We left our stay at the Portland House in Keswick after breakfast with a sack lunch packed by our host in hand. The sat-nav (gps) route was set and we started on the M8 and then exited near Dumfries to head east to the coast. Our destination: Culzean (Kool –ain) Castle. We knew it was going to a long drive but as the 2 lane highways turned into country roads, and then very narrow country roads we realized we were really seeing the Scottish countryside. Tom was a bit nervous about running out of gas but I wasn’t so much. This little peanut of a car, a Vauxhall seems to be pretty good on fuel. The absence of civilization, you know, things like signs, petro stations, schools, churches, you kind of wonder. Then at one point, we realized we had found the boonies of Scotland when we had to wait for the sheep and the cattle to clear their road for us to continue on. The road of course was more reminiscent of a long driveway in need a bit of attention, but we continued. Finally made it to Culzean about 3.5 hours later. It was absolutely worth it! (Note to self: program the sat/nav to use major roads vs country.)
Culzean Castle
This majestic edifice literally hangs on the rocky clifts of the west coast. It has magnificent views of some of the islands of Arran and on a really clear day, Ireland as well. Records go back to 1569 and though the property was lived in full time to begin with, it was closer to the 17th century and so renovations began to take place. These took place over several years under the direction of the architect, Robert Adams. One of the most amazing things about it is an oval staircase. It’s very beautiful and quite grand. It does not extend to the third floor private apartments which eventually was given to Dwight Eisenhower after WWII for him to use for life as a thank you. The Scottish people were so appreciative of his leadership and loved him dearly. This was and is still a private floor accessed from a back staircase. We enjoyed our picnic lunch in the gardens. The kitchen was amazing too. Our drive to Glasgow was only about an hour.
We got settled in our new residence which was right downtown in time to take a walk to the local LDS church. We met a distant member of my family online and agreed to meet there during their “talent show”. It was amazing. We saw Irish dancing, tap, Scottish Highland and contemporary dance, as well as some amazing musical numbers. It was really a special treat. We got together for dinner the following night and discussed genealogy. She, Agnes is related to the MacDonald line on her father’s side. We will continue to stay in touch. They were all just delightful, hard to understand, but very genuine.
Saturday morning we went to the Kelvingrove Museum which was a short walk across the park from us. It was beautiful and free. Afterwards we went to the Tenement House. Fascinating, this residence is maintained by the National Trust of Scotland and is a typical Victorian tenement flat of 1892, which retains all its original fittings, such as gas lamps and the kitchen range. It was just an amazing glimpse into domestic life of a woman that lived there for nearly 50 years and kept receipts for everything. (Reminded me of my grandmother, Sadie). Since my grandfather, Alexander Muir MacDonald was still living in the greater Glasgow area at the time; I really wanted to see how life might have been. I was not disappointed. We did a little shopping in downtown Glasgow. Where else can you listen to bagpipe music? Edinburgh. We left for the capitol city the next day.
We planned a couple of stops along the way. The first was Stirling Castle. It is truly magnificent as it sits high on its mountain of volcanic rock. It’s very different that Culzean and we enjoyed it just as much. Due to its strategic location, able to oversee the River Forth, it was besieged and overtaken about 16 times. It’s probably best known for Mary Queen of Scots. She lived there as an infant, played in the bowling green with her guards, and shortly after her coronation there, she was relocated to France for her own safety.
Our next stop was Falkirk. This is the sight of a true engineering feat – Falkirk Wheel. In 2002 it replaced about 11 locks that took a half a day to pass through. It is virtually silent. Notice in the photos how the “arm” rotates once the bucket holding the boat is flooded. It then rotates upwards to the “top rack” as the rig from above rotates to the lower water level. The price tag was £84.5 million. It connects the Forth 7 Clyde Canal through central Scotland.
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