Sunday 7/27 and Monday 7/28 - Meeting our Experience Plus Group and Day 1 of Biking in Scotland

We had a very leisurely Sunday morning (which was a very good thing - picture a short night's rest due to a very rambunctious wedding party...) - Peter had the opportunity to work on the watercolor he started while at the Wills' home and I caught up on blogging all the events of the previous action-packed 2 days. 

The Wills' Homestead

Peter sketching in the Maryculter House courtyard

The sketch

Ya gotta blog where the wireless signal is the best :)

The group arrived about 4 PM en masse from Edinburgh. We met outside our lodgings to be "fitted" to our bikes (most bring their seat and pedals to be installed on Experience Plus' bikes) and have a safety talk from our Scottish guide Craig. We also took a 5 mile loop ride to make sure we had a low-key introduction to biking on the left side of the road. I switched my rear view glasses-mounted mirror to my right eye and am amazed at how difficult it is to re-train my eyes to U.K. standards!

After cleaning up we all gathered for introductions, a talk from our guides and dinner. It is a very lovely and convivial group - I will write more about them as the trip progresses. We retired to our room for our last night at the Maryculter House with great anticipation of our first bike day!

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We awoke today (Monday 7/28) to another absolutely gorgeous day with sunshine and warmth. Everyone was ready to roll!

The group gets ready to depart Maryculter House for a 40-mile bike ride to Ballater.

We are all smiles! 

Our English guide (Newcastle) Lucy packed the van with our luggage and did photographer duty for all of us at our departure.

We cycled about 15 miles of gorgeous countryside and quiet back roads until we reached the Falls of Feugh. It was beautiful and mesmerizing to stand on the small bridge and watch the falls, especially when one of group spotted salmon trying to swim up the rapids and rocks! We saw about 3 attempts and it was spectacular.

Joy, Jaime and Peter watch salmon make their attempts upstream

Gorgeous rapids and falls

The remainder of the ride featured uber-scenic vistas, adorable cows, horses and sheep everywhere, delightfully friendly people, "doable" shaded climbs and safe, quiet roads. The weather stayed beautiful with light breezes, sunshine and temperatures in the 70's. Is this really Scotland? We simply cannot believe our good fortune thus far in the trip.

We arrived at our host hotel in Ballater - the Glen Lui - and enjoyed dinner with some of the group in town. Tomorrow we will be visiting a distillery and Balmoral Castle - yes, the Queen is on her way to take up summer vacay residence in this iconic Scottish castle, but as she has yet to leave Glasgow and the Commonwealth Games, we will have a chance to take a tour in her absence. She has no idea who she's missing when we arrive to tour Balmoral :))

Peter's sketch of the Glen Lui Hotel in Ballater - our room view is so beautiful and is it ever quiet

Good night for now - thanks for traveling along!

Pre-Bike Tour in Scotland - Aberdeen, Maryculter and a great day with Marion Wills

Friday was a travel day in the AM - we bid our farewell to the flat in Edinburgh and took a smooth train ride NNE 2.5 hours to Aberdeen. The train station was a hub of activity as it directly connects to a new, modern shopping mall in the heart of the city. We decided to have a leisurely lunch in the mall, as we were a tad early to check into our lodgings outside of Aberdeen. It is always fun to feel immersed in the everyday life of the "natives", and as you might guess a mall is a mall regardless of the country you are visiting!

We arrived at Maryculter House Hotel around 2 PM and were immediately charmed by the setting on the river Dee and the cottage architecture. According to lore the site has been in continuous use since the 900's and some form of lodging has existed since 1225, mainly to house the Knights Templar. We are always reminded how youthful and "nouveau" the United States must seem to anyone from other countries!

Maryculter House Hotel

Yes this heraldry over the door says 1225 and it's not the house number!

There are ruins of a small chapel and burial ground directly adjacent to the hotel which lend an even more historic and somewhat forlorn air to the site. Peter took advantage of the setting to capture the feel in watercolor.

We did a minor amount of strolling the grounds and unpacking for our 3 night stay. Saturday brings great anticipation as we are being hosted by my Facebook (Norwegian Fjord Owners page) friend Marion Wills and her husband Phil for a day of Fjord pony hacking (trail riding) and sightseeing!

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Saturday dawned yet again as a beautiful day - temperatures have been unseasonably warm (75 to 80+ deg. F) and the sun is out a great deal of the time. At this latitude sunrise is about 4:30 AM and sunset after 9:30 PM.

We were finishing breakfast at our lodgings when Marion arrived to pick us up and take us to her homestead outside of Insch, approximately an hour NNW. The roads are of course NARROW and the villages so charming. We arrived at her home and met her lovely husband Phil and also her oldest son Michael.  

