We
didn't fly directly to Scotland; we got a good deal on tickets by
flying into London, so once we got there, we rented a car and started
up. (Both of us had seen London already, and this trip was planned with
other sites in mind, so we didn't spend any time there.) Even with
jetlag, we were wide awake and saw Stonehenge, Avebury, Arthur's Stone,
and other neolithic sites while enjoying the English
countryside. I counted pheasants and rabbits along the road.
Everyone knows about Stonehenge. I
fully expected to be underwhelmed by it -- and while it is much smaller
in scale than most other circles, there's only one! None of the
others have top
lintels like that, and the stones are still much taller than some
others. So I was still impressed. And the way it leaps right
out at you as you approach it (being situated right next to the road) is
singular. We were lucky to see it early in the morning; there
were plenty of visitors with us, but as we left, we saw a huge line of
traffic headed into the site. Thank God we missed the AM rush of
Stonehenge tourists! I wish we could have visited longer and seen
the long barrows and mound tombs of the people who built Stonehenge, and
perhaps I would've bought a replica of the pottery that was found in
their graves. But we had a tight schedule and much more to see,
so we took photos, walked around the site thoroughly, and left.
Avebury is
such an enormous stone circle/earthworks that there's a village built
inside it. The village dates from the 1600's, but the circle is
5000 years old. Did the villagers just not see it when they
planned the town, or did they decide to ignore it? I don't
know. (Karl's two pence: Chances are the whole area was
re-covered with forest by the time they built the town there, and it
wouldn't be obvious that the stones were in a circle unless the area
were cleared.) It would've been fun to take a helicopter ride and
see Avebury
from the air. It took a long time to walk all the way around
it and see the village too.
Arthur's
Stone and Long Meg and Her Daughters, two other neolithic sites, were
much harder to find. We followed signs until we got into narrow,
two-lane, twisty country roads. We drove so long that at times we
were certain we'd missed a turn or gotten turned around completely, but
ultimately we found them. Those sites are just tucked out of the
way, though Long Meg was probably a very important gathering place when
it was built. Arthur's
Stone is a tomb, so perhaps it made sense for it to be built away
from other things. Long
Meg is probably my favorite stone circle so far, and apparently I'm
not the only fan. I saw that other visitors had left offerings
under the main stone -- pieces of cloth and milky quartz crystals,
mainly. I decided to leave a 5 pence coin for luck. Funny --
a few days later I found a 5 pence coin in a parking lot. Was Meg
rejecting my offering, or was it the luck I hoped to get? (Karl's
observation: that's not "luck" . . .it's called "breaking even")
I
realize I'm probably forgetting a number of other things we saw
on the way to our first bed-and-breakfast, but let's move on. We
decided to stay at B&B's throughout our trip because we wanted to
meet "real people" and not stay at faceless, big-franchise
hotels. Our B&B's weren't inexpensive ($90-150 per night), but
they were well worth it, when you consider the personal service and the
fun of meeting fellow guests and gracious hosts. You never forget
you're staying at someone's home. Our first B&B
was in Hopesay, a tiny place in Surrey (England). It was an
old rectory beside the village church, and was built in the
1600's. I'll try to insert a photo of the
view outside our window. This was such a lovely place; Karl
and I wish we'd planned to stay more than one night here. Well,
we'll just have to go back!
Did
a LOT more driving the next day. It's a good thing the rest stops
in the UK are full-service affairs, with several restaurants, hotels,
shops, and gas stations all in one place, every 100 miles. We had
loads of fun struggling with the phones and the internet kiosks.
While still in England, we stopped in Shrewsbury, a big town where
Charles Darwin was born, and which also has an impressive 12th-century
abbey. I always enjoy looking at the stained-glass windows,
and one of these honored Ellis Peters' Benedictine monk-hero, Father
Cadfael! And yes, we took a picture
of it.
Most
of the way was just Karl driving and me navigating. The landscape
got hillier and eventually downright rugged as we went further north,
and we saw abundant sheep
everywhere! The spring lambs had just arrived, apparently, and
they were so cute! Tiny miniatures of the ewes. We also saw oceansof
daffodils -- some were planted, but others had just come up where
they wanted to. We were too early to see any thistles or heather,
but the daffodils were beautiful. There are a considerable number
or windmills generating electricity in northern England/Scotland.
We drove by some huge ones! Wish we'd been able to stop and take
pictures, but we have some windmills just like them here in Texas.
Eventually,
after dark, we got to our home-base in Scotland, a little town called
Bo'Ness. It's about halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow, so it
was ideal. Our
B&B here wasn't as fancy as the previous one, but it was quiet
and comfortable. The house was built in 1901 and had a nice
view of the Firth of Forth. Our hosts were delightful, as
were their two huge dogs! They fed us very well each morning with
proper Scottish breakfasts -- eggs, bacon, pork link sausage, black
pudding (!), tomatoes and mushrooms, plus toast and marmalade. We
were brave enough to try the black pudding (it's blood sausage -- the
blood turns it black when it's cooked), and it was not bad. Kind
of bland, actually. Now we can say we've tried it!
