Travels in Scotland: Part Four--Home Again, Home Again

     We are now back at home in Canby; we are not yet in this time zone, though.  It seems it’s getting more difficult to adjust from jet lag—thankfully, we still have a couple of weeks before we switch the clocks out of DST.  As wonderful as our travels are it is still nice to get home, though we already miss our Scottish family, the Cliffords (John, Jacky, Jonathan, and Ailsa).

Speaking of our trip, it is time to do a trip summary including a mention of the “Bests” of the trip.  I’ll also continue to showcase the best of my photos from the trip.  To the summary:

We drove a little over 2000 miles in our rented Toyota Auris hybrid automatic.  

Sitting in the glen in our nice Toyota Auris.

Except for some difficulty getting in and out of the driver’s seat, the car was brilliant—easy to drive, enough power, and wonderful mileage.  We got better than 50 miles to the gallon (best mileage of any car we’ve rented) and petrol costs were some of the lowest in years—we paid an average of about $6.00 a gallon.  

This trip really was a golf trip.  We played 21 rounds in 28 days on 17 different courses (4 were 9-hole courses and the rest 18-hole).  Five of the courses were new to us and they will be included in Golf in Scotland: The Hidden Gems when I revise it this winter. Our favorite courses of the trip were Moray Old, 

The 18th and the clubhouse at moray Old GC.  John Murray's pro shop is to the left.

Peterhead, and St Fillans (where we’re members).  Of the courses new to us we really liked both Maverston 

Anne tees off at Maverston GC near Elgin on the north coast.

and Inverurie.  

Not all our time was spent on the courses.  We managed to visit 29 various visitor attractions—7 were of nature (waterfalls, etc.), 

Fall colors begin to show up along the River Tummel at the edge of the Highlands.

6 were historic harbours or villages, 

Crovie Village--only residents can drive down to the village established during the Highland clearances.

5 were ancient sites, 

Loaned of Davit stone circle was created about 4000 years ago and was probably used for astronomical and ritualistic purposes.

4 were religious, 

Greyfriar's Kirkyard in Perth, central Scotland.

and the rest commercial.  Some of our favorites from the trip were “old favorites” (the historic villages of Pennan and Crovie along the north coast, the small harbors of Collieston  and Portsoy, and Perth’s Branklyn Gardens) while others were new to us (downtown Glasgow which in 26 trips to Scotland we’ve spent very little time, and Glen Lednock only 12 miles from our home base in Crieff but which we had never visited).

Glen Lednock about five miles east of Comrie village is only 12 miles from our home base in Crieff, but this was the first time we'd ever driven up the glen.

And, of course, we ate well like on every trip.  We did do plenty of cooking at home when we spent two weeks in self-catering (timeshare), but we also had lunches or dinners out about 25 times, mostly in tearooms or cafes (lunches), but we did eat dinners out in 8 restaurants and 4 pubs.  Quite few of the eateries were new to us, with our favorites being The Three Kings Inn in Cullen, Bread Meats Bread in Glasgow,

Waiting for a table in Glasgow's Bread Meats Bread, from the right: Jonathan (who is now working at a resort in Costa Rico), Anne, Aisla (a freshman in a Glasgow uni), and Jacky Clifford.

 and Hansen’s Kitchen in Comrie.  

Great sandwiches in Hansen's Kitchen in Comrie.

Our best meal, though, was at one of our all-time favorites, Anderson’s in Boat of Garten 

Andderson's in Boat of Garten (near Scotland's Cairngorm National Park) is an affordable fine dining restaurant only about 15 minutes from our timeshare condo in Aviemore.

(always outrageously good).  

The final summary of the trip is the photographic summary—the rest of the good pictures from our fall 2015 trip to Scotland:

Anne tees off at Cullen GC (built in 1870) on the Morayshire coast.  We stayed in a hotel across the road from the course and saw that the course was almost empty on Sunday morning.  We couldn't resist.

Tomnavarie stone circle is high above Tarland GC.  We had visited the circle on our very first Scotland trip.

The river runs through the area known as The Birks of Aberfeldy after a famous Robert Burns' poem.

In the area around Aviemore in the Highlands are lovely stands of birches.

Early morning fog and mists near Crieff.

The Buchan Ness Lighthouse was built in 1827 by Robert Stevenson, father of author Robert Louis Stevenson.  You can now rent the light keeper's quarters for a self-catering vacation.

Hay tractor driving though the main road in front of our B&B in Crieff.  they are super difficult to pass on the small Scottish roads.

