Day 16 Mom's trip, Tuesday 14 April (and Wed)

This was it... The Last Day. =( I awoke with a deep sense of impending doom that I had to set aside in order actually to enjoy the day rather than waste it in preemptive sadness! But I knew the next morning I'd be seeing mom off at the airport and That Would Be It. Bummer. But besides that, it was a very lovely day! We had breakfast at our hotel before heading to the Abbey to take part in morning worship along with the Iona Community. Part of what I'd liked so much before when I'd stayed on Iona was the daily worship and the rhythm that brought, along with the fact that the service ends with everyone standing and then immediately heading out to their work -- worship and work are not artificially separated. From there we set off for a walk to the other side of the island (half a mile, maybe?).

There are definitely more sheep than people on Iona.

We just liked this spotted lamb (or, as I was calling him, a Jacob sheep).

Reaching the other side! As you can see, it was no where near as clear and beautiful a day as the one prior had been!

On the beach. Yes, it was spitting rain. We did the traditional find a stone to throw into the ocean thing here. It is actually a meaningful-symbolic act that I don't feel like describing right now, for no particular reason...

We left Iona on the noon ferry across to Mull, just to make sure we didn't push it too close to our second ferry! After settling back into our car we ambled our way back across Mull -- this time meeting a bit more traffic but nearly all of it quite polite on the single-track roads, and reached our ferry in plenty of time. (They did ask if we had a reservation which made us quite glad we did!) Not much to say, we waited in the (very small) town a bit, browsing for any last food items we'd want to take back, then ferried back over to Oban whence we hit the road and took off out of town and back to Edinburgh. We crossed the top bit of the Trossachs again, stopped at The Green Welly food/shopping/bathroom stop (main place for petrol this part of Scotland - which we didn't need, but the bathroom was welcome!), and then headed south toward Stirling and eventually Edinburgh. On the way we stopped at Kathleen's favorite loch (Loch Lubnaig), which - as my mom said - was quite lovely (but she'd never met a loch she didn't like!). Then we took a bit of a detour into the Trossachs again (along Invertrossachs, a fitting name), around by Brig O' Turk (picture below in that vague area), and over Duke's pass down to Aberfoyle. The odd thing was, I got to experience a significant sense of deja vous as we did this -- I'd never known where Kathleen had taken us driving on our crazy road trip the other spring (the one that entailed The Cake, for those who care to remember that!), but this was it!

Loch Achray (I think. There is a small chance it could be Loch Lubnaig...)

Looking down at Loch Drunkie (best name ever! heehee) as we went through Duke's Pass.

After passing the one lake in Scotland (Lake Monteith), we hit the highways again and were serious about getting ourselves to Edinburgh so that mom could pack up. =( We found our hotel by the airport, emptied the car, and crammed everything we possibly could into mom's bags.

Me: I could mail you that book...
Mom: Give it back, I think I can fit it over here...
Me: Really? You sure? I mean, I'd be happy to mail it to you... eventually...!
Mom: No, no need, I've got it!
Me: Looks Disappointed


The next morning we got up nice and early (ha!) and I went with her over to the airport to see her off. With her gone I felt adrift but went back to the hotel, got the car, and headed home. It was not the Nice Sunny Day I'd hoped for -- as I had one last day with the car -- but eventually (around 1pm) I headed back out with the car into the haze to do some hiking.

I was finally going to Glen Clova - a beautiful glen a bit north of here in the Cairngorms that I'd been hearing about for years but never visited. And now I was... =) I did not have a hiking map, however, so I was rather glad that they had this at the parking lot:

An affordable (i.e. free!) elevation map! I started at the boxed-in spot on the map (middle left) and followed the red trail up...

Looking along the glen - definitely not the perfectly clear day for endless views... =( But still, this is not to complain - it had cleared off tremendously to give me this much! The path up was rather steep -- I realized that they don't really believe in switchbacks here. Apparently switchbacks are for wimps or something - just go UP!

Looking back along the glen the way I'd come in -- it's an "unofficial one way system" around the Glen on the single-track roads. People generally drive in on the far side of the valley and out on the near. Quite convenient, as I only passed one car each way!

I hiked up to Loch Brandy, beautifully set!

I wandered around the base of the lake a bit, here looking over to The Snub which I wanted to try to climb - I made it to the lower shoulder before I decided I was quite literally risking life and limb and probably shouldn't go further.

Ze path, she goes up from here...

Looking down at Loch Brandy.

The view into the neighboring high valley, itself entirely encircled with peaks to my right.

Turning to go back down... I was very tempted to hike the whole top part around the loch, but I did realize I was alone and perhaps that wasn't the greatest of ideas. This bit was super super steep and had me a bit creeped out (and the next part continued on just as steep if not steeper! You can see it if you zoom in on the elevation map.) I tried several ways of capturing how steep it was, but I think this one shows it best - the path just disappears to resume somewhere down below...

Having made it back down again, here's Loch Brandy again... =)

After returning to the valley I walked a little ways farther in -- I do wish it had been clearer because there are quite a number more mountains back there. But still, I hadn't expected even this much visibility!

The sheep here had impressive horns (and didn't like being photographed - after this they turned their backsides to me and walked away).

And the daffodils were still brilliantly in bloom this high up.

And that was the end. I returned to my car and returned to St Andrews -- encountering at one point on this road an entire entourage of chickens with their rooster. He was showing off and threatening my car. I wasn't entirely sure what he thought he was doing, but I did drive Very Slowly past them all! After emptying the car, it was with great sadness that I parted with the car on Thursday morning -- dropped back in St Andrews by Enterprise, I pretty much went straight back to work at the shop, and life resumed as normal.

And that's it, folks, finally done making it through my adventures with momma! Thanks for staying with me! =D

Day 15 Mom's trip, Monday 13 April

We woke up super, super early this morning in order to catch the 7am ferry from Oban to the island of Mull. Early. Really, Reeeaaaallly early. blech. Still, we'd been warned that the ferries were filling up and -- since we didn't have reservations -- we might not make it on at any "normal" hour... So early we went, tickets we got (as well as going ahead and booking our return for the morrow at a more reasonable hour!), and the ferry we took! It was not overfull at that hour! We reached Oban, drove off the ferry (I'm a fan of these ferries!), and took off at a leasurely pace across the island - it being 8am, there really was no rush! (From here on in, all the narration will be with the copious photos I feel like posting...) =D

I liked these lakes the last time across Mull as well! But look at that sky! What a perfect day!

A slightly different view of the lakes (included because I liked the scenery while the other one showed the sky better!)

Looking over at Ben More and back along our single-track road. It was actually a very friendly single-track road, with mostly considerate drivers and well-lined with passing places.

This highland "coo" was all about posing for us!

Approaching Iona on the second ferry, having left our car behind.

The Abbey, and -- LOOK AT THAT WATER! This is, remember, SCOTLAND! I was wearing a good 4 layers or so...

Inside a little chapel on the Abbey grounds.

