have that much time. We did stay until lunch time, at which time we ate at the Tower Restaurant and the Museum that gave a great view of the Castle. After that, Ang and Bob took different paths... Ang shopped and Bob found a nice pub with friend Scots to watch the first round of the British Open (at St. Andrews - where we are going tomorrow!). We hooked back up for drinks at a different pub (that we carefully planned prior to splitting up) called the Filling Station on Rose Street. We then got to our dinner reservation at the Mussels Inn for yummy seafood. On the way back down to our B&B, we stopped at an Italian restaurant for a dessert (also yummy). Tomorrow, St. Andrew's and the home of golf...

On to Edinburgh

Had breakfast and then headed hopped into the car and got on freeway to Edinburgh. Despite the "warnings", the freeways there are actually quite well maintained and easy to drive (as soon as you remember that the fast lane is always on the right, instead of the left). We parked the car near the Botanical garden and walked about 1/2 mile to our B&B. The B&B was in a really good location where we could walk to the Royal Mile, castle, etc... Ang did a good job planning! We went back and walked the Botanical garden - it was very beautiful.

We then walked up (it is up a big hill) to the Royal Mile and took the tour of the famous Edinburgh Castle.

Afterwards, we ate lunch in a pub on the Royal Mile and then window shopped as we made our way down the Mile. It was such a nice day that we decided to go ahead and hike Arthur's Seat in Holyrool Park, rather than wait until tomorrow (the original plan). Arthur's Seat is the peak of the hill you see in the picture below.

It was a great view of the entire city from there and you could see the ocean firth as well. We took the long way up by accident, so we were pretty tired when we made it back down, it was late and we were tired and hungry. We at another pub Robertson's after making reservations and a great seafood place for tomorrow night.

Scotland - Glasgow

After a long day/night of airports & flying, we arrived in Glasgow. Customs wasn't too bad and we found our rental car without too much trouble. No doubt about it, the scariest part of getting used to driving on the opposite side of the road is getting out of the airport! We then made our way a few miles into the downtown area and parked so that we could walk around. We saw their Chathedral church and St. George Square (where there is many statues including poet Robert Burns).



We then checked into our B&B and then made our way to a park neare the University of Glasgow. It was hot and sunny that day, so we got thirsty and found a pub where we sat in the glorious sunshine (after sitting inside for a few minutes to watch the TV and see Lance Armstrong remain in the lead at the Tour de France). We ended up getting back to our B&B and then went out to a different pub for dinner where we got a smoking deal of pub pie and a pint for 3 gbp and then had a dram (that is the size of a large shot) of whiskey for dessert. From there, it was time for bed for what had been a long day of travel and the start of our adventure.