GOLF, FOOD, AND FESTIVAL

Fishing boat returns to harbour on Isle of Skye.

      Our recent trip to Scotland was filled with sightseeing, fun activities, family and more., but two parts of the trip will be highlighted in this post: the golf we played and the places we found to eat.  Besides those threads, I’ll end this post with a report on a Celtic festival Anne and I attended in Newport, Oregon.  First, though,…

THE GOLF.  On this trip we played 16 rounds on ten different courses, walked 72 miles, and had some wonderful experiences.  Some golf highlights (not in order of play) start with the round we played at Crail Balcomie Links on the East Neuk of the Kingdom of Fife on the east coast of Scotland about 10 miles from St Andrews.  

Crail Balcomie Links

Not only is the course a classic ancient (mid-1800s) course that is ranked in the Top 100 in the world, but the day was perfect for golf beside the sea—reasonably warm for this spring and with no wind.  After both of us scored well on the course, 

Rescue boat in Anstruther harbour.

Fishing boat leaves Anstruther harbour.

Pittenweem harbour.

we drove south along the sea and scored well with photos at two of the picturesque small ports of Fife.

At both Montrose Medal Course (along the east coast) 

Montrose Medal GC.

and Fortrose and Rosmarkie GC (on the Black Isle a little north of Inverness) 

Anne dressed for the cold, but sunny weather.

Fortrose and Rosemarkie GC on the Black Isle.

we fought cold winds in the 20-30 mile per hour range even though the skies were relatively clear.  The wind was down at Boat of Garten Golf and Tennis Club in the Highland village of Boat of Garten, 

The two of us at a great Highland course, Boat of Garten.

but the surrounding mountains of Cairngorm National Park showed a serious dusting of fresh snow.  I actually was down to short sleeves for a few holes at Boat, but playing through the shade of the trees convinced me it was still winter in Scotland and I put my jumper (sweater) back on. 

The find of the trip in terms of golf was the Isle of Harris GC on the Outer Hebridean island of Harris  This nine-hole course is set just above the sands of Scarista Beach with grand views of the North Atlantic ocean.  The course is quirky (in a good way) with blind shots and entertaining holes. 

Teeing off at the 1st on Isle of Harris GC.

One special condition of play at Isle of Harris GC is the almost constant wind which was in the 25-35 mph range the day I played (Anne walked and took notes and photos; too windy for her).  As I came down to the green at the first hole, a hole which plays down from the daylight-basement-style clubhouse to the green next to the beach, I couldn’t see the flag.  

Flag is down, but the beach is lovely at Isle of Harris.  

As I got closer I saw the flag laying on the green.  It had been blown out by the wind; in fact, the only hole that didn’t have its flag blown out was the ninth which is protected by dunes on three sides.  The round at Isle of Harris GC was a rustic adventure in golf the way it was 50 years ago.  Fantastic!

This trip we played several times at our course, St Fillans GC, where we are members, but two rounds stand out.  First, one Sunday towards the end of the trip we got to share our course with fellow Oregonians and friends Eric and Linda Mihata.  

Eric and Linda Mihata at St Fillans GC.

It was a joy to have them play the lovely Highland course we call our Scottish home course.  I think they, too, came away with a better idea of why we spend so much time in Scotland.  Second, on our last day in Crieff before coming home Anne and I got to be on our club’s team in a competition against rivals from Muthill GC.  

Gathering the teams before our match with Muthill GC.

It was a fun match which the St Fillans’ team won 4-2, even though Anne and I lost our match to Jim and Hazel from Muthill by three holes.  There was plenty of convivial conversation over the nice dinner put on by St Fillans manager Gordon Hibbert.  Indeed, a grand golfing trip!

THE FOOD REPORT.  Anne and I usually eat well on our trips, but there were some interesting notes on this trip.  Our dining adventures ranged from the classy to the rustic to the unexpected.  Representing the classy were two of our favorites in Scotland.  First is Yann’s in Crieff (next door to our B&B, Merlindale).  

A birthday dinner of small bites at Yann's.

We ate at Yann’s three times this trip—we took Jacky and Ailsa once, Eric and Linda once, and the special treat was Jacky’s birthday party at Yann’s. 

Jacky with her birthday cake and more small bites.

The birthday party was on a closed day for the restaurant so Yann let me do some photos in the kitchen as he worked preparing a special small bites menu for Jacky.  

Yann works in the small, but efficient restaurant kitchen.

