August 15, 2009
Greetings from Tobermory, Isle of Mull, Scotland.
We are in a town of slightly over 700 residents...the largest town on the Isle of Mull (whose total population is a couple of thousand).
The Isle of Mull is VERY green and lush-many ferns, moss and trees. The reason, of course is the abundance of rain. August is one of the wettest months of the year. We saw a lot of rain as we drove across the mainland from Edinburgh by Sterling, to Oban where we caught the 40-minute ferry to Mull...and several beautiful rainbows.
Jack and I flew from NY where I was working and met up with my niece Elyse, her husband Todd and their two children, Emma and Ian. By coincidence we ended up on the same plane (they originated in Charlotte, NC) and in mostly the same row of seats! Our 7:50PM flight was just about sold out so we were crammed in like sardines in a tin. Needless to say, none of us had much sleep by the time we arrived in Scotland at 7:30 in the morning.
(The Day Before we Flew to Scotland, We Were on Long Island Sound--above)
Elyse and Todd took over my usual tasks of researching our destination and arranging the lodging. Given our travel and work schedule this summer, I am eternally greatful! We rented a couple of cars and we followed them for the 120 mile drive. Given the narrow, winding roads on which we drove through hills and valleys, it took us 3+ hours to get to the town of Oban and the ferry. We stopped at a supermarket to load up on supplies and got in line for the ferry. There, I napped (as we had 90 minutes till loading on the ferry). We sailed through white caps, squalls and occasional glimpses of sun. We finally started seeing small islands, lighthouses and even a castle! We landed, wound our way across 20+ miles of single-lane roads (when traffic comes from the other direction, someone has to find a passing lane to let them by). We saw the Highland cows (big hairy cows), sheep and wildflowers. My camera was packed away and I was driving...so no photos from the day-we were focused on our destination.
We found the house we were renting and the lady across the street came over to orient us. It is a lovely 5 bedroom house, equipped with a great kitchen, TV, games and laundry facilities. We are well set up for a week of relaxation and exploration
We then found our way less than a mile downtown and searched out my brother, Skip and his wife Linda, on their boat Wind Horse. We were windswept as we walked to the dock in this lovely small town and the rain started in earnest. It's hard to miss their 83-foot boat at the end of the dock so we wound our way over. A guest from a neighboring boat was just leaving their boat as we approached. A happy family reunion ensued along with a great chile dinner with homemade cake and our favorite single malt scotch (Glengoyne), brought over by the visiting yachty. What a perfect ending to our long day of travel!
The cast of characters: 
Skip, my MUCH older brother,
Nephew Todd with my Sister-in-law Linda (on Windhorse) 
Niece, Elyse 
Great Niece Emma 
Great Nephew, Ian
and of course, Jack! 
Sunday, 8/16/09 Tobermory, Scotland Our Home in Mull We all slept in this morning...recovering from the lack of sleep yesterday. While various people arose at different times, we hung out in the house and visited. The sun showed itself briefly and we prepared for a walk. We headed out and it poured. We came back and when most of the family arose, we prepared to head into town...and to see Skip and Linda on the boat. The clan invaded Toberory! Once the sun showed up again and the rain stopped, we got to appreciate this colorful seaport. 
Mull is reputed to have the finest bay and anchorage in all of the Hebrides (why Skip and Linda wanted to come here rather than Skye). There are many small boat tours as the area is known for its dolphins, whales, puffins and interesting small islands. Those will be the subject of our exploration the rest of the week. This afternoon, we only explored the shops that were open on Sunday and then had a visit on the boat. We wandered over to an Indian restaurant and had dinner-followed by game night at the house-my great niece Emma is a terrific player at Rummy Q..my favorite game.
Tomorrow, we'll explore more of the island including its two castles.
8/17/09 Isle of Mull, Scotland The sun was out most of the day. What a treat! We so appreciate the glimpse of sun since it is easily overaken by rain. My brother who is great at marine weather warns that it may not last tomorrow. We have found that wandering around in the rain just isn't as much fun as the freedom which dry weather permits (blinding statement of the obvious!).
Gathering the flock together is not as easy with 8-10 people as it is with two...so we eased our way into the day again and headed to the "Castles" of Mull. One of these really was a castle--with dungeons and all; the other was a manner home that has passed down through generations of a family and could have passed for a chateau or castle in many parts of the world. In both cases, the ownership of the castles gave us great lessons in the names, clans and family lineage of great Scottish clans. Our caravan of two cars and 4-5 cameras stopped along the way at photo opportunities: like the shipwrecks we had seen on our way from the ferry: and the bee we saw pollinating flowers nearby:
Then we found our way to Torosay Castle that is owned by Christopher James who inherited this property and has worked to fix it up over the years. While the current building is only 150 years old, the property has an interesting older history dating back way beyond what is mentioned next. For many centuries all the land in this part of the Isle of Mull belonged to the Maclean's of Duarte. (and we will go to their castle next). However they forfeited their estates after backing the losing side during the first Jacobite uprising in 1689 and the Maclean lands ended up in the hands of the Dukes of Argyll.
