Landslide

"climb a mountain and turn around"

Heather and Fern: Scotland in September
The trip to Scotland was memorable in so many ways, but one of the very first impressions I got while driving up there was seeing the hills all covered with heather and fern. Since it was September when we went, the colours were starting to change. I couldn't figure out what kind of foliage it was ... considering the fact that I was driving certainly didn't help. It didn't give me much time to study the countryside. We finally figured out that it was heather and fern. I was nonplussed to see fern all over the hillsides but even more surprised that the undergrowth was brown and the tops were green. Miles and miles of hills covered with heather and fern ... that's an image that'll stick with me for quite a while.

I took my parents to Scotland. The kids stayed home with hubby and while he was happy to excuse himself from the trip and stay home, the kids weren't happy with us. How could I take their grandparents away? That would mean they would have less time to spend with them! I'll be making this up to them for a while. They do keep asking for a puppy. Hmmm.

We started our trip at Edinburgh Castle. It was really windy, and it reminded me a lot of Dover Castle. Must have something to do with the proximity to water ... both castles were high up on a cliff with the water nearby. On a clear day you could see France from Dover Castle, but the wind and clouds prevented it the day we went there. Same thing happened at Edinburgh Castle and we couldn't see very far. Probably better anyway because we were getting our tongues tied up and twisted trying to figure out if it was Forth of Firth, Fife of Forth, Fifth of Forth, or Firth of Forth. (It's Firth of Forth in case you're still wondering, and no, we hadn't had any alcohol yet.)

The Prisoners of War exhibition at Edinburgh Castle was interesting because of the mention of the "American rebels" and how they were treated more harshly than the other prisoners (French, Spanish, Dutch, Irish). There's even something written about how they were considered pirates, so they got less food and drink portions than the other prisoners. Dirty, rotten scoundrels! Har! I was left wondering why they'd taken the prisoners from the American colonies all the way up to Scotland.

How would you like to live in a city where you can check your clocks and watches by the One O'Clock Gun that fires every day? Well, except for Sundays, Good Friday and Christmas Day. Oh, I just got an image from Mary Poppins. "Posts, everyone!" (Psst, the gun's on the left.)

The One O'Clock Gun is synchronized with the time-ball that drops from the top of the Nelson Monument (over on Calton Hill), so they both combine to make an audiovisual time-signal for the ships in the Port of Leith and the Firth of Forth. (Firth of Forth, Firth of Forth, Firth of Forth.) It was loud.

I really enjoyed my beef steak pie at the Redcoat Café. Can't believe we've lived in England for over two years and I hadn't had one until we'd gone to Scotland. How's that for irony?

After visiting the castle, we did the Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre tour. That was a special treat for my dad. My special treat was seeing a young Val Kilmer look-alike in our tour group.

The presentations were wonderful. We started with a sample and learned how to look at the colour and the body, how to nose it, and how to taste it. Then a fire alarm interrupted us, and we had to move outside. That's the fastest I've ever seen a fire truck respond! We later learned it was because Edinburgh Castle was so close by. Ah ha!

Came back in and went through the tour. I kept getting thrown off by the accent though. Every time he said "barrel," I heard "bowel." We learned that some of the really serious whiskey tasters don't even brush their teeth in the morning because they don't want the taste to interfere with their whiskey tasting. I believe our guide said he doesn't like to start tasting too early, so he waits until after 9 or 10am. I'm getting queasy just thinking of it. And, just to make it seem like a real treat, the tour ended with a ride in a bowel, er, barrel.

We walked by the Witchery and had a nice little fantasy about eating at the restaurant. Maybe someday if we ever win the lottery, my husband and I can spend a second honeymoon there!

We stayed at the Channings Hotel that night. The bathtub was glorious! Well, maybe it seemed wonderful to me because I've been deprived of a large tub since we've been overseas for several years. I was also interested in the different titles sitting on the desk in my room. The Rough Magic by Mary Stewart, Whitaker's Almanack 1962, Homeport by Nora Roberts, The Finger of Saturn by Victor Canning, Reader's Digest: Warpath, The Days Were Too Short, Marnie, Mrs. Harris Goes to New York, Village of Stars, Rule Britannia by Daphne du Maurier, and The Shell-Hunters by Dr. Gordon Stables. The books were all hardbacks and looked old, but I must confess I'm not familiar with any of them.

Most of the people up in Scotland were incredibly friendly. My dad had a grand time talking to the porter for quite a while. He found out that the parliament they just built was way over budget and took much longer than originally planned. And one of the best views over Edinburgh was Arthur's Seat. We didn't have time to see it, but it was pretty windy, too, so it probably worked out for the best.

We had a lovely drive on the way to Fort William in the highlands. We saw Hamish, a highland cow, at the Kilmahog Woolen Mill. Had a chuckle renaming the town Murder My Pig. Yes, it was a cheesy tourist trap, but we went along for the ride. We chatted with a lady whose son had been born in Kent, England, and was now living in Kent, Washington. She asked where my parents were from, and when they said Montana she asked if the hurricanes had been tough on them. (This was after Hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Ivan.) I suppose we wouldn't ace English geography either.

Glencoe ... rocks, cliffs, hills, waterfalls, heather and fern.














The pictures just don't do it justice.



High winds prevented us from taking the gondola up Aonach Mor, but we did enjoy the drive around Fort William and even checked out the ruins of Inverlochy Castle. Not to be confused with Inverlochy Castle Hotel which is a magnificent piece of property. I was told that lunch there was highly recommended.


