
Ossian's Hall
As predicted, today proved extremely wet thus vindicating our decision to change the itinerary and visit St. Andrews yesterday. We progressed as follows:

Ossian's Hall
As predicted, today proved extremely wet thus vindicating our decision to change the itinerary and visit St. Andrews yesterday. We progressed as follows:
This morning, I am undertaking final preparations for upcoming tours of Scotland and Ireland. Still lots of last minute enquiries coming in including:

Airedale Dog
The above image just took my fancy. It appears to be an Airedale dog which I noticed in Stirling last month.
My next tour group is now somewhere en-route from the States. I am looking forward to meeting them at Edinburgh tomorrow. Then we depart for a seven day Scotland tour including Isle of Skye. Should be good!
This morning, we departed our very comfortable lodgings at Ballifeary Guest House in Inverness in the Highlands and proceeded to drive south down the A9 to our first stop at Blair Castle in Perthshire.

Blair Castle
Blair castle is a very well presented visitor attraction comprising a grand house (as opposed to a military type castle) together with woodland walks, a well maintained garden and various activities for children. Blair is the historic seat of the Duke of Atholl who actually resides in South Africa. The present Duke’s ancestor was granted the right to maintain a private army by Queen Victoria, a tradition which continues today as manifested in the ‘Atholl Highlanders’ which bears arms but is essentially a ceremonial unit and not part of the British Army. The castle is a repository for old furniture, paintings, weapons and the like. Outside, the gardens were at their resplendent best at this time of year.

Swans at Blair Castle
After departing Blair Castle we drove on a few miles to nearby Pitlochry, a popular country and tourist town with a wide array of shops which attracted our attention.
Next, we drove east to Glamis Castle in the county of Angus. This is something of a fairy tale edifice for long associated with the late Queen Mother ( mother of the present Queen Elizabeth). By coincidence today was the anniversary of the late Queen Mother’s birthday, dating back over 100 years. This castle has much to offer the visitor including a resident ghost! Outside there are many interesting trees, a small burial ground dedicated to the family’s pets, a herd of Highland Cattle and a very pleasant Italianate garden. We availed of some lunch in the excellent restaurant.

Glamis Castle

Highland Cattle at Glamis

Culross Palace
Our next and final destination was Culross (pronounced ” Cure-oss”) on the north shore of the River Forth, west of Dunfermline. This fascinating town dates back to the 16th century when considerable wealth was generated from coal mining and salt panning which in turn financed the construction of what now looks like a Disney-esque community of winding cobbled streets and cross-stepped gables centred on the ochre-coloured Culross Palace (1597) and the Town House (1626). Fortunately, light and weather conditions proved conducive to an extensive photo opportunity.
After Culross, we drove on, across the Forth Road Bridge, to Edinburgh and final destination of the Caledonian Hilton where this interesting,. Scottish Castles themed tour, came to an end at about 8.00pm. A long but very satisfying day concluding a four day tour.

Culross House

Wendy at Culross
The tour commenced yesterday afternoon with a visit to Linlithgow Palace, a former Royal Palace of the Scottish Royal Family which was accidently destroyed by fire in the 17th century and never restored. This building has a pleasant situation on the edge of a loch (lake).

View from atop Linlithgow

At Linlithgow Palace
This morning, we departed our Edinburgh lodgings at 9.15am and drove to the car park at Palace of Holyroodhouse. We parked and then embarked on a walking tour of Edinburgh taking in the following:

Abbey at Holyrood

Edinburgh Casle

Royal Mile

Hidden Garden
We then connected with the car again and drove down to the village of Roslin to visit the famous 15th C Rosslyn Chapel and nearby Roslin Castle (ruins) both of which having connections with the Sinclair family.

Roslin Castle

This evening, my theme is the Isabella Fortuna, a restored fishing boat based in Wick, Northern Scotland A brief history of the vessel:
Built in Arbroath by James Weir in 1890 for the Smith family who worked the boat for commercial fishing purposes until 1976. continue reading…
This afternoon, my theme is the historic Abbey at foot of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.
The adjacent Palace of Holyroodhouse has its origins in a guest house or royal chambers connected with the Abbey. This was the home of an Augustinian order founded by David I ( reigned 1124-53). There is a legend that founding of the abbey was inspired by King David’s vision of a stag with a cross or ‘rood’ between its antlers. The name ‘Holyrood’ may be derived from a fragment of the true cross brought to Scotland by David’s mother, St Margaret.

Abbey at Holroodhouse, Edinburgh
This morning, I met my guests at the Scotsman Hotel in central Edinburgh from where we proceeded as follows:

Edinburgh
This morning, I met tour group at lodgings and drove into central Edinburgh. Here we embarked on a walking tour taking in:
Palace of Holyrood House. This is a Royal residence to this day. Group availed of the self-guided (audio guide) of this fascinating building which features royal history dating back to Mary Queen of Scots. The Palace (which mainly dates from the 17th century) evolved from a guest house attached to the adjacent 12th C abbey the ruins of which can also be explored.

Palace of Holyrood House
Calton Hill. This location benefits from a high elevation affording good views over Edinburgh city, Leith, Salisbury Crags and Firth of Forth. On this site can be found historic buildings including the National Monument, two early observatories and a telescope designed tower as a memorial to Lord Nelson. continue reading…
Today, I met my guests at 0930 at top of Royal Mile, Edinburgh. A very heavy police and army presence was evident.

Subsequently learned this was due to Prince Charles and Camilla’s scheduled attendance at a memorial service at the Scottish National Memorial which is located inside the Castle. continue reading…
This evening, my theme is the town of Haddington, which lies about 20 miles from Edinburgh.
Haddington is situated in the midst of the region known as East Lothian which is strong on agriculture.The town once held the biggest grain market in Scotland and today boasts many fine buildings including a working mill as evidence of its past.. Traders concluded deals by the goat shaped Mercat Cross. Criminals were hung from the Nungate Bridge.
The town has been engulfed by various catastrophes including:
Famous People: The Protestant reformer, John Knox was born in Haddington and Robert Burns’ brother, Gilbert moved to Haddington from his native Ayrshire.
Overall, Haddington impresses and pleasant and prosperous town, although perhaps not somewhere to go for a vacation.
Weather here in Glasgow has been relatively dry and cool. It seems a good day is in prospect for tomorrow.