Inside the Abbey Church, the trailey things from the ceiling were left-over from their Easter services.

Back down to the harbour to catch a boat to take us to Fingel's Cave up on the isle of Staffa. Regarding our boat, the woman at the main ferry to Iona in the morning had recommended the one we took, but also commented, "that's the one you row on"... eh, might as well take the time to see these things! But again, look at that white sand beach!

The isle of Staffa - slightly hazy, but this is the photo on all the postcards, now mine!

A lady kindly volunteered to take our photo - I think this was our first the whole trip (other than the few I tried to take myself of us...). Thankfully it even came out well!

Fingle's Cave, as seen from the boat. Fingle was one of the race of Giants, and in his battle with an Irish giant a causeway was laid out, but in (or after?) their battle it was destroyed. Apparently the rock formation here and at Giant's Causeway in Ireland is identical, and these are the only two places that have these vertical towers of volcanic rock.

The rock formations were wild and free flowing stone!

Momma, looking beautiful on our way across from the landing point to Fingle's Cave.

Me, mildly backlit, with my back to the way we are still to go. On the way back as I got more comfortable with the rocks, I scrambled a good bit more around, closer to the sea and less concerned with the rail!

Fingle's Cave, site of Mendelssohn's inspiration for the Hebredian overture (these are the Hebredian Islands, or Hebredies). It really was rather stunning to crawl into the cave a bit and listen to the bass rhythm of the waves and the higher tones as wavelets splashed against rock wall after rock wall on their way in to the cave. From here you can also see a bit of the colour of the water which apparently gets even brighter later in the spring/summer as the algae in the water flourishes.

Mom startled me by showing up when she'd first said she wasn't going to come in! The first bit (where she's standing) really was rather narrow!!!

On our way back (as I scampered around) -- see how tall those rocks are, though?! Crazy pillars!

Next we climbed up to the top of the island with the aim of making it to the other end (in very little time...) to try to see some puffins. Since we'd seen some earlier, I wasn't as urgent as I might have been and enjoyed the extra time at Fingle's cave instead of racing to do both. We went a good ways over, and apparently some people did get quite close to the puffins who are rather fond of humans apparently.

Back on Iona we wandered along the shore for a while before heading up to our hotel -- this was the boat we'd taken our afternoon adventure on, now at rest.

The hotel had a "Quiet Garden" in the back that was quite peaceful -- I suppose you couldn't help but be peaceful setting this close to the Abbey grounds.

The view from our window (which was an upgrade - our reservation did not have a sea view -- and it was so lovely to be upgraded like that without asking to such a beautiful and peaceful scene!) had shown me the lambs to be playing wildly right up by the fence, but I couldn't quite see what they were jumping onto and off of (quite literally playing king of the mountain). They were head butting each other and jumping up and down wildly -- mom had to drag me from the window eventually! But when we went over to the quiet garden I finally also got to see what the lambs were so excited about - several bags of hay! They were crazy, adorable, and so much fun for me to watch. That was a gift.

Dinner at the hotel was excellent, and then we crashed from such a long day! I'd been telling mom that we needed to stay up so as to see the stars on Iona since the dark there is blacker than most places - but it had clouded over in the evening and there was not a star to be seen -- so we didn't have to feel guilty falling right to bed even before it was fully dark (this at about 10pm!).

Day 14 Mom's trip, Sunday 12 April

EASTER SUNDAY!

This was a very emotional day. Somehow the reality of dad's absence was stronger and far more constant than other days -- not that it wasn't always there, but sometimes we could distract ourselves and sometimes we could reminisce with sadness but also with joy. But whether it was because Easter is a huge holiday in the Eastern tradition (and so for dad), or because Easter is a day for celebrating life, hope and resurrection, or what, I don't know, but it was a day overcast with a lot of grief. Not to say it wasn't good, but there was also significant grief. Still, I was so glad Mom was there with me -- I wasn't alone and also mom was somewhere different where there were no immediate memories of Easters in this location. It was, I think, good for us both.

The day was nevertheless good and busy. We got up early -- rolled out of bed about 6:45 -- to go to the 7am "sunrise" service (sunrise is currently significantly earlier!) out on St Mary's on the Rocks, a ruined chapel overlooking the sea and right next to the cathedral. It is always a service I enjoy, meeting up early with fellow believers to celebrate the reality of the resurrection. A bunch of St Mary's people (that's the divinity school, not the chapel now!) were there as well, so we were in a safe group as well. After the service we went on into the cathedral for what is now tradition of having communion at the altar of the ruined cathedral. That first communion of Easter is always special to me, the celebration of the power that is inherent in Christ's sacrifice. After this we went on over with the crowds for the breakfast that is put on my a local hotel - very simple, just bacon or sausage rolls and coffee, but always welcome! (Thus mom got her first sausage roll...)

We went home and showered and got ready for "real" church and also did a bit more packing up. At church I had my 3rd Eucharist within 13 hours and I pondered -- as I always do in this season -- the gluttony of Easter Eucharists! After church I met little Elizabeth (my friend Sarah Joy's baby) and mom met a few more of my friends (Tim says "hi!" Aunt RoseLee, and confirmed that you and my mom look alike!) and then we ran home to make sure mom got everything she needed into the car and took off to Anstruther. I'd booked us for a nice dinner at the seafood restaurant down there, one that I'd last been at for Gisela's birthday party the other year. So this was only my second time down to The Cellar, and it was still quite good food! mmm... I had the Cellar’s Fish Soup (crayfish bisque glazed with cream and gruyere), followed by the Chef's recommendation of grilled, prime halibut with greens, pine nuts and smoked bacon, and finished it off with a date and ginger sponge with vanilla ice-cream and butterscotch sauce (pretty much Sticky Toffee pudding...). And yes, I did just go look those up on their website... =) Amidst enjoying the food, though, I think dinner was when the grief became near overwhelming, so we were not raucous diners... Still, I also got to hear some more stories that I'd never heard before about the process of Dad coming to the States and how that had all played out, as well as a bit about their early years of marriage, so it was also special for me.

After dinner, we headed north and then west (from Dundee) and took off for the west coast of Scotland. It was another beautiful day, weatherwise, and we were enjoying our trip thoroughly (despite losing our road in every city we encountered!). As we headed across the Trossachs, however, I suddenly realized I did want to take mom into them a bit more rather than just sticking to our route straight across, so she did some investigating with the map and found us a loop that would put us back on our road farther along and yet would take us along Loch Lomond and several other lochs... So off we went!

Looking down Loch Lomond -- Ben Lomond in the background

Closer in of Ben Lomond (974m), the first munroe I climbed. I quite enjoyed showing mom the mountain I'd done, and even more, I quite enjoyed being able to SEE the mountain I climbed! When we did it we lost visibility somewhere shortly above the tree line on the front there...