In the 1820s the then Duke of Argyll sold off some parts of his landholdings, and Torosay and Duarte ended up in the ownership of Colonel Campbell of Possil Park in Glasgow. Colonel Campbell immediately started to develop his new estate here, and work began on gardens and on a Georgian house that in 1829 stood on the site now occupied by Torosay Castle. The gardens have been "worked on" for generations. There was a large area dedicated to equipment, staff and greenhouses to continue their care.
In the 1850s Colonel Campbell's son John inherited the estate, demolished the Georgian house, and commissioned Edinburgh architect David Bryce to produce something on a much grander scale (he was one of the most famous architects of his day-having done major buildings in Edinburgh). What was called at the time Duarte House was completed in 1858, but John Campbell was forced to sell it in 1865 after his business interests had been damaged by the American Civil War. The house and estate was purchased by Arbuthnot Charles Guthrie, the great-great-great-uncle of today's 5th Laird of Torosay, Christopher James. The property proceeded to move around successive generations of the family, first to Arbuthnot Charles Guthrie's youngest nephew, Murray Guthrie, the great-grandfather of the current laird.
In 1911, shortly before he died, Murray Guthrie sold the ruin of Duarte Castle and Duarte Point, on the far side of Duarte Bay from Torosay, to Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 26th Clan Chief of the Clan Maclean.
Duarte Castle as seen from Torosay
Sir Fitzroy immediately started work to restore Duarte Castle to what you see today. Because of the confusion that would arise from having a Duart House so close to a separately owned Duarte Castle, the Guthrie family called upon the pre-Reformation parish name of the area and renamed Duarte House as Torosay Castle, which is what it has remained ever since. 
Torosay Castle briefly became a hotel, The Tangle of the Isles, after World War II, but it was not a great success. In 1972 the family was faced with the choice of allowing the castle to slide into terminal decay, or open its doors to visitors and use the proceeds to fund the restoration of the castle and the gardens. The Guthries live on the top floor and encourage visitors throughout the property (even to sit on the furniture!), but are not invited into their private quarters. They had personal notes about the furnishings of the house, the portraits and the history throughout. They even had a family tree in one corner with memorabilia related to their family relationship to Winston Churchill (their cousin).
The gardens which were designed over 100 years ago are quite fabulous. They have a smattering of sculpture throughout the gardens with 19 lifesize limestone figures which were sculpted by Antonio Bonazza. They were acquired from a deserted villa near Padua and were brought to Torosay in about 1900. 
and the gardens did have some wonderful flowers: 
Our visit there included a lovely lunch on the patio including such items as a vegetable bean soup, venison sandwich, cheese and scones and/or ginger cake.Then around the penninsula to Duart Castle.
Duarte Castle, is the ancestral home of the Clan Maclean. The castle stands on a crag at the end of the peninsula jutting out into the Sound of Mull. In 1350 Lachlan Lubanach, the 5th Chief, married Mary Macdonald, the daughter of the Lord of the Isles and she was given Duarte as her dowry.Lachlan Lubanach built the keep (tower house) on the outside of the original curtain wall but forming an integral part with it, and enclosed the well. 
Ian and Emma in front of the entry to the Castle
In 1673 Sir Allan Maclean rebuilt the three story building on the North East side of the courtyard, facing the entrance. There was a kitchen at ground floor level and residential rooms above. In 1691 the Macleans surrendered Duarte and all their lands on Mull to the Duke of Argyll. The Castle, although in a fairly ruinous condition was used as a garrison for Government troops until 1751. It was then abandoned until 1910 when it was purchased by Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 26th Chief.
The first recorded mention of the Macleans of Duarte is in a papal dispensation of 1367 which allowed their Chief Lachlan Lubanach Maclean to marry the daughter of the Lord of the Isles, Mary Macdonald. This it is said, was a love match, and her father was persuaded to allow it only after he had been kidnapped by Lachlan (an incident in which the Chief of the Mackinnons was killed). Thus the Macleans came to own much of Mull, the Mackinnon lands being granted to them by the Macdonalds as a dowry.
