The Twelve Apostles

The North Stone of the Twelve Apostles Circle

Cairn Holy I - Two Chambered Tomb

My Cousin Examining Possible Markings at Cairn Holy I

Cairn Holy II

The Happy Traveler's  Checking out Cairn Holy II

Carsluith Castle
Site of the Marrbury Smokehouse

This Place Serves Fish and Chips Using Smoked Salmon
What an awesome lunch!

Drumtroddan Standing Stones

Of the Three Drumtroddan, Only One Remains Standing

Our Very Special Guide, Donny MacDonald at Port William

Drumtrodden Ring and Cup Marks

Welshman We Met

Bladnoch Distilllery Tour

Word of the Day

Tarnation - The land flowing with tar. The majority of the world's tar is exported from this country.

Today is the day we celebrate the summer solstice, therefore it seems appropriate that we started our morning with a tour of The Twelve Apostles Stone Circle south of Holywood. My cousin, using a compass, discovered that the largest stone was located at the northern-most point of the circle. Using this information, we located the stone that was lying on the southern-most point of the circle, the stone that was on the east point of the circle and then the stone on the west. We followed around the circle, examining each stone in the circle for any markings but found none. BW Babe found a few feathers in the surrounding field that we left as an offering on a natural shelf of the north stone.

Our next stop was to Cairn Holy I and Cairn Holy II. As we hiked around the two tombs, we encountered two men walking their dog so I got my dog fix for a bit. The burial tombs were very impressive.

At this point, it was time for lunch. We stopped at the Marrbury Smokehouse which has been featured on a Scottish television show that I think may be something like on The Food Channel. The food was spectacular. I've never had fish and chips like it was made at this restaurant. The fish was smoked salmon, battered and fried, served with "chips", something like steak fries in the states. The flavor was VERY good. I'd definitely recommend a stop at this place if you're hungry for lunch...or dinner. We all enjoyed our choices. I believe our tour guide, Donny, enjoyed some smoked haggis. He gave BW Babe a bite and she proclaimed it VERY good.

After lunch we continued with our celebration of the summer solstice by stopping to see the site of three standing stones at Drumtroddan. Sadly, only one stone still remains standing, the other two having fallen and thus are resting on their sides. The views in the area were quite impressive, leaving no doubt as to why someone would chose this site to worship. None of us pulled an Outlander-style leap into the past and the view was really nice.

Since we were so close to the coast, we decided to make a stop at Port William to take a walk around Harbour Park. It looked like a man, leaning on a fence rail had arrived before us. It was a statue by sculptor Andrew Brown done in 2005. Of course, at this point we all had to get into the action and pose with our new bronze friend who rudely ignored us as he stared out to sea. I snuck a picture of our tour guide Donny posing with his new bronze buddy before he could duck out of camera range. I can highly recommend Donny as a chauffeur/tour guide. He's really provided us with a well-researched tour, tailored to our varied personal interests.

Our next stop was a farm near Drumtrodden where we hiked through a working farmyard, past the dead cow which BW Babe had to stop to photograph, and across the farm's pasture filled with VERY large cows. They didn't seem to be too interested in us but we watched where we stepped for more than one reason. The site is known for incised Celtic rings and cups. We met a Welshman who had some Celtic rings tattooed on his shoulder and his girlfriend. The man was wearing a very nice kilt and belt that I thought my daughter Sarge would appreciate. I asked him nicely if I could take his picture and he seemed flattered. We chatted for a while before we headed back to our van, past the really large cows, past the dead cow (very dead), and back to the van as our cousin photographed a large, rather fragrant truck as it drove past...to collect the very, very, dead cow.

After driving quietly away, we continued on down the road, stopping for a surprise tour of the Bladnoch Distillery in Bladnoch. Our cousin and her husband knew that their friend (let's call him Mr. D) is a huge fan of Scotch whiskey and quite knowledgeable of the process of making it and the various brands. They knew that he'd love to stop for a tour of this distillery while we were here in Scotland. I'm so glad we were able to stop since Mr. D's been so patient with all our genealogical tours. He was so pleased that he paid for everyone's ticket to tour the place. The tour was very interesting and I have to admit that the sample of Scotch whiskey that I got to try after the tour ended was OK. I've never liked Scotch whiskey but if I had to drink it...this wasn't too bad. Mr. D seemed VERY pleased with his sample so let him be the judge of quality and taste. I purchased a couple of small bottles to bring to HTP and #1 Son...just to taste. You can't buy this particular Scotch whiskey in the states. The tour was very interesting and we all thanked Mr. D for treating us to a new experience.

By the time we arrived back at the hotel for the evening, it was time to start thinking of dinner. Once again, Donny, graciously offered to drive us downtown so we could pick out a restaurant for dinner. Mr. D decided to stay at the hotel instead of joining us tonight so it was just the four of us. We decided that we liked the place that we ate last night so well that we'd give it a try again tonight. The place was packed but after a short wait in the bar, we were seated. Once again the food was excellent. Aside from BW Babe's duck which she had to send back because it was over-cooked (we had three people stop by the table to apologize profusely), and the curry that our cousin's husband ordered (he said it was rather bland), my red-snapper was VERY good and my cousin seemed to be enjoying her pork.

After dinner, we meandered down the walkway by the River Nith, stopping to be a bit silly, posing as statues at a spot which encouraged such behavior. A couple of men stopped to watch and chat with the crazy Americans for a bit before we continued on our way back to the hotel, meandering through the same gardens that we'd visited last night. They look a lot nicer in sunshine than in rain, but, artistically speaking, both aspects were beautiful in their own way.

Tomorrow is going to be our last full day touring here in Scotland. We're going to miss our tour guide, Donny, as he will be leaving us tomorrow night when he drops us back here at the hotel for the evening. Another driver will be taking us to the airport on Sunday for our return flight to Ireland.

Random Quote of the Day

The traveler must, of course, always be cautious of the overly broad generalization. But I am an American, and a paucity of data does not stop me from making sweeping, vague, conceptual statements and, if necessary, following these statements up with troops.

George Saunders, The Guardian (UK) July 22, 2006