Experiencing History

Experiencing History Inverness, United Kingdom

Inverness, United Kingdom

This morning started with another great breakfast at Ardconnel House. I decided to take the leap and tried the haggis. It was okay. Not bad, but not very appealing either.

Today we got to learn about and experience a lot of different aspects of Scottish history.

Clava Cairns

Clava Cairns is a prehistoric burial site that is about 4,000 years old. It contains 3 rocks cairns, or piles of stones. The two cairns on the end were passage graves, meaning there was a passage in the rocks to the center of the cairn, and was originally covered over. Both entrance passages were aligned so that their openings lined up with the setting sun at the winter solstice. The central cairn was a ring cairn, which had an open center, but no passage to it. All three cairns were surrounded by a circle of 12 standing stones.

Not much is known about the people who built the cairns, but there are similar structures all over Scotland. And there were only one or two people buried in each cairn, so they were likely people of importance.

The cairns were located in the middle of an open, wooded clearing, and I could really feel how ancient they were. The whole time I kept thinking about the Outlander books, which both my Mom and I have read. The first few are based in Scotland, and the main character is a woman from the WWII era who goes through a portal in time at some standing stones near Inverness. She ends up 200 years in the past, and gets embroiled in the events of the time. So Mom and I took a couple pictures at the standing stones, acting like we were getting sucked through a portal in time!

Nearby, we also visited the Culloden Moor Viaduct, a train trestle built from the local stone. It was very beautiful, and we got to see a train going over it!

Cawdor Castle

Cawdor Castle is still lived in by the Dowager (i.e. window) Countess of Cawdor, a local branch of the Campbell family. It’s famous from the play Macbeth, which took place in Inverness. The castle itself isn’t in the play, but the three witches predict that Macbeth will be granted the title “Thane of Cawdor.” Interestingly, Macbeth was actually a real person, however Cawdor Castle didn’t exist until 300 years later.

The castle was originally a four-story tower house, built around 1400, with the entrance on the second floor. A wooden stairway could be pulled up, making it very defensible from attack. There was even a trap door inside the main entrance, so that unfriendly neighbors could be dropped into the dungeon below.

There’s an interesting legend that the location of the castle was chosen by a donkey, who leaned against a particular holly tree. The Castle was then built around the holly tree, which we saw a replica of in the dungeon.

We were able to tour the inside of the castle, but we weren’t allowed to take pictures. So I don’t remember much, except that it definitely looked lived in. And there were also some amazing gardens outside the castle.

Culloden Battlefield

WARNING: this section is very detailed, because I want to remember what I learned.

Unless you’ve read the Outlander books, you may not have heard of the Battle of Culloden (cuh-LAW-den). But it was very important in the history of Scotland, and was in fact the last major battle on British soil in 1746.

Our visit started in a very well-done museum. We learned about the events leading up to the battle, and the battle itself, from both the Scottish and English side.

The roots of the battle start almost a century before with Charles II, king of both Scotland and England, of the Stuart line. His niece Mary was married to the Protestant William of Orange. When Charles died, his brother James, who had converted to Catholicism, became king. James soon had a son, also named James, and the English decided they didn’t want a Catholic dynasty. So William & Mary took the throne shortly after young James was born, in 1689.

James and his son fled to France. But many in Scotland still thought him the rightful king. The supporters of the Stuarts were known as Jacobites, from the Latin from of James, Jacobus. There was a first Jacobite rising in 1715, in support of James’ son, known as James The Prentender. But if failed.

A second Jacobite rising began in 1745 under the direction of James the Pretender’s son, Charles Edward Stuart, a.k.a. Bonnie Prince Charlie. He sailed to Scotland and gathered support from the clans. Most were highlanders, but he also had support from Scottish lowlanders, Irish, and French.

At the time, most of the English army was in Belgium, fighting a war in Europe. So Bonnie Prince Charlie raised an army and marched all the way to Edinburgh, taking control of the city. He soon fought a battle with the English army at the nearby Prestonpans and soundly defeated them.