Almost certainly, Lachlan built the keep that stands today though the great curtain walls were probably of the previous century. The castle became ruinous and was purchased by Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 26th Chief, in 1910. He then began the enormous task of repairing the building. Sir Fitzroy Maclean, born in 1835, was brought up largely in Gibralter and Malta, where his father was serving with his regiment. Family history says Sir Charles took his son and daughters on a holiday to Scotland in the 1870s and, from then on, Sir Fitzroy was determined to purchase and restore the castle. In 1911 he finally achieved his aim and bought the ruined castle and 300 acres from Mrs Guthrie, the widow of Mr Murray Guthrie, who had inherited the estate from an uncle. In 1991 Sir Lachlan Maclean, the present Clan Chief engaged Professor Sir James Dunbar Naismith to repair the castle. The main repairs were completed in 1995, but work on the castle still continues.
Sir Lachlan Hector Charles Maclean, 12th Baronet of Morvern, CVO, DL, (born on 25 August 1942) became the 28th Clan Chief of Clan Maclean on the death of his father, The Lord Maclean, in 1990. He gives tours every few weeks of the more private parts of the castle and we just might join him on Wednesday evening!
The ancestral connection to land, to family honor and to the extended clan is quite interesting! We were joined this evening by Scottish cousins of Todd. They are giving us insight in Gaelic language, local lore and foods. They work for the University of Edinburgh in the area of Scottish culture. What a resource!! Talitha MacKenzie is his cousin and she's a musician (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n471tUOPs5Q)
Tuesday morning we all got up and got ready to go...only to decide that walking around the Island of Iona in the pouring rain just didn't make sense. So we puttered around the house, played Rummy Q, read and talked...just hung out. We hoped that the weather would "thin out" and we could go see the Calgary Sculpture Forest. But it didn't. Then, half of us went to a pottery shop/restaurant a few blocks outside the end of "downtown" Tobermory. We got to know our new "cousins" better and hang out with my 6 year old great nephew (actually 6 and a half, he reminds me). Talitha is a talented singer who performs both Gaelic music and Native American! She has ancestry in Scotland and America.
Emma, who was my primary partner in Rummy Q is getting better at Rummy Q-beating me twice already! Well, the weather never did thin out so our cousins went to the market to buy food to prepare our Scottish dinner and we concluded we would wait until they returned and then head to the small museum of Mull and the Tobermory distillary...by the time we got to town, they were both closed. But some folks gave my brother Skip a freshly caught salmon and so we brought that "catch" home and felt we had some success in our venture into town! And we had a great Highland Beef stew and Yorkshire pudding for dinner. I must say that having a day of "hanging out" with family is a rare occasion in this day and age. Sure there were periods of "parallel play" when two I phones and 3 computers and two other electronic games were in use...but often we talked, cooked together and enjoyed the company.
We also learned a bit more about the Island of Iona. I liked the poem I read by Yeats about St. Columba and Iona:
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings; There midnight's all a glimmer and noon a purple glow, And evening full of the linnet's wings. I will arise and go now, for always night and day I hear lake water lapping with low sounds on the shore. When I stand on the roadway, or on the pavement gray I hear it in the deep heart's core.
It makes me look forward to visiting this mystical island where Christianity is said to have started for Scotland.Where St. Columba fled when he wanted to be out of the sight of his native Ireland out of shame. I found the story very interesting: in 563, Columba and his 12 disciples landed in Iona from Ireland where he was a prince and a follower of St. Patrick. A friend of his had returned from Rome with a simplified copy of the Gospels (so the legend goes)...As a devoted student, Columba wanted a copy and was refused. He persisted and secretly had a copy made (copyright infringement??) and the return of it was demanded. He refused and a bloody fight ensued. While he and his friends "won" he was filled with such remorse and shame over the bloodshed that he went into "voluntary exile" and fled to one isle and then another until he was out of sight of Ireland.
In Iona he found pagan practices and began building a religious community, the Celtic Church, creating buildings and preaching. The island had a tradition of pagan ritual which he was said to have incorporated into his practices as well. Ultimately, Iona was said to have become quite a center of religious training, with pilgrims and scholars visiting from all over. In fact, it became "the" in place for kings of Scotland to be buried and supposedly 48 are buried here. It also became a cradle of culture and much beautiful art and craftsmanship was created by the monks (including the Book of Kells which we saw in Dublin). However, the island was run over by Norsemen and others, destroying much of its beautiful craftsmanship.
So, with any luck, we'll drive the 90 minutes there tomorrow and find the isle of Iona in the sunshine and open to easy exploration! More later!!
