The Isle of Skye

On this day we had a full day of sightseeing with an excursion to the Isle of Skye, considered to be the loveliest of all the Scottish islands.   The Isle of Skye is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland.  The island has been occupied since the Mesolithic period, and its history includes a time of Norse rule and a long period of domination by Clan MacLeod and Clan Donald.  About a third of the residents were Gaelic speakers in 2001. 

The morning rides were exceptionally beautiful as the heather was just starting to bloom. 

The Heather was just starting to bloom.  In the more mountainous areas it was really blooming. 

Highland Countryside

We had lunch on our own in Skye and it was outstanding.  Fish and chips with a side of slaw were outstanding.  There was an enormous piece of cod and it was caught fresh that morning.  It was rainy and we had to get back to the coach to continue to our next stop and observe the beautiful country. 

Our next stop was Eilean Donan Castle. It is on a small tidal island where three sea lochs meet,  and is a picturesque castle that frequently appears in photographs, films and television. Eilean Donan, which means simply “island of Donnan,” is named after Donnan of Eigg, a Celtic saint martyred in 617. Donnan is said to have established a church on the island, though no trace of this remains.

More of the Highlands

Eilean Donan Castle

There we are

The castle was founded in the 13th century and became a stronghold of the Clan Mackenzie and their allies the Clan MacRae.  In the early 18th century the Mackenzies involvement in the Jacobite rebellions led in 1719 to the castle’s destruction.  It seems as we read through the history of these people, they were always fighting.  Maybe it was in their diet. 

Next day we followed the Malt Whiskey Trail considered the ultimate Scotch experience.  The trail is a partnership of nine whiskey destinations, all of them based in the heart of malt whiskey country in Speyside.  These partner organizations range from active distilleries like Benromach, Glen Grant, Glen Moray, Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, and Strathlisa as well as historic distilleries like Dallas Dhu and the Speyside Cooperage.  

Scottish Cattle.  Touring through the countryside on a narrow two lane road, lo & behold the coach came to a quick stop, flashers on, and we all got a picture of the traditional cattle. 

Speyside Cooperage

In the heart of the Malt whiskey Trail lies the Speyside Cooperage, the only working cooperage in the UK where we experienced the ancient art of coopering.  The Cooperage continues to work and produce the age-old product, still using traditional methods and tools.  

The casks are obtained from whiskey distillers in the U.S. and wine producers from around the world and rebuilt to be used in aging Scotch Whiskey.  

Next stop was the Glen Moray Distillery.  Located in the heart of Speyside, Scotland’s whiskey capital, the Glen Moray distillery has been producing fine single malt since 1897.  The distillery uses ex bourbon barrels sourced from North America to mature Glen Moray and these produce a whiskey with rich and spicy characteristics.  

Home to the Distillery

Making Scotch Whiskey

Aging Scotch Whiskey

Here is where we sampled the fine scotch whiskey and made our purchases.  The question by some of the people on the tour was, “How do you get this home?”  A very simple solution is we pack it in our dirty laundry and load it in the suitcase.  We have never had a broken bottle yet. 

Next day we visited Glamis Castle, the childhood home of the Queen Mum.  Afterward, we crossed over into the ancient Kingdom of Fife and explored St Andrews.  This town is home to the University of St. Andrews and the place where Prince William met Kate Middleton.  The beautiful seaside town is also known as the home of golf.  From St. Andrews we proceeded onto Edinburgh. 

Glamis Castle. 

A large stone was erected to this man and I took a picture of the plaque.  We all enjoy Angus beef and this is the man responsible for the development. 

Our next stop was Edinburgh.  We arrived late afternoon and checked into our hotel just a few steps from the Royal Mile.  That evening was to be the highlight of the trip.  

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is an annual series of military tattoos performed by British Armed Forces, Commonwealth and international military bands, and artistic performance teams on the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle.  The event is held each August as part of the Edinburgh Festival. 

The term tattoo is derived from a 17th century Dutch phrase doe den tap toe (“turn off the tap”). It is a signal to tavern owners each night, played by a regiment’s Corps of Drums, to turn off the taps of their ale kegs so that the soldiers would retire to their billeted lodgings at a reasonable hour.  

