Scotland - a wonderful destination

As I write this I am travelling on a train from Edinburgh to London. The train journey so far has been very scenic – travelling along the east coast and at times you feel like you are actually in the sea! We have passed through Berwick upon Tweed & Newcastle and should be in London in about 3 hours. On the train you are well looked after with free tea/coffee, a newspaper & lunch plus free Wi-Fi.

I have emailed a few people and said that I have spent more time in Scotland than I had originally planned. That now means that I will have less time in England so I think another trip is in order!

I always wanted to visit Scotland but it was not until I started to read up some tour-options in travel brochures that I decided that it might be nice to see more of this part of the UK. One tour in particular was called ‘The Country Road of Scotland’ and it was the destinations listed in this tour that inspired me to spend time here.

I want to thank ‘S’ for giving me the confidence to hire a car a drive here. Driving here is easy, not much traffic on the roads; very courteous drivers and the main road are all good. I often went off on the scenic route (with the GPS not at all happy!) and that was when I saw some wonderful fishing villages, farms and smaller towns. I loved all the small fishing harbours with their ancient stone harbour walls and the white washed cottages – they are just stunning.  A couple in particular come to mind – Crail & Portsoy. The drive I did in Aberdeenshire to Balmoral Castle was probably the most scenic of all – I stopped in Bancory, Ballatar & Crathie all delightful places.

I am so glad that I have put in three weeks here, I have enjoyed it immensely – the scenic drives, the gardens, the castles & stately homes and the people I have met along the way.

I now have a better understanding about words that are used in Scottish literature, such as – mist/misty, glens, lochs, ben, crag, the highlands, the lowlands, kirk, clans, haggis, battle-fields, firth, crofters, sheep etc.etc.....

Another bonus from my trip to Dundee was to find out a little bit more about my grandmother’s family. I now have a ‘stepping-stone’ to work from, so that will be a challenge for me to follow up.

Scotland is a wonderful destination and I am surprised people do not spend more time here.

Farewell Scotland............