SCOTLAND

What have we learned about Scotland....well the people are great...the food was good, we had some real nice meals...if you can't see Ben Nevis, it's raining..if it's not raining, it will be soon. You don't need sun dials, nor solar panels, nor binoculars.... there are no such things as red squirrells. Cragside was fantastic, could spend more time there.

CRAGSIDE

Left Scotland, at last the prospect of warmth & dryness. Left Perth in the rain and visited Cragside on the way down to Beamish. Weather much better, first time warm for a week. Cragside is William Armstrong's home. WA started from nothing to found a business based on hydraulics in cranes, then weapons and warships. He joined with Whitworth, who standardised engineering threads and measurement to form one of Britain's most successful businesses. His home is amazing - built 1870's it has central heating, hot cold running water, hydro-electric lighting, hydraulic lift, Turkish bath, sauna, electric spit roasts. The gardens are magnificent, there is a 6 mile scenic drive through lakes, moorland & forests. Simply stunning. The Prince of Wales visited & WA built a wonderful room with the most magnificent marble inglenook fireplace, & 2 ensuite bedrooms for them to use, incredible. 

PERTH

Took it easy - just wandered around town from our hotel. NO castle climbing today was Lin's dictat. So off to Black Watch museum, which turned out to be a castle...duh. We had a lovely guide who was an artifacts expert in the museum. The tour was great, great insight into the contents of the museum. Next was a visit to the art gallary, a small recreation of the Pantheon in Rome. Then a stroll around the parks along the Tay, nice!

ABERDEEN

Trying to recuperate, had a lay-in & big Scottish breakfast. Went down to the beach & then on to Footdee. You work out how to say it. Footdee is an old group of fisherman's cottages. Some of them are really tiny. That one with the for sale board went for £30k in 2005 & £187k in 2017. Not bad eh? We walked through the dockyard to the maritime museum which focuses on fishing & the oil industry. The story of Piper Alpha was something. A maintenance man was working on pump B, couldn't finish it, capped off the pipe & left a note to not use the pump. During the next shift, pump A failed & control didn't know about the note switched to pump B. This blew the cap & started to pump oil & gas into the platform. They didn't isolate neighbouring fields which continued to pump through Alpha. This all ignited & completely destroyed the platform, the people in the sea & the nearby rescue boats. Some years later a trawler pulled up the locker of one of the few survivors which still contained his personal effects. It's still freezing here, about 9degrees this morning & a cold wind, so we went to the Winter Garden in Duthie Park. Very nice.

MALT WHISKEY...

route. We had a lovely drive from Inverness to Aberdeen through the Cairngorm national park & along glens I know intimately & love - livet, farclas, spey. The views and scenery were fantastic & no traffic. We went through several ski resorts with snow still visible at the top. Much warmer now. We are in oil & gas town and the money is very evident. Spent the afternoon in another castle. Lin rated this 8/10 for spiral staircases. Brodie got 9, but Caernarfon Castle got only 4. The garden were fantastic with bee loving bushes and 250 year old topiary yew trees.

CAPITAL OF THE HIGHLANDS,

Inverness today. 6degrees this morning at 10am when we left Loch Ness. Hail storm this afternoon, when's summer starting. Went to Brodie Castle near Nairn. Nice guided tour with lots of insight to the family that lived in the house. Next visited Moray Firth where a guy on the P&O Canberra said we could see dolphins close to the beach. No dolphins, must have been at cross porpoises with him. Wandered the town seeing museum, the bouncy footbridge & Victorian market. Place is full of European & Yankee tourists. B&B is close to centre. Just strolled in for a nice meal - pigs cheek & mashed black pudding w seaweed crisp followed by rabbit stew. I had Cullen Skink & the stew also, all delicious & washed down with a local IPA.

GENERAL WADE 1

Who was he. We are staying in a 3 room B&B in Whitebridge, which you get to along a B road called General Wade's Rd. It runs along the ridge beside Loch Ness and is very narrow with passing places, very bendy & very hilly. Lin was having kittens but the local were belting past a 70. Fort Augustus was nice, went on boat trip with sonar searching for some monsters. No luck. Fort A is one end of Loch Ness & has a 5 step lock system to get you into the Cally Canal. Big boats come through as you can see. Took mountaineer Lil out for a trek tonight to Falls of Foyers. Very nice 3mile hilly walk but for the rain. The waterfall was impressive, as was the cabin on wheels on the bank of Ness. The B&B is so nice really quiet and isolated in the glen. The deer & pheasant come right up to our bedroom. Should be a quiet night.