Wednesday, July 22-Whiskey

Dufftown is the epicenter of Scottish whisky production and only about
30 minutes from Geoff and Lorna's house. We decided to take two cars
today, so Geoff and I loaded into the Polo while Sally, Lorna and the
girls rode in the Reid's Honda. We drove northeast through beautiful
Scottish countryside, through the heather and peat covered hills to
Dufftown. Along the way Geoff pointed out the changing agricultural
crops, reflecting the changing soils and climate. In particular, it
was fascinating to see the rivers running brown, about the color of
already brewed whiskey. I was to learn that this is caused by the
rainwater running through the peat and leaching out elements and
compounds. It is the reason why this is the whiskey capital of the
world, for this water is part of what adds to the flavor.
In Dufftown we toured the Glenfiddich Whisky Distillary. An excellent
tour showing every step in this long process. They have been
distilling whiskey here since 1876. My favorite tidbit of information
involved the "Angel's Share", that portion of the alcohol that
evaporates through the oak kegs while it is curing for 12 to 50 years.
The barrels lose about a third of their volume and the alcohol content
drops from 64% to as low as 47% due to this phenomenon.
After the tour we stopped for scones and soup, then off to a castle
ruin not far from their house. Sally, Lorna and Eilidh (pronounced
Haley without the H sound) slipped off to view Pitmedden Garden while
Geoff, Maddie and I got to Tolquhon (pronounced toe-lone) Castle.
We were the only ones at the castle so we started off our visit with a
rousing game of hide and seek. I climbed 10 feet up into the flue of
one of the nearly walk in sized fireplaces as my hiding spot and had
to growl and moan to help Geoff and Maddie find me. We finished off
the tour with a game of tag which Maddie won.
Back to the house for another fantastic Lorna dinner, then off to a
Stonehenge like stone circle about two miles from their house, a drink
at a stone cave of a bar at the local country club and our last day in
Northern Scotland was at an end.
Does it seem to you that there is a lot of ancient stuff right near
Geoff and Lorna's house? It is incredible! There are 99 pre BC stone
circles within a 20 mile circle of their house, at least 20 castles,
who knows how many former estates not to mention 15 or more whiskey
distilleries. Throughout the drive between each location is drop dead
gorgeous scenery of rock walls, farms, and open countryside.