It was a short walk up the Royal Mile, however it was wall to wall people taking baby steps.  I turned around to take this picture.  The stadium holds 9,000 people, and you must have reserved seats as it is always sold out.  

Looking ahead of me.  Amazing we made it with plenty of time to spare. 

We are on the top row and it was a great place as we could see everything. 

The Scottish marching music was fantastic, and the acoustics were outstanding. 

Different countries were represented. 

Watch the you-tube videos below for the 2018 performance  Copy and paste into your browser to watch the videos.  

The tour of Scotland was one of the major highlights in our lives of touring the world. 

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Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck. Hank

The flag of Scotland

We took the train from London Glasgow to join the next segment of this adventure.  Now for senior citizens,  like ourselves, this is a bit of an adventure in itself.  The cab ride to the train station was uneventful, but the drivers do not take American money and the credit card system in the cab was not working.  We just barely made the fare and left the driver a tip.  We had bought the tickets in advance and all we had was a sheet of paper with some number on it.  Entering the station there was a group of kiosks that seemed like the place where we should go.  It was.  Entering the numbers produced tickets just as we had ordered. 

Next step was to figure out where to go.  Fortunately the station has people working there that must look for people like us who look totally lost.  It is the look of a deer in the headlights.  A very nice Englishman approached us and he had all kinds of identification exposed with a name tag and his role in the station and he got us headed in the right direction. That was a good sign and we were then re-assured we would not get robbed.  

We then kind of got on the wrong train.  The one we had tickets for was non stop, but the one we got on had stops all along the way.  No problem, it just took a little longer and we saw more of the countryside.

The train went to the Grand Central Station in Glasgow and the best part was we were to stay at the Grand Central Hotel, in the Grand Central Station.  We got off the train and walked 50 yards to our hotel and we had arrived.  

The hotel had a champagne bar.  After dinner we went up to the bar, drank some bubbly and watched people come and go.  At our age it is easy to be entertained. 

Just a short walk from the train is the hotel.

We judge a trip by whether it gets a “WOW” or if we had a great time in a great place.  Scotland and the Highlands got a double “WOW”.  The older hotels in Britain do not have air-conditioning and we sorely missed that in the Grand Central Hotel.  However, it was roomy and very comfortable.  Next morning we joined our tour group that had just arrived from America after their overnight flight from the states. They looked a little wilted, but fortunately for us we were ready to hit the bricks.

The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707.  By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland thus forming a personal union of the three kingdoms.  Scotland then entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on May 1, 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain.  In 1801, the Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland enacted a political union to create a United Kingdom.  The majority of Ireland subsequently seceded from the 

UK in 1922.  

We were off and touring Glasgow. The origin of the name ‘Glasgow’ is disputed. It is common to derive the toponym from the older Cumbric glas cau or a Middle Gaelic cognate, which would have meant green basin or green valley.

Our first stop was the Glasgow Cathedral.  Built in 883,  there is little known about the church buildings which stood on the site of the present Cathedral until the early part of the 12th century.

The first stone building was consecrated in about 1136 in the presence of King David I and his Court when John (1117-1147) was Bishop.

The tour of the Cathedral was outstanding as two separate sections held mass and there were several levels below the main floor holding tombs of important people of Glasgow. 

Another tidbit is, the Clyde River of Glasgow is renowned for its shipbuilding heritage, with some of the most famous ships in the world being built on the river’s banks. The Glenlee is a tall ship, launched onto the Clyde in 1896

Our next stop was the Kelvingrove  Art Gallery and Museum. 

 The galleries are full of objects and stunning works of art that explore importance of art in peoples’ lives across the world. Their is an organ recital on weekends and we were fortunate to hear the beautiful sounds that echoed through the gallery.  To see more of the gallery go to the following website: https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/venues/kelvingrove-art-gallery-and-museum

The highlight of the museum was Salvador Dali’s Christ of St. John of the Cross. Pictures were not allowed, but below is the link to view what we saw.  This is magnificent. 

https://www.dalipaintings.com/christ-of-saint-john-of-the-cross.jsp

Loch Lomond is 22.6 miles long and up to 4.97 miles wide.  It is the largest lake in Great Britain by surface area.   It has a maximum depth of 502 feet.  The loch is surrounded by hills, including Ben Lomond on the eastern shore, which is 3,196 feet in height. 

