Scotland is a gorgeous country

Back in '12 my wife and I were able to make the trip of our lifetime.

All images were taken by us unless otherwise stated

I'd always wanted to go to Scotland. My great-great grandfather made the trip 'doon' from Glasgow and settled in Trinidad here in the Caribbean. I have a copy of his journals, part of records a trip back to Scotland to visit family in different places. This became a huge part of the journey for me, to retrace his foot steps and the footsteps of other ancestors across Scotland. I think that a lot of people end up visiting Scotland with exactly this in mind.

The flight from Barbados leaves at 1pm to London. This was the longest flight I'd been on, 8 hours, and I didn't sleep a wink since I don't really enjoy flying much. I don't really sleep the night before a flight either.

Nervous in the departure lounge

After that 8 hour flight, we made our way through the airport to collect our bags in London. So after having not slept that night, and slept badly the night before, I took a nap in the departure lounge in London as we had another 6 hours to wait for the flight to Glasgow.

Glasgow

Once in Glasgow we rented a car (which took forever), drove the wrong way out the parking lot and were on our way to our Great Scotland Adventure. The parking lot attendant made a remark like "is this you now leaving? good luck..."

After some frustration getting the GPS to work, figuring out the highway system, running on a couple hours sleep in the last 48 hours, we eventually arrived at McLay's Guest House. A fine place that suited us perfectly, right in the centre of Glasgow.

(not my photo)

There was no time for lollygagging. We put our things down and headed out onto the busy streets of Glasgow.

My first impression of the city was good, for the most part. Maybe it was the delirium from lack of sleep, but it had a magical quality. Ok yes, definitely the delirium. I really enjoy old, dirty cities, and Glasgow fit that criteria.

Spent a few days in Glasgow doing the stuff that we normally do when we travel... Museums, art galleries, 'the sights'.

One of the highlights was the Necropolis.

The Glasgow Necropolis is a Victorian cemetery in Glasgow, Scotland. It is on a low but very prominent hill to the east of Glasgow Cathedral (St. Mungo's Cathedral). Fifty thousand individuals have been buried here. Typically for the period only a small percentage are named on monuments and not every grave has a stone. Approximately 3500 monuments exist here.
(Wikipedia)

The walk up the incline was really enjoyable, it was a little damp but that's to be expected. The air was cool, the grass was bright green, and everything was quiet and peaceful.

me, atop the Necropolis

Another big highlight was an intimate show with Anais Mitchell.

I'd looked up on ticketmaster what shows were happening during our say, because nobody ever comes to Barbados. None that I'm interested in, anyway. I'd heard of Anais Mitchell and a couple songs, but didn't know much about her. I saw that she was playing in Glasgow that same night at The Arches, so I bought tickets right away. There was maybe 50 or 60 people there for the sit-down show, with the sound of trains rolling above head. It was all very atmospheric.

It was a fantastic show, and she quickly became one of my favourites. Her music was the soundtrack to our trip.

Another huge highlight in Glasgow was the folk musicians that played at Dram! one night. Dram! is a pub near to Kelvingrove Park which we walked over to for dinner and drinks. Turns out that the night we went was popular for some old musicians to congregate in a back room to jam together. There weren't many people in there, my favourite! I hate crowded places. It was less crowded than the pub side.

Musicians in Dram! Sorry for potato quality, it was dark

The musicians sat near the front chatting and playing music. It was a really peaceful, beautiful time that brings a tear to the eye right now.

They played Loch Lomond by the Corries (which gives this post its title) and Wild Mountain Thyme (or Will You Go Lassie Go, both of which have stayed with me and are dear to me now. I ended up getting a bodhran in Isle of Skye and a mandolin later on because of these guys.

We also happened to catch Clanadonia doing an impromptu drum sesh in Sauchiehall.

Clanadonia

Of course, we hit the museums and art galleries.

They somehow had a bust of me in the Museum. They really captured my essence.

We stayed in Glasgow about one week before heading up into 'The Highlands'. Onto the A82 heading north through Dunbarton, which is where the Old Man spent a lot of time. Stopped for a bit in Arrochar, his birth place.

Walking along the 'shore' in Arrochar

Arrochar is a little town north of Glasgow with not a whole lot going on, from what I saw. We didn't stay long, but I picked up a little flat stone from the beach as a keepsake.

Onwards further north until we reached our destination for the next week.

Lochgoilhead

Lochgoilhead near Carrick Castle looking towards Cormonochan

Lochgoilhead is another little town north of Glasgow, with a population of about 400. This was another stop for my great-great grandfather when he visited ‘back home’, and this is where his father and grandparents were born. In 1807 my great-great-great-great grandfather was listed as being a ‘fisher in Cormonochan’, so it was very cool to go there and see what the place was like.

Went for a hike in the hills above the town

We stayed at The Shore House Inn which I highly recommend.

