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September, 2008
In September, we took a vacation and traveled to Scotland for a little rugby (not me ... Rankin) and exploring. So, let's talk rugby. Every other year or so we travel to various exotic locations where Rankin plays "old boy" rugby (you must be at least 35 years old to play). This year the Golden Oldies Rugby Festival was held in Edinburgh, Scotland where teams from 15 different countries such as Japan, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Cook Island, etc. were represented. We joined our Texas friends and were part of the Texas XXXs team whom we've joined several times for past rugby events. I had never been to Scotland so we stayed an additional 10 days after the rugby activities to travel throughout this beautiful country. We arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland on Monday, September 1st a little jet lagged but after a short nap were ready for the first days events ... the Parade. That evening dressed in kilts and cowboy boots (that's right), we took the bus to Edinburgh Castle where parade ceremonies were conducted. Once the ceremony concluded, we walked from Edinburgh Castle down the Royal Mile through the streets of Edinburgh getting waves and smiles from local residents until we reached the park where the party was located. The celebration went on late into the evening which made it a bit challenging for game day on Tuesday. During this event, there were three rugby games played on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday allowing for a well deserved day of rest in between games (thank goodness). The Texas team played teams from different countries (i.e. Scotland, Australia, etc.) with each game ending in a tie ... all three games ended in a tie how amazing! Everyone played with spirit and vigor so after each game players and their better halves rewarded themselves with at least one pint. In between game days, we had one organized day out and one free day. Wednesday, the organized day out, was arranged by the Golden Oldies organization and included camel racing and a display of the Highland games. We weren't exactly sure about the link between Scotland and camel racing, but we assumed someone would explain it to us. Unfortunately, the camels called in sick, so there were pig racing instead. We're still not sure of the connection between camel racing and Scotland, but hey what the heck. We enjoyed watching the little piggies run and the examples of the Highland games which were performed by two very large, strong men in kilts. On Friday our free day, Rankin and I chose to go it alone and we did a city tour which included a great tour of Edinburgh Castle and the city of Edinburgh. On Sunday, the last day of events, we spent the afternoon visiting Stuart, Rankin's friend, who owns an outstanding 19th century home in Scotland. We had a very enjoyable and delicious lunch with Stuart and his lovely family. It was a pleasure for me to have the opportunity to meet this wonderful family. Hopefully, we'll get the chance to reciprocate very soon and have Stuart and his family to our home (the Heart). Sunday evening, we went to the final dinner party of the Golden Oldies Rugby Festival. This is a huge dinner party where everyone dresses in the finest garb, eats, drinks, dances and has a great time. This was the final event for the 2008 Golden Oldies Rugby Festival and on Monday we were on our own. If you would like to see a short video of the Golden Oldies event, click on the picture below.
After our late night party Sunday, our solo journey through Scotland began very early Monday morning renting a car and traveling to our first destination, Carnoustie, where we found a very lovely bed & breakfast called Old Manor. We won't bore you with all of our travels ... just the highlights. The town of Carnoustie is known for it's world famous golf courses. Did we golf while in Carnoustie ... nope, I know it's crazy but on Tuesday we drove to Dundee specifically to see the Royal Research Ship, Discovery, used by Captain Robert Scott (1868-1912) on his polar explorations. From there, we toured the Glamis Castle, one of Scotland's best-known and most beautiful castles which was a must see. Of course, you can't visit Scotland without seeing at least one distillery. So Wednesday, we traveled north a bit and toured and tasted our way through the Fettercairn Distillery which was established in 1824. We couldn't leave Scotland without at least one bottle of Scotch, so a little happier and with a little less money we continued our travels to Fasque House, home of William Gladstone, four times Prime Minister, and then onto Dunnottar Castle. The ruins of this castle are located on a magnificent, cliff top which provides a stunning view of the North Sea. After the hike up to Dunnottar Castle ruins, we were ready for a break, but we had one more castle to visit today the famous Balmoral Castle. Unfortunately, this day it was closed to the public because the Queen was in residence. On Thursday, another distillery tour this time Glenlevit located near the town of Tomintoul, this distillery is one of the most famous in Scotland. We made a quick stop at the Drumin Castle ruins before ending our day in Elgin at the Pine Lodge. We got an early start Friday and began our day with a stop at the Speyside Cooperage where we watched highly skilled coopers make and repair oak barrels used in the local whisky industry. If you click on the picture below and watch the video, you'll see the coopers at work. The coopers held our attention for quite some time, but we eventually moved on and ended the day at Ballindalloch Castle, the family home of the Macpherson-Grants since 1546. Besides the Falkirk Wheel which you'll read about in a bit (I hope), one of the most interesting sites was the Culloden Battlefield. We spent pretty much all day Saturday at this site. At Culloden Battlefield, Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobite army were finally crushed on April 16, 1746. The battle lasted only 40 minutes; the prince's army lost some 1,200 men out of 5,000, and the king's army 300 of 9,000. The tour takes you through the Field of the English and the guides did an excellent job creating a visual image of the battle. Though most of our day was spent at the battlefield, we had a little time to travel through the quant and popular town of Inverness before driving to Fort Augustus. Sunday was a very leisurely day spent walking around town (Fort Augustus) and watching the boats pass through the locks. I was fighting a losing battle with my cold, so we decided to give ourselves a little down time. After a little downtime by Monday, we were ready to go. In the Caledal Locks museum yesterday we read about Neptune's Staircase and decided that would be our next stop. Located in Banavie, Neptune's Staircase is one of Scotland's most prominent engineering triumphs of the mid-19th century. It is a series of nine locks that were constructed at the same time as the Caledonian Canal, raising Telford's canal 64 feet. This greatly shortened the distance required for goods moving from the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean and bypassed the treacherous storms that often rage around Scotland's northern tier. We found these locks fascinating and hopefully our photographs in the slide show will do it justice. Our next stop was Inverlochy Castle which is one of the few Highland Castles to survive largely unaltered since before the Wars of Independence (1296-1357). We had a quick visit at another small distillery before finding a castle in Bo'Ness for the night. Tuesday was our last day in Scotland before flying back to the states, so we tried to make the best of it. Our first tour was at the Falkirk Wheel (mentioned earlier). It's difficult to describe this engineering feat so you may want to watch the video (just click on the picture below). The Falkirk Wheel is the world's only rotating boatlift with a rotating arm that turns like the sails of a windmill, lifting as much as 600 tons to a height of ~75 feet to link two of Scotland's great historic waterways the Forth & Clyde and the Union canals ... you really need to see it! Our next visit was Stirling Castle with its magnificent strategic position made it the grandest prize in the Scots Wars of Independence in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The tour alone took hours but was well worth the visit. After completing our Stirling Castle tour which joined a group to tour the Duke of Argyll's home located nearby. This home was a nobleman's town house built in three phases from the 16th century onward, this building is actually older than the name it bears - that of Archibald, the ninth earl of Argyll (1629-85), who bought it in 1666. it was for many years a military hospital, then a youth hostel. It now reflects how the nobility lived in 17th century Stirling. It's impossible to visit Stirling without seeing the Wallace Monument. It was near Old Stirling Bridge that the Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace and a ragged army of Scots won a major victory in 1297. We ended the touring portion of our travels at the Wallace Monument it was time to return home. We drove back to Edinburgh, returned our rental car and made the long flight back home to the Heart. We thoroughly enjoyed our travels through Scotland and hope that you will enjoy the slide show we put together. Just click on the photograph below to view the slide show on another page.
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