Our brief few days in Scotland

We'll its been a busy few days since we last posted. We left Lisbon and landed in Glasgow on the 3rd. We were greeted by a familiar face as Kimilla's Mum, Pam had come to meet us at the airport with Brett an old kiwi friend living in Scotland with his family.

On Friday Morning we got up at a leisurely hour and organised tickets for the local hop-on-hop-off bus. Janet (Brett's wife - an even older friend than Brett) is a Glaswegian who showed us all around. It was a pretty big day but importantly we stopped off at Glasgow Cathedral and St Mungo's Museum of Religious Life and Art (Uncle Doug - we thought of you while at St Mungo's). The tour was really interesting and with the characteristic Scottish self-deprecating humor, gave us a little insight into what life here in the city is like.

Sights from the hop-on-hop-off bus

Glasgow Cathedral

That evening Brett and Janet informed us that it was absolutely mandatory for us to all try haggis while in Scotland. Graciously, they treated us to a meal at a nearby restaurant which happened to serve haggis in some really interesting forms (haggis burger anyone). Despite our reservations the haggis was really delicious. It’s fairly far removed from the horror stories you hear – and while I don’t doubt that it’s made from the less desirable parts of the animal it’s probably no worse than a Pak’n’Save sausage. I had these little haggis nugget things that were cooked in an Indian style seasoning that came with various dressings. It was really good, but I probably won’t add it to the list of things to cook for guests. Unfortunately for Kimilla, it was around dinner time that she started feeling a little unwell. By the time we were heading to bed she was in the midst of a full blown stomach bug which very strongly resembled what I experienced in the Sahara. It was a really rough night for the poor girl and effectively wrote her off for the following day. Which was a real tragedy as Brett and Janet had a huge day planned for us.

Pam and Janet at the Haggis Restaurant

I think you would probably call these Haggis Nuggets - they were really really good though.

So on Saturday, I left my poor wife at home (on her orders) and joined Pam, Brett and Janet on a trip to Edinburgh.  The drive from Glasgow to Edinburgh was only an hour, so before we knew it we were in the heart of this really stunning city. We parked up right at the base of the hill that leads up to Edinburgh Castle and I just couldn't believe that the whole city centers around this giant structure. We made our way from the carpark, through some street markets through the gardens and up the hill to the Royal Mile. The whole place was like it was from a story book (well a very touristy story book). The buildings, the bag pipes, the tartan and all the people. It was so much fun. We checked out a few shops and I managed to find a few bits and pieces about the Drummond Clan.

Edinburgh Castle

While, I really don’t know a lot about the Drummond Clan and the Drummond’s of Motueka tie into it historically, it is something that I have grown up with and it was kind of fun to see kilts and ties with the Drummond Tartan on it – but more on that later. We spent a couple of hours exploring around and stopped for a quiet lunch. It was really a shame that we had such a short amount of time there, I really don’t feel like we did much of the city any justice at all (least of all without Kimilla being there). 

Brett, Pam and Janet heading up to the Royal Mile

The House of John Knox

We left Edinburg and headed North West for another hour or so – over Number Four Bridge towards Muthill. We cheekily stopped off at the Gleneagles Golf course and had a nosey look around the hotel there – I mean what’s the worst that can happen, they ask us to leave? We strutted inside as if we were supposed to be there and took advantage of their bathrooms, which I might add were to a very high standard.

After our quick break we were off again towards Muthill where you can find the Drummond Castle and Gardens. For me the Drummond Castle is rather mythical. There were pictures of it at our house when I was growing up and we had distant relatives who we would occasionally visit who would wear tartan and talk about it. So as a sentimental person, this place had a surreal quality and it didn’t really seem real that I was visiting there. The Castle itself is really not remarkable, you cannot even go inside but the gardens are really quite stunning. You drive from the main road for about a mile (look at me with working with the local measurement system), through a narrow driveway surrounded by trees. When you get to the Castle you go through a low archway out to the back of the property and you are greeted with sites like the photos that follow. I did my best to get a discounted entry based on my last name but rather than saving money I was sold a family tree (of the paper variety not of the garden variety). We spent an hour or so looking around the gardens (which were actually a bit of a revelation to Brett and Janet, who hadn’t known about them) before we drove about 45 minutes back to Glasgow.

Gardens at Drummond Castle

Me, laying claim to my heritage

We checked in with Kimilla who was feeling much better after a day resting – so I left again. This time Brett and I headed around to his son David’s house to what 80 minutes of what must be the finest rugby match that I have ever seen. New Zealand and South Africa are fierce rival’s at the best of times but this game just fantastic. The game was so good, that I think that even if New Zealand had lost the match I would still be raving about how good it was, both teams performed so well and I really don’t think the final score quite reflects how exciting and narrow the game really was.

On Sunday Morning we went to Church with Brett and Janet before having their whole family around for lunch. Brett made a really tasty pizza using some fennel bulbs that he found at the market in Ediburgh. It was really nice to meet there family and there little grandchildren as well. Again, this made us both just a little regretful that we weren't spending longer in Scotland. Oh well, hopefully we will see them all in the southern hemisphere in the next few years.

In the afternoon we all split up and did a few different things – the girls went to Loc Lomond for a poke around some of the little shops and to see the scenery. While David (Brett’s son-in-law, not his son – confusing I know) and I went to the Glengoyne Distillery to learn a bit about how they make single malt scotch. The tour was really interesting the guide was a very dry humored Scotsman and while some of the facts were a little dubious we had a great time and learned a lot. I now understand why its so expensive for some of the bottles – they had a 50 year old scotch that was selling for nearly 4,000 pounds. We had a few samples of the 12 year and 18 year and moved on our way to meet the girls and to head back to Glasgow.

Loc Lomond 

Pam, Janet, Kirsty and Max (who went with the Girls rather than to the distillary)

In the evening we went to a church concert at the City Conference Center. The service was complete with a rock band, full orchestra and a large choir. They played a mixture of contemporary music and traditional hymns. It was actually well done and a lot of fun. On our way home we went on a fox hunt as Pam is yet to see a fox. Unfortunately, they were not obliging despite some of our best efforts and shaking bushes and honking horns so we went home and called it a night. Perhaps another time Pam.

As I write this we are on our way down south to London where we will check into the first stop on our Tour. We are booked on a three week tour of London and mainland Europe, so this marks the start of the next leg of our trip which we are now over half way though.