Missing Our Travel to Scotland

 

Footbridge over the River Tweed in Peebles.

When we think about Scotland (which is often), what first comes to mind is Crieff in central Scotland. This is our second home, but as nice as Crieff is, I think of Peebles in the Scottish Borders an hour south of Edinburgh as a more iconic village. It was the first village we stayed in and our base until we were adopted by our family in Crieff. When I decided to tell you about Peebles as part of this post, I found that my supply of photos was woefully lacking—converted early print and slide photos from bad cameras, lost files of photos from early travels, and an inexperienced photographer (me). I think, though, I can still give you a feel for the typical Scottish village despite the weakness of the photos.

High Street, Peebles

St Andrews Tower is the oldest building in Peebles. The rest of the church was destroyed by Henry VIII.

Peebles (Na Puballen in Scottish Gaelic) is an ancient village at the confluence of the River Tweed and Eddieston Waters dating as far back as 600AD. The village, now of about 9,000, was made a Royal Burgh by King David I of Scotland in 1152. The town’s wide High Street attests to it being a market town. It was strong in the woollen trade in the 19th and 20th centuries—the last mill closed in 2015. Tourism developed in the late 1800s and continues to be the most important industry along with agriculture and particularly sheep farming.

Kailzie Gardens along the River Tweed is one of the main attractions in Peebles.

On our first day in Scotland (September 2000) we stayed in a B&B in Peebles (Lindores House) after visiting our first Highland Games just down the road. 

The annual Highland Games in Peebles ends with a clan parade from the playing field to central High Street.

That night we ate our first pub meal and were befriended by all the locals in the pub who were as curious about us a we were of them. Walking into town (about 10 minutes) from the B&B the next morning we were introduced to Scottish village life—shopping at the local butcher’s and bakery for the day’s fare, 

and watching from a pub as the school children dressed in classy uniforms visited downtown for their lunch of chips and Irn Bru. Dinner the second night was at a local hotel, The Crown, where we ate at one table while a lady and her Yorkie terrier ate at the next table, the dog in his own chair. A mile out of town is Niedpath Castle, built in 1370 and now lived in by the Earl of Wemyss.

Tour guide and print-maker, Amy, explains the older printing process at the nearby Robert Smail's Print Shop in Innerleithen village next to Peebles. Now under the care of the National Trust, the print shop has a copy of all printed material since the 1850s, including receipts for tickets on the first sailing of the Titanic.

Over the years we’ve visited Peebles several times, always reinforcing to me the friendliness of Scottish villages and towns.

A Walk too Far (from 16 Years of Travel in Scotland, Ireland, England, and Wales, available on Amazon)

Sometimes we bite off too much and too often I think I’m younger than I am. Such was the case in Cork, Ireland, on our first visit. That morning we played golf at the wonderful Cork Golf Club, known as Little Island. The course is a lovely forest or parkland track which is fairly easy to walk, but a round of eighteen holes is still an average of five miles of walking. When we got back to the B&B in the afternoon, Anne, smart person that she is, decided a little rest or nap before dinner was in order. I, being the dummy that I am, decided I would not waste the afternoon in frivolous rest, but would instead wander down to the main shopping area of Cork. A mile of pavement walking to town, at least a mile of wandering the downtown area, and a mile back to the B&B put my day’s total up over eight miles. Done yet? No. For dinner our B&B hosts suggested one of a couple of good Italian restaurants in the downtown area, but said it was best to walk since downtown parking was poor. Besides, it’s only a mile to town. By now my feet were beginning to hurt just a bit, but I was game for a walk to dinner. As I limped toward town, Anne asked what was the matter. I had to fess up that my feet were on the sore side. What I really should have said was that my feet were absolutely killing me. Dinner was delightful, but the walk home was excruciatingly painful. Even after a good soaking, my feet throbbed all night. 

By morning I could count the blisters on top of blisters with both hands. We searched the local chemist’s (pharmacy) for the best blister plasters they had. Even doctored up, at Waterford Castle Golf Club I had to take a buggy (electric golf cart) to make our round. Back in Cork for dinner I drove to downtown and to hell with the poor parking. 

    The Rest of this Post is a small compilation of some special Scotland photos that I haven't posted before. I hope you enjoy the eye candy.

The River Braan near Amulree at the foot of the Highlands

Harbour light at the village of Anstruther on Fife.

A birch forest out of the Highland village of Ballater near Balmoral Castle, the Queen's Scottish residence.

A picture of a small Highland church shot from the Harry Potter Train--the Jacobite Express which has daily runs between Fort William and Mallaig. The trip is considered one of the best steam rail trips anywhere. 

Hie'lan Coos (Highland cows)

Dunnottar Castle in Stonehaven near Aberdeen

Glen Etive and the mountains of Glen Coe. The mountain on the right is Buachaille Etive Mor, 1021 meters.

Barn on the Isle of Skye.

The Quiraing (Old Norse for "round fold") is an attraction on the Trotternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye.

Kirkmadrine Church in the Rhins of Galloway (southwestern Scotland) holds a collection of early Christian stones, thought to be the oldest in Scotland.

