Two posts in one day!

Before we left Vatisker we went across the road to visit the couple who own the old MacIver croft that Brad's great grandfather worked.  A very nice older couple named Norman and Ann.  It turns out Ann is Nan's cousin, the lady we met in Stornoway the other day.  Ann's grandfather bought the croft from the MacIvers, but she didn't know anything about them, so was glad to learn about them.  They were very sweet.

A few people we've met have been surprised that the decendants of 2 Lewis people met in Canada and got married.  What are the chances! they say.

We drove to the ferry lineup then hung around town for a while. It was sad leaving Lewis, but we'll go back someday.  We saw dolphins right outside Stornoway harbour.  Read for the 2 3/4 hour ferry ride, it was just a little rolly this time.  A beautiful rainbow met us in Ullapool.  In driving down the road we caught up to the rain, but it didn't last too long.  We stopped at Castle Leod, the home of the Earl of Cromartie, Chief of Clan MacKenzie.  Unfortunately it was their last Open Day of the year and we were too late for it - we got there around 6:30.  Got to walk around the grounds and take some pictures though.  We found our B&B in Strathpeffer, Holly Lodge.  It was built in 1901, a big Victorian house.  Strathpeffer was a Victorian spa town, so lots of villas and hotels. It's built on a hill, so it's different as we've mostly been staying in flat seaside towns.

After a late dinner we went to the town square, where the pipe band and dancers perform every Saturday night through the summer.  Back to our giant room at the B&B for some relaxation.

2 Upper Barvas, the Matheson croft (the half across the road from the house):

A blackhouse:

A peat fire:

Driving into the mouth of the ferry:

Ullapool:

The castle of my people:

Our room at Holly Lodge:

Callenish Standing Stones yesterday.  It bothers me that this is out of chronological order, but I'm too frustrated to fix it:

Friday we went to the Council Hall and a lovely lady spent time searching for Brad's family on ScotlandsPeople, which saved us a lot of time and money.  She told us to get out and enjoy the sunshine, so we drove up to Upper Barvas, and found the croft that my gg-grandfather John Matheson was born on, that his father and grandfather worked before him.  The current leasee, Murray, was wonderful, he spent an hour touring us around the property, explaining the croft system, and telling us what he is doing with the land.  He gave us a bottle of homemade beer, some peat and 3 warm eggs from the henhouse for our breakfast.  He also weaves Harris tweed, and gave us a demonstration and some scrap ends of cloth.

We drove on and stopped at the Blackhouse at Arnol, then the Blackhouse Village in Guiranin (I know that's probably spelled wrong!).  Learned a lot about the way of life of the crofters.  It was a very hard life.

We stopped at the Callenish Standing Stones next, very mysterious and not a lot known about them, as they don't seem to be marking anything astrological.

We drove back to Stornaway to pick up the information from the Council office, then dinner at the Arts Club restaurant.

We catch the ferry from Stornoway to Ullapool at 2:30 this afternoon (Saturday, nearly a 3 hour crossing), then stay at Holly Lodge B&B in Strathpeffer tonight.  I'll post pictures then.

Today we drove down to Harris in search of Brad's roots, and he found a lot of information.  The southern end of Harris has some beautiful sandy beaches, and the temperature got up to 17 degrees with a warm breeze.  The sun rarely comes out and there are nearly always clouds around the summits of the hills, but still, it was warm with no rain!