I like to do a little cooking, but (Wow!) it was a thrill to see a real French chef at work. Next in the fine dining category is Anderson’s in Boat of Garten.  

Dinner at Anderson's in Boat of Garten.

We usually make this stop for our last meal when staying in our Aviemore timeshare.  Dinner is always excellent and the atmosphere outstanding. 

A lovely house in Boat of Garten. 

After dinner we walked through the neighborhood which was lovely in the early evening.  

Rustic fits two pubs to a tee.  When on the Isle of Skye we will often stop for lunch at the oldest pub on the island, The Stein Inn.  

Server at the Stein Inn, the oldest pub on the Isle of Skye.

Located on a finger peninsula right on the water, this is a lovely pub which serves good food.  It’s welcome relief from the storm which whenever we’re there seems to rage outside.  The other nice pub is the Cross Keys Inn in Kippen near Stirling in central Scotland.  This trip we took Eric and Linda there so they could get a taste of a Scottish pub.  

The warming fire at Cross Keys in Kippen.

While the food is always well-prepared, Anne and I found that hare isn’t our favorite meat (sort of has the consistency and flavor of liver)—we’ll know not to try it again.

We didn’t expect to find some of the best wood-fired pizza we’ve ever had when we went to the       Sutor Creek Cafe in Cromarty after golf at Fortrose.  

Sutor Creek Cafe with great pizzas.

After 2:00 PM the cafe only serves pizza, but let me tell you that’s all they need to serve.  Outrageously good!  It was also unexpected when we chose the an Lanntair Cafe in Stornaway, Isle of Lewis, for a dinner that we’d also find a local session (music) starting about the time we finished dinner. 

A pub session in Stornaway.

Music sessions are easy to find in Ireland, but we’ve only caught a few in Scotland and this one was the best.  The pub dinner wasn’t too bad either.  This trip seemed to be exceptionally good for eating, yet neither of us gained weight—at least not too much. 

THE NEWPORT HIGHLAND GAMES AND CELTIC FESTIVAL.  Anne and I attended the 5th Annual Newport Games last weekend as vendors—we displayed and sold books and photos, more photos than books.  It’s a great family event with clan booths, sellers of all things Scottish (and Irish and Welsh), ethnic food including the infamous haggis, herding dog demonstrations, Highland event competitions (including caber toss, weight for height, etc.), and music and dancing all the time.  Take a look at some photos from the event.

Our small table set up to sell books and photos at Newport.

A festival goer wearing a t-shirt from the Portland Highland Games.

Dancers on the outdoor stage.

That's a 53# weight he's throwing over a bar 13 foot high.

Jose Le Bihan from Portland sings songs of Celtic Brittany (France).

An impromptu ceili (Scottish dance) happens while Pipedance from Lincoln City plays.

Brother, a Celtic rock group from Ashland, was the headline group of the festival.

Round and round go the yarn spinners.

Maybe you can plan to join us for the 6th Annual Newport Games next year.

NEXT POST: Favorite photos from this spring.

 

The Isles of Harris and Lewis: Natural Beauty and Antiquities

The attraction of the Outer Hebridean islands of Harris and Lewis rests in the natural beauty of the landscape and a multitude of ancient and historic sites.  

Loading the ferry from Uig to Tarbert.

We traveled by ferry from Uig on the Isle of Skye to the main town on Harris, Tarbert.  It was rough crossing the Little Minch, an area of wild and changing currents, in winds up to 35 miles per hour, 

Rough seas and the lighthouse near Tarbert.

but not as rough as the crossing a few years ago over to the Orkney islands.

The small village of Tarbert on Isle of Harris.

While we expected to be awed with the ancient stone circles at Callanish, we had not expected the show nature puts on in the islands. First, we found [Well, others had seen it before, obviously, but it was a discovery for us.] a series of cascades or small waterfalls on a river on Lewis.  

Right along the side of the road we stopped to photograph the picturesque river and falls.  Next, we were surprised by the beaches of Harris and Lewis.  Anne and I live in Oregon only an hour away from the Pacific Ocean, we had lived for four years in Brookings on the Southern Oregon coast, and we’d seen the beaches of southern California and Hawaii.  We didn’t expect to be too impressed by the island beaches even though people had said they would be quite an attraction.  

Two beaches on Harris.

Surf was high on this windy day on Harris.

People were correct: the beaches of Harris and Lewis are big, spectacular, and empty.  With a warmer climate these beaches would create a tourist industry on their own.  As it is, the beauty is there for those intrepid travelers willing to drive for hours on small roads, make a lively sea crossing, and drive again for hours on even smaller roads. 