Wednesday,August 19 It wasn't sunny, but we did make it to Iona...3 cars all leaving at different times were going to rendez-vous at the ferry in Fionnphort and take the 9/10 of a mile ride across the Sound of Iona to Iona. The ride we took was exquisite if not hair-raising at times--it gave "single track road" new meaning--the single track (meaning only wide enough for one car) was on a diet and quite narrow. We drove inland and across the island past beautiful manner houses, streams, forests and great rocky shores as we reached the other coast. We saw two young deer (spotted ones) pass across our path and many interesting birds and, of course, sheep. 
The google map told us that the 48 miles should be done in 75 minutes. We only stopped for 4-5 photos and one bathroom break..and having left at 9:30ish we thought we'd have plenty of time. However, when we stopped for a bathroom break 11 miles from our destination we were told we were 30 minutes away...and it was...we got there-the rest of the crowd was waiting for us with ferry tickets in hand for the 11:45 ferry. I dropped the rest of my passengers off at the ferry and went back to the parking lot where I had to figure out how to buy enough time on the meters to not get a major ticket....in pounds and other English coinage.
By the time I figured that out and parked the car, I saw the ferry leave the dock...now the last ferry was 75 minutes before...Jack and I had no idea when the next would be. 
Fortunately, it was only 30 minutes.
The weather had gone from rainy, to misty to cloudy to patches of blue sky by the time we boarded the ferry. Alas, we could see Iona! Ruins with Mull in the background Iona Abbey
Highland Cow watching us play tourist
We found our relatives exploring the tidepools and awaiting us on Iona. We headed to the Nunnery which was created in 1200-the first facility for women religious in the islands. It was finished in 1208 and the stone work we saw had not been reconstructed. Simply amazing! 
In about 1200, Reginald MacDonald of Islay, one of the sons of Somerled, decided to revive old traditions partly lost as a result of Viking raids, and turn Iona into a centre of Christianity important enough to rival anything on the continent. What was left of an earlier Columban monastery was replaced with a very much grander Benedictine monastery built on the same site...the abbey (see the photo below).
Reginald also built an Augustinian Nunnery on the island. He installed his sister Bethoc as its first prioress. The nunnery now stands in ruins, but despite this it remains one of the best-preserved medieval nunneries in Britain. We then visited the Iona Heritage center. The woman who worked there responded to our question by indicating that her ancestors had lived on Iona for as long as research could be found. There had been some cutlery found beneath the Nunnery and a silversmith of the 1920s had replicated them... I bought one of the sterling replica forks. 
Part of Iona Heritage Center
Then we headed to the famous cemetary where 48 kings of Scotland are supposedly buried. The cemetary is in continual use to date with local folks. Reilig Odhrain, the cemetary where 48 kings of Scotland are buried including Macbeth (we can mention because we are not in a theatre) 
We had an interesting tour of the Abbey and learned that the Duke of Argyle helped to renovate the Abbey. There is a crypt with statues of him and his third wife carved on top. He is actually buried elsewhere with his first wife. That's one way to handle a sticky situation! 
St. Oran's Cross, carved in the 8th Century (for the guy who was supposedly buried alive.)
Jack and I took a walk, to the far southern end of the island, past farmers loading up sheep in a truck, while a little boy of maybe 3 looked on...we watched other sheep run to the other side of a field...so we guessed they all knew the fate of the sheep on that truck. We walked quickly back to the "down town" area where the ferry comes in so as not to replicate our mishap of earlier in the day.
I got a little "beachcombing" time in and found some lovely little rocks. We were searching for the clear green rocks that are famous for this island and out of which many souvenirs are made. I may have found one real "gem" in my cache. We loaded the cars up and headed back. My brother, sister-in-law and Jack joined us for the 90 minute ride back (without stops, it was quicker). We saw even more magnificent waterfalls on the way back--huge amounts of water coming down. Three out of four us of napped most of the way. I'll let you guess who stayed awake! All in all we enjoyed the trip to Iona. A little more sunshine would have helped. Meanwhile, we felt a connection to this small community of maybe 125 people on 3.4 square miles. There is a deep sense of history that people seem to live. A tight web among the folks there that extends back at least 1500 years whether it is a spiritual connection, a sense that there livelihood depends on their ability to make history present or a desire to advance the ecumenical model they espouse...the web seems to draw one in--even within a few hours.
August 20, 2009 Jack's Birthday Once again, we celebrated Jack's birthday onboard Windhorse (Skip and Linda's boat). Last year was in Kinsale, Ireland, this year in the harbor of Tobermory, Scotland. Linda made her famous chocolate cake that Jack loves. 
Ian decided that Jack's name would be "Uncle Jack Jack" and was willing to share his 1/8th of cake with his Great Uncle.
