Scotland - UK

Scotland

The grand plan started out something like this:

1.     Nice cooked breakfast (early)

2.     Drive the 9 something hours to Plockton (land of Hamish MacBeth and Wee Jock).

Part one – check; nice breaky and we were on the road saying goodbye to Wales and hello to Scotland.

4 hours into the trip we crossed into Scotland and still about 3 hours south of Edinburgh or Glasglow and Plockton is about 3 hours north again.  Time to re-evaluate the plan.

We pulled over to visit Starbucks (really a travellers friend with free WiFi).  First cancel accommodation in Plockton; done.  Where to next????

Map of Scotland, ummmm – Perth a familiar name -what is around Perth????????? Excellent Crieff – the home of Ewan MacGregor and the Biggest Christmas Store ever……Decision made, now to find somewhere to sleep for the next  3 days.

Research completed we set off to Crieff in search of a chance to run into Ewan and some fantastic broad Scottish 'brogue' accent. The first day we just decided to get in the car and explore the countryside.  We turned off the GPS and hit the narrow winding roads of Scotland.  We found lots of sheep, some horses, and we happen upon a small place called Gleneagles Country Club.  For those in the know; the game of golf is said to have originated in Scotland and The Gleneagle Country Club is the most prestigious of all possible courses. Just to give you an idea of how prestigious; it costs £620 for  “tee off time” which is up to 4 people to play one round of golf. The country club also has a massive shopping mall, spa and hotel if golf is not your thing, though you may need to save up for these activities as well.

After a few shots for prosperity we were off to find somewhere for lunch.  We drove into the small township of Auchterarder, we parked the car, and quickly headed to the door of this teahouse to get out of the rain.  We were welcomed by this lovely lady with a truly strong Scotlish accent that if she hadn’t pointed to a table by the window we would have had to ask her to say it all again. Fantastic place run by the family, only Grandma seemed to have the unintelligible Scottish accent we were hoping to hear.

The next day we headed off in search of a Scottish Castle and found the Falkland Palace.  The Keeper of the Palace had a sweet gig in the fact that once appointed to the position by the Monarchy you got to live in a beautiful castle in Scotland and you are paid to look after the Estate.  The position is handed down through the family; up shot - steady income, you get to live in a castle and set up future generations with more of the same. See Photos.

We spent our last day in Scotland visiting Edinburgh, interesting city; lots of tartan shops, more men in skirts than we have seen in a while and of course the Edinburgh Castle.  We took the opportunity to visit the Tartan shop and exhibit, where we could not resist the temptation to dress up in the tartan ourselves for a few 'wee shots' of us lookin’ like two bonnie lasses lookin’ for heather in the highlands. (See Photos)

They were setting up for the Edinburgh Tattoo whilst we were at the castle hence the scaffolding around the forecourt of the castle.  We did note that the city of Edinburgh has not faired as well as other UK cities when it comes to preventing the pollution of nearby industry; staining the stonework a dreary grey and black giving the city a not quite clean (actually very dirty) appearance.  It was a little disappointing when many people have expressed how much they enjoy the city of Edinburgh.  Even with the coal like streaks on the stonework the city itself does have its charm and is worth a visit if you are in the area.

The next morning we are up early and say farewell to Scotland as we start our drive to Peterborough to meet up with Lin and Keith whom we met on the cruise, for a few days.

Oh Dear...There we are - the wee lassies

musical lassies at that!!

When you take a wrong turn you end up here

because this is generally the landscape you see for hours

lots of sheep - lots and lots

Edinburgh Castle - The Entrance

Edinburgh Castle looks very impressive from this angle!

This is the view you would get if you were trying to besiege the castle! 

View from the castle forecourt

Crieff Markets

This Cathedral in Edinburgh has now been converted into a cultural centre with a really nice coffee shop inside.

We took a day just to drive where whimsy decided and investigate the area around Crieff.  This is the main street in a small town neighbouring Crieff called Auchterarder.

A lovely house just outside of Auchterarder

One of those interesting photo opportunities that present themselves when driving the Scottish countryside in the rain on narrow streets with no pull over room, so you just stop in the middle of the road and hope no one hurries around the corner. Cool Shot!!!! 

For the golfers out there who will appreciate what this stands for - for Non Golfers this is a very prestigious course that is a life time dream for most golf enthusiasts.

View of the Gleneagles Hotel and Resort. Very Castle like.

Another whimsical photo opportunity.......

we were on a roll and getting very good at choosing daring locations

though occasionally we did get lucky and managed to park across someones gateway.

The long Shot

The close-up which do you prefer??? The reason Megs!!!....

was to show a bloody phone booth in the middle of no bloody where LOL

Tartan Factory - impressive!!!

Floors and Floors of Tartan

We will never get bored with this gorgeous scenery

Edinburgh; just inside the gates

Megs just outside the gate

Men's skirts for as far as the eye could see - a dream come true for Elona...

well almost; there are no men in these skirts!!

We apologise for the fact that there are so few photos in this post but we had great difficulties in uploading photos at this time. We will however come back and add some at a later date but we feel the need to move on to our next post.