The afternoon we travel into the highlands on our way to Inverness our final destination.  We visit Urquhart Castle – an impressive ruin overlooking Loch Ness.

We are in the highlands. 

More of the Highlands

More of the Highlands. 

Urquhart played a role in the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century and was partially destroyed in 1692 to prevent its use by the Jacobites.  The present ruins date from the 13th century. The castle was held as a royal castle, and was raided on several occasions by the MacDonald Earls of Ross.  It was granted to the Clan Grant in 1509, though conflict with the MacDonalds continued.  It seems that the Scots were always fighting among themselves. 

The castle complex is spread out overlooking Loch Ness. 

The castle over the centuries fell into decay.  In the 20th century it was place in state care as a scheduled monument and opened to the public. 

We were near to the North Sea where Scotland has tremendous oil resources and off in the distance we could see oil rigs being floated to a location where they could be repaired and rejuvenated. 

Oil rig from the North Sea. 

We spent three nights at Inverness.  It is the administrative centrer for the Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands.  The city lies near two important battle sites: the 11th century battle of Blar nam Feinne against Norway and the 18th century Battle of Culloden which took place on Culloden Moor. A settlement was established by the 6th century with the first royal charter being granted by Dabid macMail Choluim (King David I) in the 12th century.  The Gaelic King Mac Bethad Mac Findlach (MacBeth), whose 11th century killing of King Duncan was immortalized in Shakespeare’s largely fictionalized play Macbeth, held a castle within the city where he ruled.  

In the morning we headed to Dunrobin Castle, a stately home in Sutherland in the Highland area and the family seat of the Earl of Sutherland and the Clan Sutherland.  Dunrobin’s origins lie in the Middle Ages, but most of the present building and gardens were added by Sir Charles Barry between 1835 and 1850.  

The lands of Sutherland were acquired before 1211, by Hugh, Lord of Duffus, the grandson of the Flemish nobleman Freskin.  As we looked over the history, there was nothing about how the lands were acquired.  Since it was not discussed, I can only assume some poor working slob had his land taken from him and his family and was murdered.  What can I say, it was 1211. 

The lengthy history is very interesting of how things were granted and to whom.

It was good to be rich in those days. 

The castle gardens were outstanding. 

The castle held a cafeteria and after a hurried lunch we wanted to see the rest of the interior.  We went through almost all of the rooms and countless pictures were taken.  Pam said, “Your readers do not want to see the living quarters.  They want to see the war room.” 

I did not notice a lot of weapons of war, but there were a lot of uniforms for parades.  I think someone else did the fighting, and these people pranced around and took the credit.  

The castle and the surrounding areas were fantastic, and the best part was we could take pictures of the interior.  Elegantly furnished, it was good to be the Earl.  The best part of this visit took place well after lunch.  We had the pleasure of watching the resident falconer demonstrate the different hunting methods used by owls, hawks, and falcons in a series of fascinating aerobatic displays on the castle gardens.  

Besides seeing a demonstration of the falcon, we had an outstanding talk about the bird and birds of prey used for hunting.  He released the falcon, and the bird would not come back.  The show must go on so a hawk was brought out and a demonstration was provided by this bird.  

The Peregrine Falcon before he said, “I am through entertaining this bunch of Yankees.”

Look at the face on that hawk.  He means business and he provided us a great demonstration of his hunting and killing ability.  

Listed below is a video, provided by a friend, that is an excellent demonstration of the Peregrine Falcon. You will enjoy this demonstration. 

Sightseeing on the way back to our hotel was total enjoyment as we viewed the beautiful countryside of the Highlands.

