This journal outlines the places we saw and the things we did during a wonderful 13 day visit with the Olds family: Michele, Ryan, Devlin, Miranda, Halee, Julia and Megan as well as James Alvernaz and his sons, Jesse, Gino, and Jared. We cannot begin to express how priceless it was to spend these days together! Perhaps this brief accounting and the attached photos and web links will revive memories for many years to come. We had a lovely time with our family and look forward to many future visits to share our love.

Sunday July 14

Lorna and I got up early to attend Mass. We linked up with James, Jesse, Gino and Jared at their hotel in Watford. After breakfast we caravanned to Heathrow. Michele and Ryan arrived on time with Devlin, Miranda, Halee, Julia and Megan.

No time for jet lag as we loaded luggage and our group of thirteen for a first stop at Hampton Court Palace and an introduction to British history. Miranda led us to the center of a tall hedge maze. Exiting the maze was tricky and we spent quite awhile retracing our steps. Hampton Court Palace was Henry VIII’s riverside ‘home’ near London. It is reputedly haunted by several of Henry’s wives who met their fates here. The rooms include wonderfully painted ceilings, murals, tapestries, furniture and art work. To learn more about Hampton Court Palace – click here. The warm, sunny day did not stop Lorna and Miranda from selecting costume robes from the period to wander the palace as proper Dames of the British Empire.

After the palace visit we returned home to Brandon and quickly settled into bed to rest for our long road trip to Scotland.

Monday July 15

With a breakfast of egg muffins to supplement cereal and fruit, we were on the road. Our first planned stop was at the Hadrian’s Wall Visitor Center. From here we decided to visit the Housesteads Roman Fort set high on an escarpment of the rolling hills. This included panoramic views of Hadrian’s Wall and the surrounding countryside. Everyone enjoyed scampering along the building foundations and exterior walls of this ancient fortress imagining life for the 800 Roman soldiers based here nearly 2000 years ago. A week later, at the British Museum, we happened on a scale model of the fort with reproductions of its Roman buildings in place. Otherwise we may otherwise have passed by this museum artifact without a thought, but our recent visit to Housesteads made the model come alive!

We had a brief delay searching the old Roman fort for a lost wallet and cell phone. Ultimately, we determined that these items were left at the visitor center and left a message and contact information. To our delight, the phone, wallet and all of its contents were recovered and mailed to our home in Brandon.

After a long drive we stopped in downtown Glasgow for dinner. It was a challenge finding a restaurant that could accommodate all 13 of us, but we found an Italian restaurant that satisfied everyone’s tastes and hunger. By the time dinner was over there was really no time to explore and so we checked into the Dumbarton Travelodge for two nights.

Tuesday July 16

After an in-room breakfast of cereal, milk, orange juice and fruit we drove to Inveraray for the opening of their Highland Games. A brief parade consisting of two bagpiper bands marched down their high street to open the games. We watched the Highland dance competition, a few traditional track and field events (high jump, long jump, sprint and bicycle races) and moved onto the very traditional Scottish competitions including the hammer throw, stone putt and the “World Championship” Caber Toss. James and his boys were particularly enthralled by the ‘Scottish Backhold Wrestling’. This competition included boys, girls, and adults struggling to be the first to take down their opponent. There were plenty of booths selling food and crafts. We sampled Haggis, Leeps and Tatties, Venison burgers and more. Roger particularly enjoyed the Arbroath smokies (smoked Haddock). Ryan purchased a deerskin wallet. The hunter who skinned the deer assured him that the venison burgers were made from the same deer that provided the skin for his new wallet. The sound of solo bag pipers competing for recognition was nearly constant. The pipe bands also wandered about playing various tunes including “Amazing Grace” and the very recognizable “Scotland the Brave” (Scotland’s ‘unofficial’ National Anthem).

We left the games to tour Inveraray Castle on the shores of Loch Fyne. Inveraray Castle dates to the 1400s. The current castle was built in the 1700s. The house tour highlights the history and titles of the Campbell Clan [the 1^st thru 10^th Earls of Argyll (1220-1701) and the 1^st thru 12^th Dukes of Argyll (1701- 2013)]. About the time of the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688 which established William III as King of England, the 10th Earl raised a regiment that was tasked with the notorious Massacre of Glencoe. The MacDonald Clan had spent nearly two weeks hosting the Earl of Argyll’s foot regiment prior to the massacre. There are several versions of the massacre, but there is no dispute that some 38 MacDonald’s were killed by their guests and another 40 died of exposure after their homes were burned.

