Return to Scotland 2014

I’ve always felt that Scotland was in my bones. While I love my other Croatian half, Scotland's skies and temperament more properly matched my own. Moody and contemplative in climate, full of natural wonder, and strong personality without apology. It had been sixteen years since I last visited and it felt like no time had passed.

Familial Connection

My Mom emigrated from Scotland 60 years ago on a boat that left Liverpool and landed in Montreal.  She remembers it as a six-year-old off on an adventure and describes passing sweets between bunks with her sisters. My Aunts and Uncle were in their late teens and it must have been a much different experience for them. 

To celebrate this milestone, my Mom decided to take a longer-than-usual trip back on the Queen Mary (a seven-day ocean crossing which exceeded all of her expectations). My sister and I joined her for a week.

Glorious Glasgow

We started in Glasgow, which is a vibrant city full of activity. Mom and I were on our own the first night and did a little shopping (not a good start for me as I switched into “I’m on vacation” mode way too early for a three-week trip). We canvassed strangers in the main downtown area to find a place to eat and were directed to the Bier Market, which was a cavernous haunt boasting 2-for-1 pizzas and an impressive list of beers. I was very excited to see that it had been mentioned in the 36 hours in Glasgow New York Times book! I had a beer made of kelp that tasted like…beer.

Day 2 and while we waited for my sister’s plane to land, I decided to take a run to the nearby village of Paisley (we were staying at the airport). I had a grand plan for this trip that I would go for a run every single day. I love running, and more than that I love running in the early morning in a new city. Best way to travel in my opinion as you work off your extra travel meals and you see things that you don’t normally get to see when constrained by a group. Paisley was lovely and I stumbled on a local farmer’s market where I bought some fresh scones and local cheese to contribute to our breakfast.

 Christie arrived and we dragged her jet-lagged self around a different part of Glasgow near the University which was lush in landscape, bustling and artsy. With shops and theatres, parks and pubs, galleries and greenhouses…it quickly became one of our favourite spots. We ate our first fish and chips and had drinks in an old church with the world cup playing over our heads. Definitely fun to travel during the world cup as pubs are always more abuzz than usual.

Exploring Edinburgh

The next day we caught the train to Edinburgh and braved the throngs of tourists to shop and sightsee up the picturesque Royal Mile. We then met up with some Scottish cousins to do a tour of Mary King’s Close, which is basically a cross-section of very narrow streets (closes) with tenement houses on either side, stretching up to seven storeys high that was buried under the existing city streets. We had a lovely dinner with the cousins and then Christie and I did our first wee little whisky tasting, both favouring the peaty and smoky options.

Highland Fun!

After Edinburgh, we picked up a rental and my Mom braved the opposite side of a bunch of narrow highways to take us on the highland portion of our tour. We stopped in the small village of Luss, a quaint lochside locale full of tour buses and beautiful scenery and cottages. And then continued a picturesque yet white-knuckled (at least for the driver) drive through the highlands, stopping for bacon filled-rolls, Iron Brus, random bagpipe buskers on the hillside and mini-highland treks.

We landed in Fort Williams at a beautiful little bed and breakfast, Rhu Mhor, and had some fish pies at the local Ben Nevis pub before catching a German world cup match with a bar full of Germans (they were a very serious football-watching crew).

The next day, Canada Day, was a trip on the Jacobite steam train that was used in the Harry Potter film, up to Mallaig.This is where I amassed many of my thousand some odd pictures.  Every second was a perfect shot from the train windows.  This is probably the highlight of the trip for me, as I was brought back to my days backpacking Europe when my favourite thing in the world to do was to stand next to an open train window, with the wind in my hair, watching the world go by.

Mallaig was a pretty seaside town and we enjoyed more local delicacies (that we definitely needed an evening run to work off) of meat pies, mushy peas, fries and beans.

 

Frozen Peas on Knees

Christie and I headed out on an evening run along the water, scoping out restaurants for dinner, taking pictures of the beautiful mountain surroundings, and enjoying the perfect scenery and temperature. At one point I led us down a trail near the water and my sister commented (as she had fallen on a wet patch of grass that I had taken her through the day before) that If she fell, she was blaming me.

A few seconds later I looked back to see how she was doing. I guess I missed a massive rock wedged into the ground, and my sister recounts that I then took a leap into the air and looked like I was channelling superman, hands outstretched and lots of air, landing in the hardest fall I have ever experienced. My scrapes and bruises were minimal, except for a deep cut on my knee that was bleeding profusely.  

Three hours later in a local emergency room (with a bag of frozen peas attending to my swollen knee), I was finally seen by an emergency doctor who indicated that I had cut just to near the bone and I would need stitches or a suture (which I opted for, given my next destination of Morocco as it would disolve).

The service was amazing and free (Yay National Health System). The emergency room in question was apparently pretty famous as it takes in all of the injured from the many hiking hills around, including Ben Nevis.  

We ended up bonding with all of the other patrons (a hiker with dozens of blisters on her feet and tears in her eyes, a holidaying grandma who fractured her arm yet was still chipper and chatty, letting us know off-to-the side that her husband would now have to help her dress which is the most action she’s gotten in years, a cyclist who fell on his arm and went to the pub to have a pint before coming to emergency – classic) and we all met up to share ER war stories at the only open restaurant after we were done, McDonald's.

For the rest of the trip, I was in a lot of pain. Hopped up on paracetamol and Ibuprofen and unable to really bend my knee, which made stairs, toilet breaks, car rides and sleeping more difficult than normal. Thank goodness I had my mom and sis to carry my bags and give me a literal shoulder to lean on. It’s four weeks later and my knee has been infected twice and is still swollen enough to feel like I have a new little bone protruding from my knee. 

The Old Farm

However, we motored on. The next day was the beautiful Oban, with seafood and whisky tastings and then off to Lochgilphead to stay in a lovely bed and breakfast, The Corran, that had a massive soaker tub which I definitely needed to soak my weary bones.  

And then to another trip highlight, a visit to my Mom’s Uncle Robert’s farm, where my family used to spend a lot of vacations back in Scotland. We had a lovely coffee in a café in the nearest town Tay Vallich and then drove off to find the gate leading to the cottage which was not being lived in the last time my Mom visited.

We hiked (me very slowly and often holding my Mom's shoulders) to the lake and enjoyed some buttered scones and Iron Bru and met the new tenant on the farm, a weaver and her beautiful children who served me freshly baked goodies and sold us a few weaved goods.

We had dinner at Stonefield castle at Loch Fyne, for our one fancy meal of the trip and all marvelled at the amazingness of a deep-fried haggis and black pudding concoction. Who would’ve thought amazing and black pudding could exist in the same sentence!

The next day the trip drew to a close with a trip to Inverary Castle (used for the Christmas special of Downton Abbey prior to Matthew’s fateful car ride), which was beautiful and where we had one of the best meals of the trip. And then dinner in Glasgow and a fun-filled (ahem) night of packing for the Morocco leg of my trip.

I wish I’d had more time and was less rushed. But as we all know time is in short demand these days. One day I will rent a cottage by the sea and soak it all in. Until then I have some great memories with my Mom and Sis. I hope it’s not another 16 years until Scotland and I meet again…

My thousand pictures can likely communicate a million words, so more pics can be found as usual on the right panel of the blog or on my FB page.

See youz aw later, ah'm offski (Goodbye in Glasgow)!