The River Braan near Dunked.

Scottish robin singing to us as we put our golf clubs in the car at St Fillans GC.

These boats were put up for the season at Findhorn Bay.

Interested local in Glen Lednock.

Tiger Lily in Perth's Branklyn Gardens.

I never tire of photographing the packhorse bridge in the village of Cartridge.

Hieland Coo (aka. Highland Cow).

But then we had to go home.  Our flights from Edinburgh to Amsterdam and Amsterdam to Portland were good flights--on time, fairly comfortable, not too bumpy, a few decent movies.

Got a nice view of the Iceland coast on our flight.

And Fionabeg (our house's name meaning "little white" house in Gaelic) was waiting for us, already decked out in fall colors.

Fionabeg in Canby.

Here We Are in Scotland

What’s it like to travel to a place that’s almost home?  What do we do when we get there?  These are reasonable questions and present the thesis for this first post in our Fall 2013 Scotland trip.  

The flights from Portland to Amsterdam and Amsterdam to Edinburgh were very pleasant,

A lovely sunrise from about two hours west of Amsterdam.

if you can forget that we paid extra for the sort of upgraded seats (four inches more room) and had to pay $100 a bag for two extra bags.  We arrived on time in Amsterdam, but were clear across the terminal from our departure to Scotland.  We barely had time for a latte and cheese roll 

Amsterdam airport coffee shop.

before we had to board our plane to Edinburgh.  

In Edinburgh we picked up our rental car, a snazzy new Ford Focus that’s getting about 35 mpg.  

We made the drive to Crieff in plenty of time to meet Jacky, our B&B host/sister, 

for lunch at a local hangout called The Lounge.  The afternoon was spent unpacking and getting our golf clubs ready for golf on Friday.

Friday’s golf was a quick nine at St Fillans where we’re members, 

Anne tees off on the 3rd at St Fillans.

then back to the B&B so I could prepare a dressed up pasta dish for a dinner for ten in the evening.  Dinners for 10 or 15 are not unusual for this B&B

Jacky's pialla, cooked in a special pan about 2-1/2 feet wide, fixed for dinner the night before the big dinner.

--at this one were the family of the house (John, Jacky, daughter Ailsa), Booney (the Romanian live-in helper), 

Ailsa on the left and her father, John on the right. 

four ladies from Canada, and us.  

Us.

Pork chops, pasta, potatoes (always potatoes), salad, broccoli, and plenty of wine.  A grand time was had by all.

Saturday for us was a touring day.  We did a little shopping at House of Bruar, had hot chocolate and cake in Grandtully,

Scottish Chocolate Centre, Iain Burnett the Highland Chocolatier.

visited both a kirkyard

Logierait Kirkyard: mortsafes used to keep bodies from being dug up by body snatchers.

and a Hieland Coo.  

We had been recommending one of our favorite pubs to the guests we met at the B&B, so we stopped in for a light lunch at the Moulin Inn.

The sign reads, "Moulin Inn, Scottish Pub of the Year, 1696."

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest...and boy did we need it.  We did manage to go out for coffee and some writing time around noon and then drive the six miles out of town to the Innerfeffray Library, the oldest lending library in Scotland.  

Innerpeffray Chapel.

Chapel left and the white Innerpeffray Library on the right.

People visit the library connected to an old Drummond family chapel to research the hundreds of old Scottish books in the library.  

We had a nice visit with a charming curator/librarian who showed us the new books--the ones printed after 1800.

Our agenda for the next few days was golf, golf, golf: two courses we’d played before and one new to us.  We had great fun playing the fine Downfield course in Dundee 

Downfield GC, Dundee.

Step into the hazard, my friend. 

and the Strathmore course at the edge of the Highlands.  

Strathmore GC, near Alyth.

Playing the third day at Piperdam GC near Dundee was work--hard work for a couple of reasons.  First, the course quite hilly for me, the walker (Anne, with an injured foot, got to ride in a buggy).  

Second, we both had great difficulty trying to dissect the design problems of the course.  When I talked to the club pro after the round I asked, “Who designed the course?”  He replied, “That’s the problem, no one designed it, they just sort of put it together around the views.”  

Piperdam Golf and Liesure Centre, Fowlis, Dundee.

While the course is lovely, it has some serious problems as a golf course.  The pro did assure us that plans had been approved to rectify most of the glaring design flaws over the coming winter. 

Good flights, meeting old and new friends, shopping, touring, golf and a little work are a great way to start our Fall 2013 Scotland trip. 

A fall walk to Crieff town centre.