Today is our last day with the tour. We pack up and head back to Edinburgh this morning. We have a few stops long the way so a little more fun before it is all over for another year.

Due to some bus driver timing out we got off to a later start than originally planned. everyone was happy about that. We missed a stop but we didn’t have to get our suitcases out quite so early and we time to enjoy another lavish breakfast. I hope someday to return to Gleneagles and rely enjoy the resort but they will need to have a sale on their off season prices to make it doable. Maybe it will show up on Groupon one day. More likely to win the lottery than that but fingers crossed.

Val and I walked around a little and found the golf shop. Of course we both found things to buy. Just a little bit more for my already over stuffed luggage. Everything is so nice and well manicured here I want to have something to show from it. I did buy a Christmas present so that is good.

From the bus we went to a little town to see some waterfalls. I think it was basically a sit for the historians to have one more lunch together. Alison always plans plenty of time to eat but since we had a late start and breakfast was such a feast I am not sure any of us were hungry. Mainly we walked around town looked at the gals and then had ice cream tea and cokes. It was a nice break but a little too long. From there we headed out to Linlithgow.

Linlithgow is mostly in ruins but it was once a royal residence for the Kings and Queens of Scotland. it was where Mary de Guise wanted for king James to return from battle just a week after MQS was born in one of the tower rooms. It was where James VI and Anna of Denmark spent time before he became King of England. It might have had a connection to Margaret Tudor as well but I can’t remember.

The building is done in both medieval arches and the renaissance Roman style. One interior wall fell overnight (makes you a little nervous to wk around it) back during James VI time and he replaced it and remodeled with in the Roman style. His crest and name are above the windows on the Roman side.

You can basically climb the towers or ramble around in the basement dungeon and kitchens. It was all a little spooky. We went up the tower but did not climb the last bit to the tower room. The staircase was outside and steep. Too much for me. You could see the remnants of an even worse staircase wrapping around the outside of the tower room. Not sure who used that or how. Today it is rightfully blocked off from use. regardless the 6 flights we went up in one rounding stone staircase was enough for me.

We had a little time to wander the grounds but then it was back on the bus for one last ride. The 10 days went too fast. We had such a great time and learned so much about the Scottish history and culture. I can’t wait to go back. It was a fabulous trip.

We has short reception at the hotel while our luggage was unloaded which gave us time to say goodbye to everyone. We made some good friends on this trip that hopefully we will see on another AWT tour or maybe even somewhere else down the road. Most people were leaving early the next morning and we will miss seeing them in the breakfast room and around the hotel.

Val and I have a few more days on our own. We haven’t been on our own and responsible for our own stuff and plans for ten days. We will see how it goes tomorrow.

Even though I very indulged last night I was up and ready to start our next to the last day of the tour. We stop a couple of places on our way back to Edinburgh tomorrow but really today feels like the end of the tour.

It started off great with the best breakfast spread in the best dining room I have ever seen. It puts the breakfast buffet at the Paris in Vegas to shame. Gleneagles does not mess around. I am very sad that I did not take any pictures but trust me it was amazing. It even had a spot down low for kids to pick out cereal, fruit and toppings. I went with the eggs baked into tomato sauce which were delicious. They had probably 10 types of juice and dozen of pastries plus all types of bread and cheeses. Of course they had all the breakfast standards even American bacon which I have not seen in Scotland.

The room was had probably 25/30 foot ceilings with big windows looking over the garden in the back. We talked about how pretty it would look done up for Christmas (it had a fire place) and somebody looked it up and it was so out of my price range I was shocked. I guess I won’t be celebrating Christmas in Scotland anytime soon.

We had a bit of time to wander before getting on the bus so we walked along the grounds. The golf course is right outside the hotel or as least the putting and chipping greens and other practice areas. The big course starts a bit farther away. Took a few pictures and headed back to meet the group.

Today we are off to Stirling. I think I have been to stirling before but I didn’t really remember much about it. I will have to dig out my old journals and see if I find it. Stirling has a big connection to Robert the Bruce and it is the location of where he defeated the English and really became King of Scotland. The castle also was where Margaret Tudor (Henry VIII sister who married James IV of Scotland) came when she first married the Scot King and was where the council came and took her son James V after his fathers death. MQS was crowned at Stirling and she was leaving Stirling when Bothwell captured her and led to their marriage and Mary’s downfall.