We enjoyed dinner at the Original Loch Fyne Oyster Bar. Most of the entourage were still jet lagged and tired after two very long days, but Lorna, James and I found a local village tavern west of Dumbarton to sample a few Scottish whiskies--Arran, Talisker and Dalwhinnie. While there we chatted with the bar tender and local patrons. One friendly chap had just returned to the bar after placing a bet on a horse race. The race was broadcast live in the pub and he cheered his pick on to win at 25:1 odds. He bought us all a round of drinks with part of his winnings. An elderly tipsy woman professed her love for Americans and proceeded to serenade us with two passionate renditions of “The Bonnie Banks O’Loch Lomond”. Most of us will recognize the chorus: “O ye'll tak' the high road and I'll tak the low road, An' I'll be in Scotland afore ye; But me and my true love will never meet again, On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'.” Click here for a YouTube rendition. She invited us to spend the night with her at her home just a short walk from the pub if we needed. We politely declined her kind offer.

Wednesday July 17

Another morning of cereal and fruit prior to driving to Inverness. At one mountain pass, a solo bagpipe player was entertaining tourists. I think it was Gino who exclaimed “I did not think that Bagpipes were for real!” Until seeing and hearing them, he apparently thought they were just someone’s fantasy of Scotland.

After learning a bit about Glencoe at the Inveraray Castle, we stopped at the Glencoe Massacre Visitor Center. This site provided a moving history of this important event in Scottish history.

We stopped near at Neptune’s Staircase near Fort William for lunch. This consists of 8 automated locks that enable a boat to rise or descend a total of 64 feet over 90 minutes. The locks used to be operated manually and required nearly one-half day. Miranda was delighted when the lock keeper invited her to help him open and close the gates as an honorary “Lock Keeper”.

After Fort William we drove to the Highland Folk Village in Newtonmore. It consists of a township of 45 buildings that depict Highland life from the 1700s to the present. There is also a short scenic walk to a recreated ancient village. Actors in period dress provided demonstrations of 17^th century education (school house), spinning, weaving, dying, cooking, quilting and village life. The kids enjoyed the sheep, goats, chickens, cats and cattle on the site. After 2-3 hours we continued on to the Premier Inn in Inverness and had dinner at the Fox Tavern where we also celebrated Jesse’s 23^rd birthday with Sticky Toffee Pudding and a candle.

Later that evening we walked to a local pub and were entertained by a traditional Scottish 3- piece Folk Band. Instruments alternated between recorder, bagpipes, accordion, acoustic guitar and drumming.

Thursday July 18.

After breakfast we drove to the Culloden Battlefield Monument. This included a presentation describing battle tactics and a tour of the battlefield. This last battle between British troops on British soil was fought here on 16 April 1746. The Jacobite army was raised to reclaim the throne for ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ of the House of Stuart from the Hanoverian King George II. Troops of both armies included many Highlanders. The Jacobites sustained about 1500-2000 killed or wounded; the victorious government troops claimed 50 dead and 259 wounded. In many ways the battlefield at Culloden parallels the tragedy at Gettysburg where brother was pitted against brother. For more history on Culloden click here.

We also enjoyed exploring the ancient neolithic site of Clava Cairns which is only a couple miles from the Culloden battlefield. The cairn rings, passages, and chambered mounds date from 2500 to 1700 BC (about the same as Stonehenge). The rings were deliberately aligned to mark the winter solstice for these ancient tribes. The site may have served as a burial ground or as the focal point of winter rituals; however, archeological records have not been able to discern exactly how this impressive ancient site came to be or how it was used.

Next we followed the road along the west side of Loch Ness and stopped to climb down some steps leading to a rocky ‘beach’ where we had lunch. Some of us braved the chilly water to swim with Nessie. We did our best to splash and make noise to attract her attention, but she apparently could not be bothered to make an appearance for us.

Following our swim we stopped at the Nessie Exploration visitor center. This included a walking tour with documentary videos, interviews with witnesses, photos, and historical artifacts documenting the legend of the Loch Ness monster.

Then we drove a scenic narrow road through Scottish farmlands to a public path for the short walk through forested hills to Divach Falls. The falls tumble about 100 feet over a cliff. They were the main attraction of the area prior to Nessie being spotted in the Loch.