Bonnie Prince Charlie’s advisers wanted to stay in Edinburgh, to gather support, but the Prince wanted to continue marching on England, expecting to find more support there. But they found none as they continued to march South. When they got within 6 days march of London, the Prince finally started listening to his advisers and turned back to Scotland. They knew there were two English armies behind them, and feared a third army in London. But in fact, there wasn’t much of an army in London and they could have easily taken the city. Instead, they retreated to Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, the English had recalled troops from Belgium, to help them squash Bonnie Prince Charlie and his army. And they had retaken Edinburgh.

Charlie listened to his advisers once again, and decided to retreat to the highlands, and regroup until the spring. So his army retreated back towards Inverness. But they were getting very low on supplies and food.

As the English marched towards Inverness, Charlie’s advisers recommended retreat. But Charlie knew they were desperately low on supplies and food, and wanted to end the hostilities. So he ordered a night march to surprise the enemy camp. But his army was so tired and hungry and they didn’t make it in time and had to turn back.

And so it was, on the morning of April 16, 1746, that Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army waited at Culloden for the English to arrive. They were tired and hungry, while the English were well-rested and well-fed. Both sides lined up in long lines, facing each other. The previous Jacobite victories had been a result of the ferocious highland charge, with their line rushing up to the English so fast that the English could only give off one round of gunfire. On this day, however, the left side of the Jacobite army was mired in a bog, and the rest forced to veer right due to the terrain. So instead of the entire lines meeting at the same time, the Jacobites met the English at one point, in a long trailing line. This allowed the English to slaughter the Jacobites, and they were defeated in less than an hour. Over 1,200 Jacobites lost their lives, compared to 50 English. And it didn’t end there. The English chased the retreating Jacobites and slaughtered as many more as they could.

To prevent any further Scottish uprising, the English government tried to completely suppress the Scottish culture, They banned the wearing of weapons, kilts and tartans, and bagpipes. They stripped the clan chiefs of their legal powers, and Jacobite estates were given to the English.

Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped from the battle alive, fleeing first to the outer islands of Scotland, being hidden by the many Jacobite supporters. Eventually he escaped to France, never to return to Scotland. And Scotland has been a part of Britain ever since. The highland military tradition did survive, as they were welcomed into the British army. And helped Britain become a dominant world power over the next century. But many Scottish also immigrated to North America as well, in particular Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia (literally, “New Scotland”).

So after the museum, we went outside to walk the Culloden Battlefield. It was raining, for the first time on our trip, and I was glad to have my big golf umbrella from St. Andrews. We got an audio guide that explained even more about the battle. The battlefield was basically a vast moor and boggy in places. We started at the British end of the battlefield, which was on high ground and had a great view of the surrounding area. The Scottish end of the battlefield was on low ground and even boggier and more uneven terrain. It was very sobering, imagining all the soldiers that faced that view, marched into the unknown, and were slaughtered.

Inverness

We actually made it back to Inverness before suppertime, and it was our last night there. So we decided to walk around a bit. The city is located on the River Ness, which empties out of Loch Ness and flows seven miles to the sea. Our B&B was on top of a bluff beside the river. We first walked down to the main street of the town, then out and across the river. Then we walked back along the river.

We had been thinking about finding a place to see some traditional music that night. And we did find a couple. We tried to eat at one, but it was all reserved. So we ended up at a place called Lauder’s Pub. This was a real local pub, but plenty big. I got the sausage & mash but it wasn’t great. We all got extremely tired and decided we didn’t want to stay up for any music (it wasn’t starting until 9 pm). Dad and I stayed for a second beer, while Mom went back to the B&B to blog. On our way back, there was a bagpipe group playing in the center of town, so we stopped to watch. It was very cool. On the next song, the bagpipes were joined by a couple of local girls, who were doing a highland dance. We stayed for a couple more songs, but then they were done for the day.