Today the castle is pretty empty. It is part of the historical trust and does not like many of the others we’ve seen that have a lived in look to them. Stirling is pretty bare. It is also restored to he they think it looked back it’s heyday. The historians always say that the medieval and renaissance kings and queens lived color and would have painted their walls and ceilings in bright colors. They have done that in Stirling and it looks like a Disney version of a castle. Everything they say indicates the colors are correct but it looked garish.

One ceiling I think was the great hall but not as big as some of the others had all these carved wooden disks of important people. They found most of them and could see traces of paint on them so they were painted. The ceiling itself is a reproduction but there was a museum onsite that had all the disks. They were really elaborate but I think they looked better without the paint. But the medieval royalty were gaudy and liked to show off.

After the castle we walked through the town but not much up in the old part and the new was way down the hill. I didn’t have another big climb in me so we just didn’t the old hilly part.

From Stirling we went to the Bannockburn battle site visitor center. Has far as battles it’s this is probably the best one I have ever been to as far as explaining what happened. Culloden had more artifacts and was more of a museum. This one was more of a guided tour with visual aides. They used big map and the guide told the story and pointed out the different areas so that it all made sense. Robert the Bruce fought the English here after his brother made a deal with the Sir Mowbry to give up the siege of Sir Mowbry would give up the Stirling peacefully if more English didn’t come by the next summer. The English army showed up with just a few days to spare but the Scot’s and been building their army and training so they held the high dry ground. The Scots won the day and chased the Brit’s and King Edward away. King Edward fled to Stirling but they wouldn’t let him in too worried about the ransom if the castle was taken with him in it.

Walked around a bit outside to see the other Bruce statue but was a little windy so didn’t stay out long. It wasn’t a long stop so we were soon heading back to the hotel to get all dressed up for dinner.

We didn’t have much time back at the hotel before heading off the Glamis Castle (pronounced Glams) for our final gala dinner. I pulled back out my sparkly dress and dressed quickly so that we could take some photos out by the flowers before we headed out. Still waiting to get these from Val.

Glamis Castle was the Queen mum’s childhood home. She grew up there, basically honeymooned there and continued to come to visit until she bought another estate not far off but on the water.

The castle had both the fortress look and the stately home feel. We started our evening with drinks and hor dourves in the sewing room. It had a big fireplace where most people were huddling because the castle was really cold even though the day had been surprisingly warm. The thick walls make all these castles cold. I think I need thicker walls at my house. I of course in my coat dress was not cold and could not stand by the fire. They passed around fried haggis balls which were much better than they sound. In fact it was the best haggis I had on the trip. The room was stuffed with furniture and paintings with a big round table at one end and a grand piano at the other. Through in around 50 people and I was nervous my big full stiff skirt was going to knock things off tables. Thankfully that did not happen.

From our reception we took a tour of the castle. Our guide was a bit animated but you could tell he was just very excited about his job. The bet port of the castle was the queen mums sitting room and bedroom. She had several photos out of her as a young girl and then of her two daughters. She cry at gave birth to Margaret at the castle. They also had the rocking horse Queen Elizabeth played on. In fact it was recently brought down by King Charles (before he was King). Those rooms had a nice personal touch and I a glad we got to go through them.

On a side note supposedly there is a ghost in the castle of one of the witches James V burned at the stake. We didn’t see her but after hearing her story and what she went through to get her to confess they deserve her haunting.

We were also piped into dinner which was held in the dining room which I guess not surprisingly could hold 50. The dinner was really nice. I had lamb and it was enough for three people. The wine flowed freely and I was sitting beside Sarah so it was a great evening.

After dinner we went down to exit and a highland military band could be heard in the distance and not long before it came around the corner of the castle. I have to say it gave the royal Yacht a run for its money as being my favorite part of the tour. There was just something about watching the band on a clear crisp night in front of a castle. I felt like I had gone through the stones to a different age. They played several songs then went to present themselves to the military commander of the castle which for tonight was one of the ladies on the tour who had served in the navy. She had designed her own tartan and had several pieces of clothing made from it and tonight was wearing the long straight skirt. She held herself with regal precision and looked amazing saluting the band. I was a bit jealous.

A dark night good food and drink and a highland drum and pipe band an excellent way to basically end the tour.

On our move from Inverness to Gleneagles we only had one stop at Blair Castle. It was one of the largest we visited and is set up well to offer many attractions.

