St. Andrews
The drive out to St. Andrews from Haddington began as a snowy one, but by the time we arrived two hours later the sky was a brilliant blue and the sun was shining!
St. Andrews is a university town in the county of Fife on the east coast of Scotland. It is home of one of the oldest and prestigious universities, and today St. Andrews is also known worldwide as the “home of golf” as it is the most frequent venue for The Open Championship. Not only did my friend Anya attend university here, but so did Prince William and soon to be Princess Kate! One of my favourite sites in St. Andrews was the ruins of the famous and once largest cathedral in Scotland. I must have an eye for a good shot because in doing a little extra reading about St. Andrews and the cathedral I’ve found my exact photo (in colour) at wikipedia. There is just something about ruins that is both sorrowful and stunning.
Haddington Countryside
After Highlanding it, Dan and I enjoyed moseying around the Scottish countryside near Haddington. What a pleasure to be hosted by Ian and Muriel Bisset in their homestead, Monkrigg. Haddington is a cute little town in East Lothian about 30 kilometres east of Edinburgh. This town was traditionally a market town and today it has a population of less than 9000.
Days here were filled with beautiful drives to North Berwick, Dunbar and St. Andrews, afternoons included cups of tea and sweets, and evenings of conversation beside the fire with sherry in hand were warming. How fun to stay with a friend’s parents and learn new and wonderful things about your friend!
The Scottish Highlands
Dan and I had the most amazing three day tour of the Highlands. Each day our eyes went wild, and therefore also our camera, trying to take in each new landscape!
We aren’t really guided tour people, but with such a short time available to see Scotland we thought it best to let the experts help us find our way around cliffs, Highland cows, lochs, goats and other Highland treasures. We selected the three day Isle of Skye tour with Rabbie’s and let me be clear, it did not disappoint! The first day of the trip took us from Edinburgh through Glencoe, the Lochaber region around Fort William, Eilean Donan Castle and over the sea to Skye, where we spent our two nights in the picturesque harbour town of Portree. Dan and I opted to stay in a Bed and Breakfast while in Portree. Our host, Ian McKinnon was delightfully welcoming. Each morning, lovely breakfasts of a fried egg, beans, tomato, sausage, yogurt, toast and coffee were prepared. We were even given black pudding the second day! I was proud of myself for taking a single bite, but Dan polished off his whole pudding! For the inexperienced, black pudding is a type of sausage made from dried blood. I accidentally kept referring to it as blood sausage, which would be much more informative on a menu!
For our second day, we focused on exploring Skye including the wild north of the island, the Old Man of Storr, the mountain pass of the Quiraing and Skye’s most westerly point at Neist. The views at the Neist lighthouse were incredible. That day was extremely windy, rainy and there was plenty of mist and fog, but it just added to the fun and mystery of the landscapes.
Finally, day three took us through the Cuillin mountains to the mainland, past the 5 Sisters of Kintail, on to Loch Ness, through the central Highlands, Pitlochry and returned us to Edinburgh. Loch Ness is the largest loch in Scotland based on volume. It is 600 feet deep and 23.5 miles long. Nellie was obviously a bit moody that day and decided not to socialize.
There were many chances along the way each day to get out of our Mercedes van for pictures, coffees, lunches and washroom breaks. I appreciated the plenty of leg room the van afforded me and how small (13) our group was. Questions were always welcome and I couldn’t imagine a more knowledgeable tour guide than Richard McKay. The group of us were quite international with another Canadian, two Australians, two Singaporeans, two Koreans, three Americans and one Chinese along with us.
This post features only a small selection of our Highland photography and we hope you enjoy. Remember to breathe deep the fresh, salty air as you take in these scenes.
A Wee Bit On Edinburgh
If I could say a wee bit about Scotland, it might include descriptions such as: rugged beauty, a rainbow of greens, cool stones, warming scotch, a love of tatties, gingers, tartans, all things fried, sweeties and bag pipes. Really though, there is much more to express from our short, 10 day stay in Scotland. This post is solely dedicated to Edinburgh.
What an outstanding opportunity Daniel and I had to stay with the family of a good friend while in Scotland! We were overwhelmed with the hospitality of Neil Bisset and Rachel Way in Edinburgh, and with Muriel and Ian Bisset in Haddington. A heart-felt thank you to each of them and to Anya for her plentiful and thoughtful emailing about all things Scottish and especially for connecting us with her lovely family.
We had to smile when we found out we were staying with a Scot who was indeed very “ginger”, though I’m sorry Neil I know you don’t like to be called that, and a Welsh who is now selling kilts and hip flasks in Edinburgh! As you already know from Dan’s previous post, our first evening included a trip to the local chippy where we found that indeed Scots really do love their deep fried foods! However, that first evening we also took part in the torchlight procession which commenced Hogmanay, the Scots word for New Years. Scotland takes their New Years seriously with Hogmanay lasting a mere four days. The culminating event for us was the Street Party on Dec. 31st. We enjoyed the live music, dancing and fireworks!
The Royal Mile was where we found many laughs popping into the oh-so touristy souvenir shops, a tummy warming whisky tour, the biggest baked potato known to man (or woman), the cutest little shop for cream tea (a pot of tea served with a scone, thick cream and jam) and the cherry on top, Edinburgh Castle.
I loved the sign on the baked potato shop: Hottest Tattie In Town. Dan had his potato filled with cheddar, sour cream and pineapple where I went for the more traditional cheddar and beans. There must have been at least 20 different fillings available!
To wash these potatoes down we proceeded up the mile to The Whisky Experience. Well, we both had an experience all right! I can confidently say that Dan really enjoyed his. I mean, look again at the photo and note the longing and love in his eyes! Did you know that 2% of the whisky evaporates from the barrels each year during the maturing process? They call this the angel’s share. The most interesting part of this tour for me, was putting my underdeveloped sniffer to work in the classroom component of the tour. There are four main regions producing Scotch Whisky in Scotland and each of these regions’ whiskies are distinct in flavour and smell. Very fruity notes are found in the Speyside region whiskies where an Islay region whisky is characterized by a very deep, robust, smoky, and quite peaty flavour. The Lowland’s produce a malt whisky that is quite light, mellow and citrusy, where the Highland’s malt whiskies are typically the sweetest with either floral and honey notes or vanilla. The learning was quite fun for me. I mean, who wouldn’t enjoy an interactive, colour coded wheel that you could scratch & sniff and then open for a picture of a banana to represent the fruitiness of the region’s whisky! Dan couldn’t stop laughing at how repelling I actually found the artificial banana smell. With all the fruits available, why would you choose banana to represent the fruity notes in the whisky? I can still smell the banana…perhaps they should re-name the tour to the Scottish Banana Experience 
Off to explore the Highlands now!
Meeting Katharine Joy Dyck
Dan and I are the proud “adopted” Auntie and Uncle of our dear friends, Bryan and Shirley-Anne Dyck’s, baby, Katharine Joy Dyck. I cannot describe here how delighted I was to meet her for the first time on Dec. 24th when we arrived in London to spend the Christmas season together.
Here are a few moments of our way too short time together.
