Tea For 2 + 2 At Turnberry

Turnberry Hotel

Happy Anniversary to Us Four! We celebrated our joint 40th anniversaries with High Tea at the Turnberry Hotel.  The Turnberry Championship golf course, where the British open is played on occassion, was established in 1902 by the Marquise who owned our Castle. He was an avid golfer.

In 1906, he decided that a hotel should be built to encourage people to come to the golf course. Like our Castle, no expense was spared in the building of the hotel.

Our view

Tea Steeper - I had to watch the middle one as I ordered green tea

We had a fine afternoon having men in kilts fawn over us and a pianist serenade us. Thanks Mutti and Dad.

We're The Kings and Queens Of The Castle

Friday was moving day, again. We came southeast from Oban, following the shores of Loch Lomond. We crossed the Erskine Bridge over the Firth of Clyde skirting Glasgow, and then south west to Maybole and Culzean (pronounced coolaine) Castle.

The drive was uneventful, but Loch Lomond is beautiful in the autumn. Arriving at a castle in the golden, evening sunlight is rather a pleasant way to end a day. We passed through the stone arches with signs saying, PRIVATE, RESIDENTS ONLY. There was lots of laughter in the car. I’m fairly certain that, no matter what anyone would say, deep inside, each of us is playing kings and queens.

Brewhouse Flat

The rooms of the Brewhouse Flat are huge and comfortable and surprisingly warm. It is decorated in antiques and the kitchen in very well equipped with fine china etc. Outside our windows is a cliff face that drops to the sea. We have great sunsets.
For our last week together in Scotland, it’s not bad.

Lovely Day

Campbell House

On Thursday the 25th we chose to explore the nearby Loch Fyne area around Inverary. Von had read about the Crarae Gardens which were putting on a particularly fine, fall display. They were indeed. This is a garden held by the National Trust. The Campbell family has a grand estate, and in 1986 Lady Campbell turned the gardens over to the Trust and they are beautiful.


There are different walks and we chose the longest of about 3.5 K. In the Victorian era it became fashionable to send out plant hunters around the world in search of exotic species. China and the east were popular destinations, as well as Australia and New Zealand.


A nephew of the Campbell family was a plant hunter, and he discovered that rhododendrons grew along streams in their native habitats. He suggested that instead of formal gardens, as was the fashion, the Campbells should use the stream and small gorge on their estate to display their new collection. They ended up with over 600 types of rhododendrons. These plants, so prized in Canada, are considered weeds in many locations of Scotland.

Of course we couldn’t drive to the Gardens without stops - the first one being five minutes down the road for some MORE beautiful reflection shots. Whoever decided to plant clumps of larch in the pine forests deserves a medal. They are stunning this time of the year.

Standing Stones

Next stop, the tiny village of Kilmartin in the Glen of Kilmartin. This Glen is the birthplace of the nation of Scotland and you can’t walk in any direction without stubbing your toe on standing stones, burial mounds or cairns. The church has a priceless group of 8th C crosses and the graveyard an equally priceless collection of knight stones.

We drove home along the shore of the aptly named Loch Awe, the longest loch in Scotland. Again, not a great distance but such a great intake of beauty and history.

Staffa Pictures

Staffa

Fingel's Cave

the OTHER end of the Giant's Causeway

Better late than never.

Sunshine On Our Shoulders

Wednesday was even more glorious than Monday had been. John and Von dropped us off in Oban in the morning. They went to visit Falcon Scott, grandson of Scott of the Antarctic. He and John had worked together last year in Antarctica restoring Scott’s huts.