Mist and blue sky:

A beach in the distance:

Selfie on the beach:

It's all sand under the grass:

Tyler, I finally had my Irn Bru:

Well, the ferry was running 20 minutes late so we pulled out of Uig at 6:20 pm Monday.  I have to say, he man at the ticket window gave us a hard time (joking) about how we pronounce MacIver (here McIvor is pronounced that way, but MacIver is pronounced MacEEver). And every time a Canadian came to pick up their tickets, he would point to us and say 'More Canadians!' It was gray but not raining and the sea (The Little Minch) was a bit rolly.  It wasn't very crowded, so we had our choice of comfy reclining seats.  Sighted dolphins off the port side!  We had a late dinner of ferry food, and arrived in Tarbert at 8:00.  We drove north from Harris to Lewis, and after getting a bit lost driving through Stornoway in the dark, we arrived at Ravenstone B&B in Back at about 9:15.  I was pleasantly surprised that the entire drive was on a two lane road, not a single track in sight!  And I should explain that Harris and Lewis is one island, but they are called the Isle of Harris and the Isle of Lewis separately.  I don't know why.  Because we couldn't stay at this B&B Tuesday night, the owners found us another one that had a vacancy in Balallan.

This morning we had breakfast in the farmhouse kitchen with the other guests, a young couple from Ottawa with their baby, and the mans' parents from Toronto.  We had a pleasant visit with them, then headed in to Stornoway.  We found the house Brad's grandfather MacIver was born in.  A workman was replacing the upstairs window, so Brad asked him if he owned the house.  He said no, but he got the owner, and she invited us in.  George and Nan Smith bought the house in the 1950's and have lived in it ever since.  They think it was built around 1850. She gave us tea and homemade shortbread and we visited for quite a while.  They both speak Gaelic so I got to practise a bit! We were just going to leave when a friend from Harris popped in for a visit.  It turns out that Chris and her husband run the genealogy centre that a few people have told us we should visit! So we stayed and visited a bit more, and will see her at the centre tomorrow!

We then moved on to the library.  Brad found a bit of information about his family, and I found the history of the crofts in Barvas which included my family.  We went for dinner at the Royal Hotel.  Stornoway is bigger than Rothesay or Portree, so we have been pleasantly surprised.  Trees are more rare on Harris and Lewis than on Skye.  The land is rolling hills, but very rock strewn, not smooth like Skye.  There is lots of heather, and the sheep have free run.  On Skye you had to watch for sheep on the back roads, but here they are right on the highway.  We drove down to Balallan to stay at Tigh na Braich B&B. We have a large bedroom and a private sitting room.

Driving south from Stornoway to Balallan:

Lewis has hundreds of tiny lakes:

Tomorrow we drive to the south end of Harris, to the genealogy centre in Northon.

On Saturday we got up, caught the ferry to Colintraive and drove to Dunoon.  It was a bit overcast in the morning.  We wandered around the town in the morning,  as the Worlds finals didn't start until noon.  The sun came out in the afternoon,  and the dancing was amazing!  Out of the 60 dancers in the final, 24 were from Scotland, 22 from Canada and the other 14 from the US, Australia, New Zealand and even one from South Africa.  The juvenile champion is from the US, the junior from Scotland (the crowd went wild!), and the adult is Marielle Lesperance from Ontario.  We drove back to Bute and ate dinner in Port Bannatyne.

On Sunday we took the same ferry and drove north up the Cowal Peninsula.  We drove some familiar roads as we travelled, north from Inverary, past the wall of the Cruachan Reservoir, and up past Fort William.  We actually got to see Inverary twice, as after stopping there, we took the wrong road out.  It was my turn to drive, and it took us 1/2 hour to realize our mistake, so after driving a full hour, we were right back in Inverary again!  We stopped at Eillean Donan Castle, just before the bridge to Skye, which was the seat of Clan MacKenzie.  The tour guide was pleased to learn that I'm a McKenzie and showed me everything to do with the MacKenzies in the castle.  He told me he would raise a glass to me when he got home that night.  The castle is no longer the MacKenzies, it now belongs to the MacRaes.  We continued on into Broadford to the hostel.  It was a hot sunny day up to 20 degrees until about 6:00, when the weather worsened.  By evening it was blowing a sideways mist. Discovered that I had accidentally booked us in to separate dorm rooms, but was able to change to a private room for Monday night.  I've been spoiled with the B&B, it's hard to go back to hostelling!