We kept driving along our loop, passing Loch Long and Loch Goil - both tidal lochs -- and also going through a high pass that has a place (or hill?) named "Rest and Be Thankful." I liked that place name! We then went around the top of Loch Fyne, also tidal (i.e., these ones open right out into the Firth and the sea eventually). Eventually, we couldn't resist pulling over in Inverary because it was just a beautiful view!

The view looking back east in Inverary, including the monument to highlanders from the area who died in WWI and II.

Looking north - you can see the effects of being a tidal loch in the foreground!

A little farther along, we came upon Loch Awe right at sunset - and it was a beautiful sunset!! We pulled over again and took a bunch of pictures... I'm seeing painting potential again!

A "less-zoomed" view of the sunset over Loch Awe - obviously looking west!

Looking north-west to Ben Cruachan (1126m) -- begging to be climbed...!

The sunset, one last time....

Ultimately, we finished up our drive and arrived at Oban somewhere around 10pm. And then I weirded out -- now, understand, I love Oban. I think it's a great place! I've stayed there several times and been there even more often, so I have no idea what struck me. But there was no way I was going near the hostel we were supposed to stay at, no way on earth. We even approached it at different times from both sides and I just balked like a stubborn horse! It looked perfectly clean and fine, and I just balked completely! I have absolutely no idea... But we eventually gave up on me and stayed in a B&B right nearby... Weird. I have stayed in far worse areas and far worse hostels, I have no idea what happened, but at least we slept well where we ended up! Mom was gracious and the place was very reasonably priced, so it all worked out I guess...! But anyway, that's that day!

Day 13 Mom's trip, Saturday 11 April

This'll be shorter! We woke up to a gloriously sunny day -- which was lucky since I'd decided this was the day we were going to do a bit of the coastal path! We hopped the bus down to Crail, Meg joining us, and set off along the path from Crail to Anstruther, another 5 mile day! It was beautiful, the cows weren't out (good? bad? indifferent? just different!), and I was enjoying the experience of wearing a t-shirt with a light jumper instead of 15 layers and heavy coats! On the way we did pass the pig farm where the piglets were out scampering around and being more playful than any I've seen! Otherwise we walked and enjoyed the birds and the landscape.

See? Lovely day! This is looking out at Isle of May and the little point on it is a lighthouse built by Robert Lewis Stevenson's grandfather.

Reaching Cellardyke, which has now merged with Anstruther, where they were drying their laundry out at the harbour.

In Cellardyke, mom very gamely, and kindly, posed for me to finally take a photo of what is probably my favorite road sign in all of Scotland.

We walked through Cellardyke to Anstruther and met up with a couple other friends at the (very busy) Fish and Chips shop there, voted #1 in the UK last year. It was very yummy, although mom did ask - fairly enough - how you judge such things! Kathleen kindly crammed all of us in her car and drove us back to St Andrews where mom rested up a bit before I dragged her over to meet my landlady and then having Paul and Amber over for dinner. Mom was helping teach Amber some of the breathing and relaxation techniques for labour and was also instructing Paul in some ways of being helpful as a spouse. That was fun for me to be able to set up, and I think it was helpful for them too. While they did that, I cooked dinner, and then we ate together in good company! =) A good day of good friends.

We ended the evening rather abruptly by kicking Paul and Amber out so that mom and I could go over to the Easter Eve service, a service of rededication and renewal of baptismal vows, as well as the first Eucharist of Easter. We also then had to begin the process of packing up one last time for the final hurrah of the trip... but more about that later....

Day 12 Mom's trip, Friday 10 April

Continuing onward...

I'd swapped to work on Wednesday so that I could have Good Friday off, so Wed mom had to entertain herself but in the evening we traipsed across the Tay to Broughty Ferry so that mom could meet my friends Dave and Catriona, the couple who have opened their home to hosting me any time I need to escape St Andrews. We took Dave to dinner and then when Catriona got home from work we all chatted for a while in the conservatory until probably close to 10:30/11pm. They were on my list of must-meets, so I was glad we could squeeze in some time (with a minister) during the crazy Easter Week!

Thursday again I was in the shop, but I had decided the one walk I really wanted to take my mom on before we left town was the Lade Braes. Unfortunately, when I got home (and when she got home), I found she'd just come back from exploring along that path. I "sulked" (very jokingly), and then decided I still wanted to go for a walk - having been standing in the shop all day, so I took us back out on the path. Oddly enough, while we can't exactly trace where mom went off it, she had not walked the majority of the Lade Braes, so off we went for what turned into a 2hr walk instead of a mere 30 minute stroll while I showed her my favorite spots all along the path that I regularly run and walk on. The last of the daffodils were still out as were the bluebells, the trees were just breaking into green and some even starting to flower, so it was a perfect time to be on the trail! And I was glad I got to show it to her!

So, that brings us to Friday -- I'd originally planned to stick close to St Andrews and go to the 3hr Good Friday afternoon service, but then we changed plans and hit the road after all. We headed south toward Edinburgh, and on the way finally stopped at a castle that I have glimpsed from the highway only every now and again, sitting on an island in the middle of a loch. Having found it on our map and seeing it was on our way, we decided to stop at Loch Leven Castle. This was where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned for a year (1567/68, by the Scots who were no longer so pleased with her - and whence she escaped to throw herself on the dubious mercy of Queen Elizabeth, who merely imprisoned her in the Tower), but as I just discovered, earlier she'd debated John Knox in this castle over how Catholics should be treated. Ah, history! =) This website makes for an interesting read about the castle. The island used to be much smaller, but about 125 years ago they drained some of the loch to create more farmland, and in the process also about tripled the size of the island.

It is very well situated with a beautiful view, even on a traditional grey Scottish day!

From the castle walls - which used to be right down by the loch!

Looking out the window, we could see the ferry coming back and so, rather than spend another 30 minutes on the island waiting for its next round, since we were nearly done, we went ahead and headed back with it.

Looking at the castle shortly after launching....

And on our way back. You can see how it fades into the landscape, which explains why I've only noticed it occasionally on my trips past Loch Leven - the sun has to be shining on it just right for it to really stand out.

From here we kept heading south, round past Edinburgh and picked up what we'd intended mom's first day: Rosslyn Chapel. Now, ever since the Da Vinci Code came out, I haven't wanted to go as much -- too popular, too touristy! But I'm glad we did, it was well worth it! Even better, we made it for the final 10 minutes of their Easter Vigil - enough time for a brief bit of silent prayer and then the final benedictions. That was a special moment!

