I am going to the HIGHLANDS

The Scotland part of the trip is something that I have always wanted to do.  Now I can say that I have wanted to visit Ireland for some time, but I don't remember a time when I haven't wanted go and visit  the Isle of Skye.  I believe that I have dreamed of going ever since I learned that that this is where my Scottish ancestors are from.  We come from the Clan McLeod and the castle and Laird are still there today on the Isle of Skye.  When planning my trip the schedule was to do half the time in Ireland and the other half in Scotland and I almost managed to split it 50/50. 

I started out on Monday morning by finding my way to the bus stop and traveling to the airport.  Luckily for me, having done this once before, I didn't waste time trying to figure out where to go and what to do.  The attendant gave me my keys and I walked to my car, thinking that I would get something similar to the blue smurf that I had in Ireland. 

Nope, I got some sporty nice black foreign car that I was scared to death of getting into an accident in. Oh well...I got in, got lost trying to get out of the parking lot, turned around and found my way.  I had a map of Scotland and my road trip plotted and I was on my way.  Luckily for me it was pretty much a straight shot up from the airport to the Isle of Skye with some nice scenery and a famous castle and bridge to keep things interesting. 

 

I quickly got onto the A82 and traveled north right by Loche Lomond.  Loch Lomond is a freshwater loch lying on the Highland Boundary Fault, the boundary between the lowlands of Central Scotland and the Highlands. It is 39 kilometres (24 mi) long and between 1.21 kilometres (0.75 mi) and 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) wide and it has an average depth of about 37 metres (121 ft), and a maximum depth of about 190 metres (620 ft.  Of all lochs/lakes in Great Britain, it is the largest by surface area, and the second largest (after Loch Ness) by water volume.  And as I left Loche Lomond behind me I drove into the HIGHLANDS.

My first glimpse of the Highlands 

 

The Highlands is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was distinguished from the Lowlands when the Lowlands stopped speaking Scottish Gaelic and began speaking the "kings" English.  While the exact boundaries of the Highlands has never been clearly defined the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven, excluding any of the "flat lands" in those areas. I found a poem that describes what most people thought of the Highlands:

 

"Land of brown heath and shaggy wood,

Land of the mountains and the flood,"

Along with this, it was thought that the Highlands inhabitants were "as a brawny, rugged indomitable, impulsive race, steadfast in their friendship and loyalty, but relentless and fierce in their enmity."  I have to say I am rather proud of that.

 

One thing I noticed is that the Highlands are a hikers paridise.  Trailes and places to hike were everywhere.

 

The landscape was fascinating because I would be driving and everything looked so different from Ireland.  It really had its own beauty with the mountains and the brown and gold with what I would think would be just a hint of green and then I would turn a corner and there...

There would be lots of GREEN!

 

My guess is that when I got close to a Loche, the landscape became greener as there was more water running thru the land.  As I passed by Loche Linnhe and Loche Lochy, I managed to see some very beautiful and different countryside. 
 

So as I traveled up the hill and around the courner I ran into...

 

Eilean Donan Castle 

Eilean Donan is the one of the most recognized castles all around the world. It is situated on an island at the point where three great sea lochs in the Highlands meet and it is surrounded by some amazing scenery. The beginnings of Eilean Donan reach back to the 6th century with evidence of a pictish fort was found and the knowledge that a St Donan lived on the island as a "religious hermit". Eilean Donan means "Island of Donan".

 

When looking up how Eilean and Donan came to be I came across this story: "There was a son born to a wealthy chief of the Matheson race, who received his first drink from the skull of a raven. This gave him the power to understand the language of birds. As a youth he went to study and became a great linguist. One day his father asked him to explain what the birds were saying and was told that they were talking about how one day his father would be waiting upon his son like a servant. This so angered his father that the son was turned out of the house to make his way in the world.

Eventually he landed on the shores of France only to hear that the King there was greatly annoyed by the chirping of the birds around the palace. The boy offered his help in getting rid of them and soon discovered that the cause was a noisy dispute among the birds, which together with the King, he was able to resolve. The King was so pleased that peace and quiet had been restored that he presented the boy with a fully-manned ship. This took the boy to many distant lands.

 

On one of his voyages he was invited by the ruler of a far-off country to dine at his palace. On arriving he found the place so overrun with rats that they even invaded the dining table during meals. The next evening the boy returned to the castle with a cat under his coat and when the rats gathered around the table he let it loose among them. The King was so pleased that he offered a hogshead of gold for the cat. After an absence of ten years the young man returned to Kintail and his ship anchored at Totaig. The sight of such a royal vessel caused considerable stir in the district and all wondered who the richly dressed young man might be. Arriving at his father's door, no-one recognised him and he was received with great hospitality. His father set him at the table and waited upon the young stranger himself, thereby fulfilling the prophesy of the birds. His son revealed who he was, proving his identity by a birth mark on his shoulder and the father was reconciled with the boy whom he acknowledged as his heir.  His son's abilities and knowledge of the world brought him into the favour of Alexander II who commissioned him to build Eilean Donan Castle and protect his subjects against the Norwegians." (http://www.sannabay.co.uk/castle/castle11.htm)

