Four Scottish Adventures

Introduction by Gail:

Good day my lovely friends!

Brrrrr, it certainly has been very, very cold.  In fact it’s bone chilling.

My guest today is Gaby McDonald who shares with us her travels and impressions of Scotland. This is a lovely and gentle read, balm for the soul.

I will be attending my 50^th School Reunion in Oudtshoorn. Oh my goodness what happens to time?

However, I am looking forward to catching up with friends, laughing and reminiscing about how naughty and feisty we were, and believe me we were always (or so it seemed) in trouble.

I plan to spend some of my free time exploring places of interest, like C J Langenhoven’s home “Arbeidsgenot”, as well as the C P Nel Museum.  I am just going to amble along enjoying the sights and sounds of my home town.

I will tell you all about it next week. In the meantime stay happy, warm and well.

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Four Scottish Adventures

by guest writer, Gaby McDonald

Leaving the Turkish Aegean coast in 38ᵒC wearing jeans and having a puffer jacket at hand seems an odd thing to do, but not if you land in Edinburgh in 14 ᵒC  4 hours later. It’s a relief from the extreme heat – until the cold starts penetrating. Scotland in June felt like Port Elizabeth in the middle of winter!

However despite the cold, it’s a beautiful country with a variety of greens interspersed with colourful flowers. Imagine the roadsides full of green bracken, without any brown spots or dead, dried leaves. The soft light from the overcast sky makes the landscape seem gentle and allows for good photos.

Our first adventure was a week’s timeshare at the Lake of Menteith, the only lake in all of Scotland. All other bodies of water are called lochs.  Our accommodation was a small old hotel in a peaceful setting, right on the water, where you can watch anglers in rowing boats catching trout while having your breakfast or dinner. The hotel is advertised as dog friendly but will also allow well-behaved humans.

On our second morning, while exploring the , we encountered a man with his dog. We soon struck up a conversation (dogs will do that) and he (the man) asked if we would attend the church service on Sunday. A weird question, you say? Right next to the hotel is a tiny  Church of Scotland chapel. We decided we could make the 10 am start.

Of the 18 people in the chapel, one was the visiting minister, 8 were visitors (2 from Wales, 4 from Australia and 2 from South Africa) and nine were regulars. Tea was in the hotel bar after the service – a lovely way to meet people. I originally thought the man who’d invited us regularly used his dog to get visitors to attend the church, but found out that he and his wife (and dog) were the visitors from Wales.

Having hired a little Fiat, we toured Stirling, Glasgow, Edinburgh and the surrounding villages. The roads were generally narrow but speed limits of 20 to 50 mph made driving a pleasure. Even on the M9, the speed limit is only 70mph or 110kph, allowing us time to look around and enjoy the greenery.

If I was forced to live in Scotland, I’d choose Stirling,  a lively town with a pedestrian area and a good-sized mall. Good cafes and restaurants. I’m probably also influenced by the lunch we enjoyed with an ex-colleague and an ex-student from Hong Kong, which made for good memories.

Glasgow appeared dark and gloomy with impolite people. We did a tour on the hop-on-hop-off bus and visited the cathedral and a small museum.  Glasgow did not impress me at all.

Edinburgh, in contrast, seemed light and airy, lively with a hoard of tourists. We were given a tour of the inner city, this time by an ex-colleague from Istanbul. One of the things I found fascinating about the city is that it’s built on many different levels. So, as you stand on what seems like a normal street, you can look over a wall and see another street about two floors down. Houses that appear to have 2 stories, in fact have four, or even five stories when seen from the other side. Part of my attraction to Edinburgh is probably the large park in the center of the city. As the sun was shining, people were sitting on the lawns, having coffee at the art gallery café or simply chatting with friends. Pipers were out and about, doing their thing with traditional Scottish music.

We unfortunately couldn’t get in to see the castle as all tickets for the day had already been sold. But we did see all the people walking down the streets in their finery to attend the annual Holyrood garden party. It fascinated me that they were all dressed up and yet walking among the hoi-polloi to get to the event. Another interesting sight was the living statue with a sign next to her, saying ‘card payments accepted’. I later saw her receiving a donation using a small card machine. Ah, the digital age…

Our visit to Dunblane was sobering. We visited the beautiful cathedral and when we asked about the emphasis on children, we were reminded of the massacre at the Dunblane Primary School on March 13, 1996 when 16 children and a teacher were killed and another 15 injured. It’s still the worst mass shooting in the UK to date.

After our idyllic time at the Lake of Monteith we embarked on our train tour. This took us first to Spean Bridge, near Fort William and then on the Jacobite express to Mallaig. From there we boarded the ferry to Armadale on the Isle of Skye.

The Jacobite express Crosses the ‘Harry Potter’ bridge and stops briefly to allow people to take photos. Of course, there are also hundreds of people on each side of the bridge taking photos of the train. They apparently cause chaos in the nearby village as they take up all parking, restaurant and sleeping spaces.