Teal Season will open on September 7th in Nebraska and the new duck hole owned by a longtime friend is ready to go.  Plus, I leave for Idaho on another Elk Hunt the second week of October.  Somehow, I will try to get a fishing trip in on Lake Elwood south of Lexington, Nebraska.  The fall in the Midwest is a great time of the year. 

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Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.  Hank

On this day we embarked on a comfortable coach ride through the splendid British countryside- a landscape which English author Ben Aaronovitch described as being  so photogenically rural.  Along the way we stopped at Bodnant Garden a historic horticultural gem located in North Wales.

We have time to wander the paths of this beautiful estate and smell the flowers.  Then we continue on to the seaside resort town of Llandudno for the next two nights.

All we have shown here is four pictures, but we took over 40 as we strolled through the gardens.

Checking into our hotel we were met with a seagull that kept itself on the ledge of our window.  It was obvious someone had fed it and it would not leave.  We were unable to open the window and enjoy the great smell of the ocean.

The next stop was the port town of Caernarfon for a visit to the 13th century Castle, a medieval fortress whose brute appearance symbolized English domination of the Welsh.  Strategically set at the mouth of the River Seiont as it empties into Menai Strait, the castle was built by King Edward I of England.  Edward I (the first) was better know as Edward Longshanks and also “the hammer of the Scots.”  If you recall from the movie Braveheart it was Edward I that William Wallace of Scotland fought against.

 

Caernarfon was the birthplace of the first Prince of Wales – a man who could ‘never speak a word of English’

As you can probably imagine, the Welsh people weren’t too thrilled with the English domination of their native country. However, the birth of Edward I’s son in the castle, in 1284, was a perfect opportunity for Edward I to ‘spin’ the story to his advantage.

The child – Edward of Caernarfon – was legitimately a Welshman, and was crowned ‘Prince of Wales’ in 1301 – demonstrably a Welshman, ruling over his own people.

This persuasive story-telling didn’t end there. It’s said that Edward I sold his son to the Welsh people as “A prince born of Wales, who could never speak a word of English”.

However, it was a bit of a crafty piece of propaganda – and it definitely didn’t mean that son Edward could only speak Welsh. The language of England’s nobility back then was still French, and so it’s almost no surprise that Edward of Caernarfon couldn’t speak English!

The history of the royals was very entertaining as we traveled through the countryside.

Next stop was a visit to Shakespeare’s Birthplace.  The restored 16th century half timbered house where the Bard is believed to have been born in 1564.

The next day we set out for the postcard-perfect Cotswolds.  England’s south central region of gently rolling hills dotted with villages of honey-colored limestone, market town, and unspoiled countryside.  The Cotswolds looks much as it did 300 years ago.

Next stop was Bath and we arrived late in the day really tired.  Checking into our hotel we were so pleased that this one had air-conditioning in the room as all the previous hotels did not.  Also this was the period where England had a heat wave and we got stuck in it in the evening.  For Iowa people used to air-conditioning, it was tough on us.  That evening we arrived at Bath.

Thank goodness we arrived in Bath and immediately contacted the front desk for help.  We had run out of clean clothes and needed to have laundry services.  It was outrageously expensive, but what were we to do.  We still had over a week of touring to do.  On our trip to S.E. Asia in January, we ran out of clean clothes in Laos.  Fortunately the guide had arranged for a person to pick up laundry and almost everyone of the tour had a bundle of clothing to be washed.  The best part was it was immensely cheap, so things balanced out.

The area where the city of Bath now stands show evidence of habitation from before recorded time.  It is best known as the location where in 60 CE the Romans built baths and first took the water at England’s only hot springs. We learned about this historic site on the morning’s tour as we visited the Roman Baths Museum.  These were a couple of buildings which included the original Roman era baths and temple.

Next we visited the 7th century Bath Abbey, a majestic Anglican church noted for its intricate, fan vaulted ceiling and for hosting the coronation of King Edgar of England in 973.

Next day the guide requested we all assemble at 7 a.m. in the hotel lobby.  A continental breakfast was available at 6 a.m. and the group was showing low caffeine levels due to lack of coffee.  We are supposed to be on vacation.