From
Bo'Ness we made day-trips to Linlithgow. It's a small town now,
but it has a huge
ruined palace with a beautiful garden and loch. Mary Queen of
Scots lived there. We went to Linlithgow
just about every day, since it had a supermarket and a good choice of
restaurants. We also drove out to Blackness
Castle, which is on the coast of the Firth of Forth. If
you've seen Mel Gibson's Hamlet, you'll recognize the castle.
Parts of it were filmed there. My
legs got quite a workout climbing stairs at castles!
Glasgow
was a nice enough town, but just plain bad luck. We went there
twice; the first time was to see the sights -- the cathedral,
the St. Mungo museum of religious art, and the Burrell Art
Collection. We didn't get to see that last, because Tony Blair was
in town that day, and with all the security and protesters around the
place, it was impossible to get in. Then I got sick (always
happens once on every trip!) We enjoyed what we did see, though,
and we drove out to see Stirling
Castle the same day. Well worth it! We saw traditonal
weavers making exact replicas of the tapestries hanging in the various
rooms, and of course, from the castle were sweeping views of the
landscape. The second time we went (a few days later), it
was to meet up with Karl's cousin Joni, who is spending a college
semester at Glasgow
University. Lucky her!! We had planned to see a lot
that day with her, but we had to spend 4 hours sitting in our rental
car, which died on us. It took Avis 4 hours to send someone out to
tell us the car was hopeless. Then we had to go to the Glasgow
airport to swap it for a better one. The wasted time might have
been understandable if we'd been in the middle of nowhere, but it was
intolerable in a major city like Glasgow! On the bright side, the
mechanic was very nice and interested in Texas. He said he watched
documentaries about it on TV and we were the first actual Texans he'd
met. So I told him all he wanted to know and said we were honored
to be his first Texans. What did we eventually manage to
see? We had a great scenic drive around Loch
Lomond and the national park area around it, and went back to
Glasgow for dinner. Maybe next visit we'll catch Glasgow on a good
day.
We
loved Edinburgh! The Royal Mile between Edinburgh
Castle and Holyrood
Palace was the highlight. It's a little touristy, but there
are interesting shops along the route. I bought some Scottish
fudge! The aroma wafting from that place just drew us in. We
also had lunch at a pub called The World's End. Karl found out in
Edinburgh that bagpipe
music is best enjoyed from a distance . . . pretty piercing
up-close..
The next day we took
the Abbey route, seeing Scotland's best ruined abbeys -- Melrose,Kelso,
and Dryburgh. It
was a beautiful
day; most of the abbeys had gardens surrounding them, and we also
enjoyed meeting some friendly
critters along the river
Tweed, which runs right by Dryburgh. We also took a side trip
to Floors
Palace, which is owned and lived in by the Earl of Roxburgh.
We were told we might actually run into him while we were there, but no
such luck. But again, we met people who quizzed us about
Texas. One lady asked us if it was anywhere near Canada.
(Well, how good is our knowledge of UK geography on any given day?) I
had to struggle with her other questions -- what the state flower is,
the state bird, state song, etc. Got them right, but I had to
think. (Bluebonnet, mockingbird, and "Yellow Rose of Texas", just
so you know.)
The
trip to Scotland wouldn't have been complete without seeing Glamis
Castle. I'd been there before, but it was Karl's and Joni's
first visit. I got to see some things I hadn't the first time, and
enjoyed the ghost stories about the place, though the tour guide dwelled
mostly on the Queen Mum's childhood there. We got to see some of
the famous Highland
cows on the palace
grounds. They're big hairy red cows that are only raised in
Scotland. Guess they're as special to Scotland as our Texas
longhorns are to us.
On the way out of
Scotland (we were driving through England again), we visited Hadrian's
Wall. It was a long, hard walk uphill most of the way, and
the wind was cold! I was glad I had my heavy coat on, plus a hat
and my earbags (really earmuffs without the headband between them --
they slip right over your ears). And later, since it was Easter
Sunday, we had a fine plate lunch at the nearest pub, in a town called
Twice Brewed, which is right next door to a town called Once
Brewed! I didn't get the story on the names, but I'm sure there is one.
We
didn't spend much time seeing sights on the way back into London; it
was after dark when we got to our last hotel. It was a big airport
hotel this time, but a very nice one. We just caught the flight
out the next morning and got home safe and sound. Hazel was happy
to see us, though I know the dogsitter spoiled her rotten!