Monday we drove up the west coast of Skye to Dunvegan castle, the castle of the MacLeods.  It was lived in at least up until the 1970's, and is undergoing renovation in one of the towers, so you can see the earlier renos that have been done.  Wandered through the beautiful gardens, I love the kitchen gardens and the greenhouses.  We took as many single track coast roads so we could to see the scenery.  I drove my first single track today!

Today we drove up the east coast and stopped in Portree for tea/coffee.  Picked up stuffed rolls and sweeties at the MacKenzie Bakery.  We continued up the coast and around the north end. What a desolate, windswept place, but beautiful with the purple heather spread over the hills.  We stopped at the Museum of Highland Life for a while (the cheapest Harris Tweed purses I've seen yet, but I'm holding out hope for cheaper on Lewis).  We also saw Flora MacDonald's grave.  Continued on to Uig and now have a few hours to kill before the ferry leaves.  So glad I am able to bring you all up to date!

The main stage at Cowal:

The MacKenzie crest above the door at Eilean Donan Castle:

The castle at low tide:

A single track road on Skye:

The Round Garden at Dunvegan Castle:



My drink of the day:

Mountain on Skye:

The pier at Portree:

Our weather luck has run out.  A mostly rainy, at times windy, day, with a bit of sun.  After our breakfast of fruit, porridge and homemade bread, we drove to Mount Stuart, the home of the Marquess of Bute.  A massive, beautiful home in the Gothic style. We walked through the kitchen garden,  which had huge beds of thyme, mint, rosemary and sage, amongst many other growing things.  The rosemary was almost as tall as me!  Unfortunately, no photos allowed, so you'll have to look it up to see what it's like.  Then we proceeded to drive right round the island with a few side jaunts off the beaten path, the most memorable of which was to St. Blane's Chapel, which was the site of a monastary built in the 700's.  It was the worst weather of the day and we took the wrong track from the parking lot.  When we finally got to the site it was very quiet, protected from the wind, beautiful and peaceful and wild.  I took no pictures because it was raining,  but you can probably look that up too.  Finished up with dinner in Port Bannatyne, which is just north of Rothesay.

We were relaxing in the living room, organising plans for the next bit of our trip, when our hosts came in and offered us whisky and/or tea.  We said yes to both, and Joan mixed my whisky with Drambuie.  It's called a Rusty Nail, and I must say was very tasty!  Andy stayed out and chatted for a couple of hours - Joan has a cold so didn't want to socialise.  Also met Winston the cat, and Flute, Meg and Freddy the Black Labs.

Must get to bed, tomorrow is a big day in Dunoon for the Worlds. I'll be thinking of Sarah competing in Saanich!

Here is Ettrick Bay, on a sunny day the water is turquoise:

This is Port Bannatyne:

Wow, I am really getting behind here!

Monday I walked around Lanark again.  The museum was closed,  but I sat in the sun at Castlebank Park for a while. Walked to the train station and picked up schedules for when I leave on Wed.  I walked back to the hostel to read for a while, then went over to the hotel for a pot of tea and some internet.  I had a nice long text conversation with Brad, then a nice Facebook chat with Mallory.   Absolutely no rain today.

Tuesday I walked a woodland trail that took me through some farmland.  The ponies looked at me with some suspicion,  but didn't kick or bite as advertised.  I tried to sit outside in the sun again, but the wasps were too bad no matter where I went.   Came in to do laundry and pack.  No rain again!

Wednesday I left the hostel at 8:30 and after taking a bus, two trains and another bus, I arrived at Glasgow airport at 11:15 to meet Brad.  We picked up our car (a Vauxhall Astra) and made it to the ferry at Wemyss Bay around 1:20.  Grabbed a quick lunch and caught the 2:05 ferry to Rothesay.  It is really beautiful here, lots of Victorian houses on the waterfront, palm trees and gorgeous views up the Kyle of Bute.   We are staying in a nice B&B in a house that was built in 1850.  When we got here Brad went down for a nap and I walked back into town (about 1/2 hour).  Did a bit of exploring,  then walked back to wake Brad up. Went out for a nice dinner.  No Rain for the 5th day in a row!

