Scotland 2000
Doing the Scotland Thing in 2000
I went to Scotland from May 1rst to May 15th to visit some friends, learn more
about Scotch Whisky, and to do some hiking. I was fortunate enough to get
excellent weather for the entire duration making my overall trip a success.
I met some interesting people and saw some interesting things. This is a
description of my journey.
Quick Jump
Photos |
May 1st - Santa Barbara |
May 2nd - Glasgow |
May 3rd - Fossil Groves |
May 4th - Milngavie |
May 5th - Lanark |
May 6th - Edinburgh Castle |
May 7th - HF Hiking Group |
May 8th - Inverness |
May 9th - Loch Affric |
May 10th - Loch Mullardoch |
May 11th - Stirling |
May 12th - Oban |
May 13th - Isle of Mull |
May 14th - Back to Glasgow |
May 15th - Santa Barbara
Getting There
My travel to Scotland started on May 1rst leaving Santa Barbara. I hopped
to LAX then to ORD (Chicago O'Hare) then to Glasgow. The times were about
23 minutes, 4.25 hours, and 13 hours. Needless to say, it made for a very
long day of traveling. I got about an hour of sleep on the flight. An hour
is not nearly enough.
May 2nd - Glasgow
I flew into Glasgow, Scotland on May 2nd. Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland.
I was pretty well exhausted as you can imagine. Customs was pretty easy. They
asked me a few of the normal questions about where I was going, who I was
seeing, and the like. My friends Dave and
Katie and their two sons (Kevin and Andrew) welcomed me at the airport.
The weather was really nice so the five of us walked around downtown for a bit.
Dave showed us Strathcylde University where he works
in the Institute of Photonics.
We checked out Central Square which is a huge paved (red
asphalt... which they call tarmac) area with a bunch of statues and a LOT of birds.
I got some money out of an automated teller. The ATMs in Scotland rule!
They don't charge you a fee for using them and you get a fairly competitive
rate of exchange. I was getting between 1.54 and 1.56 dollars to the pound
(British Pounds Sterling). Overall the cost of merchandise in Scotland vs. the
United States is fairly comparable. I found this to be rather
strange in the case of Scotch Whisky since they make it there.
In most cases I can purchase it cheaper in the states with the bonus
of not having to carry it on the plane.
We also made it to the Information Center. Each major
city has an Information Center in Scotland and they are pretty
well worth visiting. There are the normal pamphlets and such,
and they also have books and maps of the area for purchase. These can be
extremely useful if you do any hiking or want to see some of the sights.
A ride on a double-decker tour bus was next. I fell asleep on the
tour for a few minutes. I was still wasted from the flight. I suppose
the tour might have been interesting if I could pay attention. I did
see a most peculiar statue.
We finished up the day with a meal at a Chinese restaurant. Chinese restaurants
are popular there, as well as Indian and Italian. I did see on Mexican
restaurant and one American restaurant in Edinburgh, but that is another
story.
May 3rd - Fossil Groves
I woke up on the 3rd feeling much rested. My internal body
clock was syncing up pretty well. Dave went off to work well before
I was awake. After some breakfast and caffienated tea I was ready to
check out some of the sights. Katie and I brought the two boys to "Play Group"
then went to the shops on Dumbarton road to get some groceries. The
bread in Scotland sort of sucks. I bought two rolls and bit into one.
There was nothing inside but air! I could have chipped a tooth! I gave
the other to Katie who smushed it to about 10% of its original size.
When the boys were done with playgroup, Katie and I brought them to
Victoria Park where we found the Fossil Grove.
This place rocked. There were these 330 million year old fossils of
trees. Apparently sand replaced the rotting tree material until it
became sandstone. They build an enclosure around the tree stumps
so they might last a little longer and to reap revenues from humans
born 330 million years after the trees had lived. If they had only
known.
Around the fossil groves was a most impressive display of flower gardens.
They were stunning.