The reason was he wanted our group to be first at Stonehenge as the later you get there, the crowds get larger.  We were on our way to London, but this was the first stop with the second being Windsor Castle.

Stonehenge is the Neolithic monument that remains something of a mystery today. Archaeologists believe that the massive stones were erected sometime between 3,000 and 2,000 BC.  The prehistoric circles of stone are a masterpiece of engineering and building is undisputed.  The why is less certain, although many experts now believe the site was used as a burial ground.

 

Our next stop was famed Windsor Castle.  Originally built in the 11th century after William the Conqueror invaded England, the sprawling stone fortification has been expanded in the centuries since to become one of the country’s most impressive sites.

 

Pictures were not allowed inside the castle. However, the government supplied a recording device that hung around your neck and you lifted to the ear and moved through the building with the history and background of each room.  This was absolutely outstanding and a tourist could move through at their leisure and pause where you wanted to take in the room and the sites.  I would recommend you go on line to see the inside of Windsor Castle and there are a lot of photos of rooms used today by the royals.  It was an enormous place and very fascinating.

The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States of America. The founders of the United States were fond of comparing their new republic with the Roman Republic, in which eagle imagery (usually involving the golden eagle) was prominent. On June 20, 1782, the Continental Congress adopted the design for the Great Seal of the United States depicting a bald eagle grasping 13 arrows and an olive branch with thirteen leaves, with its talons.

We have the fortune or misfortune, depending on how you view it, of living close to the Missouri River.  It is out of its banks and up to the base of the levees surrounding Council Bluffs.  Living on a golf course we have a beautiful lake adjoining the golf course that we can enjoy from the back of our home.  The lake is actually a retention pond that drains the streets and the houses in the development, and also the golf course when it rains.

This year the lake overflowed and is slowly draining, provided we do not get big pounding rain storms.  On the golf course small ponds formed leading to the main body of the lake and fish were seen flopping around in the ponds.  Then they came.  First it was the egrets.  These tall stately looking birds were very hard to photograph and arrived just at daylight.  Slowly they would walk along the edges of the lake and ponds grabbing fish.

Pam and I got up at first light and sat out on the deck to drink our morning cups of coffee. Just then, two bald eagles flew in and landed along the edges of the ponds and lake.  They would each grab a fish and fly off to one of the roof tops across the lake to devour it.  They were immensely patient and would stand in one place or slowly walk along the banks and pause, then jump up and grab a fish.  Periodically, they would leap into the air, circle around and come back to land in a different place or swoop down with talons out and grab a fish out of the water.  (I am going to go buy a video camera).  Watching the eagles is the best way to start off the morning.

The best part came when one morning Pam called to me to come quickly and see what was next door.  There standing on the high point of our next door neighbor’s roof was an eagle.  I shot pictures through the kitchen window and then went outside to the front to get a better shot.  The bird never moved when I went outside.  It just sat there in a stately fashion and looked around.  He leaped into the air and floated down to the lake, grabbed a fish, and dropped down to the edge of the lake and dined.

Next, we saw that two birds would fly up to the same roof top and hang out.  Pam walked out the back door onto the deck and there were the two of them looking down at her from the roof top.  She grabbed the camera, went back out, but one flew away.  The other just sat there.  Then it flew to a neighbor’s roof to join its friend or mate.

These birds are magnificent, so it was time to do a little background reading on them.  The bald eagle is an opportunistic carnivore with the capacity to consume a great variety of prey. Fish comprise 56% of the diet of nesting eagles, birds 28%, mammals 14% and other prey 2%.. Bald eagles can fly with fish at least equal to their own weight, but if the fish is too heavy to lift, the eagle may be dragged into the water.   It has been estimated that the gripping power (pounds by square inch) of the bald eagle is ten times greater than that of a human.

What we would like to find is the nesting area.  With all the water next to the levees, our plan is to walk the levees south of where we live and look for large trees that have a lot of elevation and the boughs are big and spread out.  We plan on waiting till fall to do this as we do not want to disturb the nest.