I didn't get any pictures of the whole chapel because I was startled to see an ugly roofing placed over the whole church -- turns out it's only temporary and will leaving in about another year, but is helping the porous sandstone dry out so that they can re-roof it properly and help preserve the chapel. Nor could I take any pictures inside, sadly, but at least compared to Durham they had better postcards! The carvings were phenomenal and well worth seeing, but literally nothing described in The Da Vinci Code is in the poor chapel - none of these intricate mysteries, no hollow pillars, no 6-pointed stars (for the movie they had to paste one up, which left a mark that they now call the "Hollywood spot." There was a man giving essentially a lecture/introduction to the chapel and he was fascinating, but I could tell his talk has had to change in the last 5 years to subtly but consistently debunking The Da Vinci Code rather than simply introducing the chapel! Every possible surface is carved, and sometimes things -- like Jesus peeking over the roof-ledge -- are hidden and involve really looking! The story of the Master's Pillar and the Apprentice Pillar is quite sad, as the Master is said to have murdered his apprentice out of jealousy after the latter's pillar was far more stunning and dynamic than the former's. The pillars are beautiful craftsmanship, but the Apprentice one is the one that somehow lives much more dramatically. On the whole, the chapel is fun, beautiful and interesting -- on its own terms! The one neat thing with the scaffolding up is that -- only for another year or so -- you can walk around the outside at roof level! And here I could actually take photos, too!

The roof actually has a lot of intricate carvings as well - although they are a bit more worn.

The ruins of Rosslyn (Roslin) Castle, much loved by the Romantics.

From here we went back in time again and drove West to the narrowest part of the country, and after somehow completely missing our road and only finding it (quite easily, of course) on the way back, we visited an impressive section of the Antonine Wall. It was only in use for about 20 years from about 142-162, before the Romans had to return back to Hadrian's Wall, and as such it was never quite as stable a wall - built more out of turf as well as stones. Still, this section was impressive in its own right, and we thoroughly enjoyed walking along it as well as we pondered both how defensible it would be against rabid Picts and Scots as well as enjoying the powerlines and trains all around us.

The wall, with the ditch in front of it.

Across the "Roman Tree Burn" (yes, we have no idea what that means either!) was the fort.

In front of the fort and other places all along the wall were these holes that would have been filled with sharp sticks and then covered over to look innocuous.

Down at the burn (stream), with the powerlines in the background -- the Historic Scotland blurb was quite feisty about those lines and how they destroy the setting! They were rather intrusive (and these were not the worst!)

One of our favorite signs... From here on we warned each other of "ponding" at regular intervals or debated whether a section qualified as "water logged ground" or actual "ponding"... =D

After this, we hopped back into the car, somehow ended up on a different road back (from which we saw the Falkirk Wheel, still to be visited...! I'm waiting to take Peoria Peter since I think it would fascinating with an engineer!), found our road and zoomed back to St Andrews so that we could go to an evening service at Holy Trinity - a service of largely medieval and renaissance music - absolutely beautiful and a good way to end this Good Friday.

Day 9 Mom's trip, Tuesday 7 April

This was our crazy weather day. We woke up to a spitty-rain outside, but when we finally left (after a gorgeous breakfast of perfectly done eggs scrambled with local smoked salmon - don't knock it until you've tried it!) to see the Cathedral, it was only misty. The Cathedral was, I will admit, beautiful. The choir (i.e., front, eastern part) is still used as the local church in the summers, which they were setting up the day we were there, while the back half is ruined. It is claimed (by them) to be one of the most beautifully situated cathedrals in all of Europe. While it is stunningly situated in a garden area on the banks of the river Tay, the claim really did seem a bit bold to me. But still, it was lovely! Dunkeld was the religious centre of Scotland for a time when monks fled there from Iona with the relics of St Columba. In the front, far eastern part of the choir, is the burial place of the "the Wolf of Badenoch," Alexander Steward, 4th illegitimate son of Robert II, who in terms of reputation competes for the worst in all of Scottish history for sheer abuse of his people and his power, murdering, pillaging and torturing freely. (The link to Undiscovered Scotland about him makes for interesting reading!) So Anyway, Dunkeld:

Inside the Cathedral ruins.

We were fascinated by the tombstones here - do you think you could get more symbols of death onto one stone? The angel of death, a coffin, a skull, an hourglass, and some bones, all underlined with "memento mori"?! Overkill?

The whole church - the part still in use is the part on the left (with a roof).

The setting -- the river Tay.

And looking back to some of the Cairngorms in the background. It is a lovely setting, especially since so many are in the heart of cities!

From Dunkeld we drove down to Perth and visited Scone (pronounced Scoon, like [ra]coon) Palace. This was the home of the Stone of Scone, the traditional stone on which kings of Scotland were crowned, a stone apparently brought back from the Holy Land -- the very stone upon which Jacob rested his head when he dreamed of the ladder reaching to heaven. Hey, I didn't say it was an accurate tradition, just the tradition! =D It was captured in 1296 by Edward I and carried down to London, to Westminster, where it resided until it was stolen by 4 students in 1950 and returned to Scotland. Of course, the question is out there whether the stone was actually originally taken by Edward (or he captured a copy), and likewise, whether the stone that returned to Scotland was the original (or only a copy resurfaced)....

The traditional seat of the Stone. Mom and I enjoyed discussing the meaning of "moot" since it showed up fairly frequently in our travels -- we saw several "Moot Halls" and here was a "Moot Hill." Compared to the current meaning of something irrelevant, we decided it had to do with a meeting (which the root does, it turns out) -- and we decided that it gained the meaning of irrelevant ("a moot point") because things in meetings were discussed but never acted upon and so.... =)

Looking back toward Scone Palace from the original gateway. Apparently the town used to be right here, as was evidenced by the old Market Cross here, but one of the lords of Scone didn't like their proximity, so he moved the town. Simple, effective... drastic? Perhaps...

This peacock was quite proud. We did see one pure-white peacock when we arrived, but never saw him again. There were a good number wandering around the grounds, though!

Scone Palace. I was amused how neatly the ivy was trimmed under the upstairs windows, and I could hear dad approving of it: "Ivy is messy!" =)

As we returned to the car and pulled out, it started raining on us, and it rained continuously as we drove inland to our next destination. Now, Castle Cambell sits above the town of Dollar, and when I say above, I mean above. We drove up small narrow streets (mom didn't believe me they really were two-way streets!) until we reached the lower parking lot. We were again facing a steep single-track road, but given the lousy weather I decided to go ahead and risk it -- and after one car right at the entrance we faced no opposition. I parked, but then I stopped completely. Mom was bustling around getting ready to go view the castle, but I knew we had a bit of a walk to reach it and, well, it was RAINING. I did NOT feel like getting out of the car! No way, no how. So I sat there eating my lunch and munching a bit while mom sat looking at me wondering whether the whole drive had been moot (ha, see, I used it!), when I suddenly realized it had stopped raining. I jumped out of the car and we were on our way within moments! No wasting these interludes!

Now, as we discovered, Castle Campbell used to be called Castle Gloom and it sits on a rocky prominatory caused by the deep gullies carved by the two streams (burns) Sorrow and Care. On reading all of those titles, I decided it would be the perfect vacation home for my brother! =) It took a petition to King James and an act of Parliament to change its name from Gloom to Campbell. This, of course, amused us to no end.

A first sighting, near the upper parking lot, across the Burn of Care.

Since the weather was momentarily staying dry, we went on up to view a waterfall on the Burn of Sorrow. You don't waste dry weather! It was way more dramatic, I must say, that a photo can capture, plunging steeply down the hillside it had carved out.