Ballachulish Hotel was old and beautiful, and the view was splendid. I had a chuckle as I came down the stairs and saw a guest bringing his rather large dog up the stairs. Shortly after they were out of sight, I heard the large dog's "chuff" and then a little dog's "yip yip, yip yip yip." Thought of my youngest child learning BIG and little.

The Ballachulish Hotel was situated right on a loch. I'd assumed loch was translated into lake, so I was really surprised to see this loch had tides. Found out later that Scotland only has one lake - Lake of Menteith in the Trossachs. I heard it's beautiful in that area and was disappointed to find out Lake of Menteith Hotel was all booked up when we were there.

Dinner wasn't served until 7pm at the hotel, so we stopped in the bar to get some victuals. We were still chuckling over the lady's question about hurricanes in Montana when a Tornado suddenly whipped over the loch. My dad pointed out a jet, but when he said "Tornado" I pictured a twister and not a jet. I knew what a Spitfire was, but I'd never heard of a Tornado! You, too, can learn all kinds of new things in Scotland!

I learned about puffins in Scotland. I first saw a picture of one in a taxi from the Edinburgh Airport. It said "No puffin" and had a picture of this bird with the "No" sign over it. It was a "no smoking" sign. I assumed it was a cartoon character. It looked like a penguin. I laughed. Shows how much I know. My dad thought he saw a puffin crash into the loch, but we found out later that they don't come that far inland. We did a little bird watching while at Ballachulish.

My dad scored some chocolate from the lady at the front desk. Somebody had left their lights on in their car, so my dad took the plate number to the desk so they could notify the owner. She offered him some chocolate, but he said he couldn't take it because his mother had warned him about pretty ladies handing out chocolate. The next morning as they were checking out, he told my mom that this was the lady that was trying to give him chocolate. The lady at the desk got a big kick out of that and tried to give him some chocolate, but he still wouldn't take it. So she gave it to my mom and told her to share. Mmm, that was some good chocolate!

We tried to see if there was a weaving demo at the Spean Bridge Mill, but it wasn't operating so we just did some shopping instead. My mom and I sampled some Heather Cream and each bought a bottle. This was pretty unusual for me because I'm not much of a drinker, but oh, it was yummy, yummy, yummy! We also found the kind of whisky my dad had tried at the Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre (the shop there had sold the last bottle the day before).

Hey, did you know Nazareth was from Scotland? (Love Hurts)

We got a little lost on the way back to the lowlands and took a lovely detour towards Kinlochleven. Plenty of pictures on that drive.













I especially love the one with the sunlight streaming through the clouds.


The town looked dead on a Saturday afternoon, but we did see a building with "Story of Aluminium" on the side of it. We had just wondered the day before why so many Brits say aluminium instead aluminum. Now we know! They must laugh themselves silly when we try to say Worcestershire or Leicester.



Stopped in at the Glencoe Visitor Centre and learned more about the Glencoe Massacre, Deirdre of Sorrow, and the connection between the MacDonalds and the Nez Perce Indians. "From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." Scots and the American Indians

The gift shop had a bulletin board with some notes and suggestions for our visit. It mentioned different animals we might see on our walk and even explained how we would be able to tell the difference between a weasel and a stoat, because weasels are "weaselily recognizable" and stoats are "stoatally different." I found a bunch of stuffed animal birds with real call sounds for the kids. I also found a terrific book called A Wee Book o Fairy Tales in Scots. It's great to read aloud.

Oh, almost forgot my lunch. I had cock-a-leekie soup. Translation: chicken and leek soup. 'Nuff said.

On the drive to Stirling, we stopped for petrol. We had rented a Daewoo Takuma, and it cost £30 to fill up ¾ of the tank. That's about $57. Ouch. And on the drive back we were slowly being tortured by the TRAF-RDS button. It kept beeping, and we couldn't figure out how to turn it off! Turns out TRAF means Traffic Information Station, and it beeps if you leave the reception area for the traffic radio stations. Somehow without a manual we figured out how to turn it off. Why don't they include manuals in rental cars?

I noticed that sometimes the tap water in Edinburgh and Ballachulish was brown, but when we stayed in Stirling it was clear. Iron in the water?

We found out that it's very important to make dinner reservations for Saturday night in Stirling or else you'll end up driving everywhere looking for someplace to eat. We ended up at the Terraces Hotel bar, and the food was pretty darn good. Could it be we were so hungry that anything would've tasted good? Nah.

Took my Monty Python fan of a dad to see Doune Castle.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed there, so many fans make the pilgrimage. We found out they'd just had a festival the previous weekend. Drat.

I can hear, "So I say,
I say WELCOME, welcome to the Doune town!" sung to the tune of Welcome to the Boomtown.

The Wallace Monument was fantastic. A very steep climb and windy as all get-out up at the top, but it was definitely worth it. I think I enjoyed that more than Stirling Castle. The Bannockburn Heritage Centre and the Rob Roy and Trossachs Visitor Centre were both interesting, but I still think the Wallace Monument and the old Stirling Bridge were more impressive.



As I dig through these pictures, I'm trying to decide which part was my favourite and I really can't pick just one. I never thought I'd go to Scotland and really didn't have much interest in it. Now that I've gotten a taste of it, I'm hoping to go back again. I'll have to study up on William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, and Mary, Queen of Scots before I go.


How much is that doggie in the window?





You'll have to look for this adorable little cutie on Bridgehaugh Road if you go see the old Stirling Bridge!

written in 2004 and modified in 2006

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