That culminated another slow-start day where we watched the weather and decided to head over to Dervaig and Calvery when, hopefully, the weather cleared up. Meanwhile, we visited the Mull Museum which was quite interesting for a tiny, free museum. It covered the geological, social, political and economic history of Mull. "Mull Man"
We learned that Mull has unique geological structure, partially because the age of some of the stone is 2000 million years old. Volcanos and glaciers formed the great valleys and lochs. Neolethic man arrived around 4000 years ago. Homes were made of turf and stones and graves were composed of chambers with cremated remains. Some of these chambers were found near the standing stones that are famous in this region. Archaeologists have dated the standing stones here at least 2000 years back and believed that the positioning of the rocks had to do with tracking the path of the moon. So there is some belief that the stones and moon-tracking are connected to the ritual of death and burial.
We also learned about a famous Galleon that was shipwrecked off Tobermory. For many years it was thought to be a Spanish Galleon, but was later identified as a ship from what is now Dubrovnik in Croatia. Many divers have sought the treasures that were thought to have sunk with this merchant ship. The other interesting observation was that photos of Tobermory from the 1890s look identical to the bay-front of today! The bay we saw today was quite different than other days: the tide was WAY down: 
The attendant in the museum pointed out the location of some standing stones near Dervaig. He said that the 8 mile drive would take about 15 minutes...that seems to be the standing answer...although for us, the single track, winding roads seem always to take a lot longer! So, off we went, this time with just two cars in line and followed the hairpin turns, past lakes (or "lochs") up to the top where there is a "carpark" with beautiful views of Dervaig below.
We walked a short ways and found a gate over mud puddles and made our ways into a mysterious forest. There we found the standing (and some fallen) stones. Very interesting.
The family walking through the forest to the stones-erie vegetation
Linda enjoying a bit of sunlight
We saw what we thought was Dervaig down below and headed to explore that town. What we initially knew about that town was that it was a small town near the standing stones en route to Calgary in the middle/North end of the isle of Mull. It is at the head of Loch a'Chaumhainn.
However, we learned some interesting things about Dervaig. Settlement in the area dates back at least as far as the 1200s when a church was established on the rising ground to the east of today's village. And the name itself, coming from the Old Norse for "good inlet" strongly suggests that the Vikings had a foothold here, centuries earlier. The village of Dervaig as we saw it today dates back to 1799, when Alexander MacLean, the Laird of Coll, established a planned village here. This comprised 26 houses and cottages lining both sides of a single street, each with its own garden and with common grazing provided for residents' livestock.
By the late 1800s the village could boast two inns, along with a bakery, a shop, a post office and a smithy. It's interesting that there was a planned village that far back. Later much of this area suffered from "clearances" when lords took over and basically starved the locals to death. A stone plaque over the door of what is now the post office in the main street reveals this to have been built as Dervaig's Reading Room in 1898. It went on to serve as the village hall for over a century until the recent arrival of a much larger village hall . Today the village boasts two shops, but only one inn, the Bellachroy, which opened alongside the main road here in 1608, thus predating the village it now serves by almost two centuries.
We visited the post office/shop and got ourselves Coke Zero --so they are up to date on the latest in sodas! We thought it was a quaint town with no visible form of occupation, short of the inn and various B and Bs.
We drove on to Calgary (no, not Canada...different trip). Where we had at least two destinations to visit. One was the beach. Ian wanted to try out his new net and see if he could catch a sea creature. Also, we had heard about the Calgary Art in Nature and wanted to see that, So we split up, dropping off the kids, parents and grandparents to play on the beach while Jack and I headed to the forest!
Calgary Art in Nature has been around for 10 years. They place sculpture along a nature trail with the goal of enlightening awareness about art in nature. It was really quite effective. As we walked through the forest, we looked for the sculpture, but noticed the beauty of the trees, rocks and water features. This was a great experience.
The "sprite" in the tree root was a great example of the placement of sculpture: Look closely at the center of the root at the sculpture of a "wood sprite"
I particularly like the moss and leaf (natural) sculptures I saw. 
The view of the bay and beach was also dramatic: and when we finally headed back, we went to the boat for the aforementioned birthday cake, my great niece, Emma pointed out another amazing art form, the jellyfish:
Friday, August 21, 2009: Our Last Full Day in the Isle of Mull Here we were on an Isle with access to a wonderful yacht and we hadn't gone cruising! This was something we had to rectify. So we planned to spend the day cruising, and left the itinerary to Captain Skip. The kids, Ian and Emma decided to spend the night on the boat so they would be there when it was time to go (and, in Emma's case, could sleep in--as a buddying teen).
The sun was shining and we were excited to start the day off that way! Linda prepared breakfast for us on board (delicious french toast, cereals, etc.) and we cast off from Tobermory.