We continued to the picturesque Urchart Castle on the Loch. It is mostly hidden by hedges and time was short so we elected not to pay the fee to walk to the castle for a better view. As we drove a bit further, Roger spotted what appeared to be fairly extensive peat bogs and so we stopped to jump on them in order to experience the curious feeling of the transmitted vibrations from our jumping. This impromptu stop proved to be quite fun as Ryan coincidently discovered the ruins of an old stone round house and we all enjoyed a short walk along a stream with several small cascading waterfalls while taking in the awesome view of the surrounding hills.

Eilean Donan Castle, on a small island just before crossing onto the Isle of Skye, was closed by the time we arrived. It is one of the most picturesque castles in Scotland and though we could not enter, walking around the exterior and taking photos was enough for the time we had. We were fortunate to find an Indian Restaurant just as we passed onto the Isle of Skye. Though many menu items were unfamiliar everyone seemed to enjoy their selections.

Another long day had expired by the time we arrived at our hotel in Uig. As we got settled, we watched the fog roll in over the hills and listened to the mournful warnings of fog horns on the Loch below our perch. It was 11:00 pm and still quite light outside.

Friday July 18

We breakfasted in our room again and drove north along a loop of the Trotternish peninsula. At one point we stopped to take pictures with several Scottish Highland cattle grazing along the side of the road. Thankfully, they had peaceful dispositions and did not seem to mind our photo session. The countryside is just one beautiful scenic spot after another. Our next stop was Mealt Falls and Kilt Rock. The falls cascade 170 feet onto a rocky beach. With no rain for four weeks, the amount of water flowing over the edge was not all that substantial, but the mist was reminiscent of Bridal Veil Falls in Yosemite. The grandeur of the Kilt cliff rocks were equally beautiful and impressive.

From here we stopped briefly in Portree to pick up food for lunch and then drove to the Talisker Distillery. After an informative distillery tour and taste testing several whiskys we headed off to Glen Brittle (Coirne na Crieche) and a hike to the Fairy Pools. We had lunch by the roadside, changed into swim suits, and walked the trail which led to crystal clear pools fed by waterfalls. Several pools were lined by rocks that provided vantage points for the bravest of us to jump 12-18 feet into deep pools. One pool appeared to have no outlet. By diving we determined that it was bordered by a natural stone arch permitting water to escape beneath the arch. It was an idyllic and fun place to spend our afternoon enjoying the water and the fantastic sunny weather.

After the pools we caught one of the last ferries of the day from to Avondale to Maillig. This thirty minute ride was memorable as most of the kids had never been on a ferry. It saved us perhaps an hour or more of driving time. We had dinner in Fort William at the Ben Nevis Bar and Grill. It was an unusual day in that the peak of Ben Nevis was clear of any clouds. We ended our day at a Travelodge near Glasgow Airport.

Saturday July 19

We took advantage of a nearby McDonalds to supply us with food for breakfast. We spent the rest of the morning exploring Glasgow Cathedral (also known as the High Kirk Glasgow). The church was founded by St. Mungo sometime around 600 AD. His tomb is in the church’s crypt. The stained glass was beautiful and there was an old graveyard to explore. Nearby, the Provand’s Lordship, built in 1471, is the oldest house in the city. It began as hospital. The house tour conveys a bit about life in Glasgow from the 1500s. A garden behind the house is filled with plants with medicinal properties.

We reluctantly departed Scotland to drive south to our Premier Inn hotel in Preston near Blackpool. After checking in we headed to the beach.

Blackpool experiences roughly 35 feet of sea change with each tide and we arrived just after low tide. The beach from the sea wall to the water’s edge slopes ever so slowly. At low tide there is perhaps 1/3 mile of exposed sandy beach. We set our towels down about 50 yards from water’s edge. Within minutes the tide was lapping at our towels and we had to move a couple more times as the kids enjoyed wading and playing in the incoming tide. By high tide swimmers were diving into 6 or more feet of water off the seawall steps at the edge of the promenade!

Captain Jack’s on the promenade beckoned as a family restaurant with a Pirate theme. After dinner most of us opted for a couple of games of laser tag. Halee and Jesse were top guns in the first session. On the second round we formed teams. Roger’s team positively creamed Jesse’s team outscoring them more than 2 to 1. After laser tag, Gretel guided our caravan back to the hotel. Lorna and Jesse and the others in her car were apparently so engrossed with relating the laser tag experience; we were shocked to watch them drive pass the exit ramp despite our turn signal indicating we were exiting the highway. Our cell phones batteries were mostly drained. No one in Lorna’s car had taken particular note of our hotel information. They were finally able to contact us and James enlisted Gretel to lead us to Lorna’s car so that we could lead them back to the hotel.

