opinion is one good thing just blends into the next one. With this
thought in mind it is our last day in Scotland.
We enjoyed our breakfast of cereal and pancakes with bacon and eggs
courtesy of Lorna, then boarded our mighty fuel efficient vehicles for
a tour of Fyvie Castle, about 10 minutes from Geoff and Lorna's,
another one held in the national trust. Four families have occupied
this place since the 1400's, obviously many generations of each
family. In each room of the castle is an expert to explain the history
of the room and it's furnishings. Rich, fabulous, as we have come to
see. At one point we noticed a fourth of a rounded turret with a
radius of about 10 ft nestled in an open book corner between two wings
of the castle spanning the second and third floors. Inside it was a
bathroom obviously outfitted in the last 50 years. We tried to decide
what you would call such an architechural feature as the name turret
implied an outside corner rather than an inside corner such as this
one. The bathroom inside inspired such suggestions as a turd-it or an
addition with relief.
With the end of the tour came the ever present gift shop in which
Lorna bought Sally a Scottish version of the ABCs. We coudna a read
it, so we recorded Geoff reading and interpreting the text to all our
delights.
Our time with the Reid family had come to an end. Sadly, but with
great memories to treasure we said goodbye and headed down the road.
We puttered along these narrow, twisting roads and soon stopped at
Balmarrow Castle in the Dee side, the summer home of the Queen in the
highlands. 7£ each let us on the grounds to see how the currently rich
and connected live, for 6 weeks each summer. A quick tour of the
ballroom, then out to the grounds and the gardens, a historical video
and we were back on the road through Cairngoran National Park on our
way to Caroline's for the night. We got stuck behind a very irratic
driver, obviously not used to the narrow roads nor left side driving.
We suffered behind him for 20 minutes before a straight section let us
pass. Umeventfully, we traversed the last 30 miles and arrived at
Catoline's doorstep at about 7:30, nearly 2 hours later than we
thought we would be. Dave works offshore and had to leave for work on
Thursday. She had been waiting dinner, so I don't think we earned any
points with Magnus and Mae. A great dinner, clean out the car, a
beautiful walk through the local woods with Harvey, their Greyhound
and the evening and day were spent. We set our alarms for 6:30 to
catch a train from Stirling (hey Braveheart fans, this is where the
battle of Bannochburn was fought and won against the English) to
Edinburgh, then on to London.
Because we were out traveling, driving the countryside it felt like we
did not see Caroline and Dave much, although looking back we spent
three nights with them and toured Edinburgh together. Next time some
cycling and hiking to the top of nearby a "ben" are in order.
Chuck
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