We headed North and were slightly diverted by the sight of a 350 foot yacht-that had on board a large sailing vehicle and a helicoptor! Skip had heard that it was owned by Russian businessmen. Skip and Todd have very powerful camera lenss and checked out the people on board and didn't see any large weapons on board (which would have added to the intrigue!). 
350 ft Yacht in our site "Le Grand Bleu" at closer range
Then, we headed toward Loch Sunart-actually a type of inlet or "ocean loch (lake)" that is on the mainland of Scotland on the Ardnamurchan penninsula (word means “Cape of the Great Seas” )The Ardnamurchan point is the most westerly place on the mainland of Scotland and has a famous old lighthouse there.
Skip started teaching Ian how to steer this 83 foot barge with a small dial and control the speed with the handles. Our weather varied moment to moment (they say in Scotland, "if you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes") and at one moment we saw sun and the next rain.
Notice the patch of blue at the top of this photo and the rain on the right side:
We saw occasion homes and castles along the way:
Glen Borrodale Castle
With later research we found out that Glen Borrodale Castle is named for the nomadic Viking, Borrodale, who settled in the area with his tribe. Buildings on the site date back many hundreds of years. The Stables house beside the castle is 300 years old and the castle itself stands on the site of the original mansion house, built for the owner of the Ardnamurchan estate. The castle as it is today was built in 1900, when Mr C D Rudd, a wealthy magnate who made his fortune in the diamond mines in South Africa, bought the estate and became the Laird of Ardnamurchan. Mr Rudd used 100 local men, who daily walked the 13 miles from Kilchoan to work on the building. They were paid a weekly wage equivalent to £1.25, and after 3 years the Castle was finally complete. According to local legend, before he passed away Mr Rudd buried a large diamond somewhere in the grounds. We found out that the castle is now a hotel with 16 bedroom suites that can be rented as a whole or individual rooms.
The area of the castle is called Glen More, the "great glen" cuts the country in half from Inverness in the north east to Fort Williams in the South west. There are a chain of lochs that go along this area (the largest of which is the famous Loch Ness) and they are connected in what is called the Caledonian Canal which small vessels can use to get from the North Sea to the Atlantic. We went into a small area called Loch Drambuie which is a popular anchorage for yachts and a home for fish farm cages. We saw a small boat putting out cages for (we assume) lobsters or some such thing. There we saw beautiful colors and rocks on the shore and had a picnic lunch on board (left over pizza from our dinner the night before along with great lentil soup made by LInda). We also saw Dolphins, Seagulls and rainbows! 
Emma keeps a lookout for more dolphin! Her dad looking for great shots! After a lovely day aboard Wind Horse, we headed for shore and anchored near a great waterfall. We headed back to our house to have a quick dinner of fish and chips from a famous truck that sells fish, scallops and shrimp freshly caught. We packed up, played some last games of Rummy Q and "fish" and prepared to depart the Isle of Mull. Tomorrow we head to Sterling and St. Andrews!
August 23, 2009 To Stirling and St. Andrews, Scotland We left Isle of Mull at 6:30am and Jack and I followed Elyse, Todd and the kids out of Oban once the ferry arrived there. We drove through lovely towns, glens, mountains and along lochs and rivers and farms on our way to Sterling.
This is a town which is the gateway to the Highlands and as such has great historic significance for Scotland. We visited the Stirling Castle and the Monument to William Wallace and then parted ways with the kids and headed on to St. Andrews. Many people associate William Wallace and Stirling Castle with the movie "Braveheart." So many, in fact, that people expect the sculptures and pictures of William Wallace to look like Mel Gibson. No matter what he looked like, William Wallace retains his status as a Freedom Fighter and superhero to the Scottish. He was galvinized to fight for Scottish Freedom when he saw the puppet King John killed and Stirling Castle taken by the King of England. Wallace was born around 1270 and was a student, possibly studying to join the clergy as he was studying with his two uncles who were in the clergy (family business?). But when King Alexander III of Scotland fell off his horse to his death in 1286, King Edward 1 of England seized control of the throne and when he later commanded all to sign a pledge of allegiance, William Wallace refused. By 1297 Wallace had assembled a gorilla army and at the Battle of Stirling Bridge on September 11, he defeated a well organized English army of 10,000 soldiers: a feat considered miraculous. Wallace reclaimed Stirling Castle and was installed as the guardian of Scotland.
