Coming Home

Written Friday, June 8, 2012

No, I’m not referring to returning to the United States (although we do that tomorrow) but to “coming home” to the MacLean family castle on the Isle of Mull, Duarte Castle!

For the past 4 days we have been travelling with our tour company, Highland Experience, traveling about the Highlands of Scotland and the beautiful Isle of Skye.  Thursday night landed us in the charming seaport town of Oban, capital of the West Highlands.  Had we known what Oban was like before booking the tour, we would’ve just come here!!  The harbor is dotted with sailboats, and several islands lie to the west with the Caledonian McBryane ferries running out to them daily.

We decided to depart our tour and not return with them to Glasgow on Friday, but rather spend the day in Oban, taking the ferry over to the Isle of Mull where the Duart Castle, ancestral home of the Clan MacLean guards the sound of Mull.

The diversion was well worth it!  The castle has been restored and welcomes members of the MacLean family by having them sign in a special guest book.  It is a beautiful and strategic setting.  I was surprised to find myself tearing up as we walked onto the grounds; something about “coming home” to the place where my ancestors once lived, fought and died.

Dad had researched the MacLean ancestry back to “Neil of Ross”.  According to the records at Duart Castle, Neil was the son of Lachlan Bronneach MacLean, son of Red Hector, son of Lachlan Lubenach who came into possession of Duart Castle and the Isle of Mull when he married Mary MacDonald whose father was the Lord of the Isles; Duart was her dowry, a wedding gift.

Photos:  https://picasaweb.google.com/115996157298123378187/DuartCastleIsleOfMull?authkey=Gv1sRgCOrp1L_VyOilDg

Show Me the Way to Another Whisky Bar...

In Drumnadroichet ("drum-nah-dra-kit"), we stayed at the Fiddlers Inn B&B.  Our room was over the restaurant and bar.  This is the first Whisky Bar I've ever been to.  The owner is a scotch whisky afficionado.  There must be over 300 types of Scotch here.  It was very impressive.  After dinner we treated ourselves to a sampling of 3 "front shelf" scotches - a Glenfiddich 18, Maccallan 15, and Old Puteney 17.  The Fiddich and Maccallan were from the Speyside region, the Puteney from the Highlands.  My fav was the Puteney - quite a nostril flarer!

Highlands and Islands

We started our tour of the Scottish Highlands and Islands yesterday (Monday).  We are on a small coach (16 passenger) along with a couple from Australia, a couple from Vancouver B.C., a girl from China, and a family from Delhi, India and our driver Allen.  We left Glasgow yesterday and drove up through the lands of the Duke of Athol (very beautiful), visited the town of Dunkeld (Scotland's capital when MacBeth was King), the Hermitage (a national park), Pittlochry (charming town), the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore, through the capital of the Highlands - Inverness - before settling for the night in the "wee" town of Drumndroichet (pronounced "drum-dra-kit") for the night.  Population 800 not far from Loch Ness (Lake Ness) and its economy dependent upon tourists tramping the area hoping to catch of view of "Nessie", the Lochness Monster.

First, a little about the food here in Scotland.  There have been a lot of "pies" in Ireland and Scotland, but we were very excited to find that Scotland offers fish pies since we don't eat meat.  We had a delicious Haddock and Leek pie for lunch yesterday - fresh chunks of haddock in a buttery cream sauce with a bit of leek for seasoning, topped with mashed potatoes - very yummy.  Last night we dined on a fresh Salmon fillet served over a bowl of "cuillen" - also a creamy fish stew, this one made with haddock, but usually made with "skink", another local fish.

Beer is getting better here in the Highlands - we had Nessie Monster Mash, a heavy sweet stout, Punk IPA (actually tastes similar to New Belgium Ranger), a red ale, and Fraoch Heather Ale.

The scenery has been gorgeous.....

Impressions of Glasgow

Glasgow is a BIG city with many impressive and imposing stone buildings (gothic architecture?).  It is a modern city with  a European feel to it.  There are so many restaurants and shops in the city centre from high end to common.   We had to laugh about “Poundland” – the UK equivalent to the Dollar Tree!!  There are many familiar food chains here including McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC,  and Starbucks.

We are staying at yet another Jurys Inn (this is the 4^th one including Dublin, Galway, and Belfast).  The hotel chain is consistent, the rooms are clean, beds comfortable.  They get a 3-star rating and are placed in city centres throughout Europe.  I would agree with the rating.  Our travel agent booked us with full breakfast at each place we stay; I wouldn’t recommend it to another.  The Jury’s buffet breakfasts are boringly consistent – scrambled eggs, beans in tomato sauce, bacon/sausage, fruit (usually stewed, sometimes fresh), and toast.  In Ireland they had porridge and croissants but not in Scotland.  Each city centre has many pastry and breakfast shops that probably offer a better meal for less money.

We found our “pub” in Glasgow last night just next to the hotel, just ½ block from the River Clyde (which our room overlooks).  MacSorleys is a beautiful old establishment, has a laid back feel, serves food, and has music usually most nights (but not on Sunday).  We will be here next Friday night again so we will probably go and listen to that night’s band.

