The Way Home

After three nights at Windlestraw, it was time to make our way to the final stop on our tour, Edinburgh. We left on Saturday morning and after half the drive (mostly along a country road with sheep obstacles) we took a forty-five minute stop to visit the ruined Crichton Castle.

Crichton castle was a good visit although a little odd. One drives to a parking lot near an old church in rural Scotland and then follows a rough footpath for five minutes before getting to a paved footpath to the castle where one must track down the minder in order to pay the ticket price!

In any case, the remoteness of it was the likely cause of us being the only people there for some time, another group showing up about fifteen minutes into our exploration of the castle itself.

The castle is quite old and fairly well preserved but its real claim to fame is the Italianesque courtyard facade and Scotland's first scale and platt staircase one Lord had installed while enlarging and transforming the First Castle to a larger, more comfortable Castle.









One of the Lords, , was involved in the "Black Dinner" which serves as inspiration for the "Red Wedding" in Game of Thrones.


After half an hour at Crichton Castle we hopped back in the car and at this point, a side visit to another distillery was under consideration but with our bags already well stocked with scotch, we decided another distillery visit was not a necessity!

We arrived in Edinburgh in the early afternoon, dropped off our luggage at the hotel and then dropped off the car. We strolled back through the Old City of Edinburgh and to our delight discovered that we had been upgraded to a lovely suite by the hotel!










So with newfound spirit we went out for another stroll and ended up filling our shopping bags to the brim at the afternoon market at Grassmarket as well as visiting the lovely Blackfriar's Pub, where we dined on pimiento de padron, before popping one street over to an amazing shortbread store, where we stocked up on shortbread.

Don't miss these gems when visiting Old Town Edinburgh!

We had dinner at a Steak and Mussels place in Grassmarket that was pretty good, although we both agree Canadian beef is better than Scottish beef, but had a bit of a rushed air to it.

Being a Saturday night, we opted to revisit Haymarket where the open air market was long gone but the pubs just getting started.

We enjoyed a couple of pints of Guinness each before deciding to get out.

It was likely the dance floor being empty for the today's Top 40 dance/pop tunes but packed by cougars and louts for seventies disco tunes that helped us make the decision not to have the always dangerous third pint.

Windlestraw Lodge, a hidden gem near Innerleithen

Our final stay in the countryside before heading back to Edinburgh was the charming Windlestraw lodge just outside of Walkerburn on the river Tweed. On the way Christos decided we should visit the ruins of Drochil castle near Peebles. We used google maps to find it which seemed like a great idea, until it did not work! We found a footpath that google maps implied would take us to the ruins but after a half hour hiking up a hill past cows and sheep, all we found was more hills and sheep! We did see a hare bolt away from us which was interesting as they are certainly much larger than rabbits. So it ended up being an hour hike up a hill and back to breathe the fresh air of Scotland while dodging the excessive amounts of sheep poop that was everywhere!

We stopped in Peebles for lunch on the way to Windlestraw lodge at an excellent restaurant named "Osso". We enjoyed our soup and sandwiches (an excellent rare roast beef) so much that we ended up coming back the next day for both lunch and dinner!

Speaking of dinner, the two dinners we had at Windlestraw lodge were amazing, and even more so when one considers they were the product of just one cook in he kitchen! We had lamb the first night, then dinner the next evening at Osso, and duck the last evening at Windlestraw. We simply must commend the cook, John, for the magic he wrought in the kitchen. Both evenings included canapés, a fish course, desert and a cheese plate!

Windlestraw lodge itself is a late 19th or early 20th century building constructed by a Scottish industrialist for his son as a wedding gift when he married a member of the Austrian Nobility. As such, it is a large house with rooms for servants (now converted to decent guest rooms) as well as sumptuously appointed public spaces (rich wood paneling, lovely glass etc).

Christos was quite enamoured with the animal carvings on one of the staircases; the attention to detail lacking so much in the modern age!

While at Windlestraw, we visited two local castles, Neidpath and Traquair on the same day.

Neidpath is privately owned castle so we had to arrange a tour which ended up being a great boon as it resulted in a private tour! The castle is in decent shape but needing some repair and is used for weddings etc. interestingly, the owner of Neidpath also owns Drochil and we discovered that Google maps had directed us to the wrong side of the river in our previous day's search for Drochil!















Traquair bills itself as Scotland's oldest inhabited house, having been inhabited since the 12th century. The original fortified tower has been expanded and added to several times to create the current structure; the "new" wing dates from the 18th century!


