Scotland

Hello All! Here's some pics from our trip to Scotland last week. There are lots so hopefully you won't get too bored!!

Day one: We drove north to the coastal town of Whitley Bay, England, to spend our first night. The weather wasn't hot by any means, but still pleasant enough to enjoy the beach.

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Day two: After leaving Whitley Bay we traveled further north into Scotland - What a beautiful drive it was! The scenery, evergreens and mountains, made us feel at home. We stopped in Edinburgh and were able to visit the castle and a Whisky distillery while there. Lots of information. The Military Tattoo, basically a huge parade, was gearing up but we didn't stay for the late night festivities.

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The Royal Mile
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Street performers
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Edinburgh Castle
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Entrance to the Castle
(I'm assuming this is a guard shack)
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The Wee Whisky Shop
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Day three: After leaving Edinburgh we traveled further north to stay in the town of Dundee about 12 miles north of St. Andrews, yes THE St. Andrews! St. Andrews, the town, was actually founded because of a cathedral built there. Golf was invented there after some children were moved from the streets to a field to play with their sticks and rocks. After some time the game of golf developed but was soon outlawed because the youths were spending too much time at golf and not enough time in archery practice. Some years later King Charles (I believe that's the right king) got hooked on golf so not only was it legal to play again, but the king donated a section of land to the people which now is home to "The Old Course". You can play golf here every day except on Sunday when it is opened up to the town people, for just about anything they want to do there. During the week and on Saturdays if you're a male with a handicap of 26 or a female with a handicap of 34 you can entry a lottery to play the course. If chosen then you must fork up in the neighborhood of 160.00 British pounds, about $320.00 American dollars to play. Believe it or not there are always people lined up to play. We took a walking tour with "Alister" who was full of information for us; too much to go into right now. Alister did take us onto the course where we were able to get our picture on the famous bridge. St. Andres is home to (i think) 6 courses and The Old Course is the only one closed on Sundays.


Our hotel/b&b
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Jailee preparing for her day
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The St. Andrews Cathedral ruins
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Swilcan Bridge at St. Andrews
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You can't see this very well, but this golfer has taken his golden retriever out for the day as well!
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The Old Course Clubhouse on the left
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A links style put put course
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While touring the museum Jailee was able to find all the birds scattered throughout and got a prize at the end of the day. In the last room were games, a small putting green, colors, dress-ups, and this photo-op.
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After leaving St. Andrews which is on the east coast of Scotland we traveled 3hrs to the west coast of Scotland to a little resort hotel, Portsonachan. The resort is nestled in the hills and sits on a Loch (lake). While there we did visit the small village of Inverery about 15min away where we toured the castle and jail along with a stop in the Whisky store for Jim and the wellie's (rain boots) store for me. One day we spent a few hours on a small boat and finished off with feeding the ducks. This was a most relaxing and needed vacation for us all!


Portsonachan Resort Hotel
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Our patio
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I'm boating
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The boots obviously weren't necessary!

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Inverery Castle
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Inverery Jail
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Jailee trying out a bunk in the old jail house
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Caught!!
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Jim and Jailee trying out the bed in the New jail house
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Jailee talks to a "prisoner" out on her daily 1hr exercise.
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We put Jailee to work while in jail

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After our glorious 3 nights and 4 days at the resort we headed back to England, but not before stopping of in Renton, Scotland for a look around. The town is pretty empty these days save for a few "pentioners" (retirees). There is no work source close by and the town has pretty much closed up shop as far as business goes. Below is the most picturesque part of the town! :o)

That concludes our Scotland portion of the presentation. We hope to be in touch again soon. Enjoy the photos.

jx4