Chuck

Tuesday, July 22-John Muir's Birthplace

Okay, I freely admit it. I am a John Muir groupie. I'd he were in a
rock band today I would be following him around the country in my VW
van. I was first drawn to Yosemite after reading Muir's "My First
Summer in the Sierra". We went to Madison, Wisconsin to see his
childhood American home and the desk he created while in college. I
even trespassed onto his original boyhood farm and got chased off by
the landlord. So, today is the day I set foot in the very home he was
born in on the coast in Dunbar, Scotland.
Sally was enjoying the morning sleeping, so I went out for a walk. I
have to admit it was hard to stay in the room last evening, knowing
Muir's ancestrial home was just a few blocks away.
This morning I was greeted with clear skies, warming sun and the
strong scent of the sea as I walked along this famous North Sea town,
home to Dunbar Castle and the world's most famous and effective
conservationist. I found his home on High Street, right on the main
street of town. His ultra religious dad ran a meal shop (oats, wheat,
barley) in the ground floor at street level and the family lived
upstairs.
The house turned museum did not open until 11, so I walked back to the
hotel, woke Sally, went for another walk while she showered and
dressed, had breakfast downstairs and then we walked to town to see
what we could find before the Muir museum opened.
What we found was as beautiful a small Scottish seaside town as you
could imagine, and on the shore the remains of Dunbar Castle. This
castle served a prominent roll in Scottish history, yet was torn down
in the 1850's, the stones used to build the current harbor. Enough of
the castle foundation exists to give a feel for it's former size and
position, and the sea gulls have turned parts into extensive
rookeries. We walked the waterfront, then turned up to Muir's home.
To accomodate a museum is such a small building the entire house was
gutted so that only the outside walls remain. The interior now has a
free standing three story interior. The ground floor discusses Muir's
life in Dunbar as a kid and it's magnificent natural surrounding's
influence on Muir. The second story us about Muir in America,
especially his connection to the Sierra's and Yosemite. The top floor
provides environmental news and suggestions about how to make a
difference in the world, as did Muir. The displays are excellent, with
many, many quotes from Muir's writings. I get pretty choked up when
reading his words. This display evoked the same response. Truly, the
power of one person.
We left Dunbar a little after noon and headway for Oldmeldrum near
Aberdeen. Sally again guided me with expertise through the labyrinth
of highways surrounding Edinburgh and we were soon heading north,
passing through Dundee. We stopped at Dunnottar Castle, near
Stonehaven. This famous castle ruin is located at the top of the
cliffs on a promentory overlooking the North Sea. Position,
Position, Position. See the pictures along with this post rather than
suffer through an inadequate description.
We continued northward passing through Aberdeen just in time for rush
hour. About a hundred traffic circles later and we were out of
Aberdeen and headed for Geoff and Lorna's house just outside
Oldmeldrum. We had stopped to purchase beer for our hosts. For Lorna
we got a bottle of Red Speckled Hen beer because a dog had recently
attacked and killed one of her hens and for Geoff we got Bitter and
Twisted beer, what we thought was an appropriate name for this
outrageously fun loving and gregarious Scotsman. We arrived about 5,
had a chat, then loaded into their Mitsubishi Shogun to visit an
Estate near them home. On the way we stopped at a 14th century church
just down the road and looked at some very cool headstones, some with
skull and crossbones, then onto the estate.
Scotland has a huge number of extremely large estates (1000s or
10000's of acres in size) that landed families can no longer afford.
They give them to the Scottish Trust. At this point they are open to
the public and maintained by the trust. One can tour the castle,
repleat with the last occupant's furnishing and picnic or stroll the
grounds. There are hundreds of such sites and the number grows each
year as more and more of the uber wealthy redistibute the hoarded
wealth back to the people.
We stopped to pick up the daughters at the golf course where we had
dropped them before our tour (they are great kids but hanging out in
graveyards and estates with old fogeys is too much to ask of even the
best of the best) and after a late evening chat called it a day.

Chuck

Tuesday, July 22-John Muir's Birthplace

Monday, July 20th-Scottish Friends

A quick breakfast of Cheerios (when did Nestlè start making them and
General Mills stop? Did the General retire or has it been that long
since I ate Cheerios?) and we were on the road south back to Dave and
Caroline's. We were a long way north-about a three to four hour drive
through the highlands, so we picked a few destinations along the way
to break up the drive and get a taste of Scotland. We took a quick
drive into the Cairngorms National Park for an embarrassingly short
look-see, then later stopped by Blair Castle for a tour.
We knew we were approaching Blair Castle about three miles before we
reached the front gate because we were driving allong this huge stone
wall that encloses the entire land tract. The castle is the ultimate
man's room. The entry foyer is three stories tall and has hundreds and
hundreds of guns, swords, spears, muskets, cannon balls, bayonets and
knives geometrically arranged in artful fashion from floor to ceiling
along with a stuffed deer. I took it as a reminder that the owner
means business when he says no picture taking while on tour. We had
to do a quick walk-through due to time constraints, but between Blair
Castle, Versailles, and Newschwander it became apparent this was the
age of competitive Castle building. Lavish rooms, painted potraits
bigger than life size, inticately carved marble fireplaces and
monsterous rooms with atmospherically high ceilings all say, "I'm rich
and trying to impress you.". And they did.
In spite of implied and real threats I did manage to iPhone a few
pictures which give a taste of the lavishness. Especially the use of
antlers in decorating. It is amazing the number of antlers that can be
acrued when given a couple hundred years to collect them. The
geometric arrangement of hundreds of dead animal skulls and horns
create the pattern seen in the ballroom pictures. Gaston from Beauty
and the Beast would be proud.
We got to Dave and Caroline's a little after noon. Geoff & Lorna with
children Eighly and Maddie-friends of Dave and Caroline's were going
to be stopping by for lunch. We met Geoff and Lorna two summers ago
when they were touring the US with Dave and Caroline. We offered the
use of the Caldwell's beach house for four days, (thank you Bill and
Pat!) and we spent a couple of those days with them.
We had a rowdy lunch of meat, cheese, rolls, fruit and more, were
amazed at Geoff's juggling skills (we gave Geoff, Magnus and David
juggling balls), visited a bit, gave the ladies hats that Di had knit
for us and then Geoff and Lorna were on their way home. We visited
with Dave & Caroline for another hour or so then jumped back in the
car, headed for Dunbar and the birthplace of John Muir on the west
coast. The rainy skies of morning were clearing and a late afternoon
sunny drive was in the offing.
Sally did an excellent job navigating me around Edinburgh, keeping us
south of the city on the bypass roads and by 7 we were in Dunbar.
We had many things to take care of for planning our trip to London and
securing our flight home (Orbitz still had not taken care of getting
our flights booked in the right date) so we got a hotel room with WiFi
and spent the rest of the evening researching and phoning on Scype.
The hotel was very reminicwnt of the one depicted in the movie "Hot
Fuzz" a British spoof on American cop shows. The proprioters were
eccentric, the facility old, but well kept.
A word on driving vs trains. On the continent we took trains
everywhere. They were quick, on time and left us with hours to plan,
blog, and stare out the windows at the passing countryside. In
Scotland we have been driving, thanks to the generosity of Dave and
Caroline. I have my eyes glued to the narrow winding road, Sally's
eyes are glued to the maps and our brains and hands are occupied
navigating and staying alive on these twisting byways. We see the
country, but it is not as relaxing, and we have no time for planning
nor writing. Given a choice, if the train and car go the same place,
the train is the definite winner.