Beer here is Scotland is not any better than Ireland.  Rick is thinking of giving up drinking beer altogether.  Drinking beer here is the equivalent of wearing a nicotine patch to stop smoking!

But there’s a fine selection of Scotches….

A Word About Beer

Now that we are on our way out of Ireland I feel I can safely comment on the beer in Ireland.  We've heard that Guinness tastes better in Ireland than anywhere else.  This is true and I will tell you why - it's because in Ireland it is probably the best tasting compared to what others you can get.  Your other choices will be Smythwick's, Stella Artois, Budweiser, Carlsberg, Heinekin, and Tuborg.  All pathetically light and flavorless piss water beers.  Occasionally you will come across Murphy's Irish Stout (which is better than Guiness in our opinion) or Kilkenny (a creamy topped slightly red ale, also better than Guinness) but it is an exception.  We've come to the conclusion that if we stayed in Ireland, we'd probably give up drinking beer.  The whiskey is pretty good though.....

Take the Last Train to Belfast

Actually, it wasn't the last train... it was the first train I've ever been on (aside from the Napa Valley Wine Train).  It was a real train on real train tracks, not like BART that floats magnetically.  I always thought I would like a train ride and find it relaxing and good to sleep on.  So it was not surprising to find myself nodding off to the rhythmic clunking of the wheels along the track in the mid afternoon.  The countryside up from Dublin to Belfast was beautiful, some of the route was along the coast before the tracks cut inland to Portadowns then up to Belfast.

https://picasaweb.google.com/115996157298123378187/TheTrainToBelfast?authkey=Gv1sRgCKeqlpicrquMaA

Anchors Away!

Greetings from the Stena Line Super Ferry, Port of Belfast.  We are just about to embark on our journey across the Irish Sea to Scotland, destination Glasgow.  They have just finished announcing what we are supposed to do should the emergency signal be sounded!  Visions of Titanic….

This is the largest ferry Rick or I have ever been on.  It’s like a small cruise ship.  There is free WiFi, free computer access, free movie, a spa, shopping, restaurants, bars, and even child rec rooms.  The  crossing will take about 2 hours 22 minutes.

The bow thrusters are starting up and the dock is moving away…..

Photos:

https://picasaweb.google.com/115996157298123378187/FerryFromBelfastToCairnryanScotland?authkey=Gv1sRgCJr-laXt_aW8QQ#5749760833716298146

Southwest Coast Beauty

May 31, 2012

Our next overnight was Killarney. 3 hours to the east/north of Kilkenny, but we took our time getting them driving south from Kilkenny, skirting around Cork, then down to the southern seaside areas.  We had lunch in the small harbor town of Balitmore which is a yachting/sailing holiday destination for the Irish, then made our way up the southwestern coast and the Caha Mountains.  This part of Ireland has a rugged wild beauty to it, the best scenary so far.  Killarney was a fun city; if you ever get there, have dinner at The Smoke House.  It specializes in fresh local seafood.  We had the monkfish (Fish to Share) and it was SO good!

Photos of the journey:

https://picasaweb.google.com/115996157298123378187/ToKillarneyThroughBaltimoreAndKenmare?authkey=Gv1sRgCP20ueW8093e-wE

Kicking about Kilkenny and Irish Politics

We spent a kick-back day on the 30^th in Kilkenny with Joe and Lisa; Lisa and I wandering about the charming little town doing some shopping, Joe and Rick comfortably planted in one of the many local pubs, engaging in lively political conversation with some of the locals.  On Thursday the 31^st, the citizens of the Republic of Ireland were voting on whether to agree with the European Union’s ideas about fiscal control of its member countries.  Joel, one of the locals whom we had discussion with, explained to us that in other EU countries their Parliaments make that decision for them, but in Ireland the people still have the vote.  We say many signs about the country about this campaign – “NO to Austerity”, “YES to Stability”.  The folks we talked with in Billy Boynes’ Pub in Kilkenny were “NO”; but traveling on farther south and then to the west, we found more “YES” people.  As it turned out, the YES’s won so Ireland will continue to submit itself to the EU’s plans for controlling the amount of debt its members can accrue (trying to avoid what has happened with Greece).

Motoring Madness

For the last 3 days we’ve been driving Ireland in a bright red manual transmission Mini Cooper.  Fun little car; however, something to consider if you/we ever “hire” a car again in Europe – GET THE NARROWEST CAR POSSIBLE!!!  The roads are incredibly narrow and  sharing them with trucks and tour buses can get pretty dicey at times.  Advice for the person in the passenger side (which over here is the right side) – keep your elbows inside, otherwise you risk injury from the hedges encroaching your space as you veer into them to avoid the oversized “caravan” (RV) which takes up their lane and a third of yours!!  Another thing about driving in Irreland – directions are very vague.  So far, every hotel or guest house that we’ve stayed at aside from the one the airport transport deposited us at, has been a challenge to find.  There doesn’t seem to be any street signs here (except in Dublin).  Addresses are vague  - just the town name if a small town, or “city centre”.  We have come to expect a “CF” (cluster fuck) everytime we roll into a new town looking for our hotel or guest house.