September 17 - On Our Way to the Highlands

Getting prepared

Woke to another blue sky day, though, as it turns out, that was not going to last.  We bid farewell to the Hotel Caledonia and piled into a cab and made our way to the airport to pick up our cars.  We had originally intended the four of us to travel together in one vehicle, but because we part paths midway through the trip, Casey and Alison for London, Rick and I for the Isle of Skye, it was just easier if we each rented our own vehicle.

I must admit, I approached our driving through Scotland with great trepidation.  Not only does one drive on the left ("proper") side of the street, and not only does one drive from the right side of the car, the streets are extremely narrow, there are those ungodly roundabouts Europeans love so much (seriously, try going around a roundabout in the opposite direction - it is enough to scramble the mind), and I was extremely concerned about how to control one's automatic driving reactions in situations requiring quick thinking.

Railroad Bridge of Forth

 Rick was far less anxious about it than me, thank goodness, since he was driving.   However, I didn't help matters much with my own automatic responses of gasps, clutching the door, and stamping on the break every time I felt like we were going fly into a barrier when a large vehicle careened around a corner, half on our side.  It was not encouraging to see signs saying "Oncoming vehicles in the middle of the road."   Apparently Alison had similar reactions of her own and both men were ready to set us out on the road if we didn't reign in our terror.
Despite the driving challenges posed by both the road, other drives, and their neurotic wives, Rick and Casey managed to get us safely out of Edinburgh, accross the Bridge of Forth, and up into the area known as Fife, without incident.

The cellars

Dunfermline Palace

In Firth we visited the the Dunfermline Abbey and Palace, an impressive compound, established in the 11th century by King Malolm III and St. Margartet.  Most of what was constructed was built by their son David I, and Robert the Bruce, arguably a greater patriot and Scotland leader than Sir William Wallace.  Many of the Scottish kings are buried here.

How'd they do that?

Alison in a tight squeeze

We explored the remains of the palace, adjacent to the abbey, where you could see evidence of various reconstructions employing differing techniques and materials.  We puzzled over how they were able to construct the archways and domes, especially without the use of a keystone.  Most impressive was the cellar, with its columned a domed interior.  From there we climbed a narrow, narrow, narrow, (did I say narrow? - we were worried that Casey at 6'4" might not fit) stairway and made our way to the Abbey.  There we also saw evidence of different construction techniques and materials used through the ages.  The Catholic church experience much damage and destruction during the 16th century Protestant Reformation movement, but it is still impressive.

Dunfermline Church

From Dunfermline Abbey, we headed west, northwest towards our final desitnation of the day, Loch Lommand and the Trossachs National Park.  We had intended to stop at Stirling Castle, but due to the late hour, we decided that it would be better to proceed on so that we would have time to sightsee in the Park.  After taking a quick bite in the town of Callander, one of the many gateway communities to the Park, we procced into the Park taking the long route, heading north along Loch (Lake) Lubnaig, turning west near the town of Killin, then proceeding south along the west side of the Parks largest Loch, Loch Lommand.

The Scottish concept of a Park is much different from that of the United States.  In US parks there is no commercial material resource extraction, agriculture, large utility lines, or development other than at select locations and, even then, it is extremely small and controlled.  All of these things were prevalent in this National Park.  Upon further digging I discovered that the the Park was established  in 2002, long after much of the develoment I witnessed occurred and that the Park's mission is to "promote the enjoyment of the area and support the economic and social interests of the local community" a little different from our own Park's mission which is primarily to preserve the integrity of the ecosystems and limit human manipulation to the extent possible.  We later learned that most of the park is privately held by the Calquhoun Clan and that, over time, the Scottish government hopes to purchase this land.  In the meantime, restriction have been put into place to limit further development.

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Hotel Cameron, A Victorian Estate

View from Room - Promising Better Weather?

Unfortunately the weather gods were not in a kindly mood and from lunch on, it pretty much dumped on us.  Between the lousy weather and the challenging driving conditions, we were unable to see much, and were just happy to get to our hotel, the Cameron House, a beautiful Victorian Baronial Estate on the banks of Loch Lomond, at around 5:00 pm.  Perhaps the rainbow I saw from my hotel room portends a better weather day tomorrow?  Regardless, we'll be ready one or the other!  After a delicious meal in the Cameron Grill, the boys had Scotland raised beef, a leaner form of beef than what you typically find in the US (think bison), Alison had Lobster Thermador, and I had pasta with blue cheese and morels.  After lingering over after dinner drinks, we decided to call it a day a get a good night's sleep in preparation for another day of car touring.