So, once we enter into the Castle proper (delayed, since I'd left my Historic Scotland card in the car and had had to run back to retrieve it), we began with the tower, the most complete part of the castle. Two floors up and I looked out the window to discover that it was pouring again. I was glad we'd made it to somewhere inside before it began that again, but was concerned since we were heading for the viewpoint on the top of the tower, only 2 more floors up again. But when we got there... it was dry again! I've never had luck like that before, so I decided it clearly had to be mom who was my good luck! The sky stayed dramatic, but that was pretty much it for rain from that point on - thankfully, too, since from then on we were in the open-air ruins!

Looking out over Dollar and across toward the Firth of Forth from the main window of the dining hall.

From the bottom point of the prominatory the castle sits upon, looking up toward the main fortress and tower. (The archway of the previous picture is a bit hard to see as it blends a bit into the tower behind it, but that's where we'd been standing!)

Looking up at the tower, the first - and most defensible - part of any good fort. It's only as they build up wealth and strength that they can afford to begin branching out.

It really is a dramatic setting. Andrew? What do you say? Good vacation home? Come on, situated between the Burn of Care and Sorrow? Castle Gloom? How much better could it get? =)

Next up, mom admitted, since we were tracing history, that she still wanted to see Bannockburn. This was the battlefield where Robert the Bruce "sent proud Edward hame tae think agayn." Now, apparently to get to Bannockburn, you could be there in 5 minutes if you go through Stirling, or you could be there in 25 minutes if you follow the signposting on the road. It was, I must say, quite ridiculous, but since at this point we were lacking a good map, we were a bit more dependant on the road signs than normal. Regardless, we made it, and the parking lot - which was supposed to be on summer hours and open "till dusk", was closed. We parked by the (closed) visitors centre instead and wandered the battlefield:

Robert the Bruce rides proud at Bannockburn.

Afterwards, since we had no further plans, I recalled that when we'd been in Stirling before, we'd thoroghly enjoyed an Indian restaurant there - having some of the best Indian food I've had my whole time here. We decided to go ahead and revisit. We (eventually) found parking, and raced over to the restaurant. I have no recollection of what we ordered since we took recommendations of the chef's specials, but it was as delicious as I'd remembered. There was a creamy chicken/mango sauce curry and a spicy lamb/tomato sauce curry. mmmm... Fat and happy, we recovered our car from the parking garage and drove - back past Castle Campbell -- back to St Andrews. Another day gone!

Day 8 Mom's trip, Monday 6 April

Let's see, some quick summaries. While I was at work on Saturday, mom got caught in a rain storm while out on the West Sands and was drenched. Welcome to Scotland, mom! Sunday morning we did the traditional Palm Sunday march around the church, and to my disappointment, this year the choir outside managed to stay largely in the same key and tempo as the organist inside, thus not leaving one with the existential musical jolt as one nears the doors of the church to join the procession. Disappointing, as I wanted to show my mom just how bad it could be! Ah well, it was nice to be in key, too! Mom also got to meet my friend (at that point very pregnant) Sarah Joy -- I'd put mom on back-up midwife duty for Sarah Joy, but turns out that she had her baby on Monday night while we were away, so it was entirely a moot point. Bummer. But I was glad mom got to meet her and "my" kids (the three - now four - kids I watch as often as I really can afford to make time for).

Monday, we decided to go ahead and make an overnight of my two days off from the shop, so we packed up the car with coats and maps and took off again. Delusional, however, from the good weather we'd had down in the Lakes, I didn't re-pack the heavy wool coats, which was a bit of a mistake as the weather quickly showed me. Bummer!

We decided for this bit of meandering to head north - so we went off across the Tay, around Dundee, and up to Arbroath. The Abbey there was founded in 1178 by the Scottish King William the Lion (who is buried there, pic below), and was the site of the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath, a declaration from which the Americans borrowed heavily in creating our own Declaration of Independance. The Declaration was under Robert the Bruce and plead/stated to the Pope Scotland's cry for independance from the brutal yoke of England -- signed, as we were to learn, on 6 April 1320.

Arbroath Abbey, from the West end looking toward the high altar

The grave of William the Lion in the middle of the church

Upon emerging from the Abbey, we discovered that they were clearly setting up for some event, and this was when we had it fully explained - every year on the 6th of April they do a parade and re-enact the signing of the Declaration. Did we care to stay? Well, we had other places we wanted to be and a full day's drive ahead of us (it was now after 1pm already!), so we headed back toward the car. But near the car park, we spotted a man on a horse, and I ran to catch sight of the rest of the procession!

Robert the Bruce and groom, along with some not-so-14th-century characters

The various bishops and monks that would have been involved

Others involved - I did like the old-school wolfhound! (Along with other knights and leading citizens of Scotland)

We decided, still, despite seeing this, that we were happy with the preparation we saw -- and so hopped in the car and kept heading north along the coast, up past Montrose all the way up just shy of Stonehaven to Dunnottar Castle. Now, before I even moved to Scotland, both Craig Blomberg and Bill Klein had told me about this dramatic castle off the coast just south of Aberdeen -- but since moving here I'd never been able to trak its identity until just a few weeks ago when some friends went up there... at which point I added it to our itinerary! And it is one very dramatic setting:

To approach, the path drops dramatically and then re-climbs steeply under the watchful eye of the tower. There really is only the one approach. It still fell several times, however -- for example William Wallace captured it in 1297. It was here that the Scottish Crown Jewels/Regalia were hidden in 1651-52, when it became the last place in Scotland still flying the Royalist flag (for Charles contra Cromwell). Eventually it was taken, but the Regalia had been smuggled out by some women and buried a local church unbeknownst to the English. Needless to say, the English were Not Happy and destroyed the fort yet again.

The view from inside the tower to inside the fort.

The still-visible ruins of a circular staircase -- not, to our mode of thinking, the easiest type of stairs (although we did more than our fair share)!

The blacksmith's shop.

Walking along, we noticed some others excitedly looking over the cliffs, so, being followers, we followed suit -- and I finally saw my first puffins! They're the little black-backed, white-chested birds. They have bright triangular shaped beaks, and are quite adorable! Compared to the seagulls soaring on the winds, however, puffins have to work quite hard to stay aloft, their wings a grey blur as they heave themselves along. We also saw a bright red fox curled up on the rocks at the base of the cliffs.

Under the arch is the entry way coming up from the cliffs. Overall, the site gave a very clear picture of the development and patterns of typical Scottish forts - while also being incredibly impressively situated!

This is the "Whigs Vault," about which the sign states: "In 1685, 167 Covenanters (122 men and 45 women) were imprisoned here, suffering deprivation, hardship and torture, for Christ's crown and covenant." It was used as a prison for these reformers who had to buy any food, blankets, or warmth that they could have. It continued to be used as a prison through the 1715 Jacobite uprising, when it was forfeited to the English and fell into disuse.