For me, the big event for the morning was a hack through the nearby forest trails with Marion riding her lovely Fjord Ffin, a gelding just a tad smaller than Bjorne but very similar in look and sweetness! Marion rode her adorable mare Esta. It was so wonderful as Marion collected up all manner of riding clothing to make sure I was properly outfitted (note: "hat" = helmet, "jods" = breeches and "horse box" = trailer :)) Marion has graciously posted a number of pictures on her Facebook page tagging us, so you can get a feel for the terrain and the ponies by looking at my page. Marion takes WONDERFUL care of her ponies and we gabbed nonstop about Fjords, riding and the wonderful people you can meet over a common interest in the breed!

My hacking partner, Ffin - quite similar to Bjorne in the face I think!

Phil, Marion and June preparing to depart with the horse box (aka trailer)

Loading "wee Esta" (13.2 hands) with Phil - both ponies loaded beautifully!

The fun was far from over once we returned to the house with the ponies. A delicious lunch was quickly consumed and after squaring away the ponies and ourselves we took off in Phil's sporty Audi convertible (top down!) to the big surprise - a visit to a privately owned castle by the name of Harthill, with a full tour of the interior spaces led by the housekeeper Judith Barker, close friend of Marion's! The kismet was that the owner (Michael "Duke" Savage, an American lawyer) was in New York and granted Judith's request to give us an inside look.  The story of the castle restoration by Duke's late wife Ann Tweedy Savage is quite bittersweet - if you have any great curiosity I would Google her name and "Harthill" to get the whole story. What an incredible privilege for us to experience such a space. Thank you Judith!

The view from the highest balcony of the castle - spine-tingling to look down!

Marion viewing the scene above while making sure the balcony wall is very secure.  Note Phil is at a safe distance in the background :)

What an amazing place. Marion has posted more pictures which will appear on my Facebook page.

After our tour, we headed over to another historic manor house (now luxury hotel) to have a drink and a sit. Peter, Marion and I had the true local soft drink called "Irn Bru" - we had read of it in Rick Steve's Scotland book but as he was a bit negative about its flavor, so we thought we would give it a try.  It is actually quite tasty, not overly sweet and has copious amounts of caffeine and a pleasant quinine bite. We really liked it!

As if Marion and Phil had not already done enough, we were taken to a lovely local pub for dinner (salmon-fabulous!), one that they have been frequenting for over 20 years. We never ran out of subjects to discuss, from North Sea Oil, running, biking and triathlon (Phil) to art, teaching, horses, the University system and family (Marion). You could not find more gracious and generous hosts. And all because Marion and I took a risk and trusted that a Fjord owner could never be a bad person!

We concluded the day with a walk through the charming restored former fishing village of Fittie (local name) right on the harbor front of Aberdeen.  The architecture was so charming and it was also great fun to watch the enormous ships come and go from the harbor - Phil was very helpful in identifying their purposes as most of the ships are in some way serving the oil rigs out in the North Sea. All of it was so fascinating!

We departed Aberdeen center via the Main Street to get a small flavor of the city, then arrived back at Maryculter House about 12 hours after Marion arrived to pick us up! What a fabulous full day.  And - the bike tour officially begins tomorrow (Sunday 7/27) in the afternoon with the bike fit, introductory reception and dinner! 

Did I mention the sunny and 70's today after some rain last night? :)

Edinburgh and Onward to Aberdeen

We - of course - had way, way more on our Edinburgh itinerary than we could possibly make happen in the two days left us before heading up to Aberdeen and the Maryculter House Hotel.

Very high on the list was a visit to the National Museum of Scotland and we were not disappointed! They had a supremely well-organized and comprehensive exhibit that covered the history of Scotland from the earliest signs of human habitation to present day. We spent the greater part of the day there and had a great time. A few highlights:

A 2000-year-old horse bit - not all that much has changed!

Curling stones - also around 2000 years old.

Peter loved the radiators in the grand main hall of the museum - really fun design.

We tired ourselves out just in the National Museum but decided to soldier on - and also visited The People's Story Museum, which was a reality check on the life of those way less fortunate throughout the city's history. Pretty grim but also interesting.  None of us understand quite how well off we all really are in today's life. We also fit in a quick spin through the Museum of Edinburgh (city museum) and then ran out of gas!

So here are some random views of the streetscape:

Facade of the John Knox house - very medieval!

The view at the top of "our street" Cockburn - the flat was halfway down this block.

Peter has also done some sketches of the views out our flat window:

And a watercolor sketch of some architectural details:

After a marvelous Indian meal we pretty much collapsed and tried to prepare for our last full day in Edinburgh...

Thursday presented some challenges as Peter awoke to a serious back spasm. I collected up some analgesic patches and creams, fed him Aleve and by early afternoon he was OK enough to walk down to the new (2004) Scottish Parliament building - an incredible architectural contrast to the Old Town we were inhabiting.  The Parliament is in recess until late August but here's what the chambers looks like:

We really enjoyed talking to one of the security guys at the chambers about the architecture and the design choices. Fact: the building went 10x over budget at $414 million dollars! It is just so full of complex and unique details little wonder the budget was destroyed. But we did enjoy seeing it and contemplating what history may be made if the September 19th referendum vote is "yes" for secession from Great Britain. Looks like 50-50 odds right now!