I wished they had kept playing longer, because I was plenty awake while listening. But it was another hour until the music in the pubs would start. And there was no way I would make it that long. So we just went back to the B&B and I passed out again.

Hiking the Cairngorms

Hiking the Cairngorms Inverness, United Kingdom

Inverness, United Kingdom

We started our day with a wonderful Scottish breakfast in the lovely breakfast room of our B&B. I had some muesli to start, and then we got to order a hot breakfast. Mom’s order included blood pudding, and Dad got the haggis, but I was too tired to be so adventurous. I just got scrambled eggs, bacon, and a potato scone. I had heard about the potato scones in Scotland, so I was excited to see what they were. It was basically flat and pancake-like, but I guess had potatoes in it? It’s hard to describe how it tasted, except I liked it. A lot.

We spent the day in the Cairngorm Mountains, just a 30 minute drive south of Inverness. It was a beautiful day, with bright blue skies and sunshine! We went through the village of Aviemore and then up to a funicular that goes up the Cairngorms. It’s the longest and tallest funicular in the UK. But unfortunately it was a bit of let down. It doesn’t go all the way to the top. You can walk to the top, but only on a guided walk, and we got there too late to do that. So we weren’t even allowed to leave the building at the top of the funicular. And the views weren’t that great. We could only see the plain at the base of the mountains.

While in the gift shop at the top, we found a mini-hiking guide for the area, and we found a trail that sounded good. It was a 5 mile hike, up 500 meters to the top of Meall a’ Bhuachaille, a small hill that we could see from the top of the funicular.

There was also a restaurant at the top, and we decided to get a snack for our hike. We all got some caramel shortbread, and I got a bottle of Irn Bru (pronounced “iron brew”). It’s an extremely popular soft drink in Scotland. It actually used to be named “Iron Brew”, but some law was passed saying a beverage couldn’t be called a “brew” unless it was actually brewed. So the owners changed the spelling of both parts of the name.

After we went back down the funicular, it was a short drive to the Glenmore visitor center, where our hike started. I got a better map, and we were soon on our way! The hike started in the forest, but we were soon out in open moorland, with a great view of our destination, and lots and lots of heather! Soon we were on top of the mountain ridge, where it got pretty windy, and eventually made our way to the top. The views were spectacular.

We all had our caramel shortbread, which was very good. And I tried the Irn Bru. It was orange-colored, but nothing like orange soda in the US. It tasted like bubble gum, with a slightly bitter aftertaste. It was a little weird at first, but I liked it!

We soon continued our hike, down the other side of the hill, with more spectacular views of the Cairngorm mountains and lots more heather. When we got to the bottom there was a cute little cabin at the intersection with another trail. And then we headed back to the visitor center, on what we thought would be a fairly level trail. It was, at first. We walked through some beautiful meadows, then by a small lock. And then we had a choice of two trails to take back. The hiking guide had said to take the blue trail, so we went that way. It looked promising, at first, but soon we were heading straight up a mountain side. I kept hoping it was just a short ascent, but alas, it was not. Our legs and feet were already very tired, and this felt a little like torture. And it seemed to go on forever. But finally we reached an old logging road that was a gentle descent the rest of the way. But it still took forever to get back.

It was about 6 pm by the time we got back to the car, so we headed back to Inverness and decided to go back to the Castle Tavern, to have dinner this time. I got the steak and ale pie, which was good, but took forever to cool down because it was covered by a huge pastry. And we had more beer, of course! The waitress let us try a few different kinds, and I found a cask ale that I really liked. Although I don’t remember the name of it. It was so good that I had to have a second one!

It was about 9 pm by the time we got back to the B&B, and I was exhausted, so I just passed out again.

Walking the Links

Walking the Links Inverness, United Kingdom

Inverness, United Kingdom

We had measly breakfast of a croissant with jam and butter on the plane. Stupid United Airlines. And we arrived almost an hour late, about 10 am GMT. But we made it to Scotland! And as we were landing we had a great view of the Firth of Forth, an estuary of the River Forth, including a beautiful red train bridge, and the highway bridge we would be driving over later.

