Monday, November 23, 2015

Duneagle Castle? Not exactly!

8/12/15



I was browsing through my Scotland videos and came upon one that I took when we were approaching our surprise destination. It should have been in the last video so I'll put it here to introduce our surprise! If this video clip opens for you, you will hear me make a remark about Quito, Tennessee. Please keep in mind my preference for clear running mountain streams and perhaps you won't hold it against me!

A postcard of the village where we stayed and the castle where we toured!



Here's an image of Lady Rose with her father welcoming the Granthams on the steps of  Duneagle Castle, well not really of course!

   We arrived in late afternoon, and had just enough time to drive up to the castle.  Bobby & Maridith told us they wanted to do something special for Bob's retirement and for the help I had been in the planning of this trip. Since we have enjoyed, along with thousands of others, Downton Abbey, AND since we were conveniently in Scotland, they took us to Inveraray Castle.
   That's when we took the following pictures. Which, I might add, were taken on my phone. No internet pictures here!

Our first photo of Duneagle, or
Inveraray Castle.
    

Our very own selfie with the famous castle !

Glad we documented this with this photo. Otherwise it would
 have been too much to believe!

My beautiful daughter in law!

Friday, November 13, 2015

The Highlands



8/12/2015
As we traveled northwest through the country side, passing Glasgow, the hills became mountains but  unlike the mountainous regions back home. Here our mountains are abundant in tree cover, pines and broadleaf. But in Scotland this is not the case. 
For it is reported that the forest of Scotland around 5,000 years ago covered about 1.5 million hectares (that's a bit over 3.5 million acres). However, just 1% of the forest which consisted of birch, hazel, aspen, and pine remains today.
http://ecosalon.com/a-walk-in-a-scottish-forest/ 

The highlands from our car window!

The ancient Caledonia Forest once covered the Scottish Highlands. Home to bears, beavers, and wolves, its destruction began before the Bronze Age. The forest began to fall to the scythe of climate change and the activities of primitive tribes from pre-Roman times.Subsequent terror campaigns launched by marauding Vikings burned down large areas of forest.Later, farmers and fuel gatherers cleared away mostof what remained. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0207_030207_scotforest.html

My research discovered that the 2,500 foot mountains in this area are mostly covered in heather and troussacks pictured below. (The heather (with me in the midst of them) is on the left and the troussacks are on the right.)


The temperature ranged in the high 60's to low 70's. Up until my arrival here I had been wearing a jacket but for the first time on this trip I haven't needed it. I find this weather comfortably pleasant. Maridith and I (all of us actually) concur that we prefer the pleasant summers of Scotland to the intense heat and humidity of S.Sudan and Tennessee summers.





These are the scenes that greeted us as we drove up to our surprise destination–Inveraray.