Leaving the site and looking back again - you can clearly see the cut-away bridge of land.

I ran ahead in order to go across this gully for a different view from a nearby outcropping...

...and the view that I gained!

It was cold, getting a bit foggy, and windy. I was bitterly ruing my decision not to bring our heavier coats - but we had enough layers and windbreakers and fleecy-things and scarves and whatnot, so we were fine. We settled back into the car, and after a brief flurry finding our road in Stonehaven, we started heading inland - pretty much straight north-west. We wandered into the Cairngorms, along past Balmoral Castle (where the Royal Family still hangs out during the summer months) -- but, due to it now being about 5:30, we were too late to catch sight of the actual grounds -- and on down some crazy mountain roads back south to Dunkeld. We passed where I'd just been skiing back in February, and I sincerely don't remember the roads being that up-and-down curvy. I felt nearly car-sick and I was driving! But it also made for fun driving, I have to admit... =)

We found Dunkeld, found our B&B with the least effort yet (just a slight walk since I parked on the wrong end of the street), and settled in. It had started spitting a tiny bit, but we still decided to make the very short walk over to the Cathedral to see it also at night. Unfortunately, we could only see a bit of one end. And here occurred the conversation I will never be able to live down:

Me: "So... why are we here?"

(Context matters! -- I was genuinely interested, but since I'd left the "context" part of the trip to mom, I knew nothing about Dunkeld or Dunkeld Cathedral. So I was asking for something of historical significance or architectural significance or ... something! Instead, mom burst into laughter and repeated my phrase back to me with significantly different intonation, and suddenly it sounded all wrong!! Oh dear... Apparently we were there for the cathedral, of which more tomorrow, but...

oh well...

We had dinner in a pub where I got some of the best sticky-toffee pudding I've had yet (mmmmmmmmmmmm.....) By the way, "pudding" more often refers to a cake, or just dessert, not pudding in the sense we Americans think of it. "What are you having for pudding" = "what are you having for dessert." The closest they really have to our pudding here would be "custard", which they use to put on things like pies or dense cakes, etc. Sticky Toffee Pudding is very traditional, a dense, sweet, date-cake covered in very good, very hot, very thick toffee. Mmmmmmm... And then we went to bed. =)

Day 4 Mom's trip, Thursday 2 April

So, this was Dad's birthday. As I posted before mom came, I'd decided to do a painting of dad to give her this morning, but was struggling. Here's a few of the stages...

I was convinced I was over my head...

Ok, so the landscape came together, but that meant nothing for the figure in the foreground! Before I met mom at the airport, I had time to briefly colour in the basic background colours on dad - skin, clothes, backpack - but very light and basic.

Anyway, she was sweetly appreciative (and remained so even through watching me nearly throwing paintbrushes and complaining wildly as I finished it up), and it's hers now. But we're in disagreement. I think the painting looks far better on its side. Either side will do, just on its side. I don't think I've convinced her to hang it this way, but since it's my blog, I will post it this way. I don't like it vertical, so I'm not posting it vertically. Ha. (I need to take a figure-drawing class.)

The final product, properly displayed on its side.

So anyway, that's the main thing I did to "mark" the occasion (I "finished" the painting the final Saturday we were in town). Otherwise, we did spend a fair amount of the day -- and the whole trip -- reminiscing about dad, and I learned all sorts of stories I hadn't known - which helps with the grieving.

After yet another over-filling B&B full breakfast, spent in the company of a very cheerful New Zealand couple (I have yet to meet a New Zealander who isn't friendly and seemingly in a perennially good mood), we took off to find the Castlerigg stone circle up the road. To do it justice, you really need a 360〫lens on your camera. It was a stunning setting.

Approaching it from the car park.

My favorite view was, of course, into the rising sun!

And again, just because!

From there we decided to try to find the view-spot that our B&B host had recommended. It went rather predictably: first we drove in circles around the town trying to find our way down to the lake:
Me: "I think I wanted that road. Did I want that road?"
Mom: "I don't know. I don't know where we are!"
Me: "Why don't you know where we are?! I think I know where we are... But not anymore. What road do I want to get us out of here?"
Mom: "I don't know. I don't know where we are..."
And so on... Again, mom was very patient with me and we did make it to the waterfront parking lot! From there we went down to the waterfront like our map showed us, but we failed to find the trail branching off to the left. So we went back to the parking lot, then back to the harbour, then back to the parking lot... I think the construction workers working on the road right there must have found us highly amusing! Eventually, from the parking lot I found a trail that I thought might take us to ... somewhere... We followed it proudly onwards, but as we followed it, it led away from the hill I thought we should be climbing, and soon we were back at the lake...

Approaching the lake.... "Mom, this isn't where we wanted to be..." "Yes, but it is beautiful!"

At least, though, we did know where we'd crossed a path that would take us up the hill, so we went back, picked it up, and up we went. Up and up, and then at the top a scramble, and then:

The top of Derwent Water, up the Keswick end.

Looking toward the South. Again, we decided the view was well worth climbing up for, but mom was Not Sure it was worth climbing back down for -- but in the end, it wasn't as bad going down as we'd thought it would be.

The ferry on the lake. You can take the ferry from any one of 5 spots on the lake, hop on and off, hike from one to another.. it all seems very adventurous, but of course, even though technically "summer hours" had started based on their schedule, they opted to continue with "winter hours" anyway, so we were a bit strapped for time. =(

After enjoying the sun for a bit, we decided to just go ahead and take the ferry all around the lake, just to see it from the water level. Here we're down at the south end of the lake looking north.

....looking south....

...looking south from farther north... And that's about it for the ferry tour... But some of the people on our boat had been hiking in those mountains to the right before picking up the ferry at a different spot than they'd started in. Seems like a good idea to me!

After this we returned to our car and decided to drive up to the other viewpoint that our host had recommended: "Surprise view." Well, in truth, we found the road we wanted, I took one look at the steep hill and single-track road with very few passing places, took a second look at the parking spot to my left, pulled over and announced to mom that we'd be walking to Surprise view and if it wasn't such a surprise because we'd walked there, then too bad. It was only a mile UP (and then, of course, a mile back down...). I parked us, we we emerged from our car and meandered the first half-mile up to the little bridge which is apparently rather iconic in the District. So we stopped to photograph, of course!

The bridge from below...

The bridge from above, with Derwent Water in the background.

Mom thought this burro looked like a good mode of transportation, since I was proving mighty unreliable! =)

The view from Surprise View! You can see that it was just starting to haze over down below. Everyone kept commenting on how lucky we'd been to have such good weather in the Lake District! Now living in Scotland, I was less surprised at changeable weather and glad to have my lucky mother with me!

I was quite pleased on our return to notice that they'd brought out the Oreo Cows in the pastures way up above us. My flatmate actually knows the type, but I've forgotten and am perfectly happy to call them Oreo Cows.