The Edinburgh airport was fairly small, and it was very fast getting through customs and picking up our bags. Then it was a looooong walk to the rental car building. We had made a reservation through Europcar, and they actually had an ingenious waiting system. Instead of just standing in a line forever, they had a touch-screen machine where you entered your name, and it gave you a number. Then you just waited for your number to be called.

Thankfully Europcar wasn’t too busy, so we didn’t have to wait too long to be helped (probably ~10 minutes). But it ended up taking about 45 minutes total before we were on our way. I don’t know why it takes rental car companies so long to get you a car. Actually, I do. It’s because they don’t really have anything from your reservation other than your name. So they have to enter all your information into their system. Plus, they have to try and upsell you on the car and insurance. Thankfully, I had just gotten Expedia’s credit card which comes with travel insurance. So for once, we didn’t have to buy the expensive car rental insurance in Europe! Unfortunately, the guy asked if the insurance covered collision and theft, and I didn’t know. But thankfully, he actually called my credit card company for me, and let me ask. And it covered both! The rental car guy was actually one of the friendliest I’ve ever dealt with, and we laughed a lot while it was taking so long. So it didn’t feel that long to us. Except for Mom, who was sitting and waiting for Dad and I (who would both be driving).

It was a short walk from the rental car counter to our car, which was another small white car, a Kia Ceed, similar to what Mom and I had driven in Ireland 4 years ago. We had opted for an automatic car, and it was a good thing we only had 3 people because the trunk was kinda small. We had to put my suitcase on the floor of the backseat, and fill the 4th seat with other stuff.

I took the first shift driving and it was really weird at first, driving on the left side of the road! I’d done it before in Ireland, and thankfully it came back pretty quickly. Plus, we only had to navigate a couple of roundabouts before getting on the highway. Unfortunately we wasted a bunch of time because the highway signs were confusing. We thought we took a wrong, so we turned around to go back the right way. However, the right way turned out to be the wrong way, and we had actually made the correct turn the first time. So we had to turn around again. But eventually we got our bearings, and headed north across the bridge over the Firth of Forth, and then on to St. Andrews.

If you’re not a golf fan, you’ve probably never heard of St. Andrews. But it’s the birthplace of golf. The first record of golf ever being played is at the Old Course in St. Andrews in 1553. In fact, the reason that a golf course has 18 holes is because that’s all that would fit on the Old Course! When we’d originally planned the trip, I really had no desire to go to St. Andrews at all. We were planning to drive up to Inverness today, and stopping in St. Andrews would turn our 3 hour drive into a 4 hour drive. Which is a lot for our first day in Europe, with not much sleep the night before.

However, I actually went to the US Open golf tournament in June, when it was at Chambers Bay an hour away from Seattle. And it was such an amazing experience that I instantly became a very big golf fan (I’d just been a casual fan the couple years before that). And I didn’t realize until afterwards that the British Open golf tournament was going to be at St.Andrews in July of this year. “The Open”, as they call it everywhere but the US, rotates between five different golf courses in the UK, and it just happened to be at St. Andrews this year. So after the US Open my Dad and I decided that we’d really like to go. Especially when we found out the course is closed to play on Sundays, but open for anyone to walk. And our first day in Scotland was a Sunday!

You may also have heard of St. Andrews if you’re a fan of the British royals. It’s where Prince William and Kate met, at Scotland’s most important university, St. Salvator’s College.

So it took about an hour to drive to St. Andrews. Shortly before we got there, we decided to try using the GPS in our car. It was funny because the rental car guy had asked us if we wanted GPS, and we said no because we had a good atlas. But it turned out our car had it anyway. So we got it without having to pay for it! And that turned out to be a very good thing. It made navigating the city of St. Andrews very easy, which would have been much more difficult with only an atlas.

