Scotland Trip - April 1-7

Here is a brief chronicle of our first few days in Scotland. I'll post the rest later. All of the images here are clickable to the original uploaded size.

April 1-2

We left Washington, D.C. on Wednesday evening and landed in Amsterdam on Thursday morning. Since we had a seven hour layover in Amsterdam, a friend I have in Holland kindly agreed to show us around Amsterdam, even though she gets lost when she goes there. Linde met us at the airport and we took the train into the city. She told us that some people say that The Netherlands has more bikes than people and, by the amount of bikes I saw, I can believe it.



Rent your dam bikes here.



While walking around, we somehow managed to attract the attention of this crazy Rastafarian dude who insisted on posing for photos.

He spoke some weird mish-mash of Dutch, English, and Gibberish. Apparently I took enough photos to satisfy him so he wandered off. We then continued on.

Linde grudgingly agreed to take us to the Red Light District - she's such a good sport. It wasn't what I expected but I imagine the place really picks up around 10 PM, instead of 10:30 AM which was when we came by.

Me and Janet on a bridge over a canal in the Red Light District.



Me and Linde on the same bridge.



After quite a bit of walking, we were hungry and she took us to this restaurant that served pannenkoeken. The menu was in Dutch and since I couldn't read it, I let her order for us and she ordered these delicious mini-pancake things called poffertjes. After lunch, we headed back to the airport to catch our flight to Edinburgh.

After a quick hour flight, we landed in Edinburgh. We cleared immigration with no problem and picked up our rental car. Janet said that she wanted to drive and I wasn't going to protest. Construction in the parking lot resulting in incorrect signage compounded with lack of sleep had us trapped like rats in a maze. We finally asked for directions and found our way out of the rental car parking lot. I had Google directions printed out for all of our planned stopping points but Google didn't know that the road between the airport and Edinburgh City Center would be torn up for construction of a new tram. The diversions and unfamiliar road signs compounded Janet's stress of having to drive on the left side of the road on the right side of the car. We were almost at our bed & breakfast when I looked over at Janet and said "are you crying?" to which she sobbed a reply of "I'll be alright". She was worried she'd hit a pedestrian or a cyclist.

We made it to the B&B (Millers 64), which would be the most luxurious of the B&Bs we would stay at - heated bathroom floor, king-sized bed with pillow top, piping hot water and amazing water pressure in the shower, plus the best breakfast ever. One of the owners asked us what brought is to Scotland and we told her that we were getting married Wednesday. She congratulated us and when we returned from dinner, we found a present on our bed - a book about Scotland. This was our first of many experiences that highlighted the hospitality of the Scots.

We were tired and crashed. To quote Chuck Palahniuk: "Babies don't sleep this well."

April 3

After a delicious "full Scottish" breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, black pudding, mushrooms, tomatoes, and potato scones), we got revised driving directions from our hosts, loaded the car, and headed North to Inverness. On a whim, we decided to stop by the small town of Pitlochry and visit the Blair Athol Distillery.



Established in 1798, Blair Athol is one of the oldest working distilleries in Scotland. Actually, the original distillery that was founded on this location was called 'Aldour', after the Allt Dour burn that still provides the distillery with its water. Allt Dour is Gaelic and translates to "burn of the otter", which nicely explains the picture of an otter on the bottle's label.



This is the Allt Dour:


We took the tour, learned the "proper" way to drink whisky, bought a bottle of their 12 year whisky and a glass, and left.

We left the distillery and drove back the way we came, forgetting that there was no Northbound A9 access. We had to turn around and drive through Pitlochry. Before we reached the town, we stopped alongside the river to watch this guy for a bit.



Our timing was perfect because we watched him hook and land this monster:



Some Scandinavians had also stopped to watch him land the fish, They asked Janet what he was doing when they saw him doing this:



Janet explained that he was resuscitating the fish so he could release it. Apparently the concept of catch-and-release was unknown to them because they were asking her why on Earth would he do such a thing.

After seeing the fish released, we got back in the car and went on to Pitlochry. We stopped do some window shopping. Janet bought some tea towels from this place.