After this, it was back to the car, back up to the highways, and a four hour return journey to St Andrews (through the Borders, past Glasgow, through Dunfirmline and across Fife). I thoroughly seeing some southern bits I've not yet visited, even though by this point it was still getting dark a bit after 8. (Just in the time mom was visiting we gained over an hour of daylight - and tonight it was well light still at 9! I do love this time of year!)

So, that's the first part of our trip! I worked in the shop on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and Friday and Saturday we finally allowed mom to acknowledge her jet lag and she slept a bit, met my flatmate, went by the farmer's market, and did some light local things those days (Days 5-7 of her trip will therefore be skipped in the photo blogging!)

Day 3 Mom's trip, Wednesday 1 April

This was our day for Hadrian's Wall. Knowing us, however, we got distracted by an abbey on our way up to the wall... So we swung by Hexham for a quick stop.

Hexham has had a church since the 7th century, and at one point it also housed some relics of St Andrew (that guy got around!). It's Abbey church was built in the twelfth century in the early Gothic style, and was really quite lovely. Mom and I particularly enjoyed the raucous rendtion of "Why oh why did Jesus have to die" being sung, and danced (YMCA style) by a group of school kids when we arrived.... (Reading: welcome and enjoy the peaceful environment... peaceful? really???) Interestingly, they were a group of school kids bused up from Corbridge to teach them what Easter week was all about. Anyway, to make up for Durham, I took lots of pictures inside, but here's just a couple:

The North transept, where the kids were singing. I don't think I caught their actions...

The East transept, with the high altar

The medieval paintings of the Dance with Death (painted in the 1400s!), wherein Death invites people of all levels to "dance" with him. No one, high or low, can refuse.

The south side of the Abbey church

From here, we returned to the road a short while to get upto Chesters Roman fort. This was the best preserved cavalry fort on the wall - they and tell because the barracks (below) would have housed 80 men instead of 100 (for a full "century" of foot soldiers).

The barracks

The admin building..... had a fancy title, blanking on it!

The wall continues across the river!

From Chesters we went on to Housesteads, "the most complete example of a Roman fort in Britian" (so says the flyer). Unfortunately, since it was on a hill, I never did get a very good picture of it. =( Still, it was from Housesteads that we took off on -- or rather, first on, then beside -- the wall for a good 5 or 6 mile hike.

On the wall!

The trail went down down down, up up up, down up down up, down down, up up up up....

...that's what you get when you follow a ridge-line! Still, picture it even taller and it would have been a formidable defense against the Picts!

This was one of those spots we weren't entirely sure it was worth going down for... but we got down and kept on going!

And got to views like this, and were then very glad we kept going! We went as far as the dip in the cliffs right in the dead centre of the picture.

...where we saw this tree, which is apparently quite famous. It's also apparently quite a local joke that somehow this tree and dip in the fence made it into a Robin Hood movie, even though it has absolutely nothing to do with nor is it in the right location for anything to do with Robin Hood. Not having seen Prince of Thieves, I cannot possibly comment... Still, it was a cool spot to see, but I took one look at the path down the hill to it and decided most adamantly that we had gone Far Enough, and it was Not Worth Going Down For.

On our way back, we started getting some color in the sky. Despite it being a rather grey day, we both still got a bit of sun on our cheeks and noses!

With great pleasure and much more ease (and speed), we took the Roman Military Way back. Those soldiers had it Easy! =P

From Housesteads, we hit the highway (after stopping briefly for a bathroom break and mom emerged from the car incredibly stiffly! I was afraid she wouldn't make it to the gas station from the car -- she meanwhile assured me she was moving very freely by this point... Cruel of me to pile a 6 mile hike the day after 325 stairs up a Cathedral tower!). We drove across the rest of the way to Carlisle, headed south and then west into the Lakes, staying the night in Keswick. Upon settling in we gamely -- or foolhardedly -- walked into town from our B&B (poor mom, I was quite a slave driver, wouldn't you say!) and had a lovely Indian dinner before falling into bed to sleep incredibly soundly!

Day 2 Mom's trip, Tuesday 31 March

So Tuesday we were a bit more focused. We were there to see Durham Cathedral, and see Durham Cathedral we did. The other bits of Durham were really just bonuses! =) To my great grief, though, Durham Cathedral does not allow any photographs inside, which was a serious disappointment because the postcards they sold were downright lousy. There were none of the length of the Cathedral, none of the rose window which was stunning - just a poor collection of poorly taken photos. I was surprised and quite disappointed. Still, we took plenty from the outside!

To begin our day, however, we spent a good hour over breakfast with our very chatty B&B host. He eventually just pulled up a chair and settled in for a chat, and when his wife came down she brought her toast in as well and we just sat around talking away and sipping our coffees. Eventually, we realized we really ought to get going, so we packed up and walked on in to town.

Arriving and seeing it in the morning light! =)

It's gorgeous, and we thoroughly enjoyed studying the different shapes of the towers at all sides!

This was a model of the "Sanctuary Knocker" (the original was actually more impressive when we saw it in the museum) where people needing sanctuary could knock to be let in -- and then they had about 35 or so days to sort their affairs and either go to court or move overseas!

Once inside, we decided not to gamble on the fair weather and went immediately to the tower, where we steadily climbed all 325 of the small roundabout stairs to get to the top. You go try climbing 325 stairs, especially going in a circle, and then tell me your calves aren't tired! Still, we were very glad we did as the views were beautiful. This adventure was the start of our repeated question: "is this worth climbing back down for?" It was definitely worth climbing up, but back down? That was the million dollar question for us for the trip!

Oddly enough, though, we were passed at one point by two ladies and a college-aged guy who were heading up much more quickly than we were - we were happy to let them go! But once at the top, as I inched my way toward one of the edges, I commented to the lady -- "this is not the time to re-discover one's fear of heights!" She asked where I was from and as they were from Vermont we nailed down more specifics than usual. Continuing to be chatty, she asked if we were just here touring - so I admitted to being a student up at St Andrews... and at that point her son came over saying he thought he'd recognized me: He was in the class I'd been teaching all March. How bizarre is that?

Some other trivia - Durham Cathedral was founded by Lindisfarne monks who were escaping the Vikings and brought the bones of Cuthbert with them. The Venerable Bede is also buried there. The Cathedral, along with the castle, was the base for the Prince-Bishops (to whom the people were more loyal than to the king!) in defending the south against the barbarous Scots! =)

Durham Castle from above

Looking down on the mill and the West facing towers

Looking over at the rail arches from where I've always eyed Durham Cathedral with longing!

Heading down to the river to walk around the Cathedral's peninsula.

Coming around the bend, the Cathedral just coming into view...

An exerpt from a poem by Sir Walter Scott, with the line "Half church of God half castle 'gainst the Scot" -- cracked me up.

The reflections over the mill-pond were beautiful!

The Cathedral just kept getting more impressive as we walked along!

A close-up.

Looking back along the river.

Crossing back into town, catching one last view!

