North to Inverness and Back to Glasgow

It is pouring rain as we sit in Nathan's dorm room and listen to the Edmonton Pipe Band practise in the courtyard.  Nathan, Liam and Orson have gone to Edinburgh.  It has been raining quite steadily since Sunday.

Yesterday we left at 8:00 a.m. on the bus.  I must say the bus is very uncomfortable for people with long thighs.  Our first stop was Blair Atholl.   From Wikipedia:

"Blair Castle stands in its grounds near the village of Blair Atholl in Perthshire in Scotland. It is the ancestral home of the Clan Murray, and was historically the seat of their chief, the Duke of Atholl, though the current (12th) Duke, Bruce Murray, lives in South Africa. The castle stands in Glen Garry, and commands a strategic position on the main route (now the A9 road) through the central Scottish Highlands."

Castle from the Parking Area

We toured to castle, saw the many pictures of the Murrays and looked at the genealogical charts of the Murrays.  Unfortunately we couldn't find our family records on the charts.  Even though it poured rain, there were hoards of tourists there.

In Front of Picture of Sir John Murray of Tullibardine

Castle Ballroom - Only place we were allowed to take pictures

Liam and the Antlers

Back to the bus and on to Aviemore for lunch.  Most of us had deep-fried Pizza and the others had fish and chips.  From Wickipedia:

"Aviemore (ⁱ/ˌæviˈmɔər/; Scottish Gaelic: An Aghaidh Mhòr) is a town and tourist resort, situated within the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland. It is in the Badenoch and Strathspey committee area, within the Highland council area. The town is popular for skiing and other winter sports, and for hill-walking in the Cairngorm Mountains. "

Waiting for the deep-fried Pizza

Next stop -  Culloden Moors.

We spent time learning about the Jacobite uprising and the attempt to put Bonnie Prince Charlie on the throne - either the throne of the United Kingdom or at least back on the throne of Scotland. The battle of Culloden was the end of the Stewart Kings.

Does it look like a battle field?

From Culloden we drove to Loch Ness and stopped for a short time at Urquart Castle.  The castle was built from about 1230 A.D. and was abandoned in 1692.  The rain stopped long enough for photos.

We went to Inverness and had supper.  Bob and I  went to "Jimmy Chungs" a chinese smorg restaurant but Nathan, Orson and Liam ate at McDonalds.  Orson was delighted to find Ginger Beer and bought two giant bottles of it.  He hasn't been able to get Ginger Beer since he left Nova Scotia.

Inverness from Jimmy Chungs

Castle Behind the Modern City

Ginger Beer and Golds

We arrived back at the dorms at 11:00 p.m. and then walked to our hotel - a long day.

Sunday

This morning we skipped the Perth Highland Games and caught a taxi to Church in Paisley.  After church we went by taxi to North Lanark where we visited with a family that Nathan knew when he was here. 

Nathan and the Wark family

North Berwick

I should have known it was going to be a bad day when I woke up at 2:00 am and couldn't get back to sleep.  I got up at four and had a bath and still couldn't sleep.

We walked over to the dorms in time for a quick breakfast.  We caught the bus at 6:45 a.m. and were off to North Berwick Highland Games.  We watched the boys in their first round of competition.  Just as the band marched onto the field, I fainted over.  Nathan caught me and put me on the ground and when I came to there were three medics wanting to give me oxygen.  We missed the whole performance.

I slept most of the afternoon as well as you can sleep in a bus seat and then watched the grade ones perform.

It was amazing to see so many bands competing.  In Orson and Liam's grade there were at least 30 bands. 

The day wasn't totally bad.  The Ogden Pipe band got a first in one of their performances.

We arrived back in Glasgow about 8 p.m.

Bus of the Summerside Pipe Band from P.E.I.

Judges Stations

Liam and some of the band hiked to the top after their performance.

Practice time

Mass Band

Montrose

Well, I got my fill of walking on Friday.  First we walked to the grocery store.  Next we walked to the dorms.  We then walked to Enterprise Car rental where Nathan planned on renting a car, but they had none. They said the closest rental place was another 10 minutes walk, but I made Nathan phone to find out they had no cars either.  So we decided to go to the train station which wasn't too far, but it was the wrong station and we had to walk again.

The boys had two practices on Friday so Nathan decided to leave them and go to Montrose.  Since he couldn't get a car, we went by train (two hours), and visited some people he knew from his mission.  We enjoyed our visit and then caught the train back to Glasgow.

between practices

From Montrose Train Station

This Morning in Glasgow

It is not too hot here but it is very humid.  Reminds me of China.

Last night was a long night.  I slept from 11:00 p.m. to 10:00 a.m.  This morning we went grocery shopping.

Shopping Basket with Wheels

Lots of Pigeons

No Dollar Stores Here

The hotel where we are staying

We are on the 10th floor

This is where Nathan, Orson and Liam are staying

Glasgow - We Made It

Tara dropped us at the Calgary airport Wednesday afternoon.  After checking in we met Shelly Aldridge and her husband (from our ward in Lethbridge).  They were going on vacation to England, France and on a Scandinavian cruise and they ended up sitting in the row ahead of us on the flight to London.  It was a short night with not much sleep.  After we got to Heathrow we had a long walk and a 15 minute bus ride to change terminals, but we eventually made it to Glasgow.  We caught a cab and Bob and I were dropped at the Premier Inn and the others went on to Caldedonia Court.  I had a long nap.  Bob and Nathan did the grocery shopping.  We have now had supper with Nathan and the boys.

Tired at Heathrow

Quiet Week with Lincoln and Miranda

Lincoln and Miranda attended a climbing camp at the U of L this week so they were gone all day.

Bob and I stepped into the modern world by buying "Smart Phones".  Luckily Lincoln was here to help us get them set up.  My phone doesn't seem that much smarter than the old one.  It still sends messages before I am finished writing them.  

On Wednesday evening we went to OSho for supper.

The first tomato from our garden ripened last week.  It was delicious even though it had hail spots on it.  We also have good raspberries in our garden this year.

Lincoln and Miranda left Friday evening to go to visit their grandparents in Mountain View.  Lincoln was due back last night, but hasn't shown yet.  Miranda is staying in Mountain View until her parents get back from Brazil.

Miranda and Lincoln at OSho (first attempt at photography with my "Smart" phone)