On the train, we chatted to the couples seated opposite us ‐ all except one were retired teachers. I was happy to hear that Jeremy Clarkson (Clarkson’s Farm) was very well liked by the farmers; even if the village council vetoes everything he tries to do. Apparently, he has done a lot for farmers by making their struggles known to the general public.

The Isle was Skye was magnificent. A definite highlight was the private tour by Angus MacLeod. Apparently, the MacLeod and MacDonald clans have had little time for each other over the centuries. However, he didn’t hold it against this South African McDonald and spent six hours showing us around the island, including magical places such as The Old Man of Storre and the Fairy Glen. He is a born and bred islander and could explain Black houses, crofting, digging for peat, and Scottish churches to us.

Basically, there are three different protestant churches on the island. The Church of Scotland is very similar to Presbyterian churches. But a break-away group formed the Free Church of Scotland in 1843 as they thought the State was encroaching on the independence of the church. Despite their name, they are far more conservative than the Church of Scotland. In 1900 members split from the Free Church of Scotland and together with the United Presbyterian Church formed the United Free Church of Scotland. There’s obviously a lot more to it all, however this is the gist of what Angus MacLeod told us.

Next was my solo hike from Fort Augustus to Inverness.  Fort Augustus is a lively and colourful village. It’s filled with tourists each lunch time as the coaches from the cities arrive to view the 5 locks connecting Loch Ness to the Caledonian Canal. Lined with colourful shops and restaurants, it’s a lovely place to spend an afternoon. There is also a swing bridge to allow the vessels to ‘cross the road’ and access the locks. I stood in fascination as the entire road was swung aside to make a clear passage for a large tourist boat.

Booked through Mac Adventures, my hike included 3-to-4-star accommodation and luggage transfers from one stop to the next. The distances between overnight stops were fairly long but the route and the views were spectacular. Each route started on an uphill to ensure the best views of Loch Ness below. The walk went through forests, moors (think Heather, blue bells and green bracken), over streams, along paths, tracks and single-track roads. This journey gave me plenty of time to think and admire the world.

The single-track roads are fascinating. They have numerous ‘passing places’, where there is a slightly wider section, reminiscent of a bus stop, to avoid oncoming traffic. When a vehicle approaches, the one closest to a passing place pulls over into it, even if this means reversing a distance. As the roads curve a lot, it’s not always easy to see an oncoming vehicle. It definitely makes for slower travel.

Our final adventure entailed four days by car back to Edinburgh along the east coast. This led though secluded fishing villages, Aberdeen and the Cairngorms National Park.

Our hire car was really fancy – a hybrid and automatic Renault. The key stayed in my bag. As we approached the vehicle, it unlocked. When we opened the door, we were greeted with a melodical sound and the dash lit up. After pushing the ‘on’ button, the dash showed ‘ready’ and ‘EV’. The drive was soundless as the electric motor took us the first kilometer or so, until the petrol engine took over.  But then it sometimes seemed to want to take over! The steering wheel would move to the left and right slightly and a beeping tone alerted us to the message: ‘Stay in control’ and an icon showed two hands on the wheel. Really impressive except that I would be driving below the speed limit and had both hands on the wheel! Eventually, it seemed to trust my driving skills more and remained silent.

Locking the car was also automatic as I walked away from it. But being a South African, I have a compulsion to check that the doors are locked. As you can imagine, this was impossible. Every time I approached the car, it kindly unlocked the doors for me. But a solution was at hand. Joan simply had to stay next to the car as I walked away, and test the door before following me!

The fishing villages cling to steep slopes surrounding small bays. The harbour protects boats with strong walls built almost on all sides. It must take quite a bit of maneuvering to get through the one gap left in the wall to go out to sea.  During low tide, the boats are tilted on their sides and literally left high and dry. The mooring lines are left visible as they stretch out from the wall and back to the anchor.

Each village has a least one pub near the harbour, serving good food, beer and apple cider. At the one in Stonehaven, we chatted to two couples who suggested we take the inland route from Aberdeen if we wanted to see some of the famed ‘hairy coos’ (highland cows). I’d mentioned that we’d seen them on posters, calendars, mugs, tea-towels, etc. but only one in real life. This meant we’d also pass Balmoral Castle.

Well, we couldn’t miss that and so went to have tea with the king. That is, we booked a tour through the castle gardens and the ball room, and then had coffee and scones at the newly opened tea-room. However, chances are good that the king was in residence as the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom was flying and he was at the Holyrood Garden party in Edinburgh the next day.

The final days’ drive back to Edinburgh led through curvy mountain roads and brought a peaceful end to our adventures. One last highlight was driving over the new Bridge over the river Forth (the Queens ferry Crossing), and then stopping to see it from a viewpoint along the shoreline. There are actually three bridges, all in different styles and all equally famous.

Back in Port Elizabeth, I find the clarity and visibility incredible as I hike Crossways and look across the hills to Jeffrey’s Bay and the sea. No mist, drizzle, or low hanging clouds – home!