Scotland

London was cold and blustery.  We caught the train to the Central Station, Glasgow, Scotland, and waited for our friend Barb to pick us up.  We selected a pub in the train station and sent an email to Barb. It turns out Barbara was waiting at a different station for us. We finally got together, and took the train to Croy.  She lives out in the country on top of a hill.  In the distance you can see Glasgow, Stirling, and Edinburgh.

Glasgow central station

                                                                  Dam above Barbara's home              

                                                                    Wind farms beyond the dam

A proud Barbara in front of her wood pile which she harvested herself.

Spring flowers

Next morning, we bundled into her car, and drove for 5 hours to the north coast of Scotland.  The country is full of  old stone houses and barns, green-yellow pastures, and brown heather on the hills and in the valleys.  This is a beautiful country.  The day was rainy and windy with a smattering of snow.  The roads at the end of the journey were only one lane.  If you see a car coming from the other way, you judge the speed at which they are driving,  you figure out if the person is a local or a tourist, and you set your speed so that you and the other car will meet at a layby (pullout).  A local will continue driving at the speed they had set for themselves and you will meet at the layby. A tourist will get anxious, and either slowdown or speed up or stop, and meeting at the layby is much more difficult.  If there is no layby close, then one of the drivers will have to back up to the last layby.

Our trip was uneventful, but interesting. Barb regaled us with stories about the countryside and the people.
Barb's family holiday home is an old crofter home with an extension built on to increase the size.

The morning after we arrived, we hiked to the top of this hill called the Watchtower. We went up the left side and came down the right side. The weather was sunny with no wind which according to Barb is unusual for this time of the year. We told her that the Scottish people must tell that to all potential visitors so the Scots can have this beautiful country to themselves. When I mentioned that to a local, she said they had just gone through two months of rain and bad weather, and they deserved a few days of nice weather.

                                  Barb's family holiday house in the lower right of the picture

                                                             Causeway on the tidal inlet

                                                                    Sand flats at low tide

All mountains in Scotland over three thousand feet are called Monroes of which there are 287. This is one of them seen from the nub we climbed. Barb has climbed all but 17 of them.

A close up of  Barb's family holiday home which we relished coming home to after our hikes.

                                           The sandy beach below the nub and next to Barb's.

Sheep eating their way to the cliff's edge.

The warm glow of the afternoon sun.

 Sheep watching me as I stood washing dishes at the kitchen window.

The addition offers a beautiful view and lots of light.

 The window and door depth gives you an idea of the thickness of the walls made of field stone in the original part of the old croft house.

A map of the north coast of Scotland

                                     The centre right of the map is were we find ourselves.

                                                     Catching a wink before supper.

The mark on the rear of the sheep indicates she has been serviced. A chalk bag is hung from the bottom of the ram. Large crofters hire portable ultra sounds to check for a pregnancy as another way to make sure the ram is doing his job.

                                  We are off to do a hike to the Monument on the third day.

                                              You can see the Watchtower behind me.

A small deserted crofters village.

               Crofter's house on a small island. According to Barb, there was a village on the island at one time. This must have been a quiet existence with only the sheep and sea to keep you company.

                                                                       Forgotten bed frame.

A geo-cache is hidden in the wooden box.  This is the first geo-cache we have found, and it was quite by accident.

It told the story about some of the people who lived here, and their love for their way of life.  It told of how they were evicted from the land by the landowner, and forced to become fishermen.  The alternative was to immigrate.

The slash in the rocks from left to right is the only harbor they had.   They made themselves a channel for their boats by moving the rocks themselves whenever the tide was low. Once the channel was made, they could use the high tide to get into and out of the harbour. They mentioned that they came into this harbor on the seventh wave.   I think I would have immigrated.

Manicured lawn

                                           Narrow one lane road with layby (pullout) in the distance.

                                                            Tea and dessert after supper

Peat ready to be stacked and dried.

                                                                      Edinburgh castle

                                           This lady advertises herself as the most pierced woman.

Charlie Chaplin was visiting Edinburgh the same time we were. A local lassie was basking in his presence.  

People rub the toe on this statue for good luck??

Sir Robert Wallace is honoured  to this day.  He was portrayed in the movie, "Brave Heart".

                                                                            Ceiling

                                                                    Military jail

               The street from the Edinburgh Castle to the Queen's Palace is called the Royal mile.

                                                    Chicken on top of a church steeple?

                                                                 Scottish Parliament

Holyrood Palace--Queen's residence when she is in Edinburgh.

Pub on the Royal Mile

Sir Walter Scott

We took a train to London and stayed overnight before flying home to Vancouver, and taking the ferry back  to Victoria.  We left in the rain, and returned home in the rain; and we are glad to be home.

We enjoyed our trip very much.  We met a lot of wonderful people during our travels, and saw many interesting sites.  However, we always look forward to coming home. If you find yourselves in our area in Saskatchewan,  please drop by. We bought ourselves a Turkish tea service while in Turkey so we can offer you tea or coffee; or even something harder, if you stay the night.