Travelling Adventures

Vacations are always times to look forward to travelling and planning your trip.  Everything was planned out and we left the house to catch our flight to Toronto and then our connecting flight to Edinburgh.  The day we left, the sun had been shining all day but with storm warnings for later in the day.  As we arrived at our home airport, we discovered our flight was delayed 3 hours.  This mean we were going to miss our connecting flight to Edinburgh.  Air Canada was very good and booked us on a later flight from Toronto to Dublin, Ireland where we switched flights and flew from Dublin to Edinburgh.  Our original itinerary had us arriving in Edinburgh at 7:00 a.m. on Wed. July 9.  Our adjusted itinerary had us arrive in Edinburgh at 2:30 p.m.  We had also pre-booked and paid for our rental car so that we could just arrive and pick it up at 7:00 a.m. (our original itinerary).  When we actually arrived at the rental car desk, we discovered that they had given our car out to someone else....they only hold it for 3 hours despite cancellations and weather interruptions!!  After some discussion and scrambling (because they didn't have any small cars in the lot at all now), we ended up with a larger Mercedes Benz.  At this point we had been up for 30+ hours!  So we got the car, packed our luggage in and off we went.  My husband wanted to drop in on his uncle and aunt so we did that before going to the cottage that we had rented for our time in Scotland.  We had a lovely dinner with family and then made our way to our rental cottage.




My husband found the cottage online on a site where you can rent homes and cottages for days at a time.  I love this cottage.  It appears to have been built sometime in the late 19th century. I much prefer accommodations such as this to a hotel or even a bed and breakfast.  As I am at a stage in life of  not sleeping well through the night, the cottage affords me the luxury of being up and able to read in another room without bothering anyone else.  The cottage has a dishwasher, stove, modern double door fridge/freezer and a washer/dryer combination machine.  The backyard of the cottage has some lovely gardens along with a clothes line.  There is a rustic gazebo which gives a beautiful view across the fields.  There is also a large patio as well with loungers, a table and chairs and also an umbrella.  Beyond the back gate at the end of the garden path, there is a path that wanders throughout the woods and brings you to various campsites.  The inside of the cottage has the original wood floors and wood doors.  There is a wood/coal combination fireplace but we haven't needed to use it for heat at all.  There are also radiators throughout the cottage for heating during the colder weather.  The radiators' heat is provided by the fireplace as well.  If the fireplace is on and the doors are kept closed, this will cause the radiators to heat up.  If we keep the fireplace doors open, it will only heat the sitting room.  There is a space heater in the full bathroom to take the chill off the air during the night and early mornings.  So we have been very happy to call this our home base while in Scotland.




We've been to Edinburgh on the train and visited Holyrood Palace as well as the abbey ruins and the gardens.  We've been to Edinburgh before, so we did not visit Edinburgh Castle this time.  Instead we wandered The Royal Mile and enjoyed a pub lunch.  We always enjoy a visit to Princes Street Gardens.  It bring back memories for my husband of previous visits with his mother when he was young.  This visit, we sat on the grass and enjoyed watching young couples and families relax in the park.




About 2 months ago, we booked tickets to go on a 3 hour dinner cruise on The Firth of Forth.  What an enjoyable evening this was!!  The evening was very calm or as the captain told my husband "it was a cracker night".  Our dinner was barbecued beef on a bun with salad.  There was also a live Scottish folk band that played all night long.  Not only did we see some stunning views, we even recognized some of the tunes and we were able to sing along, clap our hands and enjoy the evening.  I would love to do that again sometime.  The company also offers a similar tour but with jazz music.


We went to The Falkirk Wheel the other day.  I had not heard about this before but it is an amazing feat of engineering which brings boats from the lower Forth/Clyde canals to the upper Union Canal that leads to Edinburgh.  There are many paths to walk and climb in the same area.  When we arrived, we bought our tickets for the next tour boat to go through the Falkirk Wheel.  Then we had time to go for a walk through the paths.  The skies looked threatening so we had our raincoats with us "just in case".  Good thing because as we were walking a mist started.  That was fine, we continued to walk along.  Then the mist turned to a drizzle so out came our raincoats.  But then the drizzle became a steady rain.  So we retraced our steps and went into the gift shop to wait for our boat ride.  It was enjoyable even if it was raining.  I forgot to mention that when we first arrived, we saw a swan with 5 cygnets (babies).  The cygnets were getting fairly large but they were still covered in their fine, fluffy and brown down.  The Falkirk Wheel runs on hydraulics and use the same electrical energy as 8 tea kettles.  My husband tried to explain to me how the wheel worked but I had trouble understanding it until I saw it in motion.  It is truly amazing!  The Falkirk Wheel spins on a central tube.  There are two chambers one on each end of the wheel where the boats are moored while the wheel moves them from one canal up or down to the other canal.  The boat chambers are also on rails with wheels so that they stay horizontal throughout the trip.  I thought for sure that the boats would feel some sideways movement from the water as the chamber slowly moves.  But there is no feeling of movement in the boat at all.  If you closed your eyes, you wouldn't even know that your boat was being turned around the wheel.  I really believe this must be seen in order to fully comprehend how it works.




Yesterday, we went for a drive up into the Highlands in order to see a second cousin on my dad's side.  When I was a child, I would see this lady with my parents fairly regularly as she and my father were more like brother and sister rather than cousins.  She moved to Scotland several years ago.  I called her up to see if she and her husband would like some visitors from Canada.  I hadn't seen her in over 30 years!!  We made the drive up towards Inverness.  I had forgotten how much I love the Highlands.  If I were to move to Scotland, I would live in the Highlands for sure.  In order to get to my cousin's home, we drove on major highways (4 lanes), two lane highways and highways (more like country roads) that were barely two lanes.  Some of these more remote roads had sheep that were grazing right beside the road and could even wander across the road.  We toured the Dallas Dhu Historic Distillery on our travels this day as well.  It's always nice to have a dram of whisky at the end of a tour.  We spent a lovely afternoon with my cousin and her husband.  It was a time of much laughter and very good food as we ate at The Mosset Tavern.  Much too soon, it was time to head south back to our cottage.  My heart was truly warmed and bursting with love as we finished our day.




Today, I believe we will head for St. Andrews and perhaps have another pub lunch there.  Every time I visit Scotland, I always feel like I have returned home.  My great-grandfather emigrated to Canada from Edinburgh when he was finished university.  It almost feels like his blood runs through my veins and when I visit Scotland, I really do feel a warmth and the comfort of returning home.  I always feel settled here.  I love the rural feel of Fife and north into the Highlands.  The area does remind me of the area of Ontario where my great-grandfather settled which was also where my grandparents lived.  I was even born in that area of Ontario.  It is very, very similar to Scotland.




In addition to visiting St. Andrews, we also want to make our way to Loch Lomond.  When we came to Scotland for our honeymoon many years ago, we visited Balloch and really enjoyed it.  We returned there on our last visit when we had our children with us.  It would be nice to make a trip to Balloch again before we leave to continue our travels.  This holiday is not overly scheduled and we have a list of wants that we are working through but at a leisurely pace.  We are also visiting with my husband's uncle and aunt on an almost nightly basis.  They are always such fun and again we leave their home with our hearts full.