We strolled through New Town to see the contrast in street width and architectural design, and then swung back to the flat. Peter decided we should revive our old tradition of taking my picture as I hang out the window of the various places we stay on our trips - so here you go!:

Close up:

We still had one more big event of the day, as I had pre-purchased tickets to the Edinburgh Jazz Festival concert by the group "Django a la Creole" - it was very good and the setting perfect. Two views:

Inside the concert tent - the bass player and the leader/clarinet

Outside the concert tent - a wonderful beer garden with food vendors. The weather has been perfect!

We finally had to say goodbye to Edinburgh and get ourselves packed and ready for our morning train to Aberdeen, so I said my final farewell to the lovely English Cocker Randolph:

(His owner is in the red slacks behind us wondering if I was going to make off with his dog)

Peter is surviving his back travail and hopes to be much better for biking when the tour begins Monday. I'm doing the heavy lifting and trying to keep him in check :)))

Friday - to Aberdeen and the Maryculter House Hotel! It will be a mostly travel and logistics day so next blog installment will be Sunday morning just before the bike tour fun begins! We do have a big day on Saturday with another adventure planned, so stay tuned....

June and Peter Bike in Scotland - the pre-biking prologue in Edinburgh

I will be the first to admit that yesterday (Monday) was a jet-lagged haze. We arrived at our flat (thank you Christine and AirBnB for a great place!) by 10, stashed our bags with host Christine and took a topside-seat bus tour of Edinburgh - for me, an hour of fading in and out of consciousness. I will only blame myself as I forgot the "No Jet-Lag" pills in the seat of our flight over to Amsterdam, thus failing to take the prescribed amounts at the prescribed times. I will personally testify that they WORK - evidenced by my complete collapse Monday afternoon once we accessed our lodgings on Cockburn 

The lovely flat! Has a full bedroom, bath and kitchen too.

Living room of the flat - great spot!

We awoke this AM with 10+ hours of sleep which has successfully reset our biorhythms to Edinburgh time, which made for a really great day. After coffee we set out to see the iconic Edinburgh Castle which looms high above the city. We were supremely fortunate to have purchased a ticket when we bought our bus tour yesterday - it allowed us to breeze right by the ginormous ticket queue and right into the castle gates. The views were magnificent.

View of West Prince St. Gardens from the north wall.

One of the most moving monuments in the castle is dedicated to the Scottish lives lost in WW1. We were very taken with the bronze frieze that lined the central apse - the photo is "illegal" but Peter did capture it before we were admonished to stop taking pictures (oops) - it is an incredible work:

After all the hustle and bustle of the castle we decided to take a break in West Prince St. Gardens - here is Peter sketching the castle from the site we looked down upon from the castle walls!

And the sketch (in progress, Peter wanted me to make sure you know that!)

Another great view of the castle from the park.

We followed our park sojourn with high tea at the Caledonian Hotel - this experience was highly recommended by my new friend Marion Wills - you will be formally introduced to her later this week (insert heavy foreshadowing...). We loved everything about the experience but are also really happy to be in a flat in the middle of life's flow versus a five-star hotel. Just the way our tastes run I guess!

Tea for two!

After a lovely walk to procure a chocolate gift, we ended up at the Greyfriars Bobby pub - had the most decadent repast of what can only be called a "State Fair" platter (onion rings, sausage, Brie fondue, garlic toast, fried chicken tenders - not kidding!) and a lovely ale called "Twisted and Bitter"! We can only hope that our biking will burn up this year's worth of fats in the 12-day ride!

By the way, the pub is named after this dog immortalized in the bronze statue - apparently he was renowned for his loyalty to his master, spending 14 years laying atop his grave in Greyfriars churchyard. This oral history became legend and thus the statue...a Skye Terrier by the way...

So after our overly fortifying pub indulgence we headed back to the flat, enjoying the street musicians and architecture. As we came to the entry for the flat, I spotted this "greeter" right in front of the door:

Meet Randolph the English Cocker Spaniel!

We had a great chat with Randolph's owner Zahir (sp) and found out he owns 8 rental flats right in the area, plus the small grocery store right below our flat. Dogs are such wonderful ice breakers and Randolph was exceptionally cute and charming! 

We are now way past our bedtime as I wrestled with the blog (out of practice) and looked at emails. More Edinburgh fun tomorrow and Thursday before we head to Aberdeen Friday morning!

I'm always amazed at 1) how much work it is to travel (packing, planning) and 2) how we seem to be able to successfully get out the door each trip. We have one checked bag that is filled to the BRIM due to the need for warmer, waterproof bike and travel clothing. But it all fits.

We are T-minus 1 hour 10 minutes to airport pickup. I wanted to give a shout-out to all my friends who have graciously stepped up to care for the house in our absence. We so love our life and our friends here in St. Paul.

Next stop, MSP - then Amsterdam and Edinburgh! Thanks for following along.