I love Scotland. I wrote this back in 1997 when I had just returned home from my third trip there. I've got pictures!My friend Robbie lives with her husband Peter in Paisley, just outside Glasgow. She teaches at Stirling University which has one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever seen. Robbie let that be a surprise so that when we walked out to the grounds I was quite taken aback by the field of bunnies, big fat country ones, must have been a hundred or so. Down by the lake we were greeted by quacking baby ducks and clumsy, begging baby moorhens. A baby moorhen looks rather like a Raptor in Jurassic Park.
That's what the best part of going to Scotland is for me. I get to discover that I am not as jaded as I think I am. Constant amazement and delight at the country and what I encounter there. I have been exceptionally lucky with the weather. Once again, it was great, the first five days were sunny and in the 70s. The last five were in the 60s with clouds, rain and sun, often at the same time. Those are the days when the light makes the green of the grass incredibly rich and iridescent, there is no green here except for Fenway Park. The sun did not set until 10:00 PM and it really didn't get dark until 12:30AM. That in between time is the gloamin'as in roamin'. The sun rises around 3:30AM. I know this because the dawn chorus started outside my bedroom morning at 3:44AM. It was a great way to start the day. I took lots of naps.
Some of the cool places I had visited in previous trips are Edinburgh, St Andrews, Stirling, Largs and Ayr. Peebles on the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders is a lovely town (used my ATM card there by the way) and quite close to Melrose Abbey where Robert the Bruce's heart is buried. Highlights of this trip included:
Another visit to Stirling which is about 45 minutes by train from Glasgow. Stirling Castle, which I have visited before, remains breathtaking. It is a real castle, sitting high above the town, and is what a castle should be, a fortess or stronghold, not a stately home. There's a great museum inside, the Argyll and Sutherlands Regimental Museum. I have a thingie about these types of museums and ended up going to three others, United Scottish Services, the Royal Scots Dragoons, both at Edinburgh Castle, and The Highland Fusiliers on Sauchiehall St in Glasgow. Its the uniforms, the sense of history and the ornate decorations. The plunder of the colonies! I also stopped inside the Church of the Holy Rude (can't beat that name) and chatted with some of the parish women. The church dates back to some time in the 1400s and one of the women said to me "Not bad for a parish church." No, it is not.
A journey on the West Highland Rail up to Oban which took about 3 hours from Glasgow and passed through the highlands with great stunning views of Loch Lomand, Loch Awe and Loch Etive. Let's not forget the views of sheep. They are everywhere and those little lambies are especially cute when gamboling. I had never seen anyone or anything gambol before. It is quite a sight. Rhododendrums grow wild along the tracks and are huge and beautiful and lush. Nothing like they are here. Oban is a harbor and resort town though I didn't see a whole lot of activity involving either. There's a lovely promenade along the water which I strolled in the evening waiting for the sun to set. We spent a day in Oban and then took a ferry to the Isle of Mull. By the way I believe Mull means land's end and I do know that Firth is the mouth of a river. Saw Duart Castle, classified as real, and Torosay Castle, a stately home. We encountered a pen of rams all baaing and acting very much like a gaggle of guys standing on a street corner. The most fun was a ride on the 10" gauge steam engine train. Wild garlic grows along the tracks and what a lovely smell, though the Scots don't think so. It was mentioned that we should be able to see Ben Nevins (ben is a mountain) but due to the heat haze that day we couldn't. It was 65 degrees.
Robbie and I have travelled together many a time. We have a history of being intrepid sorts...walk, walk, walk because there may be more...until it is too painful to go on. This was simply not on the agenda. We signed up for a day long bus tour up to Balmoral Castle. It was the best tour I have ever been on. In this country one has to go for hours and hours to experience major and dramatic changes in landscape. Not in Scotland. We drove through wooded glens with babbling brooks, farmland, mountains that looked like the darkside of the moon, just rocks and heather (not in bloom) and sheep. Of course there is history, one site was the former Hanover Garrison of the Horse Dragoons in the Jacobite Rebellion. I fell in love with the town Blairgowrie, one of the woodland types. Incredibly serene and tranquil with a nice tearoom, the Dome Cafe. There's quite a handsome counterman there. About an hour outside of Blairgowrie is the Spittal of Glenshee. Spitall comes from hospice or hospital, it was a spot where monks aided northbound travellers. Glenshee means glen of the fairies. It is barren and majestic. Blamoral was completely fabulous. I was so hoping to see the Queen Mother fishing in the River Dee but no such luck was had. I now know why the Queen goes there. I am sure Her Majesty awakes every morning, flings open the drapes and looks at the forests and the mountains and says "This is all mine."
I did go to Edinburgh and the Castle(truly the coolest) and Glasgow as well. Scone Palace was extremely pleasant and we got to see an Indian movie star there to shoot a scene for a Bollywood movie. There were stops at every Boots I came across in search of their Banana Shampoo. The Scottish Claymores lost to the London Monarchs in a game of the World League of American Football. Bad game but great crowd, you know, men in kilts and sporrans. As for the cheerleaders, well, I agree with Robbie's suggestion that they stick to traditional Scottish dance moves, the Celts really don't have the rhythm. Scots know how to drive through rotaries, cleaning, crisply and with precision. Americans, especially Bostonians, are incapable of it. We take them on in chaos.
The Scots do some amazing things with butter, cream and sugar. Always look for a nice tearoom with a sign that says "Baked Goods". Peter claims it all starts with that. Baked goods, baked betters and baked bests? By the way I do not eat haggis, Sam I am, even when a comment about contempt prior to investigation is made. There are just some things in life one knows one should not do.
Everyone I meet in Scotland is friendly. I've never encountered rudeness just a few drunks reeling out of pubs, maybe I have just been in the right places at the right times. Someday I may even understand a Glaswegian accent.
I can't wait to go back. I have never seen heather in bloom and must do that and also must see the Edinburgh Tattoo, the Festival, Inverness, Castle Urquhart, Loch Ness and so much more.
When I returned home an email from some breakfast radio show hosts in Sydney, Australia had come in. They thought I was Canadian for which I have already forgiven them. They were requesting I call into their show as a Rock and Roll Royalist to help celebrate the Queen's Birthday Holiday weekend. Visit my Queen Elizabeth page to find out why. What is cooler than that?
It is not only country that makes my visits so good. It is also a tale of friendship, of being a friend, of loving and being loved. It is about conversations about nothing, about history, politics, bad music, good music, baseball, cricket, the BBC, Big Baby Days, and Lloyd Grossman.
What's better than Scotland? Nothing! What's better than friends? Absolutely Nothng!
jendi's Scotland links (not golf):
- Scottish Military History
jendi and the Queen
haggis
Sam I am.
Boots
Scottish Claymores
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© 2001 jendi@bigbaby.com