There were some interesting stories associated with Traquair, as the house of a Jacobite family, it house a catholic priest whose room had a secret passage out (the old spiral staircase of the 12th century tower) and a set of gates (the Bear gates) have remained closed since Bony Prince Charlie passed through them, a promise having been made to keep them closed until a Staurt regained the English throne! The old main approach to the house hasten converted into a lawn as a result of the closed Bear Gates. Mary Queen of Scots also stayed here and a crib used by her son, the future James I of England, is a family heirloom.

Traquair also houses a small brewery that produces good beer. The brewery dates for the middle ages and was shutdown more than a hundred years ago but rediscovered inthe1960s by the Laird when doing some serious spring cleaning while preparing Traquair for public viewing. Of course, Christos had to buy a three pack of the local brew which he polished off over the next two days.

Cormiston Farm

Cormiston farm is located near the town of Biggar in the Lowlands of Scotland and the main house is a gorgeous Georgian house that has undergone several updates over its life. Our room had a magnificent four poster, king size bed and wonderful floor to ceiling windows looking out over the front and beyond to a farmers field filled like with sheep. The house has been lovingly restored and the surrounding farm buildings are slowly being revamped; the large barn is in the process of being converted into a reception hall and the work to date is stellar with wonderful wooden floors and rafters.

While it is a B&B, the proprietor also offers dinner sourced locally and/or from his own garden. We had dinner both nights at Cormiston, with lamb the first night and trout the second. Both dinners were excellent and our host, Richard, is not only a great cook but also a lovely and good natured person in general. Staying at Cormiston farm was really lovely and the rural setting, with accompanying silence, was a lovely change after the bustle of the two previous evenings.

We visited nearby New Lanark while staying at Cormiston which is a UNESCO world heritage site. New Lanark was built in the late 18th century as a mill (ie cloth producing) "town" by Robert Owen, a forward thinking man for his time who insisted on schooling for the children of his workers, clean housing and a very progressive (for the time) work schedule of 10.5 hours per day, six days a week in the mill. While his contemporary 1 percenters thought he was crazy, the mill still made him a very rich man and was active well into the 20th century!

He tried to replicate the same concept in the USA at New Haven but his dream failed and much of his fortune was consumed with this endeavour. Later in life he still campaigned for greater worker's rights and many of his ideas were legislated some sixty or so years after he proposed them. For a cynic like Christos, the story of a progressive capitalist from 200 years ago was a bit of an inspiration .... While at New Lanark we did a little shopping. Christos bought a lovely scarf and Lisa a sweater, as well as some balls of wool, from New Lanark.

Our other great joy at Cormiston was the local Galliforme ... A pheasant that Christos named "Philibert The Pleasant Pheasant". According to Richard he had been roosting nearby for the last six weeks or so and we managed to see him twice while there. While pheasants are hunted (after August 12), Richard indicated that Phil was too large and thus would not be tasty. This coupled with the amicable feelings the family had towards him ensured that he was safe on the grounds of Cormiston farm!

After two lovely nights at Cormiston farm, it was time to move on to our next destination, Windlestraw Lodge near Peebles.

The Mel Gibson Memorial and Bannockburn!

After our night at the B&B near Falkirk, our next destination was about an hour's drive to the south in the region known as "The Borders" as it borders England. However, before we headed south we did a quick drive back north to visit the Wallace Monument and the site of the battle of Bannockburn. The Wallace Monument is situated near Stirling and is a very tall tower with amazing views of the site of the Battle of Stirling Bridge where the Scots, under William Wallace, won a resounding victory over the English in 1297. This event was brought to a wider audience in the 1995 movie "Braveheart" which although a good watch is incredibly inaccurate from a historical perspective; in the film, the Battle of Stirling Bridge has no bridge and the bridge was a key component of the Scottish victory as they let only a portion of the English army cross it before the Scots attacked and pushed the English back to the banks of the Stirling river.

The monument also houses the "Wallace Sword", a five foot long blade that was reputedly used by William Wallace himself, although parts of the sword are some 160 years post his time period. We had to laugh as in the gift shop one can buy statues labelled "William Wallace" that are in fact anachronistic (blue faced Picts having been 1000 years before the battle and tartans coming several hundred years later) depictions of the Scottish hero straight from Braveheart!

Then it was off to the site of the Battle of Bannockburn where in 1314 the Scots, under Robert the Bruce, dealt another blow to  the English when they defeated an army twice as large as theirs (and with better gear and training) by adroit leadership and the use of the schiltron spear square to overcome the English army's massive advantage in heavy cavalry.

We visited the monument, girded ourselves in replica armour and weapons and then played an interactive battle game with another dozen visitors that allows each visitor to command a contingent in either the English or Scottish army. Christos was on the side of the Scots and Lisa on the side of the English. While the maneuvering in our game was different than how the original battle played out, the Scots still emerged victorious! The game took about half an hour and was quite fun although it took a bit of time for some players to get into it.