There’s a boat rental place down the loch a bit, I think it was about 70 pounds to rent a boat with tackle. Didn’t really care, was willing to spend whatever! Did some trolling around Carrick Castle area near Cormonochan. Was struck by how nice it was that I was fishing in the same part of the loch that my ancestor made a living in 200 years ago. I’m a bit sentimental sometimes.

We were about to pack up when I decided to take one more pass, and lo and behold! My wife caught the very first fish in her life, a mackerel. We took it back to The Shore House and they cooked it up for us for dinner.

Very nice memories were made in Scotland.

I am the captain now

Fishing

@tiffjane's first fish ever!

Callander

Callander

On one of the last days in Lochgoilhead we decided to go on a little road trip and see where we ended up. So with no real plan, we just aimed towards some random little town and headed there.

Callander ended up being very pleasant.

Feeding a friendly duck

Friendly horse on the way to Callander

Stopped off in an antique book store along the main street. It was empty, but there was a bit of commotion coming from a back room, and eventually the proprietor came out. A large Scottish man with long grey hair and beard. I smelt him before I saw him. He was very friendly, but I could barely understand what he was saying.

I asked him if they had any bibles in Scots Gaelic. He said unfortunately not, but they are hard to come by since the English tried to wipe out the language and burned the bibles. I got a 1900 Scots Gaelic New Testament from Leakey’s in Inverness, though. One of my favourites, I like to collect old books.

Ended up in Balloch Park walking along the shores of Loch Lomond. The sun was bright and shining down, very pleasant. I wish it was that temperature in Barbados all the time.

Inverness

On the way up to Inverness of course we stopped by Urquhart Castle at Loch Ness. There were a lot of people, which I really didn’t like but that is life. I had to put up with the people because I really wanted to visit the castle.

20 years earlier my mother visited Scotland and the castle, so I thought it would be nice to find the same spot and take a picture standing there. I have 'a thing' for stuff like that. More on that at the Clava Cairns.

I found these so fascinating, little graffiti left by people long since dead in the 1800s. Painters, carpenters. A way of saying “I was here, I existed!”

old graffiti

Arrived in Inverness on a cold rainy afternoon. By this point in the trip I was becoming tired and a bit anxious. The hotel we chose was pretty sterile and uninteresting, a good spot for businessmen arriving for meetings and heading straight back out.

We watched a back-alley beatdown between a pigeon and a seagull. The seagull ripped the pigeon to shreds. It was a feeling of disgust that I came came to relate to the stay in Inverness in general, just not great.

The highlight of Inverness was the Leakey’s Book store and the Clava Cairns stones.

not my photo

Still heated by a wood-burning stove, Leakey’s is a charming place to sit down and skim the local paper over a cup of coffee and a home-cooked treat. Housed in a converted 18th-century Gaelic church, it is also Scotland’s largest secondhand bookshop, filled with antique maps and classic tomes. (source)

At the Clava Cairns

The Clava Cairns are about 4,000 years old and were built to house the dead. The cemetery remained a sacred place in the landscape for millennia, and provides many clues to the beliefs of Bronze Age society.
What remains today would have once been part of a larger complex. Two parts of the complex, Balnuaran of Clava and Milton of Clava, are open to the public. The sites contain a range of prehistoric burial monuments and the remains of a medieval chapel.
(source)

I have a thing about touching old stuff. It just makes me feel all squishy to think that I am here standing in this time touching something that somebody else touched thousands of years ago, imagining their thoughts and life. The space is the same, but the separation is just time. As you may know, I have a fascination with the idea of time travel.

We also went to Culloden Battlefield, but that was mreh, and it was way too cold to be enjoyable!

Isle of Skye

Down from Inverness we stopped for a couple days in Skye. This is a really beautiful part of the country, but by this time it was freezing (for us) even in the middle of 'summer'. I'm a tropical island boy, you see.

We pretty much just drove all the way around the edge, stopping at different points along the way.

At Eilean Donan before crossing into Isle of Skye

Freezing my tits off at the tip of Skye

Edinburgh

Me overlooking Auld Reekie

We stayed in a hostel called Castle Rock Hostel which was literally right under the Edinburgh castle. The place was pretty artsy-fartsy and eccentric. Decided to rent the whole room with 4 bunk beds rather than share because I’m not really about that life.

The view from the front door of the hostel

After the 5+ hour drive from Skye into Edinburgh and the construction causing traffic in the city, I was pretty frazzled and irritable.

But we eventually got settled in and took a walk around the city. It’s such a beautiful city with a lot of history. Visited the castle, of course, but again — so many people. TOO many people. But I couldn’t very well visit Edinburgh and not go in the castle!

After Edinburgh we went back over to Glasgow for a couple days before the flight back home.

We did a lot of stuff in the 2.5 weeks that we were in Scotland, and I haven't mentioned most of it. But these were the highlights for me.

When I was in Scotland, I had a sense of returning home. This is a sentiment shared by many a West Indian [of European descent] when they set foot back in the Old Country, I've heard it said before.

One day, once we save up enough money, we'll definitely go again.

Back to the Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond!

Scotland Travelogue: Taking The High Road To Loch Lomond, and beyond...