The Fort Randall Dam is located within sight of its namesake Fort Randall, an early U.S. Army Frontier Post. Fort Randall Dam is one of six Missouri River dams.  The next dam upstream is Big Bend Dam near Fort Thompson and the next dam downstream is Gavins Point near Yankton. The dam forms the southern end of the lake with the northern end at Chamberlain, SD that form Lake Sharpe.

Upon contacting the people at Platte Creek Lodge and Guide Service in Platte, SD, there was an opening for two days of fishing with a guide and a room.  I grabbed it.  Pam could not go along due to another commitment and was terribly disappointed as she really likes to hammer walleye.

Arriving late afternoon, I met my guide and we talked about the next morning.  We would depart for the lake at 7 a.m.  The water was extremely high and all the boat ramps were closed except one.  There was limited parking for this one and the guide was very pleased that I was a boat owner and could back the boat down and drive it out.

For meals a person could drive into town as there were restaurants open in the morning for breakfast and dinner.  A person could bring his own food and fix it at the lodge.  I just grabbed some TV dinners for breakfast and dinner along with snacks for the afternoon and that worked well for me.

The boat shown below was the boat we would be fishing in the next morning.  Wow, a brand new 19 foot+ Lund purchased in January.  This boat had it all.  Eighty pound thrust trolling motor on the bow that unfolded down into the water electrically and pulled itself back out when it was time to go.  The best part was it was controlled automatically by the Hummingbird graph at the drivers seat.  Set the depth and the motor kept the boat moving along at that depth.  This was hands free fishing.  Two 4 stroke engines were mounted on the rear.  One was a 200 hp Mercury and the other was a 15 hp Mercury.  Both were totally controlled at the drivers spot for steering and running the fuel.  This was way more boat than I own.

Next morning it was off to the lake.  When we got to the boat ramp area we were fourth in line for a single boat ramp.  Boats were piling up behind us and boats were floating just off the single dock waiting for the driver of the truck to come in from the parking to mount up and ride off into the morning light. The big boat came right off and I drove the trailer up to the parking area and hustled down to the dock. We were off, and oh how this boat would fly over the water with just the two of us in it and the 200 horses pushing us along!  (I keep talking about the boat, but it was exciting.  Plus, I don’t have to maintain it.)

 

The fish we picked up were below the 15 inch minimum.  But we picked up a lot and it was relatively constant.  This is a great sign for the lake, as all those small fish grow into big fish. A couple of decades ago a close friend and I fished Waubay Lake in the Glacial Lakes area and would pick up 50 to 100 fish a day all below the legal limit.  It was fun catching a lot of fish.  Next year we picked up a limit a piece in less than half a day.  This will happen here.  Good for the minimum.

Decades ago, my son and I fished with a native of the Iron Range in Minnesota.  We fished the B.W.C.A. and he said wherever you are catching small walleye, you need to move on as that is all there is in that spot.  Over the years I have found some truth in that statement.  We moved.

The next location we picked up a couple of keepers in the 16 inch range and when it went sterile, we moved again.  The guide just seemed to know where to go and where he had caught fish in the past and this year.  He told me we could have it all done by 1 pm, but it was not meant to be.

 

By 4 p.m. we had caught our limit for the day for the two of us. I was cooked as the sun had come out after 2 p.m. and the lake went somewhat flat.  Not good walleye water, but we kept at it until we had the limit.  I was ready head to the dock and get off the water.

We drove south of Council Bluffs as far as permissible on I-29 and at the Glenwood turnoff we had to exit.  Following Highway 34 east toward the town we were looking for a highway or road that would take us up into the hill where we could look out over the valley.  Waubonsie State Park sits on top of the bluffs over looking the valley, but we could not get to it.  Also, we understand it was full of campers who had been forced out of their homes along the river bottom.

They have appeared again and we do not know where they came from.  A neighbor who is really into birds told my wife to put out some grape jelly and we would see a beautiful bird come and feed on the grape jelly.  It is the Baltimore Oriole.  The oriole is a singer with a rich whistling song that echoes from tree tops and parks.  Now the birds are in our neighborhood.  We always thought this bird lived in the eastern states, but here it is in Iowa.  The male has brilliant orange plumage while the  female appearance is much more subdued.