Scotland

After we left Edinburgh, we still spent several more days travelling around Scotland. Murray and Bill bought 'Jimmy' hats and entertained the others on our bus with their caps! I do try to keep him in line, but I am not always successful.

We called into the upmarket town of St Andrews, the 'Home of Golf', and Murray was thrilled to putt 9 holes of golf on the famous course. He squirrelled away a few momentos as well. St Andrews is also where Prince William and Kate went to college and fell in love. Kate was lucky she met her prince, as otherwise I have no idea how she could afford to eat out -  I bought a cup of coffee and a scone with jam and clotted cream, and it set me back ￡6 and 15 pence. That equates to about $11 Australian. The cream alone was ￡1. Worth it though...

If any of you have read the Outlander Series - some of you may know it as Diana Gabaldon's series of books starting with 'Dragonflies in Amber' - you may recall that some of the scenes were set in the Culloden Moors. Our tour spent some time in that battlefield area where historical markers are displayed depicting the positions of both sides of this last rising of the Jacobite rebellion. So many Scottish highlanders were slaughtered there on a fateful day in 1746 while standing strong for their Bonnie Prince Charlie. 

The next day we enjoyed our Loch Ness experience. No sign of Nessie, but we did spend about an hour out on the loch and heard all the history and saw a beautiful rainbow!

Loch Lomond

No rest for the wicked - the next day we were back in the bus and caught a ferry from the Isle of Skye back to the mainland and drove beneath the towering mountain of Ben Nevis. We stood on the 'Bonnie, Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond' and heard the true story behind that sad song.

Everyday we see several old castles along the route - they would have once been significant buildings, but many are in ruins today - although still impressive looking. The bonus of doing a bus tour like this is that when you see some historic building or pass some scene, the tour guide fills you in on the significance or the story behind it. If we were driving on our own, we would have passed through countless towns and seen numerous castles and have been oblivious to the interesting history and some personal stories behind them.

This time of the year is beautiful in Scotland as the Heather is blooming. Every grassy area was lush and green.

Look at this colourful heather

Even when the sky is overcast the views are still beautiful

Glen Coe - wild and rugged nature at its best

We stayed a night in Glasgow at an impressive Hotel/Golf complex that overlooked the city and the River Clyde. The next day we said farewell to Scotland and boarded a ferry to cross the Irish Sea over to Belfast in Northern Ireland.