Landed in Paris late and feared we missed the next connection but were met at the  bottom of the stairs & whisked away to our next flight to Edinburgh. On the Paris runway we saw many rabbits and a red fox with one in his mouth. We flew over Paris and the fields of France, which are large & beautiful. I would love to come and drive through the countryside someday. We flew over the English Channel. Now I have flown over it by plane, traveled under it by train & crossed over it by Ferry. We flew over London onto the north of England. Where the countryside of France looked like large farms, the countryside of England looked more like a jigsaw puzzle with many little pieces. The sky was clear until we reached the edge of Scotland-we couldn’t see the ground until our landing. We went through immigration and then went to find our luggage. Sara had one piece missing-we found later it didn’t make it out of Paris. After we made arrangements for the lost luggage, we went to claim our rental car that we had reserved. The mini van was not available, so we had to go to another rental car agency and get another one. It took us 3 hours to actually get out of the Edinburgh airport system! Finally we are on our way, driving on the wrong side of the street. We checked into our hotel (The Clarendon). They gave us each a family suite (2 double beds & a large bathroom). We were extremely tired so we had about a 2 hr nap & then went out for a bite to eat. We ate at a little restaurant called the Pompeii. It was a little Italian place and had great food. We walked back to our hotel, still exhausted and went to bed and slept 10 hrs!

 

Made our way out of Edinburgh and on to Oban. We saw a distillery & wished we had time to go and explore the Isle of Mull, but needed to drive on to Onich for our reservations. We stayed at a great old hunting lodge called the Allt-Nan-Ros Hotel. Our rooms had a great view of the Mountains and the Loch. We went into the little village and went to a dinner & Scottish show at McTavishes Kitchen. It was great fun. Our friend Mike discovered he liked Haggis (said it tasted like his mothers meat loaf!). Had a great evening and a good night’s sleep.

 

Drove from Onich to Arachnacry and the Clan Cameron museum. We traveled on little roads that had “lay-bys”, which mean that if 2 cars are coming at each other, one must pull over to the side in order for them to be able to pass. It was wonderful scenery going back into the museum! You could only find this place if you were looking for it. A wonderful woman, Kate, was working there and was very helpful to us. We ordered 12 crystal goblets with the Cameron crest etched on them. I copied down a wonderful poem that someone had written about the Cameron’s:                         

 

                              “The March of the Cameron Men”

 

                              “There’s many a man from the Cameron Clan,

                              That has followed his chief to the field;

                              He has sworn to support him, or die by his side,

                              For a Cameron never can yield.

 

                              Oh, proudly they walk, but each Cameron knows

                              He may tread on the heather no more;

                              But boldly he follows his chief to the field,

                              Where his laurels were gathered before.

 

                              The moon has arisen, it shines on the path

                              Now trod by the gallant and true;

                              High are there hopes, for their chieftain hath said

                              That whatever men dare they can do:

 

Next we drove past Loch Ness (no sighting of “Nellie”). We had lunch at Beauly, a pretty little village. Next we drove on to Dingwall and Tulloch Castle for our overnight stay. Dingwall is in the Ross-Shire area of Scotland where our Murdoch Cameron came from. His father apparently moved his family from the Clan Cameron area south of here, (probably for work?). Tulloch Castle is so cool! We drove up the pea gravel drive to the front door and entered the beautiful creaky-floored castle to check in. There is a large room where you enter, with a large staircase leading upstairs. The next room is a smaller room with a leather couch & wing back chairs facing a stone fireplace and a welcoming fire. They used coal-wood for the fire. We were probably the only guests at this point because all was very quiet. A young man named David checked us in and showed us to our accommodations-a 2 bedroom apartment with a kitchen and living room at the top floor of the castle. We had to climb a winding, narrow staircase-what a treat! After getting our luggage settled, we drove into the small Dingwall village to look around. When we got back to the castle, more guests had arrived-a tour bus of Germans. We had a wonderful leisurely dinner that lasted from 7-9 pm. After dinner, we wandered around the castle and then settled by the fire until about 10 pm, where we planned our next adventure. Then we made our way up to our rooms and got under our down comforters and slept soundly until about 7 am.