We got back in the car and continued the drive. As Janet drove, I admired the landscape. We eventually made it to Inverness and, after a few phone calls to our host requesting directions, located and checked into our B&B (Eilidh) which would be our base of operations until Monday morning. Eilidh had easily the best coffee of the whole trip - every morning the coffee was waiting for me and it wasn't instant!

After getting settled, we headed to the Highland Music Trust to meet with the folks that run it and purchase some books. We met Eric and Helen Allan and had tea at their house while we talked about the Trust and the state of traditional Highland music in Scotland today. Eric and Helen are absolutely wonderful people and the Trust visit was the springboard to several days of non-stop exposure to local music. Apparently traditional Highland music (and culture) is undergoing something of a Renaissance in Scotland as more and more young people are learning about the old ways and songs. It's really an amazing thing to witness.

Their home has a beautiful view of Inverness.



Afterwards, we headed back into town for dinner. While walking around downtown Inverness It hit me that I was truly in another place when I saw that below most signage was the Gaelic translation.



Walking past Inverness Castle, I saw the radiation trefoil carefully landscaped on the lawn. Hurray for nuclear power!

(OK, I know it's not supposed to be the trefoil -it's supposed to be a thistle, but c'mon, I had to say it.)

After dinner, we headed for Hootananny to get our live music fix. Our timing could not have been better because Schiehallion was playing. Schiehallion is probably the most popular local band in the area, and with good reason. They played a slew of traditional highland songs and the crowd sang and danced along.



Check out how he plays the bodhrán. He doesn't use the traditional beater but instead uses a porridge spurtle. Neat!



It was interesting to see people from their 20's up through the 60's dancing with each other, drinking together, and having a good time. That was something you don't see here.


(Yes, the photos suck. I know.)

Janet went and got us two beers. Some guy missing most of his teeth came up to me and asked me if I wanted to fight (I'm sure he was joking). I said no and he asked why not. I replied that I'm not a fighter. He said he was a fighter and he thought Americans were fighters. I told him I wasn't a fighter and then he introduced himself as "Ian. Ian MacLeod . Clan MacLeod. Do you have a clan?" I said no because I was Colombian. He seemed satisfied with that answer, probably because I wasn't English, then went off to dance.

Anxious to learn more about the local music scene, and possibly to drop off of Ian's radar, I went outside to ask one of the security guys about the local scene. He told me that the music scene was good and Hootananny was the best place for local music. He then told me he'd be playing fiddle on Sunday and said we should go. I said sure thing and went back inside to order another beer. The ensuing conversation with the bartender went like this:

Me: I'll have a Black Isle Wheat.

Bartender: (noticing I'm American) Whisky.

Me: No, I want a beer.

Bartender: No, you want a whisky.

Me: No, I'm pretty sure I want a beer.

Bartender: Whisky.

Me: I'll be back on Sunday. I'll have a whisky then.

Bartender: Good. I'll walk you through a bottle.

Me: OK

Me (walking away): What did I just agree to?

We finished out the evening talking to some local folks, all of whom were very friendly and told us that they were glad Bush was no longer President and wanted to know who we voted for.


April 4

Saturday was the Northern Roots Festival and as a surprise for Janet, I had signed her up for a Gaelic song writing workshop and a Gaelic language taster. She ended up being the only one who signed up for the song writing workshop so she was able to get more out of the experience than she thought.

After the workshops came the open mic portion of the festival. Janet sang an American folk song a capella and it was well received. The other musicians were great.

I'm a sucker for a female bass player. Rawr!



Janet with Fiona Mackenzie.


Janet with John Mitchell and Sofie Jonsson:



We stayed for the afternoon show then headed back to Inverness. Sofie and John had a gig that night at Hootananny so we drove them into town and said we'd come see them. Schiehallion was playing at Gellions so we went to go see them. They were LOUD and a lot of fun. When Janet went to order a beer, someone caught her American accent and bought us each a whisky to welcome us to Scotland. We ducked out a bit later to go see Sofie and John play. They put on a great show.


April 5

Oh God. Where to start.

We set out early and took the long walk into town which took us down to the Botanical Gardens, across the islands, and along the bank of the River Ness.

The Botanical Gardens.




