Scotland - Part 1 of 3 - the Excursions

August 1, 2010

As I await for my flight to Copenhagen at the Glasgow international airport, I reminisced the great memories of the past nine days. I stayed with my friend Graz near Kelvingrove in Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland with a population of 600,000 (over a million in the urban area), and would use her flat as my base. That evening I was greeted with a home cooked meal of the most traditional Scottish fare: haggis, neeps and tatties.

The next day we left early in the morning and hit the road towards the Trossachs National Park. After days of touring one city after another on foot and/or public transportation, visiting the highlands in Graz’s Honda was a definite welcoming change. We picked up sandwiches along the way and off we went. The highlands reminded me of a combination of the various drives I took in Canada, with luscious greens, small roads, and many little towns and villages dotted along the way. They even had cows and sheep!! The only thing missing were the Timmies.

At our first stop in Luss, the morning sun slowly rose above Loch Lomond, providing some perfect picture moments. With our trusted A to Z map book, we navigated through glens but bypassed bens, visited cairns but neglected invers. After a wonderful picnic at the Crinan locks, we headed off to the Kilmartin stones before checking into Oban. We even stopped at the Cruachan visitor centre, an energy station owned by Scottish Power, the company Graz works for.

2010 07 24 - Luss, UK - Loch Lomond

2010 07 24 - Temple Wood Nether Largie Cairn

2010 07 24 - Kilmartin, UK - Kilmartin Stones

2010 07 24 - Oban, UK

2010 07 24 - Cruachan Visitor Centre

2010 07 24 - Inverarnan, UK - Drover's Inn

Our next road trip was two days later to the Isle of Bute in the Firth of Clyde. We boarded the ferry from Wymiss Bay to Rothesay and followed the perimeter of the island. We stumbled upon a great find – a 12th century ruined chapel of St. Blane’s, a bishop born on the Isle of Bute and died in 590AD. We also drove up the Serpentine Canada Hill in Rothesay, Bute’s version of San Francisco’s Lombard Street.

2010 07 26 - Rothesay, UK - hop on hop off bus for Isle of Bute

2010 07 26 - Isle of Bute, UK

2010 07 26 - Isle of Bute, UK - St. Blane's Chapel

2010 07 26 - Isle of Bute - Graz & Misty

2010 07 26 - Rothesay, UK - Serpentine Canada Hill

In our final outing, we ventured east toward Perth and arrived at Stirling Castle, where Mary Queen of Scot was crowned. Below the castle were the Drummond Pleasure Ground with its Star Pyramid, dedicated to those who were martyred to uphold civil and religious freedom in Scotland. Next to it was the Valley Cemetery, built at the site of the Jacobite batteries in the 1745 Rebellion. The famous Protestant reformer John Knox was buried there.

2010 07 30 - Stirling, UK - Drummond Pleasure Ground

2010 07 30 - Stirling, UK - Valley Cemetery

We next headed off to the picturesque St. Andrews, the oldest golf course in the world and one of the nine links courses where the British Open could be held. The course was also opened to the public, giving great accessibility to everyone.

2010 07 30 - St. Andrews, UK - 18th Hole at St. Andrews Links
2010 07 30 - St. Andrews, UK

2010 07 30 - Elie, UK - picturesque town along the way

These excursions barely scratched the surface of what Scotland had to offer. I felt extremely fortunate to have the opportunity. Thanks Graz and Misty for being such great tour guides!!

1 Glasgow International Airport

2 Copenhagen, Denmark

3 toast with orange marmalade

4 I do miss the discipline from work, otherwise this blog update would be done much sooner