Today was a research day at the museum and the library.  Got one obituary,  and found the record of a memorial stone in one of the graveyards.  Drove up to the church, but the stone wasn't there.  It was a flat stone, so the grass could have grown over it. We also had time to tour Rothesay Castle,  which was built in the 1200's and is right downtown.  After dinner we drove north to the other ferry (only about 20 minutes).  And I drove back!   I haven't driven a standard in 20 years, I impressed myself.  I even backed into our parking spot!  No rain again!!  Ok, it rained in the night,  but that doesn't count!

The suspicious ponies:

 Brad on the ferry:

The view out our window:

The Serpentine Road on Canada Hill:

Looking up the hill:

The view from the top of the hill:

Finally, internet!  I'm sitting in the pub at the New Lanark Hotel drinking a Strongbow and waiting for steak and ale pie.  It's my reward for hiking up the river this morning for about 2 1/2 hours, on a trail remarkably like the Canyon View in Campbell River.  Made me miss my walking partner, Cathy!

Now to summarise the last few days.  Got to New Lanark no problem, though the train from Edinburgh to Motherwell was running 35 minutes late.  No problem getting a seat either this time.  Switched trains to head south - it was absolutely pouring when we arrived in Lanark.  Didn't last long though.  Caught the bus for the ride down to New Lanark,  it dropped me right at the hostel.  Settled in for the night.

Friday I walked up to the town, about a 35 minute walk. Connected to the internet at the library, but the server wouldn't allow me to access my blog.  Wandered up and down the High Street, then picked up some groceries at Morrisons.  Got lost on my way back, but eventually figured it out.  Curse my sense of direction!

Saturday I toured the heritage site.  The hostel is in one of the old buildings, but they also have the old schoolroom, store, one of the mills and a couple of homes set up how they used to be, in various other buildings.  This was a very progressive place to live and work in the early 1800's.  It was still a very hard life,  but the owner of the mill didn't allow children to work until age 10, whereas in other mills they started at age 6.  Children went into nursery school at age 18 months and had to attend school full time until age 10.  Classes were offered in the evenings for both adults and older children.   There was healthcare for all, and Robert Owen planted the forest around here and encouraged the residents to take their excercise on the paths he built.  Of course this all benefited the running of the mill, but he believed that everyone should be treated kindly and have the benefit of education.   He cut back working hours to 10 1/2, and his mill production didn't suffer.  He tried to get his measures passed into law, but the government (pressured by other mill owners) wouldn't do it.  His ideas were the basis for the co-op movement.

This photo is of Corra Castle,  at the end of my hike today. It dates back to the 14th or 15th century.

I'm staying in the building on the far left.

Another view of the town from the path to the graveyard.

One of the falls on the Clyde - called Corra Linn.

This afternoon I'm sitting in the tea room on the Royal Yacht Britannia, waiting for my whisky cake to be delivered.  I thought that I would take advantage of their free wifi while I'm here.

I love how, in the fancier places at least, you don't get sugar packets, or even perfectly formed sugar cubes, but rather lumps of both white and brown sugar that look as though they've been chipped off a larger block.  The only thing is, they don't provide tongs, or an extra spoon, so I've been reaching in with my fingers.  It feels wrong, but I see no alternative.

Turns out whisky cake is a fruitcake, very delicious.  Feels like Christmas though!

Anyway, the day started out sunny, so I put on my capris optimistically.   And then, because I did all my laundry last night, I promptly spilled oatmeal on them! It doesn't really show, so off I went, walking to the Britannia, since it was so nice; it took about 35 minutes.  The tour is very informative, includes an audio guide, and is full of bits of trivia about the royal family and the crew (you know how much I love trivia!).  I wandered for a good two and a half hours, and yes boys, I read everything!

It's clouded over now, but I have my fleece, so I'm going to walk back up past the hostel to the National Portrait Gallery.  If it starts to rain, I may hop on the bus.

