ADVENTURES IN SCOTLAND - 2001
| Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 |
| Selected pictures | More pictures |
After 8 years of dreaming, planning and saving, cousins Alicia and Beth finally made their journey to Scotland. This is an account of that trip. The text is taken from Alicia's journal which she kept during our travels. This site was created by Beth who is experimenting with html.
Although previous planning was centered around the idea of visiting the southern parts of Scotland, a last minute development changed our plans. Instead, we decided to visit friends in Wick, which is pretty far north. So a quick purchase of maps of the highlands and a guide book was made. The planning was done on a daily basis rather than a master plan/itinerary set out in advance.
After much consideration we decided to rent a car in Edinburgh rather than rely on public transportation to keep our options more flexible.
PART 1
No private vehicles have been allowed at LAX since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City since 11 September. My question is . . . if hijackers are willing to blow up whole planes full of people to damage buildings on the ground, what would stop them from bringing a suitcase bomb in a cab, limo or shuttle bus, all of which are allowed up to the terminals?
United was limiting the number of passengers in the terminal, so the line started outside on the sidewalk. I can't say I breezed through to the ticket counter, but I've had far longer waits around the holidays. Fortunately, I had no trouble checking in with my E-ticket.
Some people in L.A. evidently live under rocks. Despite all the coverage in the media the past 2 weeks about what you can no longer carry on board the plane (knives, scissors, nail clippers, etc.), one woman became somewhat belligerent when she found out (looked like she had needlework scissors with her). The poor gal who was shepherding folks through the lines to the security checkpoint finally called out asking folks not to take their frustration out on her--it was an FAA rule.
Amazingly, the gate at Dulles at which my flight arrived from L.A. was right next to the gate we were departing to London from. And, my cousin, Beth, was there waiting when I arrived.
We flew up the east coast to Newfoundland, then across the Atlantic. An almost full moon lit our way, and when we flew over Ireland, it looked as if a giant spotlight's beam was tracing its way across the land as we flew above it. Spectacular!
Although we had been warned to close the window shades against the rising sun if we wanted to sleep, it was still dark when we landed at Heathrow.
Thankfully, our luggage arrived shortly after we did. Unfortunately, we had to tote it around the airport with us for a couple of hours until we could check it for our British Airways flight to Edinburgh that left about 5 hours after we arrived at Heathrow. At least there were 2 of us, so one could look after the luggage while the other wandered or shopped.
Although security measures had dramatically become stricter at LAX, Beth found few changes at Dulles and things seemed normal at Heathrow and Edinburgh. All airports seemed far emptier than normal, however.
Our real adventure started in Edinburgh when we picked up the car. With no instruction or manual on how the car worked (or Scotland's rules of the road or how to drive on the left), we were on our own. Due to my lack of binocular vision, Beth is the designated driver for the trip.
One aspect of driving in the U.K. that we'd been warned about were "roundabouts". Instead of roads in some places meeting at an intersection with a stoplight, the Brits like to send their drivers in circles. You can enter and exit from/to any road that meets in the roundabout, and sometimes there are as many as 6 roads coming into it. The trick was figuring out which one you wanted to exit onto and which lane you needed to be in to do so (all without hitting any other vehicle or driving in circles). So, of course, there was a roundabout within a mile of where we picked up the car. We survived our first roundabout.
With fingers crossed, we headed for the ring road on the south side of Edinburgh, as the B&B we'd booked our first night at (Joppa Rocks Guest House, near
Portobello on the water) was on the east side of town (the airport is west of it) and we'd been warned not to drive in Edinburgh (tho I think the warning was more for the hassles of parking than actually driving there).
We had one of the rooms on the top floor. It must have the world's smallest bathroom! While the 22" width of the bathroom near the toilet was snug enough, the clearance between the sink where you stand and the towel rack on the door behind you was only 15". Forget turning around!
Continuing to follow the warnings of several folks not to drive in Edinburgh itself, we took the bus into the city (how we were still awake after being awake for 24 hours, I'll never know) to look around. Thankfully, one bus took us all the way from Joppa Rocks into the center of Edinburgh. Despite checking out half a dozen places, our search for traditional music was in vain. We did wander the Royal Mile and viewed the exterior of Edinburgh Castle at the top of the hill.
Since we'd each been up for about 34 hours (and me with less than 3 hours sleep the night before), we called it an early night. It sure felt good to stretch out in bed!
Morning came all too soon, but we needed to get underway. After a somewhat leisurely breakfast at the B&B, it was time for Beth to brave driving again. This time we took the northern route through Edinburgh, then crossed the Firth of Forth on the Forth Road Bridge.
Our first real tourist stop was Dunfermline Abbey, burial place of Robert the
Bruce. We toured the abbey and the ruins, and had an up close and personal
meeting with one of the resident squirrels. Beth met the challenge of
driving in a medium sized town. The only casualty so far was one hubcap that
had a run-in with a curb.
Catching the M90 (a highway) out of Dunfermline, we continued north toward Perth. Enroute, we tried to tour our first castle . . . Loch Leven Castle in Kinross. However, when we arrived, we found that the castle was on an island in the loch and we'd just missed the last boat of the day by mere minutes. Oh, well; it looked interesting from across the loch. Although it had been cloudy while we were in Dunfermline, we could now see sun and blue sky.