We wandered around Oban. Had a great lunch overlooking the harbour. Then set off walking along the seafront promenade to Dunollie Castle, about a 2 mile hike. This is the ruined seat of Clan MacLaren. The views were special. Once again, we just sat there, enjoying the sunshine and the vistas until it was time to meet up with J&V.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel 

Hebridean Interlude

Leaving for Mull

Yesterday we checked off one of the things on Sheelagh’s wish list. We left in the dark to catch the 8 am ferry to the Island of Mull. The crossing was only 45 minutes, and it was as smooth as you could imagine an ocean crossing to be. We watched from the top observation deck as treeless, grass covered islets slipped by. From time to time a castle or ruin was perched on the shore.
Mull is a large island. We drove across to the west coast through almost totally uninhabited country. We moved from treed to treeless with the sea on our left and hills sloping up to a high hilltop on our right. The road was a single lane with frequent passing places all the way. There was hardly a car throughout the trip. We made it to Fionnphort with a little time to spare before the small boat came to take us to the Isle of Staffa.


The Atlantic was on her very best behaviour. There were seals bobbing around us and shags, birds that I would have thought were cormorants, were plentiful, as were gannets. The sea was like your proverbial millpond.


Staffa is a tiny, uninhabited islet famous for two things; being the other end of the Giant’s Causeway (not the N. Ireland end) and home to Fingal’s Cave. Felix Mendelssohn heard the waves inside the cave and was inspired to write his Hebridean Suite. The island had been owned by a New York millionaire, who gave it to the National Trust for Scotland in honour of his wife’s birthday. And we thank him.


We stopped at the island of Iona, the Sacred Isle, briefly. This is where St Columba landed and founded a monastery that spread Christianity to Scotland.



The plan after we got off the boat was to drive along west coast of Mull to the village of Calgary so we could have our picture taken there. But the road was only one George wide and we didn’t make it before we had to turn back for the ferry. We did make it to Tobermory and wished we had longer. Got home after dark.




Found the tomb of Lachlan Macquarie, the Father of Australia,  out in the middle of a field in Mull. Strange.

PS Due to technical difficulties, can't show you pics from Staffa today.

The Couple Who Set Out To Drive 200 Miles And Managed 26

We started off Monday morning with the intention of driving the 100 miles down the peninsula to the Mull of Kintyre and back. John wasn’t feeling well so he and Von decided to stay at Bracken Cottage.


It was a gorgeous day, the sunniest I think we’ve had. We’d been in the car 5 minutes when we saw the sign to the Isle of Seil to the right. Someone in the visitor’s book at the cottage had written it was worth a visit. We turned right.


The Bridge Over The Atlantic, a beautiful stone structure of about 40 metres, crosses from the mainland to the Isle. Stopping to admire that led us to a footpath to a hidden cove where we met two ladies who told us about a marvellous café on the next tiny island.
We couldn’t take the car to the Isle of Easdale, an abandoned slate quarry. The slate worker’s cottages are now owned privately. One of them is the Puffin Pub which indeed served marvellous food.

From the summit of this tiny paradise, on this clear day, we could see forever. We just sat there and looked. And then it was time to head for home. The round trip was 26 miles. That’s what happens on Scotland. We can never get anywhere!

40 Years and Counting

We have moved into our new digs and they are very pleasant. Bracken Cottage is about 2 miles south of Oban. It is a modern, purpose built place with all the modern conveniences. Sheelagh found it several months back and booked it because, like our other places, it has two bathrooms and space for two couples to spread out a bit. We are here for the week and will explore the vicinity as we see fit.

Today we attended a Free High Church of Scotland. There were no musical instruments, and very uncomfortable pews. The songs sung were all Psalms. It was a wonderfully warm group of people who made us feel very welcome. It was the second week in a row that the passage from Mark about the rich young ruler. We think that perhaps there is a message for us in that.
After church our good friends took us out for a Sunday roast to celebrate our 40th anniversary. Today was the day. The 21st Yahoo!!!

After lunch we explored the town, ending up at McCaig’s Tower. This is a circular Roman Coliseum type place which a wealthy man built in 1886 to 1902. He did it to give work to local stone masons over the winter months.  It dominates a hilltop and has a wide view of the harbour and the nearby islands. We watched a couple of ferries arrive and enjoyed the sunny afternoon.




After visiting the tourist info place we had a little time in an internet place and then went back to our place.