Well I've decided, if I ever win the lotto, a really big one, I'm going to hire the yacht for a private function and invite everyone I know!

Got to the Portrait Gallery too late to see the whole thing, but saw the entire top floor.  In addition to the portraits, they tell you the history of the period you're looking at, so I learned a lot about the Reformation, the Restoration, the Jacobites, how women were viewed and how this changed over the years, and how Scotland was romanticized.  When the gallery closes, no one says a word to disturb, the staff just let you go on looking until you're done.

Now for photos:

A couple from the Tattoo on Monday

My hike to Arthur's Seat - where I've been

And where I'm going (the top of that hump in the middle)

I didn't do the last scramble to the top

The only double bed on the Britannia,  brought on board by Charles for his honeymoon with Diana

The state dining room

My favourite portrait from the gallery, because the blue is so bright, but I've forgotten her name. She either was French or married a Frenchman.  It looks small but it's a full size portrait.

Well today is laundry day, so while I wait for my clothes to dry, I'll update you on my adventures.

Last night was the Tattoo, and it certainly did not disappoint! We could hear the fighter jet fly over, but unfortunately couldn't see it because of the low cloud.  Morgan Bamford (world champion from New Zealand) is the featured dancer, and she and all the other dancers were amazing.  I think there was much more Highland dancing than last time, in addition to the dancers from Singapore,  India (must be from northern India, as they looked more Nepalese), Trinidad and Tobago and New Zealand.  Not to mention the pipes, drums and marching bands.

Today I decided it was time for some excercise, so I started the day by walking up Calton Hill, which is quite close to where I'm staying.  There are some nice views of the city from there, plus a half finished replica of the Parthenon.  Then I cut across the old town at Holyrood Palace, and climbed up to Arthur's Seat.  This is the top of an extinct volcano behind the palace, and you can see across the Firth of Forth to Fife, as well as the whole Old Town and New Town.

When I climbed back down I headed up the Mile to the North Bridge,  then up Princes Street to Charlotte Street.  Oh the shopping!  If only I had room in my backpack...

Walked through the Edinburgh Book Fair, where Herself was giving a talk yesterday.  Then toured Georgian House, which has been restored to its original late 1700's glory.   Then back to the hostel for dinner and laundry.

I'll post photos later!  Oh and I've booked myself into the hostel at New Lanark for 3 nights after I leave here, if any of you care to look it up.

Sorry I couldn't post yesterday, but I was experiencing technical difficulties with my internet connection.  Before it cut out on me I got to Skype with Brad, Tyler and Shadow.  It was nice to see their faces!

Yesterday I made my way from the hostel to the subway to the train station.  I bought a train ticket to Edinburgh and jumped on the train with 5 minutes to spare.  I would have been better to wait half an hour for the next train though, as I ended up standing for the entire hour.  Oh well, I was standing across from some people from Edmonton, so we passed the time discussing the forest fire situation in central BC and Alberta.  Conclusion - the smoke is bad in both places.

Got off the train and found the hostel no problem, it's about a 15 minute walk.  I put my pack in a locker and headed back to the Mile to wander.  Edinburgh has such a different vibe than Glasgow, especially with the Fringe on.  Glasgow seemed more quiet and dignified, whereas Edinburgh has hundreds more tourists in the streets, different performances of street theatre every few feet and lots of people handing out flyers trying to get you to go to the shows.  I booked myself a tour for later in the afternoon at Real Mary King's Close, then walked back to the hostel to check in.  I've got a nice room and it was such a relief to be able to unpack and spread out a bit.  I walked back to the Mile for my tour.  It was an hour long and quite interesting, about the closes that have been blocked up by the surrounding buildings, but they still exist underground. We actually went down between 2 and 3 floors underground.  I walked back to the hostel, then on to the Tesco up the block.  They must have a theft problem, as they had two big east indian bouncers keeping an eye on everyone in the store.  Was going to eat, but the kitchen and dining room were overrun by French teenagers.  Went back up to my room and logged on to check my email, skype, textplus and facebook. Had a little FB conversation with Sarah, then my long skype with home.  Went back downstairs to have dinner around 8:30, but there was another round of French teenagers cooking and eating; I didn't want to wait so huddled in a corner to make dinner and eat.  Some of them were quiet, polite and cleaned up after themselves, and some were not and did not. Like teens everywhere I guess.  The ones who had to clean up after their friends who left were not impressed to say the least! When I came back to my room, I couldn't get on the internet, so I read a bit more then went to bed.

