Home Again, Home Again....

Jet Lag.  The longer trip, this fall’s trip was forty days in Scotland, has led to more and deeper jet lag.  Our body clocks are having the devil’s own time of adjusting to PDT time--and now we have to switch to PST.  Because our trip was longer than normal it is taking longer than normal to adjust back--for several days one or both of us would be up at 2, 3, or 4 AM, and both of us were ready for bed by about 8 PM.  I would have thought that after 24 European trips in 13 years I’d be getting more used to the time change, but research actually shows that the affects of jet lag increase with age--the body becomes less able to deal with it as we get older.  At least Anne and I are both more bothered by east to west travel (coming home) than west to east (going)--it would be awful for one to be dragging one way while the other is ready to go.  

Autumn in the Highlands

All this discussion of jet lag is in explanation of why it has taken so long to get this post ready to go.  Blame it on jet lag.  Now, to an End of Trip Summary and an Homage to Food at Merlindale B&B.

End of the Trip Summary:

In forty days in Scotland we drove our rented Ford Focus (from Arnold Clark Rentals (http://www.arnoldclarkrental.com) a little over 2400 miles.  

This is the car we would have liked, except there's no room for our gear.  Our Focus was fine.

At 30 mpg that was 80 gallons @ £1.30 per liter (about $9.36 per gallon).  You do the maths from there.

   Golf:

Aboyne GC, near Aberdeen.

19 18-hole rounds on 17 courses, four of which were new to us.

Downfield GC, near Dundee.

4 9-hole rounds on two courses, one new to us.

St Fillans GC where we're members.

378 holes of golf.

Strathmore GC, near Blairgowrie, near Alyth, near Forfar, not far from Carnoustie.

105 miles walked on golf courses, though Anne did take a buggy a few times because of a            sore back and injured ankle.

   Attractions:

More than 50 visited (castles, churches, cathedrals, historic or ancient sites, cultural attractions, gardens, etc.).

Bridge at Spittal of Glenshee.

Kilconquhar Parish Church.

Most were historic/ancient, religious, or picturesque, 15 were new to us.

Sunhoney Stone Circle.

Drummond Castle Gardens, near Crieff, central Scotland.

   Eateries: 

We visited Restaurants (10),

the Watermill Tea Room and Bookstore, Aberfeldy.

Tea rooms, coffee shops, cafes (18),

Moulin Inn, one of our favorite pubs, near Pitlochry.

Pubs (9), and 13 were new to us.

   Days of rain or weather bad enough to make us change our plans: 2, only 2!

Fourteen miles of single-track road through Glen Lyon.

A fantastic trip, highlighted by the next part of this post.

Homage to Meals at Merlindale B&B

One of the advantages of rooming in a B&B in the UK is that the meals, breakfast and sometimes dinner, are better than you’d get eating out.  This is certainly true at Merlindale B&B in Crieff, our Scottish home.  Since we are family [I think there’s a song in there somewhere.] we not only get the great Scottish B&B breakfasts but we also have some fantastic family dinners--and yes, we do our share of the cooking and the cleaning.  This fall's trip turned out to be exceptional for food.

One night when special guests were expected, Jacky, a Le Cordon Bleu trained chef, prepared a seafood and chicken mixed Paella, a Valencian rice dish often referred to as the Spanish national dish.  

The pan, at least three feet across, had to be smuggled from Spain in Jacky’s suitcase, and the grill ring gas unit smuggled in separately.  I often wondered what the Xray security technician thought.  The Paella takes several hours to prepare and not nearly that long to consume.  It turned out that the special guests didn’t arrive until the next day which meant more Paella for the rest of us.

When the ladies from Canada arrived at the B&B a special formal dinner was prepared for them.  Jacky fixed mustard coated pork chops, boiled potatoes, and salad; Anne added steamed broccoli; and I prepared a hot pasta and veg dish.  

A special B&B dinner at Merlindale.

The ten of us made short work of the table full of food.  Anne and I did our share of cooking during the time we spent at Merlindale.  Besides the veggie pasta, one day for breakfast we fixed Tolovana muffins, a broiled toasted English muffin (in Scotland they are simply called “toasting muffins” for obvious anti-English reasons) coated with a deviled ham and cheese spread mixture--the original recipe comes from the Tolovana Inn in Cannon Beach, Oregon..  One day I put together a seafood pasta dish using calamari, salmon, and brown crab claws.   And at the request of Jonathan, John and Jacky’s 23-year-old son who was heading off to Mexico as a tour guide, we made our version of Southern fried chicken and refried bean dip with crisps (taco chips)--it’s Jonathan’s go to meal.

