Vacation Plans -- United Kingdom

You you and lovely fiona going there Mctag ?

Too bad the Fringe Fest comes so early to Eburgh... we'll be missing it, but it sounds like fun. I'll have to examine that Pub Crawl in greater detail, but.... so many pubs, so little time.

We are not going to the Festival this year, Gautam, but we have had several visits in recent years.
Our son is up there, working, at the moment. He was in a play two years ago, which did well. We saw it there, and took in as much as we could...it's a real culture-binge, and a binge on other things as well.
I think you would like it- I assume you've not been? With all these men in kilts, too.

McT

Nah, I havent been there and will miss it this year as well !! But next year I hope - there is always hope

Being the nice person I am and despite having no interest myself in battles, battle-weapons, etc., I have not only arranged for my two war-freaks to visit the Culloden battlefield... BUT we're going to be staying for one very expensive night at the Culloden House where the bonnie one stayed, the night before the fateful (yet short) battle.

Am I a martyr to the cause or what?


Sadly, the place I wanted to stay in Dornie is booked. Is there a holiday on September 22nd?

Culloden shmulloden.
We wus robbed.

No idea about a local holiday on the 22nd, but there's no national one in my diaraigh.
I notice however the next day 23rd Sept is the Autumnal Equinox.
I throw that in for free.

From a sweltering Britain,

Bye for now. McT

Thanks, McT. You are not only kind but a gentleman!

Well, it's worked out... I did find a place to stay on the 22nd in Dornie. I do love Eilean Donan and now I'll get to see it at night without just whizzing by in a car. We stayed on Loch Alsh before and loved it, gorgeous country.

I wonder, for the Autumnal Equinox should I plan on drinking and dancing naked with the Kintail Sisters or is that just for the Summer Solstice?

Lovely Portrait of the Five Sisters of Kintail

I used to fish off the bridge at Dornie when I went as a youth up there camping with my family. Caught some, too. Powerful tidal stream at half-tide, I remember.
Midges, too.
Happy days.
Now, I'm old enough to go in the pubs, so I might do less fishing.

McT

Just posted over at noquarter's thread . . .
Hi, Piffka - Just posted a Clan Map of Scotland over on noquarter's thread, "History of my last name." There's a line to you that I hoped you'd be in Edinburgh 10-30 August for THE festival and that I'd put some info about it on your thread here. Well, when I got here I decided to go to page 1 and read your first post there . . . then onward. So-o-o, I see that your trip is in September. What else can I think of?

I noticed you spoke about going to Ireland? Eire or Northern Ireland? Or have you now settled on Scotland? I'll go now and read through the posts and your replies. Be back later.

Charli -- I'd love to hear what you think would be good to see in Edinburgh, considering we'll be jet-lagged and only staying for two nights. I'm thinking we'll have dinner Saturday night at either The Witchery or The Tower -- just because they've gotten such good reviews. I'd like to get up to Arthur's Seat and now I want to see Longmore House. Also want to see the museum that has the most stuff about Picts, I forget which one that is.

A couple of years ago we spent time in Dumferline and loved the old abbey. We stayed in Culross, which was great.

In Inverness we're picking up a car and planning on visiting Culloden and probably Cawdor Castle, plus the Cairns, I forget their name. We've only got one night there. I'd like to see Tain, but don't know if we'll have time because we're on to Dornie so that I can enjoy Eilean Donan again and Plockton.

We've got tentative plans to go across the Skye bridge and down to Armadale to visit the McDonald center. Then across on the Mallaig ferry. Two nights in Ballachulish, visiting Leanachan Forest where Mr. Piffka's father's side of the family originated, Glencoe, etc. and then back to London on the night train. A very short visit.

MORE SCOTLAND . . .
"South of Scotland

"Full of Scottish personality from the moment the Border is crossed, the South of Scotland is certainly worth exploring.

"All the landscape features for which Scotland is renowned, from high and lonely hills to a rugged seacoast, can be found here.

"The vivid greens of Ayrshire's pastoral countryside, the forests and dark moors of upland Galloway and endless Border hills with river valleys between - all these promise scenic variety. Then add the scenic surprises of Clyde Valley, notably around New Lanark, the red-roofed East Lothian villages in the shadow of the Lammermuir Hills and the historic towns of the Forth Valley. The result is essentially Scottish and full of character.

"Galloway and the West . . . "


http://www.electricscotland.com/tourist/south.html

The above paragraphs are from the site of the URL above. I couldn't resist. Maybe your next trip. :-) The Border Cloth Mills are "something else!" Not all that far from Edinburgh. Maybe?

Anyway, in Edinburgh, there's THE CASTLE! of course. And Holyrood; the Prince's Street Gardens, famous for their flower clock. (The Royal Mile leads from the Castle to Holyrood.) The Norman Chapel of Saint Margaret, Saint Gile's Cathedral, The Advocate Library, The Royal High School and the University of Edinburgh which were founded in the 1500's. Don't forget Linlithgow and the Firth of Forth with the famous bridge. (There's a couple of CD's worth of pix on the hard drive here from the family's trip last year. I'll give a look and see if anything is super interesting to put up on this site

'Tis the witching hour More tomorrow.

<sigh> We wished we had more time. Ayrshire has been high on our list for a while. We had reservations to stay for a week on the Isle of Arran, but September 11th, 2001 got in the way. We will certainly look forward to the south of Scotland next time. Love to see your photos.

Thanks for the tips re. E'burgh!

The Forth Bridge
Below is our own photo of the beautiful two-track (R.R.) Forth Bridge. Opened 4th March 1890. Edinburgh in the background. Also, here's the URL for the bridge info site. More photos tomorrow.

http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/features/featurefirst1053.html

Nice photo, Charli! Oh, can't wait to see it in person. I think we'll be traveling over that bridge, too, on our way to Inverness.

Have just joined the Gazeteer Society... thanks for the tip!

FROM PRINCE'S GARDENS
Here's a view from Prince's Street Gardens. Sorry it's so small, but I'm reluctant to put up the large pix here when I've had time to make them smaller.

Come to Britain this year! Enjoy the scenery! The pageantry! The electricity!

Charli, Isn't there a restaurant next to that bridge? I think we had lunch there. c.i.

RESTAURANT AND HOTEL "AT THE BRIDGE"
Is this the place where you had lunch, c.i.? It's in the toll plaza at the - adjacent AUTO - bridge. Did you go to the Tattoo? If so, what year? Comments? Pix?

Note the editing above. Thanks, McTag!

Charli, I found my photos of the bridge and Macdonald's restaurant. Will post the photos tomorrow. c.i.

I'll just say this before anyone else does, and because I'm a pedantic bore.
That bridge is for trains only. If you want to drive over, you've got to use the other bridge.

ci tell me I'm wrong. You're not going to extol (no pun intended, but hey) the virtues of a Macdonald's restaurant at South Queensferry, are you?

Morning everybody.