Uig Sands

Two photos of the Bosta Beach on Great Bernera island (Lewis).

At one beach, Uig Sands, we stopped for a look, then drove several miles to another beach lookout.  We got out of the car thinking we were seeing new sands only to discover we were now in the middle of the same beach.  Absolutely huge and almost empty!

Butt of Lewis Lighthouse.

Our next adventure took us to my main reason for venturing onto the Outer Hebrides, 

Callanish Stone Circle from Callanish II, about a mile away. 

the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age Callanish Standing Stones and Stone Circle on Lewis.  

Callanish I

The stones, Tursachan Chalanais in Gaelic, are a set of standing stones in a cruciform pattern with a central stone circle of thirteen stones with a monolith (five meters tall) near the center.  

The chambered tomb at Callanish I.

This circle has a diameter of about twelve meters with a chambered tomb in the middle.  Five rows of standing stones connect to this circle and two of the rows run parallel north to northeast forming an “avenue” of nineteen stones.  

Looking at the circle down the "avenue."

The circle dates back to between 2900 and 2600 BC, with shards of Beaker pottery dating the tomb to about 2000 BC.  No one knows for certain the purpose of the Callanish stones, but a widely suggested purpose is that the circle and rows form a lunar observatory.  Most researchers agree that whatever else Callanish was used for, it certainly had ritualistic or gathering purposes.  

The light begins to change as we get nearer to sunset.

To see the stones on a pleasant day was awe inspiring, but we returned to the circle at sunset.  That visit was even more magical.  We had had to fight crowds during the day (including two bus loads of tourists), 

The sun is ready to drop behind the hills surrounding Callanish.

but in the evening there were only six of us who braved the near freezing temperatures and chilling winds to watch the setting sun light up the stones and then disappear slowly behind the mountains and the stones.   

Besides the main stone circle of Callanish, called Callanish I, we saw three other large stone circles (II, III, and IV) 

Ceann Hulavaig stone circle, also known as Callanish IV.

all visible from the main stone set, as well as a small set of standing stones 

Three stones and the Bridge Over the Atlantic.

near the Bridge Over the Atlantic to the Great Bernera Island, and the largest standing stone in Scotland 

(Clach an Truiseil) at over 22 feet tall.

From Callanish it was a short drive to dun Carloway, a broch built between 100 BC and 100 AD.  

Approaching the broth

Brochs are unique to Scotland and are Iron Age dry-stone hollow-walled structures used either as fortifications or simply wealthy family homes.  Dun Carloway is fairly well preserved and now has walls reaching nine meters tall with an external dimension of 14 meters and an inner courtyard of about seven meters—that means the walls are almost three meters thick.  

The broch's inner passage.

The courtyard of Dun Carloway.

I could climb into the broch through a narrow passage and have views down to the courtyard.  We’ve seen other brochs in Scotland, but this was the most complete we’ve seen.

  The village of Gearrannan on Lewis is a Blackhouse village that was occupied until 1975.  Blackhouses are stone crofts with double wall dry-stone walls with thatched roofs.  Floors were generally flagstone or packed earth.  

Originally each house had a central hearth for fire (heating and cooking), but no chimney for smoke—instead, smoke just made it way out through the thatched roof.  Modernized Blockhouses now come with real fireplaces and chimneys.  At one end of the house was accommodation for animals including sheep and chickens.  

A friend of John Clifford’s (our B&B host), John Angus, was actually born in one of the Blackhouses in this village.  We’ve met John Angus several times at Merlindale B&B, and now we’ve seen where he was born.  Today, the village is in the care of a trust and includes seven or eight complete Blackhouses, a few in ruin, a museum, and a tearoom (good egg mayo sandwich).  

Cut peat--the fuel supply used in the Blackhouses.

The name Blackhouse may mean “inferior” as opposed to the upper class “white houses.”

We’ve only scratched the surface of what the Isles of Harris and Lewis have to offer in the way of natural beauty spots as well as ancient archeological or historical sites.  The ferry ride back to Uig on the Isle of Skye was even rougher than the trip over had been—winds this time were over 40 mph.  Both of us though, only slightly green around the gills, were firm on one thing: we’ll get back to Isles a Harris and Lewis and we’ll get to some of the other Outer Hebrides on future trips.

Our trip is at an end.  We leave in a couple of days for home.  The next post on the blog will come when we've gotten rid of jet lag.