The most special meal during our stay was not cooked by Jacky or ourselves.  Instead, Zoe and Eddie (who is chef at an upscale Chinese restaurant in Llandudno, Wales, took over the kitchen and whipped up

Jacky looks on while Eddie and Zoe cook.

--pans flying, flames shooting, mess everywhere--a lovely Asian repast for ten of us.  On the menu were two preps of chicken wings, fried aubergine (eggplant), pan seared sea bass,

I hate it when dinner stares back at you.

sweet and sour pork, and enough rice to feed Portland’s Chinatown.  

Dinner is served in the B&B kitchen.

Lovely dinner and all we had to do was clean up.

I do have a running food joke with Jacky.  When nobody is looking I draw faces or pictures on several of the eggs which are always left out on the kitchen counter. This brings up the question: why do we always refrigerate our eggs and the Scots never do? Jacky knows who does the “art” but never knows quite what she will find on the breakfast eggs.  

On our last morning before flying home, my breakfast plate came complete with decorated shell. As much as Anne and I relish our meals in the tea rooms, pubs, and restaurants of Scotland, most special are the great feedings at Merlindale B&B, our Scottish home.  

A view of Mt Hood says we're close to home.

We haven't missed the fall colors at our house in Canby.

A Week in the Highlands

Our Highlands adventure started on a Saturday with an overnight stop in Stonehaven, just south of Aberdeen on the North Sea.  Leaving our castle suite in Kilconquhar we crossed the Firth of Tay into Dundee and the suburb village of Broughty Ferry.  In Broughty Ferry we stopped for a visit at Broughty Castle 

which houses an interesting local museum.  Rather than take the main north/south A90, we stuck to the small roads and were rewarded with good photo opportunities 

and a bowl of Smokie Chowder (smoked fish, veg, and just the right spice) at Lunan Farm Shop & Cafe 

in the dunes by Lunan Bay.  Our main objective for the day was Dunnottar Castle just south of Stonehaven.  The castle, one of the most photographed in Scotland, was the setting for Zeffrelli’s Hamlet  (1990).  

It’s a short hike out to see the castle, then a dramatic hike down and back up if you want to visit the castle.  We had been there before and this time just wanted pictures from various vantage points around the castle peninsula.  From the castle it’s only two miles to Stonehaven 

and our B&B (24 Shore Road) on the harbour.  

Dinner was just along the harbour at the Ship Inn (a different Ship Inn than the one in Elie--there are numerous Ship Inns and many are nowhere near the sea).  

I had a delicious dish of Argyll Mussels and Crab Claws (brown crab from the west coast).  

Later we walked back to the Ship Inn from the B&B for an after dinner drink in the bar and some night photos.

Sunday we had scheduled golf at Braemar GC near Balmoral Castle where the Royals take up fall residence--the flag was up on the castle which means the Queen is there.  Before we got to Braemar we stopped at the Falls of Feugh in Banchory 

to watch the salmon leap.  Golf at Braemar was a race to stay ahead of a men’s competition--we completed the 18 holes on Scotland’s highest golf course in two hours forty minutes, 

and finished two holes ahead of the first men’s group.  Surprisingly, we both played fairly well, but had very tired legs that evening.  It was okay to be tired because our timeshare unit at Craigendorrach Hilton in Ballater was a Five Star place to rest--

Our living room at Craigendorrach Hilton.

two bedrooms on the main floor and kitchen, dining room, living room, and deck upstairs.  

Our Monday golf was at the Alford GC in Alford about 45 minutes from Ballater.  This was a working day--revising our second Scotland golf guide and adding more courses--so we took notes, photos, and analyzed the course for writing about later.  

After golf we made one of the “finds” of the trip when we visited the Muir of Dinnet Nature Reserve.  We took a short trail to the Burn O‘ Vat: a small waterfall hidden behind a tunnel of rocks. 

The crawl space into the Vat.

The Vat.

The Vat is the area hollowed out by thousands of years water cascading through the gorge.  I tried to get photos, but was never fully satisfied with my efforts and kept returning to try to get better photos.  

Our next golf was probably our best of the trip.  The big courses we play (Crail, Strathmore, Lundin, Scotscraig, Crieff Ferntower) are all great, but the 9-hole Tarland GC was a true hidden gem.  

Anne's bundled up against the cold.  It was about 40° F.

The tree-lined course is lovely as its plays over rolling hills with a local church dominating the views on the 1st and the 9th holes.  The only drawback was the zombie barman/starter who spoke in monotone grunts and seemed not to understand the simplest concepts, like we had a letter from the golf manager which said we were to play for free.  If his ear had fallen off in the middle of a series of grunts I wouldn’t have been surprised.