After finding a car park next to the Old Course, we went to the first hole and started walking the course. We were surprised to find that most of the bleachers from The Open were still up. They were just starting to tear down one of the bleachers on the first hole.

We ended up walking the entire 18 hole course, which took a lot longer than I thought it would. But it was magical! Especially since we had just watched The Open on TV a month ago. They’d actually had some horrendous weather during the The Open, with a lot of rain and wind so bad they had to suspend play for about a whole day. Thankfully the weather wasn’t too bad for us. It was a little windy and a little chilly, but there was no rain and even a little sunshine now and then.

On the course, we were surprised by how hilly it was. Overall it was extremely flat, but there were lots of slopes and bumps throughout the course and greens. But that’s because it’s a links course, one that is in an area of coastal dunes. The sandy soil supports fescue grasses that create a very firm surface. And the grass was very short even in the fairways! There really wasn’t much of a difference between the fairways and greens. And the greens were huge! Most of the holes share a green with each other. Basically, the first nine holes all go in a straight line, and the second nine come back right next to them. During The Open, many players would actually hit the ball into the opposite fairways.

My Mom and I were very surprised when our fitbits vibrated while we were on the 14th hole. That meant we’d already walked 10,000 steps for the day!

My favorite part of the Old Course was the 17th and 18th holes. The 17th hole is the Road Hole, because most of the fairway and green are right beside a stone wall and road that is in play. It’s probably the most famous hole in all of golf, and is considered the hardest hole in all of golf. That’s because when players tee off, they have to aim over a building that is part of the Old Course Hotel. It was so surreal to be there just having seen it on TV so much.

The 18th hole is famous for the Swilcan Bridge, which goes over a very small burn (creek) that runs through the 1st and 18th fairways. Players have to walk over the bridge on their way to the final green, which is surrounded by the picturesque buildings of St. Andrews. There are many famous pictures of pro golfers on that bridge, so of course we had to get our pictures taken there! Dad even did the famous Jack Nicklaus pose, with one foot on the edge of the bridge and one hand waiving at the camera.

By the time we finished walking the course it was 2:30 pm already. We stopped in a couple gift shops and I bought a big golf umbrella and some golf balls from The Open (to go with my golf balls from the US Open). There was actually a lot more to see in St. Andrews – St. Salvator’s College, a castle, and the ruins of a cathedral. But we didn’t really have time. So we just did a quick walk through the town. We passed a church where a bagpiper was playing, and we passed a guy in a kilt. So we definitely started to feel like we were in Scotland! But our main destination was to get some food. We had fish & chips at Cromars, and I wasn’t that impressed because it didn’t come with any tartar sauce.

We were starting to get tired by this point and actually wished we were staying in St. Andrews that night. We would have been able to see the rest of the town and not have to drive any more that day. Instead, we had to drive 3 more hours to get to Inverness. So we went back to the car and headed on our way.

I kept driving, but after about 30 minutes I started to get extremely sleepy. So I asked Dad to take over. Thankfully the road had lots of “laybys”, places to pull over and park. And Dad was awake enough to drive the rest of the way. After a while the drive started to get more scenic as we went through the Cairngorm mountains. They were bare and rugged, and we got our first couple glimpses of lochs in the distance.

And before we knew it, we were approaching Inverness. It was a very good thing we had the GPS, because Dad missed the not-very-well-signed exit from the highway. So we just got off at the next exit and the GPS re-routed us to our destination. Although we had to go through the narrow back streets of Inverness, and even went the wrong way once.

But we finally made it to Ardconnel House B&B. It was one of many stone houses all in a row, and it seemed like B&B row because there were several other B&B’s. We had to park on the street fairly close by, but easily rolled our luggage to Ardconnel. We were greeted by John, one of the B&B hosts, and he helped take our bags up to our rooms all the way on the third floor. There wasn’t an elevator, of course. I was in a single room by myself, and it was tiny. But that was fine, it was decorated well, and all I really needed was a comfortable bed.