May 4rth - Milngavie
I wanted to do a bit of hiking and see a distillery, so I set off on my
own to a town named Milngavie (pronounced miln-guy). This is in the northern
most stretch of Glasgow and is a quaint trendy little town with clean shops.
It is also the start of the West Highland Way, a 94 mile hiking route up to
Fort Williams. I found a bakery that had a half-way decent loaf of bread
and headed up the West Highland Way towards the Glengoyne distillery. The
scenery was absolutely spectacular and the weather was phenomenal! The
distillery was my destination and it took about 3 hours to get there. I
met a guy along the way there who was older and hard to understand. A
deep Scottish accent. He told me a joke:
A guy is at a pub and offers his chair to a girl. He says "there you go, hen." She says "Hen? I'm not an animal." He says "Sorry, dear." She says "there you go again!"He pointed out the direction to Glengoyne, but gave 3 alternative routes. Like I was supposed to know which way to go or something. Anyway, I ended up going off of the West Highland Way, went up a road and took a footpath which re-intersected into the West Highland Way. Geez, I could have just stayed on the same path!
May 5th - Lanark
Katie, I, and the munchkins went to Lanark by train. It was a
long train ride. This trip marked my first introduction to the
boys' recital of "B-I-N-G-O was his name-O" which became louder
as it progressed. My brain was beginning to hurt. Why would anyone
name a dog that anyway? The ride was about 8 £s ($13 US) round trip.
We hopped a bus to get to Loch Lanark to start a hike that was in one
of the books I found at the Information Center in Glasgow.
It was pretty windy and cold at the Loch. We made a stop at the
playground that was right in front of the Loch so the kids could
run around and jump on the trains. That was pretty freaky. Kevin
stood on top of this toy train that was maybe four to five feet
tall and jumped over a two foot expanse to the car behind it.
He did this three times successfully. Katie and I had a few
Peanut-Butter & Jelly (PBJs) while trying to avoid the biting
wind. It was a sunny day, but the wind off the loch was harsh.
I also had a few banana pancakes. Now this is worth noting because
Katie is an amazing cook when it comes to bread, pancakes, etc.
Somehow she puts two whole bananas into the batter and the pancakes
are hearty and moist. I mean, I would have never thought to carry
dry pancakes in my backpack upon which to munch throughout the
day. Where would I find syrup? How would I clean up afterwards?
But these pancakes were beyond the normal pancakes.
We started looking for the start of the trailhead, but unfortunately
we couldn't find what the author had depicted. Instead we walked
down the road a bit to meet it at another juncture. Once off the
Loch it became warm enough to shed the coats. There were a lot
of Dandelions so I went through the ritual "Momma had a baby and
its head popped off" to Katie. She's a good sport that way.
Along the deserted road we saw lots of lambs and sheep and a
few cows as well. After about an hour we found the PowerStation
that had two colossal green pipes extending to it from the
hill above. The pipes were the conduit for the water that created
the power. It was really cool that the pipes leaked in a few
places. This spurted water in jets and fumes at the top of
one of the pipes. At the top of the hill was a big cistern of
which I needed to do a bit of gymnastics to get to the top
because they had a pad-locked arrangement on the ladder to keep
people like me from doing what I had the intent to do. It
was basically a huge cauldron with water in it; miniature cyclones
and eddies were present. I wouldn't want to drop in. Maybe
that is why they had the ladder covered? It was really fascinating
because it was obvious that this fed the two colossal green
pipes, but from where did the water originate?
We hiked up to see the waterfall. We found a ruin within
which the boys had an enormously fun time. Katie and I
chatted for about an hour while looking at the waterfall.
It was really quite amazing, and although I got pictures of
it, they don't really give the full sense of the grandeur.
Does any photo?
We started to head back to the railway through the town of
New Lanark. There was a huge watermill that was only for show.
We got lost upon our way to the rail station and we were at
that point of exhaustion where I started losing my sense of
humor, but some nice gentleman gave us a ride. The cars
in Europe have the steering wheel upon the right side and
they are pretty spacious cars for their tiny outward appearance.