We had been driving all over Scotland and every once in a while I would catch sight of the shaggy highland cows or coos as they say up here, but never with my phone out at the ready. Jo who is the wife of the tour coordinator and Alison’s uncle sets t the back of the bus with us and she had said that she had seen some cows up near Blair castle so I watched out the window with camera ready from the time we turned off the highway (highway might be overstating it a bit but it was one of the better roads we were on). I saw a few but they were on the wrong side for a good photo. I went through my map hoping we had to go back to the highway the way we came but I could see we wouldn’t have to. I was about to ask if maybe we could do it when we pulled into the parking lot and there these four were. Jo had been holding out. She said she was afraid to say that there castle had some in case they had moved them. Never have I been more frustrated with my back of the bus seat. I was afraid that everyone would scare them off before I got out to see them. Thankfully they didn’t and I got some good photos. They are super cute and the little calves darted around while the cows pretty mush just munched on grass. I was already happy with the stop and I hadn’t even really seen the castle.

Blair castle was started back in the 13th century but it is hard to see that part. Most was built in the 15th century but remodeled in the 1870s. A t is owned by the Duke of Atholl- originally the Earl of Atholl but somewhere along the way he got promoted. It has connections to Robert the Bruce, the Jacobite rebellion and Queen Victoria. It is also the home of the Atholl Highlanders which is one of the last private army regiments in the world. It provides guard service to Queen Victoria when she was in the Highlands but mostly just ceremonial roles now.

Queen Victoria nd Prince Albert stayed on their way to Balmoral and there are some things from her time here. They pointed out the room she used which had a small bed that supposedly she and Albert used. (Clearly Elizabeth II was not sharing that tiny bed on the Britannia with Phillip.). It also had the chest of drawers used by Prince Albert that had 7 drawers and his clothes were laid out for the day of the week with Sunday clothes going in the top drawer. Sunday clothes being your finest day wear this is where the saying top drawer came from. You never know what you are going to learn from an Alison Weir tour.

I also learned that the people invited to the coronations had to pay for their chairs. The coronations were a big expense on those attending. They had to have the robes, chairs and back in the day had to find horse drawn carriages no new finagled automobiles for these events.

Also with other houses this one had a huge display of weapons in the entrance hall. All designed to be impressive as visitors entered. Not the most inviting decor but I guess powerful and deadly were better things to show off.

We walked through the gardens before the house but they weren’t really all that exciting. It was a large and I mean enormous walled garden named the Hercules garden due to the Hercules statute that is not inside the walled garden. Walked the whole thing looking forward only to learn it was on the outside but surprising not near either of the gates. It did have baby ducks so all is forgiven.

After touring the house val and I walked down to the meadow where the sheep were grazing in a field of dandelions. We have seen so many sheep on this trip in fields along the highway but again this is the first time we could get good photos. The babies are so cute. They stand so proud and strong and basically just stare you down until mama sheep walks away and they go scurrying after her.

We tried to see the cows again as we got back to the bus but they were too far away. Really I should not be so stingy. I had been trying to take their picture from a moving bus and now I got to be really close so I should be happy with what I got but they are so cute.

From Blair Castle we headed out to Gleneagles which is our fancy hotel on this trip and is it ever fancy. It is a world class golf resort that has also held world leader summits. Sadly we don’t have much free time to enjoy the amenities that range from golfing to archery from fishing to falconry, horse back riding to spa facilities and anything in between. tonight we barely have time to change for our dinner. Val and I got a great room in the old original 1924 part of the hotel and it was lovely. The newer rooms were bigger but ours was great.

Dinner was lovely a great recovery from the fiasco at the Inverness hotel. After dinner I went with a few others to the bar to try some whiskey. After a lot of wine at dinner I might not have needed the whiskey which then led to me getting a pink gin and tonic and closing down the bar. At least I didn’t buy any concert tickets after having this pink drink.

I love a good castle and today we did two with a pub lunch in between. The first stop was Cawdor Castle of Shakespeare and Macbeth fame. Although for our purposes we were at the actual history. Macbeth did in fact exist but the castle was not completed during his lifetime. Shakespeare made him Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor but there was no evidence that he was the actual Thane.

The house was built around a living holly tree in 1454 and you can see it in the dungeon or as we would call it the basement. Although it probably was a dungeon back in the day. In all my many photos I somehow missed the tree but I do have a lovely photo of the dungeon cells.