Chuck

Sunday July 19-Scotland's West Side

Scotland weather was not to dissapoint us. We woke to continued
drizzle and clouds nearly to sea level. We could see William Wallace
running through the heather in his kilt through the mist and clouds.
It was perfect. We took a small ferry across a loch and headed further
west, averaging about 25mph on the single lane road with turnouts. By
noon we had reached the ferry to the island of Mule, but we had just
missed it, and the next did not leave for an hour and a half. We
decided to retrace part of our route and head north, passing the
famous Loch Ness, ending up in Inverness. It was a fabulous drive, and
we stopped many times to see the sites enjoy the countryside. Our time
restraints did not allow for hiking or backpacking, but we were intent
on getting a good overview of the land, and this we were accomplishing.
We had planned to get a room for the night to perform Internet chores,
but the weather looked good and the camping was cheap and right in
town, so we pitched our tent right next to a Jawa Sand Crawler sized
bus and sleeping trailer, and listened to them repairing droids all
night in Norwegian (see picture above). The thought of meeting that
bus and trailer on the Scottish narrow roads would even give Darth
Vader nightmares.
We toured downtown Inverness for an hour or two, has a dinner of
canned Irish stew ( that had a fat content somewhere between a hunk of
lard and a pound of butter), took showers at the adequate facilities
at the campground and slept the sleep of contented traveler.

Being a teacher of science, which includes teaching systems of
measure, allow me to comment on the English system of measurement,
with apolgies to my Scotish friends.
It is Bizzarro World again. Fuel, gas and diesel, are purchased by the
liter, but car fuel efficiency is measured in miles per gallon. How do
they know how many gallons they have purchased if it is delivered by
the liter? They carry the conversion factor between liters and
imperial gallons in their heads to do the conversions, 4.54.
Milk is sold in pints, not liters.
They still use the unit of a stone to measure the weight of objects
and people. A stone? 14 pounds. 6.25 kilograms. So again to compare
this measure with the rest of the world they must carry these
conversion factors in their heads.
Now, in their defense they are a step ahead of us in the US. Besides
the world of science and sofa pop we are still suffering with miles,
gallons, teaspoons, pounds, inches, cubic feet, ounces and the like.
No simple conversion factors, no logic to the system, a hold over from
the years of peasants and kingdoms.

Chuck

Saturday, July 18-Driving Lessons

Do you remember the first time your dad (or mom) handed you the car
keys and you slid behind the wheel for that inaugural solo flight? All
the things you had learned came reeling through your head: don't hug
the center line, don't put a wheel in the ditch, first gear is up and
to the left, cross traffic on a left turn, hug the curb on a right
turn and so on. By now, all that is so automatic we don't even think
about it.
I remember my first day well, as if it were today . . . because it was.
I also remember reading Superman comics when he went to Bizzaro World,
where everything is backwards; they deliver garbage to your house,
planes crash on purpose, people drive on the left side of the road . . .

