Our Trip to Scotland--Day 5, June 12

Early in the morning we left Dundee and headed for St. Andrews. I had never picked up a golf club to play, but what a way to begin--at St. Andrews, the most famous club, and home of The Open.

Our first event was stopping at the Practice Centre where each group of two got 24 balls to hit after a brief demonstration and explanation. You can see we had some sun shining through the clouds. Then we boarded the bus and went into the city.

"St Andrews has a population of around 20,000 people. The university, where Prince William attended, attracts students from all over the world, keeping the bars and restaurants busy during the winter, and during the summer golfers from all over the world descend on the town to play the hallowed Old Course. The town has got a mystical charm about it, and is packed with golfers, golfing memorabilia and a load of golf-friendly bars where you won’t be asked to remove your spikes at the door." 

I love to visit "retired" or gently used clothing stores, and saw a number of shops passing through town with elegant used golf attire which would have been fun to visit if we'd been there all day. But instead many in our group walked to visit the ruins of the bishop's castle and the cathedral. Bob and I also stopped inside a small chapel.   The castle sits on a rocky promontory overlooking a small beach called Castle Sands and the adjoining North Sea.

We walked through the area of St. Andrews university, then Bob went back to the golf area and bus and I continued with Pat to the Cathedral, but he had the camera.  If I can snag a photo from the group's site I'll add it here.  It was quite dramatic. It was built in 1158 and became the center of the Medieval Catholic Church in Scotland.

"The story of St Andrew's revolves around the story of the apostle Andrew. According to one version of the story, a monk named Regulus was inspired by an angel to steal the relics of St Andrew and set sail to the island of Thule. He landed instead on this promontory on the coast of Fife and there founded a settlement. The saint's relics became a focal point, not only of religious pilgrimage, but also a symbol of Scottish independence from England. Andrew's symbol, the saltire cross, became forever associated with an independent Scotland, and eventually was chosen for the Scottish flag.

The medieval cathedral whose ruins we see today was begun around 1160, and was complete by the late 14th century. The church was huge, measuring 355 feet from end to end, with a central tower and spire." http://www.britainexpress.com/attractions.htm?attraction=1076 

From St. Andrews it was back on the bus to Perth and a visit to beautiful Scone Palace [pronounced skoon], the home of the Earl and Countess of Mansfield. While we were waiting to go in, we saw beautiful peacocks. We heard about the palace and the crowning of Scottish kings, including Robert the Bruce over coffee and shortbread. The peacock photo is from a tour group member. A guide told us about the Stone of Scone, upon which the Scottish kings were crowned.

"According to legend, the sandstone slab was used by the biblical figure Jacob as a pillow when he dreamed of a ladder reaching to heaven and then brought to Scotland by way of Egypt, Spain and Ireland. The rock, also known as the Stone of Destiny, was used for centuries in the coronation ceremonies of Scottish monarchs. Following his victory at the Battle of Dunbar in 1296, England’s King Edward I seized the stone from Scotland’s Scone Abbey and had it fitted into the base of a specially crafted wooden Coronation Chair on which English—and later British—monarchs have been crowned inside London’s Westminster Abbey ever since. "

Although we couldn't take photos inside the palace, this little video shows you much of what we saw. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCjGZ7FLevM

Chapel on the Moot Hill

Scottish long hair cattle

Back to the bus, across the Forth Road Bridge to Edinburgh to our final hotel, the Mercure Edinburgh on Princes Street with a fabulous view from our window. That night we attended a Scottish evening with Highland dancers (5 women) a bagpiper, fiddler, accordionist, a female soloist, and singing MC and the ceremony of the Haggis (mutton or lamb offal, minced and mixed with, oatmeal, suet, herbs, spices). Dining scene from our tour group FB page.

Oh, Canada? Laurie and daughters Kathy and Susann

Dancers

Barbara on left, Pat on right at the dinner

Our trip to Scotland--day 3, June 10

Last night we went out to eat with our neighbors Joan and Jerry, and then came back here for some Key Lime Pie.  They went to Scotland some years ago, but enjoyed seeing our album of prints, already prepared by Bob with annotations before I even got my blog up and running!

On Day 3 we had to have our bags outside our room before breakfast. Our take off was delayed a bit when we needed a substitute Globus bus.  It didn't take long, and soon we were leaving Glasgow for the beautiful scenery of Scotland, past many "lochs" or lakes. We were told the story behind the song, "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomand" a song based on a poem which may have been based on a Jacobite lament written after the Battle of Culloden which we would visit on day 4. There are many interpretations, but the one we heard was that the "low road" refers to the one souls take who die outside of Scotland.

Chorus:
O ye'll tak' the high road, and I'll tak' the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland a'fore ye,
But me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

We were headed to the Scottish Highlands, which is both a political entity, geography, a culture and a history that is different than the lowlands and big industrial cities of the 19th century. This is the land of the Gaelic speaking Clans who warred with each other and the British. We would be spending the night on the Isle of Skye, the biggest island of the Hebrides off the west coast, but also our driver took us through the most fantastic, mystical and moody scenery you can imagine. This first photo was taken by the youngest (and prettiest) tour member, Emily. Isn't it just amazing? We didn't have a lot of sunshine on this trip, but when it appeared, it was dramatic.

 One beautiful area, Glencoe we passed through that day, is the site of a now inactive super volcano (can you say climate change?) and we saw many hikers and bikers--even children. Edinburgh also is an area with many inactive volcanoes which we would see on day 6. The next photos were taken at our rest stop at Glenfinnan to view the viaduct (scene in Harry Potter movie) and the Glenfinnan monument erected, in 1815, in tribute to the Jacobite clansmen who fought and died in the cause of Prince Charles Edward Stuart. Bob climbed the look-out to take photos, I walked the monument circle.  You can only see the viaduct if you look very closely because of the distance, and the young female bagpiper was at the visitor centre.

Another monument in the Highlands we visited was the WWII Commando memorial, near the village of Spean Bridge. It depicts British Commandos who were specially trained in Spean Bridge to perform raids. The monument reaches a height of 17 feet.

From there our whole tour group took a special add-on side trip to the Eilean Donan Castle (island of Donan, St. Donnan of Eigg, a Celtic saint) where 3 lochs meet and it is part of the Hebridean islands. The castle was a fortress in the 13th century, but was built and re-built several times. It was partially destroyed in the Jacobite rebellion of the 18th century, and was in ruins for 200 years until John MacRae-Gilstrap bought the island in 1911 and restored it.  It still belongs to the family, but is heavily visited by tourists and used for special events like weddings. It has a nice visitor centre for shopping and eating--which is something our whole group did very well. No photos allowed inside.

A wee bit wet from the rain, but happy for the sun. I made the silk scarf at the Rhein Center in Lakeside.

We then headed to a Pub, The Clachan, for a wee bit of fun and fellowship.

Norma, Ann and Rose who are Canadians

Emily, Kelly and Stacey

The water was too rough to take the planned ferry from Mallaig to the Isle of Skye and the Dunollie Hotel, so it was back to Ft. William and the bridge between the villages of Kyle of Lochalsh (mainland) and Kyleakin (Skye). There are very few accommodations on Skye that a large tour can use, so the hotel was a bit from the last century, perhaps the 1970s, and our room was in the basement.  Enough said. Good food and beautiful views. I think Bob will get some good watercolors of one of his favorite topics, old boats.

View from the dining room

Dunollie Hotel with John our tour guide

On Day 4, Sunday, we left the Hebrides and headed for the Loch Ness to see if we could find Nessie (didn't see her/him), the Culloden Visitor Center, A sheepdog demonstration, and the mountain resort of Pitochry.