So, from there, we journeyed on to Perth. Although not planned, our first
activity was to get lost. 
Finally, we found the youth hostel -- our lodging for the night. There wasn't a friendly person in our room, unfortunately. After depositing our stuff in the room and claiming our beds, we headed off in search of dinner. There was a hotel across the street from the hostel, so we took the easy option and ate dinner there. Beth was the brave one and tried lamb for the first time in decades. I played it safe and went with the salmon. The meals were OK; nothing great. Despite plans to get to bed at a decent hour, we stayed up late trying to plan out our itinerary. This became increasingly difficult as the evening wore on, as our brains were on information overload.
Our first stop of the day was Scone Palace. On the way into the estate, we had a standoff with a kamikaze pheasant. Although we slowed down to a crawl in anticipation of its crossing the road in front of us, it waited until we were almost upon it before running in front of the car. Then it spent a minute or more daring us to hit it. Finally, we won the battle, and the pheasant lived to tell the tale.
Before going into the house, we wandered the grounds. By that time it was
threatening to rain, so we decided to do the outside activities while it was
still dry. The old graveyard was interesting . . . some graves were several
hundred years old. There was even one where the moss was growing in the
lettering, so you could read parts of the inscription by reading the moss.
The palace is most picturesque from the outside, partially covered in colorful red ivy. A nice change from our ever-present green in the States.
What British garden would be complete without a maze? Scone Palace has a star-shaped hedge maze known as the "Murray Star Maze". Conveniently, they have a raised observation deck at one end so that you can see the overview of the maze (and take photographs). Beth and I "played by the rules" and completed the maze before checking it out from above. From start to finish, the maze took us less than 5 minutes to navigate.
Our second stop in Perth was at Balhousie Castle to tour the Black Watch Museum. I had hoped to find a list of those who had served with the Black Watch, as I wanted to look up John Beddow, a member of the band I had met back in the 1970s when the Patriots, a community marching group I was involved with, performed with the Royal Marines and Black Watch in Washington, DC. To my disappointment, they had no such list. When we finished the tour, we asked where the castle was and were told we were in it. That was a castle?
Our luck with the rain holding off ended, and Beth got her first experience driving in the rain "on the wrong side of the road" while on the A9 (a smaller road than the M90 had been) between Perth and Pitlochry. We stopped to take photos near Killiecrankie, where the low hanging clouds looked ominous over the mountains.
Our next tourist stop after Perth was at Blair Castle. Our constant guide for the trip (along with the invaluable Ordnance Survey Maps for Northern & Southern Scotland) was a gift from Beth to me, the guide "Scotland" by Lonely Planet. Under the heading of Blair Castle, it says: "One of the most popular tourist attractions in Scotland, Blair Castle is the seat of the Duke of Atholl. Outside this impressive white castle, set beneath forested slopes above the River Garry, a piper pipes in the crowds each day." What it doesn't mention is that the piper plays for 15 minutes or so 3 times during the day, so you have to be there at the right time to hear him. Fortunately
for us, we were there at one of the times he played. We wondered if the
tourist "coach" (bus) that arrived awhile after we did were wondering where
that piper was. Disagreeing with the guidebook, "impressive" wasn't exactly
the word we'd use to describe the exterior of the castle. As Beth put it, it
looked more like something out of Disney than Scottish history. (Perhaps the
fact that it looked recently painted didn't help its "historic" image.)
By that time it was sprinkling, so again we decided to tour the grounds first before the weather worsened. Blair Castle has several tall trees in its "Diana Grove" (named after the goddess of hunting). We even saw at least two giant sequoias, native to my home state of California.
Instead of coming off a hall as in most houses, most of the rooms at Blair Castle lead directly from one to the next. They've organized the tour well so you only pass through each area once. Photography was not allowed, so I wished for postcards of some of the items to share with family back home. Unfortunately, there were no postcards to be had of the items I wanted.
As we headed north (still on the A9) out of Perth, the rain increased, so we didn't make any of the stops that we had planned. This meant that we missed Fortingall, a picturesque village with thatched roof cottages, and Glen Lyon, with a lovely waterfall (both according to my guidebook).
Our place of rest for the night was the youth hostel in Inverness (SYHA). We shared a room with three other women. The two from Australia (who were on a nine week tour of the UK -- they'd already been to Ireland) were friendly. Inverness is known for rolling up the sidewalks early. I'd have to concur with that. So, instead of driving around trying to find someplace to eat, we took the easy way out (again) and ate at the hotel 'round the corner from the hostel.
Once back at the hostel, I took the opportunity to check my email for 50p ("p" is short for "pence"; it's about 75 cents American). But, for some reason, it wouldn't let me send new mail or reply to emails I'd received. Frustrating.
The lights were out when we returned to our room after watching the news, so we tried to be quiet so as to not disturb the three ladies already in bed. Unfortunately, the room next to ours was occupied with several noisy college-age girls. While Beth and I were getting ready for bed, they took their noisy "party" from the hall near our door into their room. After returning from the bathroom, I started getting ready for bed (in the dark, since I was the last one to turn in) and discovered that the "neighbors" still sounded as noisy as ever. Not knowing whether they'd quiet down in 5 minutes or several hours, I decided to take matters in hand, so I went and knocked on their door and asked them to keep it down. Fortunately, they complied (for the most part).