To Main Page

Travel Page

Scotland -- Page 2

When Chapman billies leave the street,

And drouthy neebors neebors meet;

As market-days are wearing late,

An' folk begin to tak the gate;

While we sit bousing at the nappy,

An' getting fou and unco happy,

We think na on the lang Scots miles,

The mosses, waters, slaps, and styles,

That lie between us and our hame,

Whare sits our sulky, sullen dame,

Gathering her brows like gathering storm,

Nursing her wrath to keep it warm.

                  from "Tam O'Shanter" by Robert Burns


This is the bridge in "Brig o'Doon" where "Tam O'Shanter" ran away from the witch "Cutty Sark". The witch could not cross the bridge, but with one final lunge she was left behind holding the tail of Tom's mare, Maggie. Poor Maggie!


Our first stop in Scotland was the cottage where Robert Burns was born and where he spent his childhood years. Our tour guide, John, explained in great length about the life, virtues and scandals surrounding the famous poet. Then it was off to Glasgow in a light rain and on the wrong side of the road.

 


Glasgow was there, just there; not worth much to see; just dreary, dirty buildings. It rained. Sharon and I had dinner by ourselves in a pub with some strange people and said "BLAH; we don't like Glasgow in the rain." We spent the night in some hotel and then continued north. It became nicer as we took a boat across Loch Lomond.

 

 

Here is a little trivia about British flags. The main flag for Great Britain, known as the Union Jack, has interlocking crosses. This was the result of several treaties that formed the United Kingdom. One was the Act of Union (1707) which united England and Scotland. It combined the horizontal red cross on a white field with the slanted cross on a blue field. In the US our flag is standard for all occasions. However, British Navy vessels have a flag that is blue with the Union Jack in the upper corner. Pleasure and merchant vessels use a red flag with the Union Jack as shown above.


We entered the valley of Glen Coe. The landscape is quite barren with steep mountains on both sides. In the winter it must be very desolate and forbidding; good terrain for rough and tough Scotsmen. This part of the country has a unique history involving the Campbell and MacDonald clans. See details here.



Further north led us to Fort Williams and our first of several lochs including Loch Ness with its "monster". We stopped along the way to have Murdo, the piper, serenade us with his melancholy tunes. Then it was on to the Highlander.


 

 

After dinner the staff performed some bagpipe music and dances. Then the traditional haggis was served. "What is haggis?" you asked. Well, to start with, part of it is made from the intestine of sheep and I don't know the rest of the ingredients. So, please, don't ask again.

 


   

 

The following morning it was back with our driver Paul. Driving a large bus on the wrong side of narrow roads can lead to some confrontations. Yet the scenery made up for it.

 



Continue our journey in Scotland         To top of the page