After the tour - A quick look back

Falkirk Wheel, Iona, Glencoe, Robert the Bruce, Burns Memorial

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!

The MacDuff Clan tour members with Sir Lachlan Maclean, Chief of Clan Maclean

At MacDuff Castle after the AGM

Update Clan Tour - Trip to Isle of Mull

January is not my favourite month for travel as the weather can be very unsettled and the 21st and 22nd were no exception. After visiting several hotels in Oban last year, I suddenly thought how much nicer it would be if you could stay for 2 nights on the Isle of Mull rather than in Oban. I found a nice hotel on the internet, but decided that I better go and check it out for myself. The drive to Oban from Aberfeldy (where I had been visiting my Mother) was very pleasant and I arrived in Oban in good time for the 4pm ferry. I had time to go to McCaig's folly above Oban and look out to sea from there. The views are spectacular with the snow covered mountains at this time of year. The ferry crossing from Oban to Craignure on Mull takes 40 mins, by which time it was dark. In Jan the daylight hours are from around 9am to 4.30pm. When you come in July daylight hours are from 4am until around 9pm which is much better for sightseeing. I stayed in a nice Bed & Breakfast locally. The next morning, I visited the Isle of Mull Hotel at Craignure. It is a lovely long hotel with accommondation only on the ground or first floors. The views are to Duart Castle, ancestral home of the Clan Maclean. You will have wonderful views to the castle on the ferry into Craignure as well. The manager and receptionist at the hotel were very welcoming and showed me all the hotel facilities which includes a swimming pool and gym area as well as a Spa. I drove from the hotel for just over an hour to Fionnphort where I planned to embark on the short 10 minute crossing to Iona. I went to pay for my ticket and the purser said are you staying overnight on Iona, I said no I was planning to return on the 3pm ferry. He said the winds getting up the ferry may not be running this afternoon. I gave up the attempt as I was due to get the ferry back to Oban in the late afternoon! I had forgotten that when you live on an island or visit one, it is not always possible to do exactly what you want! However hopefully in July, we will not have this problem. Every corner I drove round in the south of Mull gave me new and it seemed even more stunning vistas. One of my very special events that day was I saw very close up a white tailed eagle. They are magnificent birds even larger than our golden eagles and were reintroduced to Mull a few years ago. They are now breeding successfully and their young are repopulating the west coast of Scotland. If you click on the photos above they will open as a larger version in another window. The top photo is a collage of my trip to Mull and the bottom photo shows McCaig's folly when I was leaving Oban on the boat. On the right of the page are links to the hotel and information on Mull and Iona.

On your arrival in Glasgow we will be staying at the Beardmore Hotel on the banks of the River Clyde. We will spend 2 nights in this lovely hotel which has large and well appointed rooms with views from them to the river Clyde. The hotel is unusual as it is owned by the National Health Service, the only one of its kind in Scotland. I found the management team very friendly and helpful and the porter was a fund of information on the area. It is a short journey by taxi from Glasgow International Airport to the Hotel. A link to the hotel is at the right. From Glasgow a trip is planned to the Falkirk Wheel and Linlithgow Palace. Links are on the right.

After our trip to Mull and Iona we will be heading south and staying at The Mill Hotel New Lanark for 3 nights. The hotel is also situated on the River Clyde and most rooms in the hotel have views to the river. The Falls of Clyde are a short walk from the hotel. We will also visit the Mills and learn about life in the 1800s. The village first rose to fame when Robert Owen was mill manager from 1800-1825. Owen transformed life in New Lanark with ideas and opportunities which were at least a hundred years ahead of their time. Child labour and corporal punishment were abolished, and villagers were provided with decent homes, schools and evening classes, free health care, and affordable food.A forerunner to our free education and national health service. Links are on the right.

I have provisionally booked a hotel for us in Dumfries and I will be visiting it later in the week. I will write a further report about the remainder of our tour in mid February when I return from a short break in England visiting family and friends. Dumfries is one of the areas along with Alloway and Edinburgh closely associated with Rabbie Burns. The Homecoming year in honour of his memory has started very well with Burns Nights all around the world including one in Harlingen, Texas organised by Warren Kininmonth. I now know who I can get to do an immortal memory for us when we hold our own Burns night on the Clan Tour! Links to Dumfries and the The Gathering are on the right.

There have been several interesting programmes on Scottish TV this year to do with the History of Scotland, Robert Burns, and Scottish Clans. I have collected these onto DVDs which I hope to show you some of on our travels around Scotland. I am excited that Clan MacDuff is going to be a part of Homecoming Year and am looking forward to renewing friendships and making new ones.