The current Dowager Countess lives in the house. She moves out during the summer while the castle is open for tours. So although very stately you can also see that it would be comfortable to live in. They said they only moved the furniture out of the way of the paths but I do imagine they move in maybe at least one or two comfy chairs for lounging. Who knows maybe the aristocracy does not lounge. One room was set up and describes as a Singleton for the stay of a single guest.

As you will see in Cawdor Castle and many other homes and castles on this trip, swords and muskets were often used for decor. It seems at least one wall is decked out with a circle of swords or guns. Which shows the importance and the overwhelming number of weapons throughout Scotland.

My favorite part of the grounds was the woodland garden which was basically trails through the woods. There was a nice rambling stream that ran behind the castle which added to the peacefulness of the visit. The walk through the woods was a great escape from the busy days on the tour.

Of course there were also some formal gardens. A little early for the garden flowers but still lovely.

After the castle we stopped at the local pub for a Sunday pub dinner. I chose the traditional roast dinner and it did not disappoint. It was delicious. Sadly I forgot to take a picture or maybe I was hungry and couldn’t wait to dig in. I finished with basically a fudge brownie sundae. The best lunch of the trip. So if ever in Cawdor try out the Cawdor Tavern. Outside the tavern was a lawn bowls club and several people were out playing. Seems like a perfect Sunday afternoon activity.

From lunch we headed out to Ballindalloch Castle. The castle was built in 1542by John Grant who may or may not be my ancestors. My maternal grandmother is a Grant and my DNA shows that I am 56 % Scottish (the rest of me is British, Welsh, Ireland and a little Scandinavian.)

I am sure something historical happened here but I can’t remember what it was. What I do remember is that this estate shows how these families are making these big estates work today. The family opens the home for tours and events, raises cattle, have wind turbines and a whiskey distillery amongvarious other activities. It was interesting to see how it works.

We also got to meet the Baroness and her husband and saw the new laird in passing. They were driving by from their new home down the way and stopped to talk. Their sone is the new laird and he and his family live in the house. They were super cute and she told stories of when her father became the Baroness and Laird and they moved into the castle. He inherited it from her naughty uncle George. This was one of the days the tour split into 2 groups and Alison went off with the other group. I think they were a little disappointed that they didn’t get to meet her. However they were still super cute and posed for pictures. Since we were mainly Americans they talked about Americans that had stayed there and if we were ever to see Robert Zemeckis we should tell him that they said hi. Actually one of the people on the tour does sound editing for movies and does know Bob so maybe she will be able to tell him that they remember his visit.

After the castle we returned for another night in Inverness. Val and I tried to go here some local music. One of the girls had gone out the night before and said the Hootenanny was the place to be. It showed to have ceilidh music from 6:30 – 845 so I thought it would be perfect not too late since we had to pack to move hotels the next morning. We walked into town passing several where we could here Scottish music but kept going to the Hootenanny. The bar wasn’t packed but all the best standing places were taken and the tables reserved for those eating. I got a beer and hoped that the music would be good. There were 5 people with instruments but there was no mics so it wasn’t ever very loud and the crowd never really got into it. We stayed until i finished my beer and walked back to the hotel. We can say we went to a Ceilidh but it wasn’t what I thought it would be. Might try again in Edinburgh

Since we had such a big lunch Val and I split a fish and chips in the bar. The French fries were delicious the fish not so much. So not our best night but all in all two castles in one day is always a good day.

Our morning started with a full Scottish breakfast minus the haggis and black pudding. Not sure I am ever going to understand the draw of pinto beans and mushrooms with my eggs. But I guess breakfast tacos would be weird to the Scottish. They did have some delicious granola which I am going to miss when we move on.

The first stop was Culloden. It is the first day we were happy to have overcast skies. A sunny day would just seem weird while walking the field where so many highlanders lost their life. Julian has worked on the museum and information supplies in the audio guides. So he was well prepared to show us the highlights. We have heard a lot about the Jacobite rebellion and BPC so we were well prepared to see where the story pretty much came to conclusion.

The museum is set up without the often romantic view of the highland cause. The British army was not a horrible killing machine but a well trained army fighting to preserve the established government. I did not realize that the Duke of Cumberland was the 25 year old son of the King George II. He was well liked by his men and as portrayed in Outlander his birthday was the night before the battle and BPC did try a sneak attack to catch them drunk from the celebration. has the story goes they got lost and then were all tired the day of the battle.

