Tuesday, 30 May 2000 Aberdeen
Never thought driving could be so stressful. We taxied out to the Edinburgh Airport, a 21-pound job, to ride for more time to get our rental car. It’s an Accord and very nice.
Driving in Britain is very tiring. Obviously you have the left side stuff, but that doesn’t feel too bad, because the driver side on the right. It’s little stuff, like I curbed the left side several times, mainly because I couldn’t see it well. Roundabouts are hard too. You have to look right first, always. You take whatever your first chance is. Also, the rearview mirror is on the left too, which is not instinctual. We only had one really close call, but that was mainly because it is apparently all right to park anywhere on the road in Britain.
At any rate, we left Edinburgh and went to Dundee, where I got an English National Football Team jersey for the best price I’ve seen. I wonder if that’s because it was in Scotland. Heh.
We left Dundee and headed south to St. Andrews, where we picked up some golfing things for family, and a gold Celtic pendant for me, and we had lunch. We then headed north toward Aberdeen and Dunnottar. We hit a couple of rain showers and saw a rainbow over the North Sea. It was brilliant, so we decided to stop and take a picture. We pulled into a parking lot and realized that we were looking at the ruins of Dunnottar and past that the rainbow.
It was amazing. We shot 1 1/2 rolls of film there, the 36 exposure kind. Sheryl was like a kid in a candy shop and I was too. We were running at many places, seeing new things everywhere. It was incredible. Then we got caught in the rain and another rainbow showed up. Amazing.
2005 Note: In reading this again, I realized there's no real context for why we visited Dunnottar. My grandmother on my mom's side is from the Keith Clan, which owned this castle for a long time and so there was a family tie there. Also, Sheryl and I are deeply interested in Scottish history and castles as well, so Dunnottar wrapped all of this up together. Easily one of our favorite things in the whole trip.
We finally headed out and after driving all the way through Aberdeen, because our directions were screwed. We finally got to Bimini House and after eating dinner, crashed here in the room.
2005 Thoughts
Post Trip Thoughts
Day Thirteen
Day Twelve
Day Eleven
Day Ten
Day Nine
Day Eight
Day Seven
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One of the trip
Intro
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3 comments:
I am reading and enjoying Phil.
When I was in London with Harding in 1997, my mom came over for a week and we went up to Dean Castle in Kilmarnock, which is just outside of Glasgow. My mother's mother's family are the Boyds (our name is all over Chattanooga), and they were the Earls of Kilmarnock until the final Jacobite (Scottish) uprising of 1745, when the then Earl was captured and beheaded in the Tower of London. He was the last person executed at the Tower until WWI.
All of that to say that, if you know something of your family's history, it is REALLY cool to get to see the places you came from.
And, for what it's worth, my relative, the Earl of Kilmarnock, is a character in Diana Gabaldon's second book. :)
My husband is also a descendant of the Keith clan from Dunnottar Castle. I would love to have you pick up a copy of my Keith trilogy from Amazon.com. They include Dunnottar, Marylebone and Par for the Course. I envy you having actually been there. My husband is now disabled and in a wheelchair after losing his leg, so it is out of the realm of our possibility. It is a wonderful vision you have left me with with the rainbow behind the castle. Awesome!
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