While walking across the islands, we stumbled upon the monster of the River Ness sunning himself on the bank.


Oh noes! He grabbed Jeffrey!



Janet had to wrestle Jeffrey from the monster's jaws. The ensuing struggle went much like Gandolf versus the Balrog. In the end, she emerged victorious.



We reached the other side of the River Ness and followed the path towards downtown.


We walked around downtown for a while, window shopping and whatnot. It was way past lunchtime and we were hungry. Castle Tavern had roast beef, Yorkshire pudding with all the trimmings as their special of the day so we ate there for a late lunch/early dinner along with two pints and a whisky for dessert. We left as it was getting dark and I got this photo of Inverness Castle.



As we moved towards Hootananny, we walked past Gellions and saw Kenny, the lead singer for Schiehallion, come out. We made some small talk and he invited us in to Gellions but I told him that we were headed to Hootananny to see Nick play. He said he'd catch up with us later. Nick and his friends were amazing. All are in their early 20's and they just sat down and jammed.




The bartender saw me and remembered my promise and poured me a whisky. Fortunately he wasn't really going to walk me through a whole bottle. Whew! We hung out for a while and I had a few more pints of beer, trying the different local brews. Kenny came in and found us so we bought him a round.

Janet and Kenny.


He tells us we should go with him back to Gellions and we say sure. The bars close in 30 minutes so that's time for one more. We get there and go to the end of the bar and start chatting with some locals. Janet starts making fun of a guy drinking Budweiser - "we don't even drink that back home" was the gist of her argument to which he pointed at the label and said "says here it's the King of Beers". Turns out he was the owner and was a really nice, if quiet guy. Next thing I know, the band has stopped playing, everyone is gone except for our party, and we're still there. I think the term is "locked in". Anyhoo, after more pints, more whisky, and I think 3 rum and cokes (somehow they found out I like rum and started feeding me Cuban rum - tasty), we finally staggered out of the place and back to the B&B.

I don't remember taking this pic. It pretty much sums things up I think.




April 6

The worst hangover of my entire life and we have to go back to Edinburgh to pick up the kilts and our friends Kitty and J at the airport. We picked up the kilts, picked up our Kitty and J, and made it back to Inverness a little past midnight.

I am never drinking that much again. Never. Janet agreed to pretty much the same thing.

The infamous Gellions.


April 7

We had to get up early and be on the road before 8 so we could make it to Ullapool to catch the ferry to Stornoway. Apparently we were the only people staying at the hotel that night so breakfast went quickly. We piled four people and the accompanying luggage and kilts into the car and headed North. To say it was cramped would be an understatement. On the way to Ullapool, we drove through some amazing landscape but were pressed for time so we only paused long enough to get this pic.




As the ferry left Ullapool and headed into The Minch, we passed by some breathtakingly beautiful scenery to which my mediocre camera skills cannot do justice.




Once we were in open water, the seas got choppy and poor J didn't have much fun. Three hours later, we reached Stornoway. Stornoway is a small port town where it will be sunny for 10 minutes, the wind will blow hard for 5 minutes, it will rain for 5-10 minutes, the wind will blow, the skies will clear up and become sunny for 10 minutes, the wind will blow, rain, wind, sun, wash, rinse, repeat. Once I became accustomed to it, I rather enjoyed it. The people are friendly and the food delicious, especially the Stornoway black pudding. As the local signs indicate, a sizable portion of Isle Of Lewis's permanent residents speak Gaelic.




We ate lunch at a small restaurant/art gallery near the castle where I had some amazing smoked salmon. Outside of the restaurant are large wooden replicas of the King and Queen from the Lewis Chessmen.


(Incidentally, for Christmas last year Janet got me an Isle of Lewis chess set.)

After lunch I looked at the weather forecast for the next day - heavy rain in the morning. Oh noes!

After getting settled into the B&B, we met with our photographer who went over some ideas he had. Our initial plan was to have a friend of Kitty and J take photos but she had to cancel out so I was left scrambling at the last minute for a photographer. The photographer I found did a lot of footwork for us, including visiting the site and making sketches of shots he wanted to do. The shots came out great and if anyone ever needs a photographer on the Isle of Lewis or Harris, I can recommend someone.