The highland charge that had been so successful in previous battles was not enough to overcome the well trained army who had practiced new tactics and had better artillery. has our tour guides Julien and Micheal continually repeated that the English took the BPC and the Scottish position serious and planned and prepared to defend again the attack in 1745 and any future attacks by building forts like Fort George that we visited earlier).

The battlefield conservatory owns only about a fourth of the actual battle ground. The part that is owned is the far north portion where the two lines of soldiers were closer together than at the other end. It was this misalignment that caused additional trouble for the highlanders as those on one end got to the British much more quickly than the others and in fact lead to some of the highlanders to never charge. Without the charge the highlanders had no advantage and were never going to win in a gun or artillery battle.

One of the questions is why did the highlanders fight that day. They could have snuck around the British and headed back up to Edinburgh or elsewhere in Scotland but they stayed and fought. It appears BPC did not want to run again. He had already turned back from his route into London and he was running out of money to fund the advance. He also knew that the British never had captures the ship carrying additional funds from France and that no other aid was likely to be sent. it was either fight and win at Culloden or disband nd head home. It is thought BPC did not want o be seen as his dad was in 175 when he got chased out of Great Britain.

Walking through the battlefields the ground looks endless. The ground is uneven, soft and marshy. not the ideal place to run 400 yards. The clans have laid out stones to identify their fallen. The British are all just buried together regardless that there were several highland and Scottish clans that fought for the English. I walked the distance from the Jacobite line to the English and I have no idea how the highlanders ran the entire way to take on the English in hand to hand combat.

It was a moving experience to walk where basically a way of life died.

Now onto Act II of the day – looking for Nessie. Our first stop is the Loch Ness Center. The center is the old hotel where the majority of sightings from the 1930 and it is basically a Disney type display of not only the eco system of the Loch Ness and the Loch Ness monster myth. You move from room to room getting different information and end with a vote on whether you believe Nessie is real, a hoax or a possibility. It is not as cheesy a it sounds but more for families.

From the center we rushed to catch a boat to take a short bit cruise. The cruise take you down Loch Ness and passes the ruins of Castle Urquhert. The castle was built in the 16th century and used for several until raided in the 1700s. It had been abandoned for years before a storm brought even more of the castle down. Now it is a lovely set of ruins right on the waters edge.

It was windy and cold on the boat but we stuck it out outside to get some photos then moved downstairs for the return trip to the dock.

The ride back to the hotel was pretty uneventful and we had dinner at the hotel bar so it was an early evening and our second day in Inverness came to close.

This morning we headed out to Fort George. The military base they put up in 1747/48 after the Jacobite rebellion. It sits right on the ocean above Inverness and is a modern style (as modern as 1750 could be) defensive base. It is built in a star formation and depressed down into the ground so that you cannot see any of the buildings from the land side approach. I guess not really depressed down more like they built up the ground around the outer wall.

For an active military base there didn’t seem to be much security. It does house museums but it is still a training base so it was weird to just walk through the gate with no one checking ids and then wander around on our own. Completely different than what we do on even our reserve bases.

Julien and Micheal led us through and talked about the protections that came from the way it was built along with what building it said bout the Jacobite cause. The base was built a few years after BPC failed attempt to take the crown. He escaped back to France so there was always the possibility that he could rally troops to fight for him again. The English did not want to find themselves in the same place it did t the start of the 45 campaign. They wanted to be better prepared. Julien pointed out that this clearly indicated they respected the highland forces that BPC was able to muster. He said they wouldn’t have spent this kind of money that quickly if they didn’t think it was a real threat.

The back ramparts looked out over the sea and we saw a few dolphins swimming around. Which seemed to be a big highlight for most of the people. we went through the chapel together and learned that they set up drums to be the pulpits when out on campaign. A stack of drums meant services were about to start.

We didn’t have a lot of time here so we checked out the barrack museums that were done up for the 18th century and rushed through the Highlander Military Museum. I wish we had more time to read more of the exhibits but we did see the highlights. There were two battle flags from the napoleonic war along with other military flags and medals.

From Fort George we drove up higher in the highlands to Dunrobin Castle. It sets right on the coast and has quite an impressive garden. Think Downtown Abbey on an Oceanside cliff.

