Matt's Tips for Visiting Scotland! 1. Take the arm AND the leg. When I was there, the pound was trading for about $1.90. Janice and I filled up the car on the way to the airport, it cost about $92. I'm not kidding when I say that scotch whiskey is cheaper in America than it is in Scotland. 2. The natives are friendly. They love to talk and many have lilting accents that you could listen to for days. (Others, however, are completely unintelligible, but it's still fun to listen to them.) 3. In the summer, it gets dark quite late in the Islands--generally around eleven o'clock, and it starts getting light again around three. Also, one of the following is true: either the Scots are trusting souls, or they know that vandals won't get far away if they're trapped on an island. As a result, they tend to leave places like Iona Abbey and St. Clements Church unlocked and open until well into the night. You can have a nice dinner and then go out to see the local attractions while there's still light. 4. Whatever you're planning, don't miss Staffa. (And book your trips through David Kirkpatric at Iolaire.) 5. Riding Caledonian MacBrayne ferries to and around the islands is easy, popular and fun. But they do fill up on occasions, so be sure to reserve space for your car in advance. Also, be sure to arrive thirty minutes before departure because they're not shy about giving your space away if you're not there. 6. Although the scenery is beautiful and we did see a few tortured souls on bicycles, the unpredictably cool, wet climate really does make biking a tricky proposition. 7. If you're going to be renting a car, be sure that you're renting as much vehicle as you need. Cars do tend to be smaller in Europe, and we saw a lot of people on the Avis lot who realized too late that all their luggage was not going to fit into what they rented. They all seemed to be involved in lenghty (and expensive) exchanges. 8. Even if you're going to the Islands in midsummer, take lots of rain- proof gear and at least one thick sweater. (If you forget, you will have many, many opportunities to purchase a new "jumper" while you're there.) 9. British cuisine is shaking off its long-held reputation for undesirablilty. The food we had at hotels, B&B's and restaurants was as good as I've had anywhere. Still, commonly available pub food (fast food is not an option in the Islands) is somewhat dismal unless you really like fish and chips. 10. If you're wondering about the identity of the young man whose hirsuit un-kilted butt adorns postcards, coasters and mouse- pads in every craft shop in the country, his name is Adam, and he loves children. (Don't ask me how I know.) 11. Beware the midge. The Scottish cousins of "no-see-ums" are a true nuisance. By all means, visit www.midgeforecast.co.uk before you go. 12. Take your time. There are so many things in Scotland that you just won't see anywhere else. You wouldn't want to miss them. |
| Saturday - Edinburgh, Longniddry After an overnight flight from Atlanta, Janice and arrived in Edinburgh on an unusually warm, 80 degree day. The Hardies had parental duties at Cameron and Lachlan's school, so we spent the day reacquainting ourselves with the Scottish capital. Our first meal was fish and chips at Deacon Brodie's on the Royal Mile. Sadly, we think the Deacon had forgotten to change the oil in his fryers for a couple of decades. The food really wasn't very good at all, but we drowned our concerns in ale and carried on. We went to the Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood House (right), Jenner's Department Store and generally did a lot of walking. We finally ended up at the Hardies around seven o'clock. |
| Sunday- Roslin, Ullapool On Sunday, the real adventure began. The Hardies attend church at Rosslyn Chapel in the village of Roslin, near their home. As you might know, the chapel is prominently mentioned in The DaVinci Code as a possible former resting place for Mary Magdalene. We attended the service and were much impressed by the minister who combined the best of spirituality and good communication skills. What I remember best is an observation he made about the individuals who own Rosslyn Chapel. He seems to think that the owners don't want to offend potential visitors, so the signs outside the chapel prominently display that admission is four pounds, but they say nothing about the fact that the chapel is an operative church with regular services. After church, there were about fifty tourists waiting to get in. We helped clean up after the service before we left. In the picture at right, Carmeron is extinguishing the candles in one of the candelabras. |
| Monday- Isle of Harris, Isle of Lewis |
| Tuesday - North Uist, Isle of Skye We took the ferry on Tuesday morning to North Uist, drove the length of the island, and then took another ferry to the Isle of Skye. On Skye, we stayed at the amazing Viewfield House (left) in Portree, where our host, Hugh McDonald (standing in short sleeve shirt, below), an old friend of David's, runs an oustanding establishment in an old Victorian home. |
| Wednesday - Skye Wednesday's highight was visiting the Talisker distillery, Eilean Iarmain (sometimes called Isle of Ornay) and the Clan Donald Centre on the Isle of Skye. At Eilean Iarmain, David says I embarrassed men everywhere by sampling the whiskey and ultimately deciding to purchase the creme liquer, Scottish Mist. A photo of Janice at the tasting bar is below.. |
| Thursday - Isle of Mull (and Isle of Matt), Iona En route to the historic Isle of Iona on Thursday, we stopped along the way to visit places that David and Leslye knew in earlier lives on the Isle of Mull. In between a couple of those places, we stopped on a beach which had a green patch just offshore that did not flood in high tide. I promptly named it the Isle of Matt. Here I am (below) standing in the heather in my new-found kingdom. |
| Friday - Staffa, Iona On Friday, we took a boat ride to the Isle of Staffa, near Iona. Sadly, I left my camera in the car, so I didn't get any pictures. Janice, however, wrote up our trip as an article for Travel Girl Magazine, so if you're interested, you can search their archives and see the pictures. Meanwhile, if you ever get the opportunity, you MUST visit Staffa. It's a geological miracle, boasting soaring sea caves and thousands of puffins. |