 

David (who we learned had gone to grad school in Jackson, Mississippi & had a roommate who was from Arkansas) gave us a tour of the turret. We drove farther north to see the splendid castle Dunrobin. What a spectacular castle! The gardens around the castle were as beautiful as the castle itself. We walked down to the garden and watched a falcon master put his birds of prey through their paces. Afterwards, we made our way back down south towards Inverness. We all agreed that the highlands of Scotland were our favorite. Along the way we stopped at Tain Pottery factory to see if they had any Clan Cameron tartan dishes. We had no luck, but one of our travel companions found a Robertson pattern and ordered mugs. Next we stopped at Culloden and took in that history and had lunch there. Next, we drove onto Pitlochry and arrived at a funny little guest house (Balrobin) and checked in. A crusty old Englishman told us the”rules” of the place. We went into the village to poke around some. We ate dinner in the little town and had very slow service. But we as Americans are so accustomed to fast, fast, fast! It made me think that this slower pace is probably much better for us. I’m sure the Europeans get tired of us rushing them all the time. Our waitress was from Lithuania and seemed confused with us. After dinner we drove back to the guest house and tried as best as we could to park between the parking lines (rules, remember?) and went up to our rooms to freshen up before meeting in the little pub for a drink before bed. In the pub, the “crusty Englishman” served us and debated US verses any other country on health, politics, etc. His married daughter lives in Boston and has just become a US citizen and has filed papers for him & his wife to join her in the US. Everyone complains about America, but everyone also wants to come here! This man & his wife have put their inn for sale and are planning to move to Cape Cod and open a little hotel there. Best wishes, crusty old Englishman from Pitlochry!

 

Before leaving Pitlochry, we went and toured the Blair Castle. It was so beautiful! Near the property we saw our first “Hairy Coo” (a type of longhorn cow in the highlands). Pitlochry is about the end of the highlands and we could see the difference. The mountains were not as large and it became more populated. On our way to St. Andrews we saw lovely farms. We arrived at St. Andrews as they were dismantling the spectator stands from the British Open. It was so nice getting there after the throngs of people! Tiger Woods won it. We had lunch in a pub. Our waiter was a handsome lad from Poland. The Polish are apparently coming to the UK for jobs. They are very friendly. We walked around and shopped. We went past a street named “Butt Wynd” and had to look again to be sure that we hadn’t imagined it! We left St. Andrews and headed back to Edinburgh. We could see more and more English flavor to the architecture of the houses. Along the way we passed a sign that said “secret bunker”. Was it really so secret? We got to Edinburgh and went back to the Clarendon hotel. It was odd being back in the big city after being in the countryside all week. Edinburgh is noisy, busy, and too warm. I missed the quiet, calm, cool highlands. They couldn’t give us our “luxury” rooms again because a large tour bus had arrived, so our rooms now were tiny and at the front of the building with all of the busy street noise, but we are willing to be flexible travelers-the only way to be in Europe! After dinner on Rose Street we walked up Princes Street and then went back to the hotel at 10 pm. It doesn’t get dark here until about 11 pm.

 

We’ve been sleeping well in Scotland. Today we bought a hop on/ hop off bus ticket and rode that bus up to the castle. We spent about 2 hrs. touring this wonderful stronghold. Then we went to a woolen mill and watched them actually make the different tartans. The looms were very noisy. Rod & I had our picture made in Highland costumes. We ate lunch at the Witchery Restaurant on Royal Mile, expensive but good. They used to burn witches there in the 17^th century. Then we went to Holyrood House for a tour. I swore we had never been there, but realized at the end of the tour that we had. All of the castles over the years begin to look alike! We went back to our tiny rooms for a rest before dinner. We ate at a wonderful Italian restaurant nearby. 

 

Rod & Mike flew home today.  A big part of me wished I were going home as well, but I am also looking forward to continuing my travels in Prague and Poland.