The modern castle was built around the original medieval fortress but they left a bit of it in the central courtyard. You see no part of it from the exterior but from a hallway you can look out some windows into a small courtyard. Not sure why a house with these massive gardens needed this small inner courtyard. Maybe it keeps out the ocean breezes during the winter.

The grounds were quite impressive. They were laid out in three parts, all formal. No rambling fields here. Order and precision appeared to be the goal. The sea beyond the wall added the element of wildness and freedom to balance all the hard lines of the gardens.

Dunrobin had a working falconry, where the falconer actually took the birds out for hunts on a regular basis. We watched the falconry demonstration. The falcons and hawks swooped through the audience the Scottish are more daring and allowed the birds much closer to the crowd than we do in the states. It was a little creepy to feel them fly by.

The house also had a taxidermy museum but we ran out of time and missed it. Supposedly the family had been big hunters back in the early days when big game hunting was all the rage for the rich and titled. I heard it was really creepy with mounted animals everywhere so glad we missed it.

Queen Victoria visited and the home was decked out with new tapestries and bed coverings in her honor. The Queen gave 2 years notice so there was plenty of time to refurbish and polish all the best silver.

Members of the family were part of the military throughout the years and various uniforms and battle flags were displayed in the house. The coronation robes were also displayed. But my favorite display was the laundry room that showed the slow advancement of vacuum cleaners. I guess the family thought we would like to see things we would all have some familiarity with.

After the tour of Dunrobin we headed to our hotel in Inverness. Val and I walked into town to check it out and find dinner. There was a nice pedestrian walkway beside the river and it was not as cold as I expected. We caught a few stores open but mainly just walked around. We did stumble on an old church so we stopped for a few photos. Most restaurants were full and without reservations it took us a while to find somewhere for dinner. We ended up with burgers that were ok but not great. We should have made reservation as were suggested by our tour guides.

After a wonderful night on the royal Yacht we had to get up bright and early to change hotels. We are off to Inverness. Along the way we are stopping off to visit Scone Palace (pronounced scoon/scune not scone like the pastry). Scone Palace got its start as the location where all Scottish Kings must be crowned and all were until James IV in 1488. It was the site of a priory as far back as 1114 and became an Abby before the turn of the century. Kings were originally enthroned at Scone on the Stone of Scone before they were also crowned in 1249 with the crowning of Alexander III. After Robert the Bruce’s crowning in 1306 when the English seized the stone and took it to Westminster. It has now been returned to Scotland but it is in a museum in Perth and not back on Moot Hill at scone Palace.

The Abby was eventually raided during the reformation and burned. There are no traces of it today. The current palace was built in 1803 on the grounds of the medieval manor house and has a more modern feel. It is a beautiful home used by the current Viscount Stormont the son of the Earl of Mansfield. We actually saw him wandering the grounds while looking for the maze. Before I knew who he was I thought he was the most quintessential modern Scotsman I had ever seen. It was like he walked right out of central casting. He had on a plaid quilted vest with a padded shoulder I assume for his hunting rifle and a dog, he perfectly fit the setting.

The inside of the house was more Victorian and was mainly filled with family portraits. The first Earl of Mansfield was involved in the abolitionist movement and ruled on several cases that helped end the slave trade in England. The movie Belle is about his younger brother’s daughter Dido Elizabeth Belle whose mother had been a Cuban slave. There is a portrait of her and her cousin in the house hanging beside one of her father.

No photos were allowed in the house so I have nothing to show from the insides but the outsides were lovely. Several peacocks were roaming around but sadly never caught one with its feathers up.

We had a great lunch of soup and sandwiches in the old kitchen that displayed more cooper pots than I have ever seen. After lunch val and I headed off to try the star shaped maze and ran into Julien also looking for it. I had thought to take a photo of the map of the grounds but neither Val or Julien would listen to me and we had to backtrack several times to get to a trail on the right side of the fence to get to the maze. We passed by 2 before eventually having to come back and use the second one. Of course they both said they knew that was where we should have gone but yet we still walked way out of our way before turning back.

The maze was pretty simple and we used the all left turn rule and made it to the center with no dead ends. So it took us 3 wrong turns about 10 minutes backtracking to find the maze and about 2 minutes to do it. I did feel good when the little girl who entered after us didn’t end up beating us through the maze. It looked close for a while but she missed a turn at the end and we swooped by for the win.