John gave us a handy map of Inverness and recommended a couple places to eat if we were hungry. We weren’t, but we wanted to go out and have a pint, so John suggested the Castle Tavern. It was very picturesque, and opposite the Inverness Castle. They only had seats open outside on a bench, which was fine with us because it wasn’t too chilly outside.

I got my first lesson in cask ales, which are very popular in the UK right now. It’s beer that is unfiltered and served at room temperature from a cask without any added nitrogen or carbon dioxide for pressure. I tried a Belhaven’s Best, which Dad recommended from their trip last year (Mom & Dad had visited Edinburgh last year on a group tour to the UK). I actually didn’t like it too much, I thought it had a weird bite to it.

I only had energy for one pint, so after that we just went back to the B&B and passed out.

Fly, Fly Away

Fly, Fly Away Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Travel day is always pretty boring for me. But I did experience a travel first today, which doesn’t happen that often anymore. There were thunderstorms in Chicago, where the first leg of my flight was landing. And apparently the thunderstorms were in the way of our flight path, because we had to circle a couple times before being allowed to land. The first time we had just started a wide turn when the captain came on and told us what was going on. It felt really weird to just keep turning, and turning, and turning. I wasn’t too worried at this point, since I had a 1.5 hour layover, and the captain made it sound like we wouldn’t be circling for long.

Finally the plane went straight again, but the captain told us we would be flying well north of Chicago (near Milwaukee), before heading back down to Chicago. That was to keep us out of the path of the thunderstorms. So when we got to the shore of Lake Michigan the plane turned south. But then it kept turning, and turning, and turning. Again. The captain told us were circling again, of course. But I was starting to get worried that we would arrive too late and I’d miss my connection to Edinburgh.

Since we were circling above the shore of Lake Michigan, it was easy for me to tell this time whether we were stopping the circling or not. After the first full loop (which takes quite a while), the plane kept turning. So I started to get really nervous. I started to get that sense of dread that everything was going wrong. But then I realized that if there were thunderstorms in Chicago, my connecting flight was probably delayed getting in too. So I felt a little better. And then as we rounded back toward the shore of Lake Michigan, the plane started to continue straight out over the lake, and I knew that we were on our way. I actually had a great view of the thunderstorms to the east as we landed. They were tall! And thankfully we only landed a half hour late.

My travel day was also slightly better than normal because my parents and I had managed to get on the same flight from Chicago to Edinburgh. So when I deboarded the plane, my parents were waiting for me right outside the gate! It was really nice because they already knew where our connecting gate was. Thankfully it was in the same terminal and pretty close, so we made it there just before they started boarding.

I asked my parents if it had been raining in Chicago, and surprisingly they said no. And our outgoing flight wasn’t delayed at all. Or at least, it wasn’t supposed to be. After we got on board, it seemed like were just sitting there for a lot longer than normal. Then 5 minutes before out flight was supposed to take off, I got a text from United saying the flight was delayed 20 minutes. I couldn’t believe a got a text message before the captain bothered to tell us anything was going on. Horrible customer service. But the captain eventually did tell us there was a maintenance issue, but we should be on our way shortly.

It was funny, though, I kept getting text messages that the flight was delayed longer, without another word from the captain. Eventually he did give us an update that the maintenance was finished, and they just needed to sign some paperwork before we were on our way. The last time I heard that, we ended up deboarding the plane, so I didn’t stop worrying. And I knew it would probably take a while. Which it did. But thankfully this time we did finally get the okay to leave, an hour and 20 minutes late.

One thing I really couldn’t believe about the plane was how old it was. We were flying United, and the plane from Seattle to Chicago had been a shiny new one. But the plane for the 7 hour flight to Edinburgh was really old and uncomfortable. This is why I hate flying US airlines to Europe. And the food for dinner was horrible. We did get a treat of gelato for dessert, but it was extremely melted by the time we got it.

After dinner I tried to sleep, but was mostly unsuccessful, as usual.