I think they use some sort of space/time anomaly to make them
bigger on the inside than the outside.
We had some time to wait for the next train so we stopped at
a Fish & Chips shop. For anyone who doesn't know what Fish
& Chips are... you are lucky. The fish is battered and deep
fat fried, and the Chips are what we call French Fries... also
deep fat fried. I was told that there is a high incidence of
heart disease in Scotland. Go figure.
May 6th - Edinburgh Castle
Katie had her own excursion in Edinburgh, so Dave and I and the boys headed
to Edinburgh via rail to see the castle. The castle was interesting. Lots
of history and culture. Kevin turned 5 today at 2:22pm CST. Thus it
was the first day that he could have a ticket to ride the rail. The
train to Edinburgh was a diesel and was very comfortable.
I found a place to stay on Grassmarket street called the Premier Lodge.
I was able to get a cheaper rate because the heat didn't work or some
such thing.
I started walking around looking for a place to eat. I happened upon a
theater. It was 7:45pm and the play started at 8:00pm. It was called
"A Full Moon in Summer" by Michel Trembley, and adaptation from Quebec
French to English. I asked the guy at the ticket stand what was the
deal and he said it was about 6 couples with music in between and got
great reviews. I asked if it was comedy or drama and he replied that
it was sort of experimental. For 9 £s, why not. The play had its
moments, but was very bizarre.
May 7th - HF Hiking Group
I met up with the HF Hillwalking group at 9:30am at the corner of Market
street off the Waverly Station in Edinburgh. We drove to a place named
Broadlaw in four cars. My driver's name was David or Davis. The drive
was very twisty-turney and I became a little nauseous. I only had had a
chance to eat Katie's banana bread and some blueberry bars for breakfast.
The hike started at a place named Dalmood or Durwood or something. We needed
to get approval from the lady whose house it was to park. She suggested that
we park at the place next door because they wouldn't be there. That worked
our just fine. She had a Dalmatian and what appeared to be a black lab.
They were quite friendly. Aileen Boyle (who was my contact for the HF group)
had talked to the lady and was jumped upon vigorously by the dogs. It was
sort of funny, really.
The hike started out and I managed to talk to a bunch of interesting people.
I don't recall all of their names, but I remember a few. I talked to a 23 year old
Brit named Edward who studies Chemistry. I also met a gal named Joan, 34,
who works at a Dynamic Earth Enterprises Limited as the finance manager. She
said that she needed to curtail a tour of the world to start the job. They
even reimbursed her for some of her travel pains. She must be very good. I
also met an Irish gal named Connie who works at the Irish consulate in Scotland.
There was also a dog on the hike named Schultz. He was a German Schnauzer and
looked a lot like my dog Otto (a.k.a. Mr. Moose) except much taller, Otto being
a Miniature Schnauzer.
The hike was amazingly beautiful. The weather was perfect and the hills just
seemed to keep rolling forever. We found a plane wreck on the hillside and
got a few pictures. The hike took about six hours total and we ended at
an Inn where we had a drink to calm us. I think it is great that everyone
the majority of the group did so. My hiking group doesn't socialize much
after the hike.
I stayed at a place called the Apex in Edinburgh for my second night. It was
a much nicer hotel than the previous night, but cost 45 £s. I went to
an authentic Italian restaurant and had a pizza that was wafer thin with
a table wine I wouldn't use for salad dressing. I found an Internet kiosk
in the town of Edinburgh and was able to touch base with some of the folks
at home.
At this point in the journey I wanted to do some touring of Scotland and
didn't know exactly where to go. I had asked Edward on the hike where the
best hiking was and he said around Inverness. That was good enough for me.
May 8th - Inverness
I headed towards Inverness on the 9:40am train. I had a rail pass by this
time which basically means I could go anywhere in Scotland... and I think down
to London... for 4 out of 8 days travel. It was 69 £s, which is pretty
steep and I am not sure that I got the full value out of it. Whatever.
