Happy Canada Day!
Tonight we are in Inverness, at the mouth of the river Ness, Moray Firth. We haven't seen any baby Nessie monsters in the river yet, but the paths and parks which surround the area are mystical and gorgeous. Scotland is a beautiful, natural place so far. We arrived last week in Aberdeen and drove down to Stonehaven in the driving rain. As it happened, out place there was on a high bluff looking over the North Sea at Crawton Croft. The house itself was amazing. Warm, comfy... we could have moved in for a long long time.
So - the Keiths descended from Robert de Keith who was awarded the lands near Stonehaven after the battle of Bannockburn. Subsequent generations of Keiths built up the area, including William Keith who built Dunottar Castle (used in Mel Gibson's 'Hamlet'). We spent some time there, and at Kennef Kirk down the road (plays big in Keith history) and also had some time in Aberdeen at the Maritime museum and Marishal College. We also visited Montrose, Brechin and the Caledonian Railway. The coast in this area is powerful - there are sea-birds everywhere (but only one Puffin) and the forest walks are tranquil. David and James are ready to stay and re-claim the Keith lands.
On our travels, we've also been to Lossiemouth, Keith, and the Glenfiddich distillery at Duffstown. It's Free! And they give you whiskey at the end of the tour! Today we visited the Scottish Wooden boat festival at Portsoy on the Moray Firth - very cool old ships and small boats, and a really nice harbour town.
And lots of Cullen Skink! Yum.
So now we are planning to escape to Skye, then on to Mull and hopefully Iona. Then to Loch Lomond and to Wales beyond. We hope to see Nessie on our trips around Loch Ness - will have the camera ready...
The local news is of flooding and of a car-bomb at the Glasgow airport. We are far away from those troubles, and appreciating that immensely. The boys are in good spirits. Still riding the high from the great time we had in Ireland. We hope everybody had a great Canada Day and will try to update again as soon as possible.
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