Then it was time for the drive down south to our next B&B, the amazing Cormiston Farm near Biggar. We arrived around 5ish and relaxed for a few hours, walking about the farm and meeting the local beasties before having an amazing dinner of lamb. Then it was time for a after dinner Scotch before heading back to our room for some Game Of Thrones watching while we drifted off to sleep around midnight.

A rough Saturday night

Christos left July 4th and 5th open with no hotel/B&B reservations. Although we had originally planned to visit Glasgow, we decided to stay in the Highlands instead so we found a place to stay using the Internet .... The MacDonald Forest Hills Hotel and Spa. As it was a short drive away, we decided to extend the drive and visited the Glengoyne Distillery north of Glasgow before arriving at the hotel around 4pm. We walked into a scene of chaos as there was a wedding going on at the hotel and things went downhill from there. Neither the phone nor the TV worked in the room which was frustrating as we had hoped to watch a bit of TV and relax (Lisa loves the show "Come Dine With Me") and the more upmarket restaurant was closed (booked for the wedding) which meant we had dinner at the hotel bistro instead which served very mediocre fare.

When we got back to our room at 10:30pm, the din from the wedding's live band kept going until midnight and then one of the guests in the room adjacent to ours left the fan on in the bathroom in their room (we believe he passed out) creating a dull roar in ours. With no phone to call down to reception, we threw on some clothes and arranged for management to talk to the guests next door. Finally by 1am we had peace and quiet but we were certainly not in good moods after the evening. We had planned on spending two days at the place but cancelled our second night. The bright side was the hotel staff was attentive (they had a guy come in to look at the TV and phone soon after we notified them) but to no avail (the phone and TV remained offline during our stay) and the manager ended up refunding our stay! So we left the next morning feeling tired but in decent spirits as we felt the hotel management had done the right thing.

The next day we drove to Falkirk with stops at the ruins of Inchmahome Priory and Doune castle. Inchmahome is on an island in Lake Menteith and one takes a quick boat ride out to visit the ruins in their quiet, peaceful setting. At one point, it was a place of refuge for a very young Mary Queen of Scots. On our way back from the priory, we saw a beautiful heron emerge from the reeds and fly by; quite a majestic sight!





Only a short drive away from Inchamohome is the excellent site of Doune castle.

While not the largest of fortified dwellings, it's state of preservation is stellar to such a degree that it has been used for not one, not two but three well known programmes; Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail, Outlander and Game of Thrones! The tour includes an audio guide narrated by Terry Jones with quite a bit of humour.  The castle is pretty much in perfect condition and on the tour one visits the Great Hall, the Kitchens (including the Servery with a precursor to the "pass" in modern restaurants), the Lesser Hall, the Duke's Chamber, the Duchess' chamber etc etc!

Really an excellent castle to visit for any medievalists! The image to the left is the window for the scene goes as such:

Father: One day lad, all this will be yours!

Son: What the curtains?

We then drove on to the B&B we had found for our night's rest and popped by a local pub for a dinner including curry, a food the Scots love!

Loch Voil, the land of Rob Roy!

We left Loch Ness before noon as we had quite a drive ahead of us to Monachyle Mhor in Trossachs National Park. The drive down the bank of Loch Ness was wonderful with gorgeous views, sunshine and fresh berries (raspberry and strawberry), purchased from a roadside stand operated by two wee Scottish ladies. About half way through the drive, we stopped off at the Ben Nevis distillery, which unlike the other two distilleries we had already visited is not owned by a large liquor consortium (ie Diageo) but was not Scottish owned, having been purchased by a Japanese concern some time earlier. Ben Nevis Scotch is almost exclusively exported to SE Asia so of course we could not leave without buying a bottle!

We then headed away from the coast into the highlands and through Glencoe. While Glencoe is amazingly beautiful, it is also the site of a sad history for in February 1692, 38 members of Clan MacDonald of Glencoe, including the chief Alasdair MacIain, were brutally murdered by British soldiers after they had provided hospitality and billeted said troops for almost two weeks. A further 40 women and children of the Clan died due to exposure in the harsh Scottish winter. Two of the British soldiers refused to obey their orders and instead broke their swords but still, the Scottish did not forget and subsequent support for the Stuarts amongst the highlanders had a least some origins in this vicious act. We visited the small museum at Glencoe with its exhibits relating to the massacre and also encountered a kilted highlander playing bagpipes in the Glen itself!