 

 

The first fortified castle was built in the mid-13th century during the reign of Alexander II.  In 1263 Alexander III then gave the castle to Colin Fitzgerald, son of the Earl of Desomond and Kildare (later MacKenzie) for services in the Battle of Largs.  It is also believed that in the early part of the 14th century Robert the Bruce, during the time when he was out of favor with many of the clan chiefs as well as being hunted by the English, took refuge in the castle by John MacKenzie, who was Second of Kintail at the time. Later, in 1331, when Robert the Bruce had defeated his enemies and established his position as King of Scotland, he sent his son Randolph, Earl of Moray and Warden of Scotland, to Kintail.

 

 

At least four different versions of the castle have been built and re-built during Scottish history, the last version came when the castle was partially destroyed in a Jacobite uprising in 1719. Eilean Donan then lay in ruins for around 200 years until Lieutenant Colonel John MacRae-Gilstrap bought the island in 1911 and proceeded to restore the castle. The restoration of Eilean Donan took 20 years and the castle was re-opened in 1932. 

  

 

After visiting Eilean Donan, just over the horizon, I saw the Skye Bridge, which carried me over into the Isle of Skye. 

 

 

A Sunday in Glasgow

One of the reasons that I wanted to stay in one place at the end of the week was so that I could go to church. Lucky for me I had my wonderful sister Joanna helping me out. She found the address of the ward and what time it started. I ended up taking a taxi, there was no way that I was going to find my way there, and when I arrived I found out that the church is growing and at the beginning of the year they had added another ward.  

 

The chaple was on Julian Ave, in Glasgow and I believe that I attended the Springboig Ward and it was Fast Sunday.  I have to say that it was the first time since I had arrived that I actually felt like myself.  Everyone was extremely friendly and I was happy to be able to share a Sunday with the Saints in Scotland.

 

 

A couple of days in Glasgow

 

I believe that I said this before but I didn't do well alone in the bigger cities.  That being said, I enjoyed what I was able to see of Glasgow.  It was an interesting city to me because up to this point all of the cities that I had been to celebrated their history and were very vocal about it, but as far as I could tell, you had to look really hard for Glasgow's history.  Not that it wasn't there, but it seemed to me that it celebrated being a more modern city, with all of the shopping and entertainment that you could find anywhere, than being a really old Scottish city with a very long history.



The new and old melding together to make a very interesting city.

 

It is amazing to think about but it is believed that Celtic druids were among the first identifiable religious tribes to inhabit the area and they most likely would have traded with the Romans who had a trading post in Cathures, the earlier name for Glasgow. In 143AD the Romans erected the turf-built Antonine Wall stretching from the Clyde to the Forth to separate Caledonia to the north from Britannia to the south, but the wall was soon abandoned.  In 380AD St Ninian, the great Christian missionary, passed through Cathures, but nothing is really known of that time other than he consecrated a burial ground.  In the 6^th century however, St Kentigern settled in Glasgow (or Glas Cu, generally construed as “dear green place”) in 543AD.  It is believed that he had been exiled from Culross where his miracle powers had aroused jealousy among his monastic brothers.  In Glasgow, he established his Christian church on the banks of the Molendinar Burn, where Glasgow Cathedral now stands. Such was his great popularity among his ecclesiastical community he was named Mungo meaning “dear one”.  Legend has it St Mungo performed four miracles in Glasgow:

These 4 miracles are commemorated on the City of Glasgow’s coat of arms, depicting a tree with a bird perched on its branches and a salmon and a bell on either side.

 

 

There's the tree that never grew,

There's the bird that never flew,

  There's the fish that never swam,

There's the bell that never rang.

 

The Bird - Mungo restored life to the pet robin of Saint Serf, which had been killed by some of his fellow classmates, hoping to blame him for its death.

The Tree - Mungo had been left in charge of a fire in Saint Serf's monastery. He fell asleep and the fire went out. Taking branches from a tree, he restarted the fire.

The Bell - the bell is thought to have been brought by Mungo from Rome. It was said to have been used in services and to mourn the deceased. The original bell no longer exists, and a replacement, created in the 1640s, is now on display in Glasgow.

The Fish - refers to the story about Queen Languoreth of Strathclyde who was suspected of infidelity by her husband. King Riderch demanded to see her ring, which he claimed she had given to her lover. In reality the King had thrown it into the River Clyde. Faced with execution she appealed for help to Mungo, who ordered a messenger to catch a fish in the river. On opening the fish, the ring was miraculously found inside, which allowed the Queen to clear her name.