Sculpture of William Wallace 
Actor telling the Story
However, apparently he wasn't a sophisticated diplomat or manager and so he failed to gain international support for the sustained independence of Scotland and by July of '98 he was defeated. He was a wanted man for the rest of his life and was killed in the gruesome fashion of the day and chopped in pieces left at different corners of Scotland to show what would happen to lesser men who defied the King of England. Robert the Bruce followed Wallace as the next Scot to famously fight for Freedom of Scotland and take back Stirling Castle. His famous battle was at Banocnburn in 1314. His statue was to be found at the front of Stirling Castle: 
"HE WHO HOLDS STIRLING, HOLDS SCOTLAND" 
View of Stirling from the Castle
St. Andrews
It was a LONG day of driving and given we left the house at 5:20 a.m., I was a weary road warrior by the time we reached St. Andrews around 4:20PM. We went immediately to the St. Andrews' club house to see about tee-times, equipment, etc for Jack since one cannot reserve a time on the Old Course as a single player. Jack's priority is to play the one and only Old Course. Then, he'll play the others as "fill ins." From there we went a short distance to our hotel, The Old Course Hotel, which sits right on the 17th hole of the Old Course. This is a beautiful hotel with great appointments, spa and support for golfers.
We were too tired to think about eating elsewhere so went to the Pub, which is in the old home of the train master from 1849 and is attached to the hotel (or the hotel is attached to it). Quite a quaint old pub.
Sunday, August 24 Today, we leisurely got up and headed upstairs for a Scottish breakfast and took off to wonder around St. Andrews. Unfortunately, it was a day with rain (drizzling on and off) so it wasn't as pleasant as it could have been. We caught a bus that took us to some of the sights and then walked around the town, visiting the old churches, art galleries and golf stores. In one gallery we found an artist we really liked, Malcolm Cheape whose family actually sold some of the land to create the newer courses at St. Andrews. He does beautiful ship and waterfront scenes. To see his work, go to: http://www.malcolmcheape.com/slide_images.html
The following are a few of the scenes we saw in town: Preservation Trust Museum and Garden (bldg from late 1600s)
St Andrew's Cathedral, built 1160 
We got back to the hotel damp and ready to have a single malt and dinner! We headed upstairs and sat by the windows overlooking the course. The hotel bar boasts of having 200 single malts so we asked them to give us a couple like our favorite (glengoyne) but from a different distillary. Below is the resulting selection: 
A Tullibaudine 1988 and a 1993 Mortlach at our cocktail hour looking out over the 17th Hole of the Old Course of St. Andrews.
I liked the Mortlach better, but Jack liked them both in different ways. We then went downstairs for a lovely dinner of lamb and fish in a dining room at least 1/2 filled with Americans.
More on St. Andrews and the answer to the question: Did Jack get to golf The Old Course?
We love St. Andrews. It has golf, ocean, theatre, restaurants, interesting history and medieval buildings and comfortable lodging. It is a town of maybe 17,000 people so big enough to have resources, but not as big as Edinburgh or Glasgow that are crowded and hard to get around. Jack and I have enjoyed walking around the town rather than driving to see the sights as we did in Mull. We have left the car parked the entire time we have been in St. Andrews. We head to Edinburgh Airport later and that will be the next occasion to use the car.
We went to the Museum of St. Andrews and got a better sense of the city. That, together with the rest of our exploration, helped us gain this understanding: St. Andrew, one of Christ's disciples, is the patron saint of Scotland. Supposedly, a Greek monk by the name of St. Rule brought the remains of St. Andrew from Patras, Greece(a tooth, an arm bone, a knee cap and some fingers) in a box called a reliquary to this spot, the headland of Kilrymont, in the fifth century. (another story has it that BIshop Acca of Hexham received the bones from Rule and brought them to Kilrymont in 733.) 
St. Rule's Tower, built between 4th-9th Century
The box was kept in the Cathedral here (until the Reformation when it was stolen).The Cathedral was the largest building in Scotland when it was built in 1160: 140 meters long! It was consecrated in 1318 (took a long time to finish).
Remnants of St. Andrews Cathedral.
Looking from one end of the cathedral to the other!
Like Mull, this area became a center of Christianity. Culdee monks, who refused to join the cathedral priory, built the church of St Mary on the rock. The church had no aisles and was cross-shaped. This probably dates before the 11th century. (the Culdees supposedly arrived in 920). 
During the middle ages, pilgrims would travel to shrines dedicated to the holy saints all over Europe. They had "souvenirs" of their pilgramage in the form of badges, often made out of Pewter. St. Andrews became one of the shrines. The pilgrims sought merit, absolution of crimes, cures and even miracles. Below are some of the badges held in the museum. (the left is St. Andrew's; the scallop shell is for St. James). 
Remnants of St. Mary's on the Rock
On our last day in St. Andrews, we also visited the Castle and its museum. While it rained all morning and was windy and cold, when we finally headed to the Castle, it stopped raining, we had a lovely visit and learned more about the history of St. Andrews.
