Scotland

Although I live in Hong Kong and love it, I am a Canadian and as such if you ask me what the best country on earth is, I will naturally say Canada, but I am wondering if perhaps I will should start answering Scotland. Honestly it is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen. It has everything, fresh air, mountain peaks, green valleys, rolling hills and clear rivers and there is just something about the quality of the light. I can't quite describe it, it is crisp and soft at the same time. Maybe it has to do with its northern location but moderate weather. Regardless it is beautiful.

What makes Scotland even more beautiful is the people. Especially my friend, which was the reason for my visit. She may live in New Jersey, but Scotland is her home and while she was on a long break back we decided to meet up. After all it is almost the halfway point for us! A few days after arriving in Glasgow we went off to the Inverness area where we had rented a cottage on small farm in the village of Croy. The cottage was actually one of three made from a converted barn on their farm. It was perfect. Clean, comfortable and amazingly well equipped for a cottage rental. Our hosts were lovely and we also enjoyed the hospitality of their various animals. I have to say there is nothing like fresh eggs laid by happy hens!

We also had another friend from Hong Kong join us. She had never been there before and so we spent most of our days checking out all the things to see. One of the reasons we chose Inverness was to see Cawdor Castle, which I had missed on a previous trip. Our timing wasn't so good though. It was closed for the season! Not to worry. One thing Scotland has in abundance is castles, and we managed to visit a few good ruins. Namely Spynie, Duffus and Urquhart. I have to be honest. I love castles! One ruin may be much like the other, but to me it doesn't matter. I am very happy to spend my days crawling around castle ruins. 

You just never know what treats you may find...... I hope William & Sylvie had long and happy lives. 

William McQueen & Sylvie Elgin, July 1709 x

We also enjoyed visiting a couple of old Abbeys. But what I found more interesting than the Abbeys is the graveyards around them. Every single marker has a story to tell and mostly we will never know a single word of it.

I just have to wonder, what was this person like in life? What was their story? I will never know but I have to wonder, if I stayed long enough and listen hard enough will I hear a whisper or two? 

We spend a lot of time just driving around the area and even though I was using a GPS, I still managed to make a couple of wrong turns. One such turn brought us to see these beautiful swans in a small loch. They were not bothered by us at all and we were able to get right up to them. 

Of course all holidays must have a bit of the unexpected and running into these fellows while on a walk was certainly unexpected! 

Finally, if you have ever wondered what is down that road? I urge you to turn off your GPS and take a look! You never know what you may find. That is what we did and we were treated to an amazing old Gaelic Church while driving around the Black Isle. I loved it. It was old and slowly nature was reclaiming it and to me it was one of the highlights of the trip. And if we hadn't wondered what was down there, we never would have seen it. 

Thank you my friend for a lovely holiday!