When we finally exhausted ourselves -- having hit a couple of book-shops too -- we headed back to the car and on to the road up to Corbridge, close to Hadrian's Wall, our goal for the following day. Finding our B&B again proved to be "amusing," as we had entered town from the opposite side as my directions were set... Here's where we got our exchange something along they lines of:
Me: "Where are we on the map?"
Mom: "I don't know?"
Me: "Why don't you know?!?!"
It was only later that I realized the same street name appeared twice -- thus, while it was on the map, it was on it twice, leading to some confusion when we saw it the first time. It was only when we got to the recurrance that mom gained confidence in our location - and from there we had no problems getting to the B&B... =) She was a great navigator, having that one essential for dealing with me as driver: endless patience. We settled in and then walked into town again for a pub dinner, following the path along the river for our way in to town:

Sunset over the river in Corbridge.

Day 1 Mom's trip, Monday 30 March

Ok, the photo-blogging begins...! =)

Sunday night, just as I was going to bed, I heard my mobile ringing downstairs. I ran down to get it, since I figured the only people possibly calling me at that hour would be from the states. Sure enough, it was Lisa and Dave calling to let me know poor mom's plane had been delayed, at least by 2 hours if not more... That is not what you want at the beginning of a 7hr overnight international flight! Sure enough, she ended up delayed 3 hours, arriving only 2.5 hours late in the morning. I took the extra time in the morning to do a little more work on her present - which inevitably then made me late to pick her up! oops... (add a tractor on the road to the airport and then me accidentally breezing past the airport... oops again!).

Anyway, we met up with no serious problems but had to scrap our plans a little -- we'd planned to stop by Roslyn chapel on our way down south to England, but since Lindisfarne is a tidal island and we had to be on -- and off -- by a certain time, we headed straight there. May I just say, mom was a brilliant passenger as we took off on the "wrong" side of the road?! =)

We found Lindisfarne without any problems and wandered happily around the abbey for a while:

St Cuthbert with the church in the background.

Looking south toward the mainland, toward Bamburgh, the castle with which Lindisfarne was associated.

After leaving Lindisfarne, I took the lead from the trip Dave took Meg, Jo Ann and me on this past spring and we went over by Bamburgh - a very impressive fortress, I must say. We wandered by the local church, and on going in, found some interesting history:

This marks the site where Aiden died! They put the pillar he was leaning against up in the ceiling by the baptistry because it was busily getting chipped away at by sacred-object seekers.

Kite flying by Bamburgh Castle. We were guessing the level plain here was possibly a moat once? It certainly would have made a very defensible castle even more defensible!

From there we went on to Alnwick - where we discovered that four right turns can lead to a dead end:

If you look closely at the centre-left of the map, you'll see the cul-de-sac that we had no idea would dead-end on us -- we just wanted to turn around! Right, Right, Right, Right, dead end?! How? (And actually, we could have made a fifth right before really dead-ending!) Even funnier, we'd been followed through this whole process by another car that was also clearly trying to turn around! =)

Mom was happily convinced that the statues on top would once have been the bodies of dead enemies, now "happily" substituted with stone watchmen.

That bus stop must have been there a good while... Or perhaps they intended it this way? A way of using natural resources this day and age?

Leaving Alnwick, we headed down to Durham, our port of call for the night. We managed to drive once entirely around Durham (to my NOT enjoyment), and finally I just pulled into a random parking lot and called our B&B - thankfully to find out that we had made a good call in pulling into that parking lot and actually weren't very far! We followed our directions and drove on up to the B&B - which they kindly let us park in the spot the owner's wife had been parked in - unpacked all of my stuff out of mom's bags (!) and found a lovely Italian Bistro to have dinner in right up the road. After dinner we decided to go for a late night walk to see the cathedral lit up for the night, finally going to bed sometime after midnight - one way to adjust to a 5hour time change!

The sunset from our car while we were unpacking.

Durham Castle at night - now a part of the university.

Durham Cathedral. I think I already posted this one, but oh well, it's a good one!

♫ I'm Ba-ack... ♫

Hi. This is just a warning that I am back in St Andrews. I need to start sorting the stuff that emptied out of the car -- I was bad yesterday and instead of getting my life organized I took off and finally went to Glen Clova, a glen that I've been hearing about non-stop for the last few years but never actually managed to get to! Scotland is so much more manageable when one has a car! Things that are impossible to reach suddenly become very reasonable afternoon hike-spots. But the upshot is, the next few days I'll be busy organizing stuff and doing laundry, also busy finally starting to reply to emails (and is there a stack-up...!), and also busy starting to organize my billions of photos and pick the highlights to post here... BUT I will be also starting a barrage of posts here to show (and tell) where we went in more detail -- or, as for the last week and a bit - any detail at all!

But for now I'm off to return the rental car and get to work at the shop. Pragmatically, I should not have gone hiking yesterday... Ahh, the chaos...

Happy Easter!

So, mom and I are just having too much fun. So, no posting. Sorry. I haven't even downloaded my pictures from our gallivantings this week (and have we been gallivanting!). My landlady informed me today that in this week we've seen more of Scotland than she has in her life here. I'm not sure that's 100% accurate, but we've probably seen more of the historic sites! We've been having a lovely time. After church tomorrow we'll begin a pilgrimage to Iona, after which I have to drop mom off at the airport on Wednesday. I'm thinking about getting us stuck on the Isle of Mull in order to avoid having to take her to the airport...... (Lisa?) =)

Anyway, I just thought, since it is Easter, I'd share the verses I've been mulling this week in my quiet times, may they bless you as well:

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead." (Phil. 3:10-11)

off yet again...

Mom and I are off again for the next couple of days so I thought I'd finally download my photos. Of course, knowing me, I took a bajillion photos, so they're going to take some sorting...

...but just to keep you all happy, here are a couple highlights:

Durham Cathedral at night

Mom walking on Hadrian's Wall...

...which winds on and on and on and on... (follow the ridge lines)

Castlerigg stone circle, near Keswick ("KEZ-ick")

A view over Derwent Water, the lake we spent our day exploring within the Lake District.

back and busy

So we're back in St Andrews for now - we'll be based from here for the next week. We had a lovely time -- if incredibly busy -- last week! I'll blog about the trip when I finally get around to downloading the pictures - but it was lovely! We lucked out on beautiful weather and thoroughly enjoyed all that we did!

In complaint news, over here if you are not a student you pay what is called "Council Tax." This tax is for water, basically, and is pretty standard. If you are a student, however, you don't have to pay it. Well, the Council has been hounding Verena and me all fall for a 10 day period they say that she was living here and wasn't a student. Essentially, she moved in when she did because orientation began then but couldn't actually matriculate until the next week - but it was solely because was she a student then that she moved in. Well, this morning a Warrent for us just arrived because we still owe this money -- which we don't owe. Really?? Urgh. We have sent info from the school, info from our property agents, info from any direction, and they are paying absolutely no attention to us, just hounding us for this £108 that we don't actually owe them.

I love bureaucracy.