Scotland

The first night we met for drinks in the common room of Aigas Field Center at 6:30.  At 7:00, dinner was announced with the striking of a large gong.  This was the pattern each day– drinks at either 6:00 or 6:30 with dinner half an hour later.  We always started with a delicious soup, always something that I and the other two vegetarians could eat.  We three were provided delicious vegetarian entrees.  Lady Lucy, a Cordon Bleu trained chef, oversaw all the meals personally.

After dinner, we went to Magnuson House, the educational center at Aigas, for a lecture by Sir John Lister-Kaye.  Magnuson House is an environmentally green building with the roof covered with grass.  Prince Charles had dedicated the facility several years earlier with a visit and presentation.

On the 1^st full day we had another lecture by Sir John on Aigas and the Estate.  Then he gave us a tour of the House of Aigas, which has three sections – sporting lodge, Victorian section, and an addition by Sir John that matches the sporting lodge.  After lunch we were led on a hike by wonderful young rangers on the property to look at the plantations of trees, the loch and three Bronze Age hut circles, which provide evidence of Aigas’s continuous occupation for over 3,000 years.

The 3^rd day we went to the Black Isle.  Along the way, we walked past the ruins of the Red Castle, on an estate, which will pass to Lady Lucy’s oldest son.  We visited the ruined cathedral at Fortrose and then walked along a footpath by the ocean out to Chanonry Point where we saw bottlenose dolphins.  After that we went to the village of Comarty and walked around.  We had about 50 minutes to ourselves, so Alan and I ran to a museum and gave it a quick tour.

On a number of our hikes and walks, we visited ruined cathedrals that are a result of the reformation.

We also visited the west coast.  While on the way, I noticed that most of the signs are written in English and Gaelic (which is pronounced with a short a).  Then we went to the Inverewe Gardens, which had been privately owned by Osgood Mackenzie in 1862 who spent 40 years creating them.  When he died, his daughter Maree worked on the gardens for 30 years.  The gardens have species from all over the world that do very well by this protected bay because of the Gulf Stream.  Maree gave the garden to the national trust because her son was not interested in keeping it. 

Several evenings, Alan and I went to the pine marten and badger blind/hide on Sir John’s estate. We had to keep absolutely quiet or the animals could hear us.  We sat there about two hours and were rewarded by seeing a young female pine marten and a badger that visited several times.  It was really fun.

Another day we went to Glen Affric, which is a remnant of Caledonian pinewood (one of only three left in Scotland).  The highlands were once completely covered with these pinewoods.   We loved the hiking and being in the highlands. 

The last 5 days of our visit were spent with a day in Glasgow and four days in Edinburgh.  We enjoyed both cities and went to a number of museums, cathedrals and of course the magnificent Edinburgh Castle. The Scots are friendly and very welcoming.  Attached are 2 photos.  One shows several of our rangers in green.  Scot from Glasgow is sitting and Allie from England is in the background.