UK Holiday - Day 4 - Forfar to Glengarry

We woke up this morning with the knowledge that the room included breakfast and the intrepid Tony opted for a full Scottish breakfast.  It includes toast, cooked mushrooms, a roasted tomato, some sort of potatoey thing that tasted like a fried tortilla wedge, blood sausage, black pudding, bacon and an egg.  For the most part, Tony liked it, in particular, and surprisingly from my view, the black pudding.  The texture of the blood sausage was really off-putting.  It was worth the adventure, though.  

We had planned on a long day of driving.  First stop was Glamis Castle (pronounced Glams). The driveway was over a quarter of a mile long, flanked by an impressive lawn with daffodil borders and the trees at the end outlined the imposing castle. We learned, during the tour, that the castle was famous for both its connection to the Queen (the living one) and Queen Mother (the one that died), as well as its ghosts.  We didn't see any ghosts or hear any hair raising stories, but the royal connection was very interesting.  The Queen's grandparents were the earl and countess that lived at that castle. The Queen Mother was raised there and summered there throughout her life.  

The castle itself was built in stages and, by our standards, was very old, regardless of which vintage of house we were in.  Our tour guide, however, would refer to a particular section of the house as being "only four hundred years old."  A bit of a paradigm shift for us.  Again, we were glad we went on the tour and we were, again, struck with how interesting the royal elements were.  I especially loved the letter they had from the queen as a child to her grandmother, thanking her for the visit and sharing her stories from the trip home.  It was signed "Lilibet," which was her childhood nickname.  It added an element of humanness to the royal family.

After Glamis, we wondered the grounds (the gardens in UK England) and got face to face with the Highland Cattle.  I am in love.  They're shaggy and they have long bangs that cover their eyes and they seem to have great personality.  They were teases with the camera for the most part.  Coming close and staring us down when the cameras were in our pockets, but turning away as soon as we got ready.  Tony was able to snag a great shot of one, though.

Leaving the castle, we stopped at a small coffee shop in a small little community called Coupar Angus.  The town was sleepy, but the coffee shop was open.  They advertised sausage rolls, which sounded great and the waitress offered beans (like baked beans) with it, so we were very excited.  It was a little more like a microwaved pastry and microwaved baked beans.  Not our favorite meal so far, but we expected we'd get a bad one some time.

Next stop was Dunkeld.  We kind of ended up there on a whim.  The little town was on the river Tay.  It was adorable, full of small shops, a cute little post office and dilapidated cathedral.  It was a great chance to walk around.  The town seemed to be bustling with locals.  Given the family connection to Scotland, I had hoped I would feel like I had come to the motherland.  I can't say that feeling has been overwhelming, but I can say, these people, my ancestors, were the same height as me.  As the short one, I am loving that. 

From Dunkeld, we needed to make up some time.  The distance was not especially far, but the drive was going to be slow going.  We bypassed the other castle we were hoping to visit (they're only slightly less prevalent than Starbucks in the States) and drove on.  I am grateful we did because, not long after that, it began to snow.  As many of you know, I don't drive in the snow.  It freaks me out, a lot.  Today, however, it was my badge of pride.  We both survived and it became a source of pride for the rest of the afternoon.  Yes, it was a light snow that didn't stick and yes, it wasn't the whole trip and yes, Tony is secretly tired of hearing me talk about it, but it was snow.  Because of the weather we encountered, I chose not to stop and continued driving at 10 and 2 the remainder of the trip.  Tony was focused on the road trying to keep his stomach tame, despite the curves, so we don't have much to report.  We crossed over into the highlands and the terrain is much different.  The hills are dry, due to a frosty winter, and the mountains are capped with snow.  There were several farms with sheep (and lambs!) on the side of the road.  We passed several lovely bodies of water and safely arrived at our hotel for the night, Glengarry Castle in Invergarry.  

 

We arrived later tonight, so we weren't able to walk the grounds, but we're looking forward to it tomorrow.  The is a beautiful lake, Loch Oich, behind us that we will enjoy strolling along.  The room is quaint and feels like a bed and breakfast with warm staff and enchanting guests.  We have had a wonderful time here so far.  Tomorrow we're off to the Isle of Skye!