| Saturday - Isle of Mull At last our sojourn was coming to an end. On Saturday morning, we took the last of our ferry rides from Craignure on the Isle of Mull. Along the way, we stopped at Castle Duart. Mary Lou Evans in Batesville had told me that she was a McLean, and that Duart was her clan's ancient seat. So we stopped and looked, and I took the photo at right of Cameron outside the castle's walls. The end of our voyage of discovery also meant the end of our visit to what seemed like a never-ending parade of craft shops. After promising that it would be the last, I took the photo (left) of Leslye, Janice and the boys outside the last of what we had started calling "crap shops". |
| Sunday - Gullane When we got back to the Hardies' home in Longniddry on Saturday evening, we were pretty happy to have the opportunity to rest up on Sunday and poke around some of the villages in East Lothian. As everyone knows (right?), Robert Louis Stevenson was born in the village of Gullane in 1850, and as it turns out the village was having a festival in honor of its favorite son while we were in the area. The highlight of the festival was a scavenger hunt for kids--and grown-ups at the beach park on the Firth of Clyde. We happily hunted for trivia about the life of RLS as we climbed over the inspiration for Spyglass Hill and peered out at the original Treasure Island. Here's a photo (left) of the crew digging for clues. It was an amazing trip--and certainly well-documented. Leslye, Janice and I took over a thousand photos among us. Here's a snap at left of Leslye getting in a photo of the family with its treasure map. Monday - Home So, yes, all good things do-- well, you know what. On Monday morning, we dropped Cameron at his school- Belhaven- which in the recent British "Good Schools" guide was described as "Hogwarts for Muggles." Later we dropped David for a day of golf at Muirfields and Leslye at home for a day of some sort of rest, we hope. Then it was off to the airport. |
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| ISLAND ADVENTURE 2006 |
| In 2005, Leslye and David Hardie entered the Tourism Relocation Program, when they left their home in Jackson, Wyoming, and removed themselves to Longniddry, near Edinburgh. By June 2006, Janice McDonald and I had tracked them down. Oh sure, they said something about wanting to send their sons to the same school David had attended, but we knew they were just trying to get away from us. We knew. Not caring when you're not wanted and casting good manners to the wind, we convinced them to take us with them on their family vacation to the Western Islands of Scotland. This is the story of our visit. |
| The Hardies have a wonderful old South African cape house over looking the Firth of Clyde in East Lothian. My comfy bedroom on the third floor in the photo at right had a magnificent view of the golf course and the North Sea. Two of Leslye's favorite features of the house are the garden and potting shed, where she tends to amazing flowers like the peony at left |
| We left directly after the service for Ullapool in the Highlands, which would be our jumping off place the next morning for our first of seven ferry rides. Along the way, we marvelled at the masses of rhododendrons (left) we saw along the highway. They were enormous, and they went on for miles. In Ullapool, we had the first of what would be an astonishing parade of outstanding dinners we would enjoy during the course of the week. If you're ever in Ullapool, check out The Celidh Place and say hi to Ewan Miller, the waiter, if he hasn't made it big in London or Hollywood by that time. (We hope he makes in show biz because we really don't foresee a long career in the food service business for him.) |
| Monday - Isle of Harris, Isle of Lewis. On Monday, we loaded the Peugot onto the Caledonian MacBrayne (Calmac) ferry (right) for the three-hour cruise to Stornaway on the Isle of Harris. Upon arrival, we drove to see the Callanish Stones on the Isle of Lewis (Harris and Lewis are the same island. I don't know why it has two names.), which are over four thousand years old. Although they pre-date the birth of Christ by over a thousand years, they are laid out in the shape of the cross of St. Andrew. On the road to Leverburgh, where we spent the night at a bed and breakfast, we stopped for the first of several sweater-buying opportunities (below). As you can see, we knew the wool would be fresh. After buying four sweaters on this trip, I'll never have to buy another one. |
| In Leverburgh, we spent the night at a bed and breakfast owned by the very charming John and Mary Ann MacSween (right). The view from their front door is the sunset photo at the top of the page. Mary Ann is the nutritionist at a local school, where the mother of one of the teachers is 81-year-old Annie Kate MacDonald. Annie Kate knits sweaters--which Mary Ann sells to visitors to her bed and breakfast. Needless to say, I bought a sweater, and Leslye not only bought one, but put in a special order for sweaters for the two boys. After dinner, we visited the Church of St. Clements in Leverburgh. The photo (right) is of Janice climbing a ladder to the tower of the church. |
| Janice and I left the Hardies to explore an old lighthouse designed by the father of Robert Louis Stevenson at Eilean Iarmain while we continued on to the Clan Donald Centre in Armadale. Janice wanted to trace her roots, but the staff at the center referred her to the chief of the clan--who lives in Savannah, Georgia! Here's a picture of her (below) outside the ruin of Amadale Castle, the ancient seat of Clan Donald. (There were no golden arches on the premises.) |
| Well, I never said we were the world's most sophisticated bunch. Here are Leslye, Cameron and Lachlan enjoying a laugh at a road sign (right) we saw on the way to Iona. Pottie turned out to be a vacant lot where lobster traps are kept. How disappointing. |
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| It was an amazing adventure. Janice and I can only hope that the Hardies enjoyed it as much as we did. (We think so--they seem to be smiling in most of the pictures.) Thanks to Janice, and especially to David, Leslye, Cameron and Lachlan for making it possible! |