It is tough finding anything nutritious for breakfast. This must have
something to do with it being only 9:00am. That and the fact that there
aren't any proper bakeries. Only this flaked bread that smushes to about
1/10th the actual size. I was able to find a bunch of bananas on this
morning that kept me moving. That and my emergency Snickers bar. In
the evenings the food is fairly low quality. The fish & chips and the
kebabs are tasty, but I could feel the globules of fat floating in my
veins. Deep fat fried means tasty. As Dave Hannon used to say "Fat
tastes good."
I eventually made it to Inverness after a requisite transfer to a bus
because the rail was washed out due to flooding. I meandered through the
town a bit and had lunch at McDonalds. The lunch, of course, sucked.
Then there was the Information Center. As I mentioned before, these things
rock. I found a lot of information on hiking and, having remembered
hearing "Loch Affric" from people on the HF hike the day before, decided
to try to find it. I was told that it was very expensive in the village
of Tomich, so I decided to stay in Cannich. I had the guy at the Information
Center place the call which ended up costing me 1 £ 50 with 10% up
front. I was to stay at a B & B named Comar Lodge. The guy then showed
me a few important things on a map of Inverness that I could see before
I caught my bus to Cannich.
I headed to the Laundromat to see if I could get a load done, but all
the washers were tied up for at least an hour and I didn't have that
sort of time so I boogied on out of there. I found an army surplus store
and bought a decent compass. This move proved fortuitous in my later
hiking expedition. Then I went to a shop called C & A to buy some socks.
Hey, if you can't wash them, buy new ones. The socks really sucked so
I threw each pair away after wearing them one day of hiking. These
were wafer thin.
In front of the Comar Lodge was a farm. I asked the guy at the farm
if the lambs had teeth and he said no. I then asked if I could pet
the lambs and he said yes. So I was able to pet a bunch of baby lambs!
I found out later that they were friendly because they were hand fed
due to their mother dying. I checked into the lodge, then walked about
the town of Cannich for awhile since it was still daylight.
May 9th - Loch Affric
The Comar Lodge was really quite nice. Each room had its own bathroom
which the Scots call "En Suite." I slept like a log. In the morning
there was a big breakfast of ham, eggs, mushrooms, toast, juice, 1/2
grapefruit, rolls, marmalade, and an option of cereal. Top this off
with tea.
The proprietor, Ian, was nice enough to drive me to Loch Affric. It
was about 15 miles from the Inn. We made and agreement to meet in
9 hours.
The weather and the Loch were breathtaking. There was a path going around
the Loch with a few not-so-worn paths jutting off. I took a turn off the path
when I came upon some waterfalls just after Affric Lodge. The waterfalls
in this area run for miles. They are basically creeks that flow down the
entire mountain, and there was a pretty good flow going, so there were pools
and falls going all the way up. I found a nice pool where I was able to
take a quick dip. It was cold!!! I came back down the path and continued.
Eventually I came upon another waterfall that I started following up the
hill. Eventually I made it to the top and found out it was my very first
Munro named Mám Sodhail
which is 3862ft - 1181m. I met a guy at the top of it named Tim who is a
retired pilot from Devon. He is nearly 60 years old and is trying to hit every
munro is Scotland, of which there are currently 284. This number changes with
different surveys.
May 10th - Loch Mullardoch
A couple of French guys came in the night before so I was ousted from my
room and into another room. No big deal there. They decided to to the
same hike I did yesterday with perhaps the exception of Mám Sohail. The
blonde had torn a ligament so he wasn't interested in anything too killer.
We had a nice breakfast together and chatted w/ Ian and Jane. The one guy's
name was Stephan, but I forget the other's. Today we got sausages which kept
coming back to haunt me throughout the morning.