From there we headed up through the highlands to Inverness. The scenery was lovely. The hills turned into mountains and the trees to heather. Sadly heather blooms in July and August so we didn’t see it at its best but still quite beautiful in its harshness.

We arrived at our hotel after a long day on the bus. The room is a bit funky with the toilet in a separate room from the shower and the mirror. There are sinks in both rooms but they didn’t put a mirror in with the toilet which seemed like poor planning.

Dinner tonight was at the hotel and it was sadly not a repeat of the superb service we had received the night before. We sat down at 7:30 and were still waiting for our dinner after 9. There were not a lot of options and I went with the venison which I can’t say I enjoyed. The first course had been a piece of salmon which might have been smoked or might have been raw I am not sure. I took a few bites but that was all I could do. The venison was basically the same. It was so dark I couldn’t tell if it was raw or just really gummy. Again a few bites and done. Dessert however was delicious. By the time we were finished everyone was really tired and Alison and Sarah raced through their talk on MQS in film and TV. It got a bit racy so not sure if they were tired or had a bit too much of the free flowing wine.

A good time was had by all.

Absolutely the highlight of the trip.

We made it back to the hotel with just enough time to get all dressed up and head out to the port for dinner on the yacht. We arrived to a bagpiper and glasses of champagne in the sitting room. We had time to take some pictures then headed out on our guided tour with someone following behind to refill our champagne glasses. We went through the crew quarters then up to the staterooms which are quite small. The Queen had a separate bedroom from Prince Philip and both had twin beds. There was one double bed in the third stateroom with the fourth on that floor set up as a nursery. There were more rooms one floor down for other non-royal guests. President and Nancy Reagan were the only non-royals to stay on the floor with the Queen.

After the tour we returned to the reception/sitting room and awaited the other group before heading into the dining room for dinner. The meal was amazing and the service impeccable. Each table had 4 waiters and they were all choreographed to sit the plates down at the exact same time. Your glass never got empty as the wine flowed freely. After dinner we went back into the reception area for after dinner drinks. I had both a local whiskey and then finished my night off with a Baileys.

It was a fabulous night that I will never forget.

We were up and at it early this morning for a full day of touring and then our dinner tonight on the Royal Yacht Britannia, which is one of the highlights of the trip, but more about that later.

I did try the blood pudding this morning. It looks unsuspiciously like an over cooked sausage patty but looks can be deceiving. Once you cut into it, it is the same color throughout. Something about that is off putting or maybe just a warning to be cautious. I would say it tastes exactly how it looks – piece of burnt tire- but again not trouble swallowing horrible but one bite was enough. Haggis is a much better option for the less than adventurous eater. Val didn’t try either one.

It is even hard to distinguish on the play but it is that coal like bit on the very top beside the tomato.

Here is a close up…

After the delicious breakfast we headed off to Abbotsford which is Sir Walter Scott’s home. On the bus and several other talks and discussions I have learned the importance Scott played in shaping our views on Scotland and the highlanders. His Waverly series is on the Jacobite rebellion and most of his early poems are on the highlands and the Scottish way of life. He provided a very romantic view of the Highlanders and Bonnie Prince Charlie, the hero fighting a lost cause. At the time of the 1745 rebellion the spin was that it was nothing but the barbaric hairy highlanders that supported BPC and no one wanted to be associated with them, they were still in their clan reiver heyday. That made it easy to separate the rest of the country and allow it to move forward and rebuild their desire to remain part of England.

But back to Scott and his Scotland PR campaign. He convinced King George IV to show up in Edinburgh in full highland regalia. He had him in a kilt, argyle socks and even pink hose since his legs were to white. Even though the King was overly caricatured in the outfit it brought them into fashion. Everyone soon was wearing tartan.

Scott was the major author of the day. He was making the equivalent of 1.5 million pounds a year. Sadly Scott was living a 2 million pound life style. He was a crazy collector and his house certainly showed that. His book company went bankrupt but he vowed to pay it back and was put on a 300,000 pound yearly budget. Based on the house I not sure that stopped him.

He collected armor, weapons, books and just stuff. He had a lot of things he claimed were connected to historical figures and probably paid hefty sums for what has been proven to be junk. Although he did dash over to Waterloo just two weeks after the battle to collect anything he could, several breast plates, helmets and guns.