Sunday – July 20

Some of us enjoyed a traditional full English breakfast at the Lea Gate Pub next to the hotel while others opted for continental or other breakfast favorites. After breakfast we drove to Warwick Castle, Warwick is about 11 miles south of Coventry.

This medieval castle, purchased by Tussaud’s (the wax museum) in 1982, has been massively restored as a tourist attraction including several wax figures. In 2007, a corporation known as ‘Merlin Entertainment’ purchased the castle and continued to develop it as a tourist attraction. We enjoyed “Merlin: The Dragon Tower” and “The Castle Dungeon” performances that combine live actors with animations. The more interesting events included observing the loading and firing of the 59 foot tall trebuchet (catapult) as well as a jousting competition. It takes eight men running on a treadmill wheel and pulley system one-half hour to lift the 6 ton counter weight of the trebuchet. Once loaded the falling weight propels the catapult arm to hurl projectiles weighing up to 330 pounds up to 900 feet. The horseback jousting competition pitted two teams using their jousts to accurately impale mock targets or to capture rings along the shaft.

Many pubs offer a traditional Sunday roast from 2:00 to 4:00 PM; however, after 4:00 they close for food and on Sundays it can be challenging to find a pub or restaurant still serving food. Luckily, we found a wonderful Lebanese Restaurant in Warwick Township. We were escorted to a surprisingly delightful outdoor canopy with a long table that was perfect for our large entourage. We enjoyed hummus, pita bread, roasted Halloumi cheese, salad, kebabs and other hearty, satisfying Lebanese dishes before heading to our home in Brandon.

Monday – July 21

We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of sausage and eggs and other favorites. We were in no particular rush but headed off to visit the American Cemetery near Cambridge by about noon. In Cambridge we stopped by the Eagle Pub where Watson and Crick first conceived the double helical structure of DNA and where many airmen from World War II used lighters and lipstick to write their names and graffiti into the ceiling.

We walked past the Corpus Clock (a scary looking Locust gobbling time), King’s College and several other landmarks to the Hilton Hotel to enjoy an afternoon “High tea”. After tea, we all went “Punting on the Cam.” Even Miranda took a turn at polling us along the river and no one ended up falling off the stern and into the river. We returned home to a tender roast beef that had been cooking all day in a crock pot. We spent the evening on the patio with a fire and enjoying some S’mores.

Tuesday – July 22

Today marked the start of three days in London. We parked at Leytonstone and rode the tube to our Travelodge Hotel at Bethnal Green. Thankfully for £10 the hotel was able provide early check in for one room in order to store our bags. We stopped at a nearby Sainsbury to pick up sandwiches and crisps and took the tube to into London where we enjoyed lunch on the steps of St Paul’s. A brief light rain shower caused some to scatter under the protection of the entrance portico of St Paul’s. This was probably the only rain we experienced in two weeks that even mildly disrupted any of our planned activities. Lorna and I enjoyed a guided tour while most opted for the audio guides. I believe we all climbed to the Whispering Gallery (257 steps) and most of us continued to the Gold Gallery (528 steps and 279 feet up from the cathedral floor). The Gold Gallery offers a panoramic view of London, and on a hot day the cool breeze provided welcome relief from climbing all of those steps!

From St. Paul’s we traveled to the British Museum. Two teams went off on scavenger hunts to find the Rosetta stone and what are considered the ‘top ten’ of the over two million artifacts in this collection. We chose a nearby restaurant themed after the Wizard of Oz and the yellow brick road called ‘Muchkins’. It sounded fun and the food was reasonably good, but they really did not play very heavily of themes related to the book or movie.  

After dinner, most of the group elected to ride the London Eye. Lorna and I headed back to Leytonstone. To our surprise the ‘pay-and-display’ car park at Leytonstone limited us to 24-hours. We did not have an immediate alternative and rather than lose the prime part of our first day in London we opted to park and return to move the vehicles. We discovered that there was an NCP Car Park on the opposite side of tracks that would permit us to pay-and-display for several days. This simple shift to a car park across the rail tracks proved to be more complicated than one might think, but we rejoined everyone at Bethnal Green prior to midnight.