We arrived at lovely Monachyle Mhor late in the afternoon and relaxed for a few hours before dining at the fabulous restaurant around 9pm. Monachyle Mhor is quite amazing as it is located some eight miles off the main highway at the end of Loch Voil. One drives down a tree lined, single lane country road beside Loch Voil to get to the place, having to pull aside on occasion in order to let other vehicles by and it seems as one goes that perhaps one is chasing a dream; could a fine establishment really be located in such a remote place? All doubts are dispelled upon arrival when the property comes into view; it is a lovely building with views over the Loch and a top notch staff. The restaurant serves an expensive but amazing dinner complete with amuse bouches, small soups between courses and fine wines! It is the kind of place that has a helipad nearby as celebrities and other bigwigs do on occasion make an appearance.

We were quite lucky in that we received a room upgrade and our suite had not only the most wonderful plush bed but the bathroom had two clawfoot tubs beside eachother so that both guests could bathe at the same time! We ended up having two baths while there and watched the film "A Most Violent Year" while in the tub resulting in Christos becoming a human prune one night. We spent three wonderful nights at the place and enjoyed deep, relaxing sleeps while there of the kind that only rural tranquility brings, although we were awoken the last night by a very noisy, perturbed crow at 5am!

While there, we trekked down the road to the local "Kirk" wherein can be found the grave of Rob Roy along with his wife and two of his sons. The area was in fact home to the famous Scottish folk hero.

Behind the old church is a path that leads up to the old MacLaren lookout point with stunning views down the Loch and to its entrance, allowing a clan lookout to warn should outsiders enter the Glen.

We also took a day trip into the local town of Callander during our time at Monachyle Mhor to get a little laundry done as well as some shopping. Callander is quaint, cute and small but one can get Guinness at the pub so a visit was critical given the lack of said beverage at MM.

We finally left MM on a rainy Saturday morning; we would not have minded extending our stay but the whole place was booked for a wedding on the weekend. So off we headed to our next destination, the MacDonald Forest Spa near Aberfoyle.

The Hunt for Nessie

After a couple nights in the Cairngorms National Park, we hopped in the car and headed for our next destination, Loch Ness! We had aimed to take a little diversion down into Speyside to visit a distillery or two but ended up getting diverted and instead found ourselves heading north towards Nairn which turned out to be a good thing as the Speyside itinerary would have added quite a few hours to our trip and would likely have seen us arrive quite late at Loch Ness. As Scotland is thick with distilleries, we were not too put out and vowed to make it up later. On the drive, we saw several deer (including two very young ones) as well as a pair of pheasants (male and female) that were only feet away from the car. The male pheasant really is a beautiful creature although clearly not the brightest of beasts (how it managed to let us get so close is beyond me).

On the way, we stopped off at an 17th century bell tower, visited an old church and passed by Culloden battlefield (we decided to postpone the visit as it was late in the day) before arriving at the charming Loch Ness lodge. The Loch Ness Lodge is a beautiful, luxury B&B so dinner was, by necessity, offsite. We dined at the Loch Ness Inn where Christos' prawns were excellent and Lisa's fish was top notch. A shuttle bus back to the Lodge was passed on at 10pm, resulting in more Guinness being quaffed and we ended up being the last customers at the Inn! We finally got back to the Lodge shortly after 11pm and fell asleep watching a little TV.

The next day, Lisa was not feeling very well so she skipped breakfast which was a pity as it was excellent. Christos had the traditional Scottish breakfast of eggs, bacon, roasted cherry tomatoes and sausage accompanied by freshly squeezed OJ and a wonderful, large cappuccino.

After breakfast we headed off to visit the Culloden battlefield site where in April 1746 hopes of a restoration of the Stuart family to the throne of England were finally dashed after 57 years of hopes and dreams. The site and visitor centre are very well done with enlightening exhibits, helpful guides in period costumes and a GPS based listening tool that tells you about different spots on the battlefield. Perhaps the most moving part is the row of clan grave markers which still have raised mounds of earth behind them covering the bodies of the fallen.

After Culloden, it was off to the Black Isle (which is actually a peninsula) for lunch and scenic views from the spit near Fortrose which also hosts an interesting ruined cathedral.

Then we drove back towards Loch Ness, bypassing Inverness, with a stop at the Glen Ord distillery for a wee tipple and some whisky buying. As the previous night's meal had been grand, we opted to not try a new establishment and returned to the Loch Ness Inn for dinner where Christos ordered the mussels but settled for the seafood gnocchi (mussels being all gone) while Lisa indulged in one of her favourite meals, the hamburger. Finally we took an early shuttle back to the Lodge and got good night's sleep before getting ready for our lo drive the next day to Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.