The house also had a great garden with some apple trees and tulips in bloom.

From Scott’s home we headed to Traquair House, Scotland’s oldest continuously inhabited house. The Stuart family has called it home since 1491. We actually were greeted by the current Lady of Traquair for a little champagne before heading out to tour the house. The house has been visited by over 20 Scottish kings and queens including MQS. The family remained staunchly catholic during the reformation so the house was full of hidden stash holes and staircases. Unlike Walter Scott’s collection this house had several MQS memorabilia including one of her rosaries. We saw the bed she slept in and the cradle that James I &VII slept in as a baby. Surprisingly the cradle was still used until they opened the house to visitors and the current Lady Traquair was rocked in it as a baby.

The house is now used for events and has a few bedrooms open for bed and breakfast. Supposedly haunted so it could be a fun adventure if you’re willing to pack light – the staircases are a twisting curvy mess. I would not want to bring a big bag up those stairs. One set you used a rope to help pull yourself up.

There was also a great story of how Lady Traquair who was also the Countess of Nithsdale saved the 9th Earl of Nithsdale from the Tower of London. She used the often replicated clothes swap ploy – two in two others out. She begged the King to release him but when unsuccessful she and her maid who had been visiting multiple times a day walked in and she and her husband walked out. Her husband headed off to France and she went back in and brought her maid out. They all made it safely to France. Husband was pretty worthless in the whole escapade. One of the five successful escape from the Tower.

After Traquair House we headed back to Edinburgh for dinner but it deserves its own post.

The day started off with a breakfast buffet at the hotel. I am not sure if I have tried haggis before but it was on the menu so I gave it a go. Not near as bad as I feared, not exactly good but not horrible. It has a funny mushy texture for meat (there are some oats mixed in) but kind of spicy like a mild chorizo. Tomorrow I will try the black pudding. Didn’t quite have it in me today but since the haggis was an ok experience I am up for giving it a try.

After breakfast we headed out on the bus to the castle. Now the bus cannot go down High Street so it lets you off on the main street down below and we had to climb the stairs we did the first day. It would have been better to walk from the hotel than climb those stairs again but we made it.

Julien was our guide through the castle grounds and gave us all sorts of information on the military aspects of it through the years.

The medieval area is the great hall and a few chambers off that. One of the small chambers is where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to the future King James I of England. It was a tiny little room. Likely not any bigger than some of your primary rooms closet.

The Scotland Crown Jewels are in the castle and even though older than England’s they are not as impressive. You have a sword, scepter and crown.

On a more modern turn there was a military museum with a big presentation on the Napoleonic war. There is a Napoleon war eagle that was taking in the battle by a sergeant who received a battlefield promotion.

From the castle we wandered around the city again and grabbed a quick lunch before touring St Giles Cathedral. Since it is a reformation church it is not all that elaborate inside. Absolutely nothing like the Catholic Churches in Italy and Rome. However, still worth a visit. It does have the Thistle Chapel which houses the Order of the Thistle. Basically the Scottish version of the Order of the Garter. I am not sure how everyone chooses or gets assigned their standard but either way I do think some better thought should go into them.

From the church we did a tour through the streets of Edinburgh working our way down from the old town to the new town establish primarily in the Georgian time period. Julian and Micheal led the tour so it was a rambling walk with various odd stories. We learned a lot about what is thought to be the influence for Dr Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. Seems there was a relatively prominent member of a local family that made furniture became a different person at night gambling and drinking. To cover his debts he started robbing people at night. No one cared until he robbed the government office then he was tracked down and hung in the city center. Now he has a pub named after him. Robert Louis Stevenson grew up not far from this point and likely heard these stories as a child.

We also heard a sad story of Lord Montrose who fought for James II in 1715 and was left to fend for himself when James fled to France. Which happened to be the third time James had asked for his help then didn’t follow through. He was also hung in the city gallows and his body separated. After sometime it was determined he was actually a good guy and they brought his heart back to be buried in the church.

We walked through one of the closes(basically alleys) to see how the houses were just stacked on top of each other. From there down to the new more spread out area with wide streets and manicured squares. Our hotel is then area so we are basically walking back.

We also walked by the home of the doctor who discovered chloroform. always something exciting to learn.

We finished out this day with dinner on our own. Nothing fancy we had chicken sandwiches at a local pub.