Wednesday – July 23

After breakfast we headed for the tube station at Westminster Abbey. As luck would have it, at Liverpool Street we were greeted by an urgent announcement that required all patrons to exit the tube due to an unspecified emergency. We later learned this was a fire or smoke report that was quickly resolved causing just a minor disruption. Our diversion provided an opportunity to walk to the Twining’s Tea Shop to sample and purchase their teas. After this brief side trip we were able to complete our tube journey to Westminster Abbey and enjoyed the audio tour guiding us to all the monuments to famous Kings, Queens, religious leaders, military heroes, scientists and authors. After Westminster we walked through Whitehall past 10 Downing Street and the Horse Guards to Trafalgar Square where we climbed on the Lion’s casted from Napoleon’s captured cannons which were melted down for these castings.

We had time to quickly wander through the National Gallery. Similar to the British Museum we mainly focused on the best known painters. We spent a bit of time for souvenir shopping and then moved onto Harrods’s where the prices had us mostly ‘window shopping’ but we did enjoy a few chocolates. We moved to Covent Garden to be near the Cambridge Theater where we had tickets for “Matilda”. We enjoyed the street vendors including two men who appeared to be suspended in mid air and another who looked to be a sculpture until he scared nearly everyone by springing to life with a shout. We ordered take-out from a sandwich shop and enjoyed an ice cream cone before heading off to the London production of “Matilda.” Miranda (nearly age 6) and Devlin (8) may have found a few parts a bit scary and loud, but the production was ‘brilliant’! The boy forced to eat Miss Trunchbull’s entire chocolate cake produced a ‘burp’ that shook the entire theater! The child actors had amazing voices and the stage adaptation was entertaining for adults as well as our group of kids who ranged from age 5 to 15. After the show we all speculated how the producers managed to create the ghostly scene of Matilda using her secret powers to control a piece of chalk to write a threatening message that terrorized Miss Trunchbull into fleeing.

Thursday – July 24

With Travelodge having no bag storage capability we were fortunate that James and his boys extended their stay for a day as we were able to store our bags with them. We made a quick trip to see Buckingham Palace and walked past a small section of St James Park to catch the tube to the Tower of London. We stopped to learn about the Traitor’s Gate and beat the lines to view the Crown Jewels. Michele and Ryan and the kids toured the White and Bloody Towers as well as other areas while Lorna and I explored areas we missed on previous visits to the Tower. I think we all spotted a Raven or two as well as the sculptures of the Royal beasts. We exited by the river to view the Tower Bridge before returning to the hotel for lunch. Then it was on to Leytonstone to pick up the cars and drive to Stonehenge.

A minor inconvenience occurred when Gino and Jared discovered their passports may have been stolen during one of our hotel stops in Scotland. Fortunately, James had copies of the passports and other required documents, but it still required part of two days to navigate replacement with the US Embassy. It appeared that James was going to miss our trip to Stonehenge while waiting for the travel documents. Prayers were answered as James got the passports in time to meet us at the tube station just as we arrived to depart for Stonehenge.

At Stonehenge we enjoyed the audio tours of this amazing ancient site of standing stones. While its precise alignment for observing sunrise at the summer solstice and sunset at the winter solstice is well documented there is much speculation of whether it was used as an observatory, for human sacrifice or other ceremonial purposes. Contemplating what motivated several groups of primitive people to undertake the massive effort to quarry the Sarsen stones, some weighing over 25 tons, and move them close to 12 miles, as well as the 4 ton ‘bluestones’ thought to come from the Preseli mountains some 175 miles distant is just amazing.

After many sad goodbyes, Lorna brought James and his boys back to Watford where they caught the tube back into London in time to enjoy Pizza while sitting on the Lions in Trafalgar square. Roger and the Olds family stopped to enjoy a leisurely paced dinner at a pub with starters, mains and dessert.

Friday – July 25

Having arrived in Brandon at only 1:00 AM, we took a slow start. We fueled the vehicles while Michele and Ryan shopped at the commissary for our farewell dinner. We also made a shopping trip to Bury St Edmund’s and had tea at Harriet’s Café and Tearoom which used to be the city’s fire station. Since good Mexican is hard to come by in England, we welcomed Ryan’s offer to prepare a delicious Taco dinner. His blend of beef and chorizo with corn and flour tortillas and all the fixings was delicious. One more night to enjoy the fire pit and more S’mores.

Saturday – July 26

Roger prepared crepes filled with a choice of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and/or blackberries rolled with a bit of cream cheese and brown sugar. The rest of the morning was spent packing. We then drove to Heathrow with plenty of time to hug and say our farewells with thanksgiving for a safe and truly wonderful visit.

Before returning home, Lorna and I took advantage of our proximity to visit the Kew Palace and Gardens.