Today I got to Scotlands' People just after 10:00 and researched until 3:30.  Found lots of birth, marriage and death certificates and printed them off.  I walked over to the Tattoo ticket office to pick up my tickets.  Then back to the hostel to have an early dinner and try to avoid the French hoards.  Now I'm up in my room blogging for you.  I'll leave around 8 for the Tattoo,  which I'll write about tomorrow,  as it will be quite late when I get back.

The weather was a real mixed bag yesterday.  It was sunny and very hot on the train, but rained later in the afternoon.  Today is quite breezy,  mostly sunny, only spit rain for a couple of minutes this afternoon.

I have 20 minutes of internet left, so let's see if I can keep this short and type fast.

Fifty thousand spectators watching ten thousand pipers and drummers.   That's who I spent the day with.

And this is what I looked like.  Use your imagination - that's what the weather was like.

It was televised live and broadcast on a big screen.

This is a small part of one of the Bus Rows:

I took the subway back to the hostel and this is what I saw on the walk from the station:

I can truly appreciate what it takes to play the pipes in that weather.   My fingers were stiff with cold, I don't know how they do it, but good on them!

Yesterday I met a man from Dawson Creek, and today I ate lunch with a pipers' mom from Edmonton.  And when I say I'm from Vancouver Island, I've had a German lady tell me she's been to Victoria, and a Swiss lady who has camped in Tofino.  I remember the days when no matter where you were from in BC you had to say you were from Vancouver because no one had heard of anywhere else.

Tomorrow - the adventures of Donna getting herself to Edinburgh!

Ah, libraries - land of free WiFi.  I knew there was a reason I love 'em so much!

What did I forget to tell you yesterday?  Oh yes, school is in session here so in the late afternoon there are cute little kids in their uniforms everywhere, and lots of teenage girls in their mini skirts and ties.  And uniform shops in the malls.

Also I realized somewhere over Greenland that I left the charger for my camera battery at home.  Bummer!

Got another roommate last night, a twenty-something girl from Brighton named Gail.  She is attending a marine sciences conference here, and it's her first time in Scotland.  She's very nice.  Unfortunately, Stephanie locked her padlock key in her locker, so at 7:30 this morning there was a man with a boltcutter in our room.  Yay!

I've had a bit of a slow start this morning.  I was sitting on my lower bunk kind of hunched over, and when I twisted to reach for something, something in my back popped.  I think it's a rib; doesn't hurt too much, but still...

Yesterday at the Paisley library I found two obituaries, plus a few other references to possible ancestors in old newspapers.  Here at the Mitchell library their collection is pretty much the same as what I'll find in Edinburgh, so I'll wait and do my research there. So I've decided to walk to the cathedral, then stop at the Willow Tea Room on my way back.

Well it's evening now and I was hungry when I left the library so stopped at the Tea Room right away.  Here's what I had:

Delicious!

Off to the Glasgow Cathedral - very large, and impressive as cathedrals always are:

And what would a visit to a cathedral be without a tour of the Necropolis:

I've been able to text both Brad and Tyler today; it's nice to 'hear' voices from home.

I've been thinking, it sounds so romantic to live in a Victorian townhouse, but it really is impractical!  The heating, the never-ending maintenance, the cost of getting the fourth floor windows cleaned!  I guess I won't buy one while I'm here, no matter how tempting!