Thursday was a day of driving.  It was a little more than an hour to get to Fraser Castle and its gardens, but it was worth the effort.  

When we had visited before much of the castle was closed as a wedding venue, so we saw much new to us.  Next was a return look at Loanhead stone circle in Daviot--

an ancient double circle used either for astronomical or religious purposes or both.  It was a serious lot of driving for these two sites, plus one small Pictish carved stone, 

One of numerous tree tunnels we drove through.

but much of the drive was lovely even on a gray day.

Friday, after golf at Aboyne GC, we had lunch at the Falls of Feugh Restaurant and again visited the falls.  The difference in a week with only one day of rain was dramatic.  

The river was quite full, heavy in peat (makes the water's color brown), and the salmon had no chance to make the leap.  

After a little shopping on Saturday in Braemar and a six mile drive out a single track road to see the Linn of Dee 

(a small gorge on the upper River Dee), we played a late round of golf at the Ballater GC.  

We were the last two out on the course and had to walk in the last two holes--it was too dark to see where we hit our balls.  It was a great week of sightseeing and golf in fantastic autumn weather in the Highlands, but it was a hurried drive home to Crieff on Sunday for an afternoon choir concert in the 15th Century Innerpeffray Chapel. 

   

A Week in the Kingdom of Fife, Part 2 plus

To continue the story...    

Anne with her rally cap on trying to win our match.

Wednesday was a day off from golf: a touring day.  From our castle apartment we made a beeline--at least as straight as we could on the back roads of Fife--for Starbucks in St Andrews.  While having our lattes and sweets we had entertaining conversations, first with a young girl who saw my Nikon D7100 and wanted some advice on camera choices, and second with a girl from Portland who was in her second year at St Andrews University.  The weather, which had been quite showery, started to turn a little better as we drove out to the St Andrews Botanic Garden.  

The fall colors are starting to show.

St Andrews Botanic has a nice hot house section.

Even in late September there were still plenty of blooms to photograph, especially in their themed hot houses.  Next was a visit to one of our favorite golf courses, Crail, in order to book golf for the next day.  While in Crail we stopped for photos in their small harbour.  

Finally, after a walking tour of the village of Kilconquhar, we had dinner in the local pub, the Kinneuchar Inn.  

Good food with the locals.

The golf we had arranged the day before was at the second course at Crail, the Craighead Links.  Anne and I had played the course several years ago and had heard that the course had been much improved.  

Crail Craighead course plays where the Firth of Forth meets the North Sea.

Anne playing the 3rd at Crail Craighead.

We talked to the club secretary and asked if we could check out the improvements.  He comped us today’s round--they really like what I’ve written about their courses.  After golf it was off to another garden; this time the walled garden at Kellie Castle.  

Kellie Castle from the walled garden.

Fruit on the garden wall at Kellie Castle.

Again there was much in bloom to photograph.  Dinner that night was at one of our favorites in the area, the Ship Inn in Elie. 

Lamb shank for me and steak and Guinness pie for Anne.

Our last day in Fife was golf on the most difficult course of this part of the trip.  Lundin GC along the Firth of Forth is another Open qualifying course. 

One of the toughest holes at Lundin plays around the trees.

The course is long, the holes are tricky, and the wind seemed always to be in your face.  Often Anne had to hit over more gunk (marram grasses, heather, gorse, and other nasty stuff) than even her best shots could reach.  This was exhausting golf.  I had enough energy after golf to walk out on the Lundin Ladies‘ course 

Lundin standing stones on the Ladies' links.

to photograph the three large (13 feet tall) ancient (about 4000 years old) standing stones in the middle of the second fairway.  The rest of the day was spent packing for our move to the Highlands.  But that’s fodder for the next post.  

Our Encounters with Tegenaria Gigantea. 

      We've seen them before and don't like them.  They're large and they're fast.  Twice on this trip--at the B&B in Stonehaven and our time share in Ballater (Highlands)--we've had face to face confrontations with Tangenaria duellica (or gigantea) aka the Scottish house spider.  

They aren't poisonous, but they are 1-1/2 to 2 inches across.  For a common house spider they are uncommonly fast and tend to run straight at you.  With a great deal of to-do and screaming, we dispatched both of our adversaries.  If you count the legs in the photo you will see that you there are only seven; we found the eighth on the bathroom floor in the B&B from our first attempt on its life the night before.  Give me a slow, plodding Black Widow any day.