NEXT: We will be taking a four day trip to the Oregon coast soon and I am giving myself a photo challenge: each day I need to take at least three presentable photos. The photos should have some artistic merit and should be of a variety of subjects (little repetition). The blog will be about how well I meet my challenge. 

Summer Photos and More

It’s been hard to get back to writing the blog entries for several reasons. For one thing,  we’ve taken no big trips to write about—some little ones, but nothing with photos to write home about. More importantly, health issues have taken priority. After two accidental falls (in Death Valley and Rio Grande Gorge, see previous posts) this spring, my legs and hips were giving me trouble enough that I thought I ought to talk to the doctor. His initial diagnosis was spinal stenosis—according to the Mayo Clinic, spinal stenosis is “a narrowing of the spaces within your spine, which can put pressure on the nerves that travel through the spine.” Suffers of lumbar stenosis may experience pain, tingling, numbness, and muscle weakness particularly in the lower back, legs, and feet. For me the condition means that walking very far (a block or two) gets painful to my hips, my legs get very tired (lethargic or leaden), and my feet tend to drag instead of lift as I step. This explains a lot about how difficult it was to tour in Scotland and play big courses. Golf, though, is a little better than just walking because relief comes from the frequent stops to hit the ball [Did I just say that the worse I played the easier it got?].  

St Fillans GC, where we are members, was a relatively easy flat walk with only one hill. It's a great wee course whether I'm healthy or not. 

Coffee shops or tea rooms gave me a needed break from walking.

Boat of Garten GC in the Highlands was hilly, but taking an electric trolley (electric hand cart to our American friends) made the course walkable.

Fraserburgh GC in the NE corner of Scotland was one of the links courses we played. The links courses seem to be easier to walk.

After a tough round I'd find ways to reward myself, like with homemade ice cream for dessert at Anderson's Restaurant in Boat of Garten.

Treatment for the condition at this point is fairly basic—pain relievers, which for me is tylenol, and physical therapy to stretch and strengthen back and leg muscles. Physical torture, I mean therapy, has been twice a week sessions with a professional therapist and a set of exercises every morning (Anne and I agreed that we can’t have coffee or computer until after we’ve exercised)—it’s been a 100% effective incentive except when we went camping. PT has also developed a set of exercises to do in the gym on the days I don’t play golf—now that’s a real incentive to get to the golf course. I can’t walk the course yet, but I’m working to get to where I can walk 9 holes, instead of taking the cart (buggy, to my Scottish family) like I do now.

All this has meant that traveling and the blog have taken a back seat to the gym and golf. I am now far enough improved that I can at least put together this post. Part one you’ve just read and part two is some summer photos I’ve taken from the activities we’ve been able to do. Hopefully the next post will have more interesting content (and less old age aches and pains banter) with some small trips in our future.

     Summer Photos at Highland Games. We attended both the McMinnville Celtic Festival (four days after we got back from Scotland) and the Portland Highland Games. Both were exciting, fun, and exhausting.

Here Anne is in our booth at the McMinnville Games. This festival is especially fun since I went to college at Linfield (where the games are hosted) for four years.

At the Mac Games it was fun to watch Mark Wechter, one of my former students at Brookings-Harbor HS. He is now world champion in senior division and competes worldwide.

Anne rests as we set up at the Portland Highland Games (about our fifth time to attend). We're in the gym at Mt Hood CC in Gresham where the games are held.

Here our booth is fully set up next to Granny Fi's Shortbread stand--we had the smell of great shortbread next to us all day. At the games most of the vendors struggled with sales--all except Granny who sold out everything.

     Family Gathering and Ankeny Hill Wildlife Preserve. In early July Anne's family had a gathering in Salem to celebrate Anne's sister's 50th wedding anniversary. Bev and Noel Stryker wanted to renew their vows with all the family present. It was a grand party and I even got away a couple of times to visit a nearby wildlife preserve.  

The Anniversary Couple (Bev and Noel) with grandkids (Stavros and Alex). 

Kevin Hoiland tended bar for the affair. He's an expert mixologist.

The Stryker-Tsangaris-Hoiland-Jones Clan(minus me, the photographer)

Hawk Hoiland, nephew Jon's favorite pal

At Ankeny Hill Wildlife Preserve are several ponds, and even though June is little late, there were still babies about. 

At least I can identify these: bee and California poppy.

And I know these are some kind of thistle.

     The Sisters Campout. For several years we've made it our tradition to camp out with Anne's youngest sister's (Charleen's) family in the Sisters, Oregon, area. The Hoiland gathering is a large clan (34 this year) with lots of trailers and motorhomes. This year was our first not to be in a tent--this was our maiden voyage with our new travel trailer, Morse the MiniMax.

Anne, our new 2017 F150 hauler, and Morse the MiniMax (bed, bathroom, kitchen on wheels).

Our camp location is about eight miles from Sisters, OR, in fir forest.

Camp is now set up.

Indian Paint Brush

Found only one of these really attractive caterpillars--checked all the similar nearby bushes, but could only find one.  

Found only one of these as well; and boy was I lucky to find her.

Campfire was well tended each night (shovel and water close by).

Next: That will depend on PT and what the doctors say.