I have landed in Bizzaro world. In place of my dad, Dave handed me the
keys to his VW Polo, a cute little diesel car with steering wheel and
control pedals on the wrong side of the car. Everything that used to
be automatic now requires . . . egads, thought! I have to constantly
remind myself to stay against the left curb. All that is true about
right turns - hug the curb, only look at the oncoming traffic, now
applies to left turns, and worst of all, when making a right turn be
sure to stay to the left as you enter the intersection, not the right.
All goes well when cruising down the road, it is the intersections and
turning that get confounding. And, just as you think you are getting
the hang of it and you start to relax a bit, your old instincts take
over and there you are on the wrong side of the road with oncoming
traffic bearing down on you.
If this is not enough to deal with, I launch down Scottish roads that
are narrower than any I have ever driven before. In the small towns
the road is only one and a half lanes wide so you have to know the
corners of your car perfectly to negotiate the streets, all while
sitting in a drivers seat on the wrong side of the car.
To make matters worse, our chosen destination is the western shores
where the population is so scarce that the road is only one very
narrow lane wide with turnouts every few hundred yards where two cars
can pass, around blind corners and over small rises. Often one or the
other must back up to a wide spot so the two cars can slip by each
other. And through all this stay to the left!
Also, now that I am driving from the right side of the car, all the
rest of the car is on my left. I am not used to it being there. This
means that I tend to run the car close to the ditch because all that
bulk of car is not supposed to be there. The narrow roads are lined
with rock walls and close growing trees. I often hear Sally saying,
"Chuck, your getting really close to this rock wall", or " Chuck, we
are really close to these trees." I have found that if I consider
myself riding a motorcycle
with a side car attached to the left I tend to give that half of the
car the respect it deserves.

Bizzaro World.

After a leisurely morning at Mackay's (pronounced ma-kye) we again
tried to get Orbitz to fix our return flight. They said they would
call us back in two hours. We visited with Dave and Caroline and
readied for our driving adventures. After two hours they emailed us to
tell us they had lost the phone number and could we please call them
again. We just loaded the car and left.
We drove through Glen Coe, the most beautiful part of the Highlands.
Heather mountains rising 3000 ft with fiord like lochs licking their
feet, swirling in mist with the occasional kiss of sunlight. Truly
beautiful. This is also the site of the McDonald clan massacre.
We camped here at the Red Squirrel campground. There is no limit to
the number of campers, you just park where you can, find a bare piece
of ground to pitch your tent and squeeze in with the rest. It was
Saturday night so it was packed.
We found a spot and pitched our tent in the rain. About 2 am I woke to
our adjacent tent occupant violently tossing his cookies, or I suspect
in this case, his overindulgent whiskey. Luckily, Sally slept through
this flemy, gutteral demonstration of projectile vomiting.
I love car camping.

Chuck

PS. Take a look at the picture of us in the car. I am driving. Do you
notice anything unusual?

Saturday, July 18-Scottish Honors

The B&B scheduled us for an 8:15 breakfast so we left our masterpiece
theatre bedroom, trundled downstairs and had a full Scottish breakfast-
cereal, fruit, eggs, ham, sausage, haggis, tomato, beans, toast and
tea. Wow.
Caught a city bus to downtown in what to us was typical Scottish
weather, drizzel, rain and windy. Toured the castle at Edinburgh with
audio headsets to learn the history of the place. Amazed to find how
many times this castle on a rock changed hands between the Scots and
English. Even saw the septre, sword, crown, and jewels of Scotland
along with the Stone of Destiny.
Had a snack at the castle cafe, watched them fire the 1 o'clock
artillary shell-even when you know it is coming you still jump-then
walked the Royal mile down King Street to the Parliment building. Now
that is a cool building! Designed by a Spanish architect it is truly
an artsy building. Rather than snoozing you with a description, google
it on the web. It is worth looking into.
A great walk through downtown and a short ride on the bus again and we
were back to the cars.
Drove out to David and Caroline's cottage in Muthill, pronounced Mu-
thill. Enjoyed a great evening and dinner. First impressions of
Scotland - beautiful countryside and very friendly people. Everyone we
came in contact with was willing to banter, laugh and talk. Looking
forward to a good sleep and a day of making arrangements for tomorrow.

Chuck