Little is known of the city’s history after Mungo died on 13 January 603 until the later part of the 12^th century.    By that time Glasgow’s population had reached around 1,500, making it an important settlement. In 1175, Bishop Jocelyn secured a charter from King William making Glasgow a burgh of barony, opening up its doors to trade. In 1238 work began on Glasgow Cathedral, symbolising the city’s growing role as a major ecclesiastical centre.  It went from a Catholic rule to a Protestant one in 1560 where it then stayed under Protestant rule until William of Orange's invasion of England in late 1688. The failure of the Scottish bishops to pledge William their support heralded the end of episcopal governance and, in 1690, Glasgow's town council finally gained the right to elect the burgh's provost and bailies. Glasgow had finally ceased to be a dependent medieval burgh and had become an early-modern town with full rights of self-governance. During the Industrial revolution

Glasgow went from being a small merchant town into a industrial city, growing rapidly in size to become the powerhouse of the Scottish economy. Industrial and technical innovation fostered this expansion and many people were attracted to the city in search of work, not just from rural Scotland but also from England and Ireland. Such rapid expansion inevitably created social problems and accompanying political tension. These came to a head in the so-called Radical War of 1820 and the events leading up to the Great Reform Act of 1832. 

 

By the end of the 19th century Glasgow School of Art was one of the leading art academies in Europe and after early success in the fine arts, the late 1890s saw Glasgow’s reputation in architecture and the decorative arts reach an all time high. At the very heart of this success was a talented young architect and designer, Charles Rennie Mackintosh whose reputation was to quickly spread beyond his native city and who, over a century later, is still regarded as the father of Glasgow Style.

The Lighthouse houses the Scotland Center for Architecture and Design.  The water tower was  designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

The centrepiece of the Royal Exchange Square is the Royal Exchange, designed by David Hamilton. The building now houses Glasgow's Museum of Modern Art.

 

 

 

In George Square I found the Glasgow City Chambers dating from 1888. The competition to design the new civic headquarters was won by the Paisley born architect, William Young. The extravagant Baroque inspired design features numerous cupolas of different sizes situated on all of the highly decorated facades. There are also carved reliefs and statues celebrating the perceived greatness of Queen Victoria's reign over the British Empire.

 

Statues of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert also found in George Square.

  

The St George's Tron Church in Glasgow, Scotland, commonly known simply as "The Tron",  is a Presbyterian church in Glasgow's city centre, located in Nelson Mandela Place near Queen Street Station.

 

 Nelson Mandela Place was originally St George's Place. Glasgow City Council signalled its support for the campaign to free Nelson Mandela by renaming the street in honour of the political prisoner in 1986.

 

The rest of these pictures are just ones that I took on my walking tour of Glasgow. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buses, Ferries, and Trains...

OK, I am breaking in to apologize for taking so long to put this out. I have no excuse, I have just been lazy. I promise to do better. And to get back to it...

Today was one of two days where I just traveled. I had planned to be in Glasgow by late afternoon but of course I got lost trying to find the train station and ended up taking a bus which turned out to be a good and bad thing. On the good side, I saw more of the country by bus and it made me realize that I needed to come back and spend some actual time in Northern Ireland. It was a bad thing because I didn't end up in the train station, but at a bus stop (as close as the bus driver could get me when we arrived in Larne). I had to then walk 6 or 7 blocks to the ferry and by the time I arrived, I had just missed the early afternoon ferry and I then had to wait for the late afternoon ferry to make my trip across. This delay of 4 hours put the rest of my day completely out of whack. Instead of being able to get my bearings in Glasgow that afternoon, I didn't arrive until late (around 9 pm) and I was too tired to anything other than GO TO BED.

Walking down the street to the train/bus station in Belfast.

 

I had been told the night before to check out "The Crown Bar" as it is the oldest running pub in Belfast. I couldn't find it the night before, but I found it on my way to the bus station (it was right across from it, go figure)

Just outside the station (here is a look at the older part of Belfast)

Here is the bus station (I had to wait about 1 hour for my bus)
 

Here I am, walking down to the ferry in Larne (it was a pretty town and a very pretty day)

Another pretty street and you can see the sea in the background (at least I know I am going in the right direction).

And a pretty church (random picture)

A blurry picture of the ferry station (I was taking these with my camera phone)

Here is the ferry. It was not what I was expecting as they had a lot of seating, a couple of gift shops, a bar, a couple of restaurants and they played a movie on the ride over. The ride took a little over two hours and I didn't get sea sick (thank goodness). I wanted to go out and look at the water but I wasn't allowed so here are some pictures from the salt crusted windows.

The water

The biggest island that we passed.

And finally I arrived at Troon, Scotland where I had to again walk about a mile to get to the train station (dragging my suitcase the whole way there). Lucky for me, it was a lovely evening and I had some pretty scenery to look at along the way. I have to say that after that I was too tired to get any more pictures.

You can see the back of the ferry that I came across on.

Ahhhhhh, the SEA!!

The Long Walk



The train station is just up this hill and then I am on my way to Glasgow. 

HURRAY, I am in SCOTLAND!!!!