The castle was actually home base for the church and the cathedral down the street had been part of the same complex. It was built in he early 1200s. by the leaders of the church as they did a lot of entertaining of royalty and had much power of their own. Most of the church leadership lived in or around the castle. The power held by the church in those days led to much intrigue-including the murder of one church leader, the construction of underground tunnels to get in and to try to get out, dungeons for prisoners, etc. For instance, in the early 1300s Edward I of England held parliament there.
Continuing with history: The 1400s saw martyrs burned at the stake, golf outlawed and other restrictions while the Church increased its stronghold in St. Andrews. in 1546 Archbishop David Beaton was murdered and his body was hung over the side of the Castle and then dropped into the "bottle dungeon" in the castle. 
(The point is prime real estate and much of the surrounding buildings were University of St. Andrews' property (did I mention this is the oldest University in Scotland? Chartered in 1400s). There was one private house nearby...amazing views, but cold and damp in the winter.) 
Then there was John Knox who preached his first sermon in St. Andrews in 1547 at the Church of the Holy Trinity. He was imprisoned for two years as a galley slave on a French ship because of his Calvinist beliefs. In 1559, he incited Protestants to drive out Catholicism by ransacking the Cathedral and other religious foundations. 
Church of Holy Trinity, built in 15th Century
Just for contrast to all this medieval and church history, we saw a funky little Danish play called "First You're Born" at the Byre Theatre on our last night in St. Andrews. The theatre is very contemporary, but started out in a barn or garage (I saw a model of i at the small museum). It was redone into a very modern piece of architecture in the middle of very old buildings (at the edge of the historic area). We had dinner at the small bistro that is technically below ground, but has windows so you look up at flowers and the sky. Quite effective. The show was "theatre of the absurd" and as such provoked some thought on the nature of time and relationships.
Now did I ever tell you the end of the story with Jack and golf???
After all, there is a lot of history with it here as well: it was banned in the 1400s and then James the IV legitimized it in 1502 and Mary Queen of Scots gave a charter for St. Andrews Links in 1552. However, the course is a public course. It is just very limited in how many people can play a day (on the Old Course, that is), less than 200 people/day. If you are a single player, you have to see if a spot is open and people line up from as early as 3:30am to await the starter (who gets there at 6am) with golf starting at 7am.
Jack walked over at 4am and was the 4th in line. It appeared that there were 7 openings for singles that day so he was optimistic and by goodness he got on! However, standing in the cold for several hours was a stiff price to pay to play golf at 7:20 am! But he had the thrill of playing at the World's Home Course of Golf. He loved it. In fact, he was so excited about the prospect, he could hardly sleep the night before! 
Wednesday, August 26: Alas, on Wednesday, we headed for Edinburgh. We had asked our concierge if he could get tickets to the Military Tattoo in Edinburgh as that was something we had heard about for years. He said the seats were sold out, but he would see what he could find via his network of concierges in Edinburgh. By the time we left, he still hadn't found 2 seats (only one). He promised to call me with news if he found any. Our drive to Edinburgh was uneventful-through much of the same farmland we passed coming from Stirling. The only big event was my cellphone ringing (as it hadn't been through most of the trip) and it was the Concierge telling me that we could get fantastic seats, but at a 25% premium (i.e. scalped) and we agreed as we both thought this would be a great opportunity. We found our way to the airport hotel and dropped the rental car off as driving in Edinburgh (as well as parking) during festivals is a nightmare (as we learned last year).
After settling in to the hotel, we headed out to the city. Naturally, it started raining and we worried a bit about sitting outside at the castle to watch the performance. However, by the time we got off the bus in downtown Edinburgh 30 minutes later, the rain had stopped. We went to the beautiful Balmoral Hotel to pick up our tickets and walked up to the Royal Mile.
We walked through crowds and found our way to a restaurant for dinner before we headed further up the street to the Edinburgh Castle and the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. And while the seats were VERY crowded, we were in great seats-the show happened right in front of us with the castle as the backdrop (if you imagine a "u", we were a the bottom and most of the seats were on the sides...so we had the best views--especially as we were in the 5th row.)
And we lucked out--while it got colder and windier as the night went on, there were no raindrops during the nearly 2 hour show. The "tattoo" is primarily military pipes and drums;
but this show included much more that that: drummers who also used fireworks, dancers from polynesia; troops from China, military bands from New Zealand and Australia and fireworks!
This was a great finale to our almost two weeks in Scotland. Now we are flying back to New York and will arrive tomorrow night in Phoenix.. What a trip this has been-to visit Mull, Stirling, St. Andrews and Edinburgh, with family time, history and on the family boat. Great adventures!
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