Ian drove me to Loch Mullardoch. It was cooler and misty -- no sunshine. This
was the first day without the sun. I ambled along the trail for a bit then went up the
falls. Eventually I made it to Creag Dubh 3102ft - 945m. I guess this is called a secondary, so I am not
sure if it is a munro or not. It was listed as such on one webpage, so I suppose
it was. The visibility was horrendous. It started getting misty and cold. I
went on until I hit the top. I was very disoriented and I feared going down in
the wrong direction. As I headed back I came across a large tract of snow. Hey!
This wasn't here before! Now that scared me. I got out my trusty compass that
I just acquired in Inverness two days prior and plotted a SE course to take me back.
This took me off my original path of ascent, but got me to a waterfall very quickly.
I was still a bit fearful of my direction, but as all roads lead to Rome, all
streams hit the sea. I followed it. Now, I should point out that this was the
most beautiful of all the falls I had seen thus far. Even in the mist. It was
cut in a gorge and the sides were mostly grass rather than rock. It was spectacular.
I hurried down this stream because I was nearing the 1/2 way point for Ian's pickup
at 3:00pm. Soon I reached the main stream and started to gain my bearings. After
a bit longer I got out of the mist cover, and soon thereafter caught sight of the
Loch. Whew! I meandered the rest of the way to the rendezvous point.
I actually was a bit early so I walked down part of the dam. Very interesting. I talked to
the guy who owned the lodge next to the dam. He said he had worked in Los Angeles
in the 50s for a dairy company. He told me that he killed a lot of deer (150 in the
first part of the season and 50 in the second part of the season). He sold the
Venison for income. He had just recently sold a chunk of his property. Time must
be tight.
I caught the 4:19pm out of Cannich and got into Inverness. I eventually hit
the rail to Glasgow, but boned it by not getting off at Perth. Like the
schedule was human readable or something. I end up going to Edinburgh and
had another hour trip to get to Glasgow. Then I end up going to CENTRAL
rather than QUEEN ST. By that time, the railway was shutting down so I
take a cab to Dave & Katie's. That wasn't the end of the fiasco. The guy
couldn't find the city of Scotstoun. How hard could this be? I asked him
specifically to get me to the railway station in Scotstoun. Do the tracks
move? I don't think so. He kept asking me if anything looked familiar
and I kept telling him that nothing would look familiar, just get me to
the railway station. He stopped and asked directions 3 times before he
got me there. By this time I was losing my sense of humor. The fare turns
out to be £8.40 and he says, "just pay me £8." That's right,
baby. Don't be expecting a tip! The worst part was that he owned the cab
company! Eight cars! Dope.
May 11th - Stirling
Got up early because I wanted to get my laundry handled. Dave was at work before I
awoke. The dryer didn't work so I went to the laundromat to finish up the job.
Dave came home about noon so the family and I headed to Stirling by rail.
It was breezy, but sunny. We went into Stirling Castle. That was fairly interesting.
The grounds outside were built up in an
amazing pattern. I was pretty tired and sore from all the activity
the day before, but managed to keep moving. We had Chinese take-out that we ate on the
train going back. It was DELUXE! I was getting fairly hungry by then and it was reasonably
priced. Only £26 to feed five people. Well, three adults and two quasi-adults.
It worked.
May 12th - Oban
Dave, Katie, myself, and the two kids headed to the coastal resort city of Oban
bright and early. Oban is on the west coast of Scotland to the north and you get
there by train. We had booked an all-encompassing package deal through Scotrail
that included two nights accommodations, two dinners, and two breakfasts, round-trip
ferry to the Isle of Mull, and a jaunt on a miniature train.
We couldn't check in right away, so we ditched our gear under the serving table
in the dining room of the Caledonian Hotel and meandered up a treacherous road
(meaning that we might have been run over by vehicles any time) to
Dunollie Castle.
This castle was really cool because they haven't commercialized it with "Don't go here"
signs and exhibits and lights and gizmos. The walls were thick and falling apart and there was ivy
growing all over the outside. I got a glimpse of it
from the ferry the next day as well. Then we walked to the beach. It wasn't much by
California standards, but the weather was nice and the boys got to play and I
took a little snooze on the beach. I had fun building a sun-dial.
