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| Falkirk Wheel, Iona, Glencoe, Robert the Bruce, Burns Memorial |
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| Ellisland, John Paul Jones, Globe Inn, Caerlaverock, Ruthven Cross |
I am now recovering from all the fun and excitement on the Clan MacDuff tour. The weather was mixed as it often is in Scotland, but on the most important days the sun shone - at Iona and the Gathering and March up the Royal Mile. At other times, we spent less time outside than we might have done when the rain came on. Overall the weather does not seem to have spoilt our trip and holiday. Our coach driver drove us safely and expertly on some very narrow single track roads on the Isle of Mull and our coach was very comfortable. This is important when we spent 11 days travelling on it. We had drinking water on the coach and at most hotels and restaurants throughout the tour. Have just realised that Europeans do not drink as much water as Americans! We had some very special times together throughout our trip. I particularly loved our trip to Iona and Duart Castle on the Isle of Mull. Our visit to Gretna Green was a good shopping experience for many and chance for Bob & Maria to renew their vows in a ceremony over the anvil as runaways have done down the centuries! Our informal Burn's night in the Globe Inn in Dumfries was a highlight for everyone on the tour even if everyone was not too keen on the haggis! The accordian player at the Globe was fantastic and I would have loved to listen to him for longer. The Gathering and the Pageant, I have covered in a separate blog post. Our trip out to MacDuff castle is always good - just sad to see that all the bushes are growing up around it. Someone suggested that we should see if we can get some steps put in to enable visitors to easily get into the castle. The Serrvice in St Michaels Chapel, which is the oldest building still in use today, along with the dedication of Larry MacDuff's bench. I got a very strong impression that everyone enjoyed Steve's whisky nosing and tasting at New Lanark, even although he is English! Next trip we must make sure to include at least one Whisky distillery tour. The Falkirk Wheel is a modern engineering feat which we enjoyed in glorious sunshine. There is so much history packed into Stirling Castle and Bannockburn that it made us all realise that Scottish history is long and complicated. Without William Wallace, Robert the Bruce and Bannockburn, there would have been no Declaration of Arbroath and no independent Scotland from the 14th to 17th Century. Without this independence, not given up in battle, but by joining the Crowns of Scotland with England in 1603 when James VI of Scotland became James I of England on the death of Queen Elizabeth, there would be no Scottish identity as we know it today. As we moved forward in time to the life and death of Robert Burns, Walter Scott and Robert Owen, we learn of the start of the Industrial Revolution, free education for Scottish people and the birth of Scottish tourism in the form of Sir Walter Scott's arrangements for the visit by King George IV to Edinburgh in 1822. Our vist to Gretna Green was a good shopping experience for many and a chance for Bob and Maria to renew their wedding vows in a cermeony over the anvil as runaways have been doing down the centuries! Our informal Burns' night in the Globe Inn in Dumfries was a highlight for everyone, even if everyone was not too keen on the haggis! The accordion player at the Globe was fantastic and I would have loved to listen to him for longer. The Gathering and the Pageant, have been covered in a separate blog post. Our trip out to MacDuff castle is always good - just sad to see that all the bushes are growing up around it. Someone suggest that we should see if we can get some steps put in to enable visitors to easily get into the castle, but knowing health and safety, we would probably be told that the building is not safe!
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| The MacDuff Clan tour members with Sir Lachlan Maclean, Chief of Clan Maclean |
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| At MacDuff Castle after the AGM |
Steve and I travelled to England to visit our family in Yorkshire and further south to visit friends near London. On the way we stopped at Dumfries in the rain to visit the Station Hotel. We liked the Manager who gave me a personal tour round the hotel, which has good sized bedrooms and a nice restuarant and lounge area. It really is beside the station where you can take trains north to Glasgow, west to Stranraer or south to Carlisle. From here you can also walk into town. It is a very nice small town with a good range of shops and steeped in history. After the hotel we visited the Globe Inn which was built in 1610 and was a favourite haunt of Burns. The first Burns Supper was held here in 1819. I have arranged for us to tour the Inn and have an informal Burns Supper including haggis, neeps (turnips) and potatoes accompanied with poems of Burns including "to a Haggis". We will also enjoy accordian music and more. The manager of the Globe Inn is a Burns enthusiast as are the other staff members of the Globe. She would like to have Burns Supper at the Globe every week during this Homecoming Year and is looking forward to welcoming the Clan MacDuff. Anyone who would like to recite a Burns poem or sing a Burns song will be warmly welcomed, but it is not compulsory!