I'm getting way too much sun! My nose is still red from mountain climbing.
We had dinner at the Caledonian Hotel, the hotel in which we stayed. Damned
if I got any bread. The waiter was not too swift. I had the Scottish lamb
and it was pretty tasty, albeit a meager portion. I remedied the situation
by walking around the town and exploring the different ice-cream shops.
May 13th - Isle of Mull
We started the day off with a breakfast at the Caledonian Hotel. I then headed to
the Oban distillery
where I saw another distillery tour. This tour helped to fill
in the blanks of some of the process I had missed in Glengoyne.
The guy that led the tour was very knowledgeable and spoke very quickly. I bought two bottles of
Oban "Special Edition" to bring home, one for me and one for Wedge.
The group of us made it to the Isle of Mull. To get to Mull, we needed to take a
ferry. The ferry was colossal. It held cars, trucks, and people. It was many
stories high. It went from Oban to Craignure, which is on Mull.
Once on the Isle, we took a miniature train, no more than 5 feet high towards
Torosay Castle. The train was so little that the engineer
turned it around physically by hand.
We decided not to see that castle because we wanted to see Duart castle instead.
We ran into a problem with that as the busses weren't running on this weekend
day. The weather was quite beautiful again. We hung out at a park until the
ferry came to bring us back to Oban.
Dinner was in a different place and the service was much better than the night
before. The same girl seems to work every shift. The only complaint I had is
that I asked for water 3 times and when they finally brought it there was only
a tiny pitcher for five people.
I walked around a bit after dinner. It is kind of eerie to walk around a town
that all the shops are closed and people are winding down, but it is still bright
outside. The view from the Caledonian Hotel was amazing. I left the windows
open the whole time I was there. I stopped in a bunch of little shops that sold
candy, magazines, cigarettes, and ice cream. I chose ice cream!
May 14th - Back to Glasgow
We started off with the breakfast extravaganza at the Caledonian... the
authentic Scottish cuisine including scrambled eggs, fried eggs, ham,
toast, and hockey pucks.
After breakfast we digested and headed to Tesco (the local grocery mart) while we
waited until after 11:00am for the train station to open. We needed to check out
of the Caledonian and needed a place to secure our bags. The train station had
automated lockers to this effect.
We took a taxi to Dunstaffnage Castle. That was £5.30, but the return trip was £7+.
Interesting how the same distance can cost you different amounts dependent upon the
driver's disposition. Dunstaffnage was ruinous, but had some interesting features, so
we mulled around a bit checking them out. The weather was beautiful again. Then we walked
to the chapel which was more of a mausoleum.
There was someone buried there as late as 1980. That was strange.
We ended up walking to the water's edge. That was the best part. I dozed for about an hour. The
water was clear and, although it wasn't sandy, it was quite a
spectacular beach. It was
almost magical. We even saw jellyfish in the water that looked like a 4-ring soda strap.
We headed back to town (Oban) then to Tesco to get ice-cream and cones. The toughest
part was finding a scoop. They wanted £4 for a scoop! We found a plastic spoon for
79 pence and that was good enough. Ben & Jerry's
chocolate and Cherry Garcia fit the bill. I ended up eating a malt-loaf with raisins that
wasn't all that great.
We finished up the Oban adventure on the train headed to Glasgow.
May 15th - Santa Barbara
Katie and the boys saw me off at the airport. We had to wait in line an extraordinary
long time because the computer was down.
I made it to the gate without much time to spare. We got on the plane and
headed back. There were two movies played:
Anna and the KingMany, many hours later I made it back to the states. I got lucky on the plane back to L.A. Turns out that the plane wasn't completely full so I was able to move to Business class. I'll tell you, those chairs are deluxe. You can recline, put your feet up, it's awesome. I ate another one of those fruit laden malt loaves. Honestly, what were they thinking? Still, you'd be surprised what you will eat when you are bored enough.
Onegin
