Spain/Scotland

On April 7th we left our homestead in Dunedin, Florida and headed to Fort Lauderdale.  On the 8th we set off on a TransAtlantic cruise.  Seven days later we finally saw land.  It was Portugal's Azure islands.  We explored the area around the Sete Cidades Crater Lake.  Three days later we saw Spain.  For the next few days our cruise ship stopped at various ports along the Spanish coast, including Cadiz, Gibraltar, Malaga, and Alicante.  These cities had some amazing sights and history to offer us.  Finally on day 15 we disembarked the cruise ship and spent a few days in Barcelona, Spain.  We had a special evening when we met my daughter Kristin and her husband Kane, met us for dinner.  It was totally by chance that they were on vacation in Barcelona the same time we were there.  On day 17, we flew on a plane from Barcellona to Edinburgh, Scotland.  We explored Edinburgh for a few days, then took a train to Glasgow.  We explored Glascow, then decided to explore the rest of the countr

Today was our last full day in Scotland.  Tomorrow we will be leaving the Drum Farm B&B and heading back to Edinburgh.  We'll drop off our car at the Europcar facility in Edinburgh, then head to the train station.  Once on the train we will be riding a to London and staying at a Holiday Inn near the Heathrow Airport. On Wednesday we fly back to Tampa on Virgin Atlantic. We did see some pretty cool stuff on our last day.  The first thing was the Falkirk Wheel. It is the world's only rotating boat lift.  It connects the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal.  The wheel raises (or lowers) boats by 79 ft.  It would take a lot of verbiage to explain the Wheel, so I'm just going to post a YouTube video.  We were able to ride one of the boats and the Wheel lifted us up to the upper canal. The engineering behind it is amazing. We also visited some horses called the Kelpies. They aren't real horses, but 98 ft horse-head sculptures depicting kelpies (shape-shifting water

St. Andrews has a lot of history, but many know it for its golf.  We drove to St. Andrews today and hung out at "the Old Course".  The Old Course at St Andrews is considered the oldest golf course in the world. It is a public course over common land in St Andrews.  Originally known as the "golfing grounds" of St Andrews, it was not until the New Course was opened in 1895 that it became known as the Old Course.  St Andrews Links are public golf courses and must share the tee times with members, residents and visitors alike.  "The Old Course" The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews Shopping at The Old Course shop The following is a video of Robin Williams discussing the origin of golf (warning: contains strong language) Tonight we are staying at a Bed and Breakfast near Stirling, Scotland.  It is an old farm house and the farm has horses and 3 dogs.  

We left Inverness this morning and headed to Balmoral Castle.  Balmoral Castle is a large estate house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and a residence of the British royal family. Balmoral is private property and, unlike the monarch's official residences, is not the property of the Crown. The estate was originally purchased privately by Prince Albert, for Queen Victoria.  Construction on the castle started in 1853 and was completed in 1856.  The Estate is within the Cairngorms National Park and covers 50,000 acres.  The working estate includes forestry and farmland, as well as managed herds of deer, Highland cattle, and ponies.  The royal family employs approximately 50 full-time and 50–100 part-time staff to maintain the working estate.  The estimated worth of the estate is 140 million. Queen Elizabeth died at Balmoral on September 8, 2022 at the age of 96. She was the first monarch to die at Balmoral. This was a special day at the castle.  Charles III was getting coronated (crowned)

We decided to take Charlie on a Whiskey tasting tour today.  We visited the Aberlour Distillery. Tasting Room at the Distillery We also visited the Glenfiddich Distillery The cask above contains 15 year old whiskey.  You can purchase a bottle of whiskey directly from the cask.  The video below shows Charlie bottling his own bottle of whiskey Eating lunch at the Distillery The flowers at the Distillery were amazing We finally visited the Balvenie Distillery  During our today, we saw another castle and another Highland Cow Balvenie Castle   Holly's maiden name is Walker and she was very familiar with Walker Shortbread.  We found the manufacturing plant and bought ourselves some cookies.

Another wonderful day in Scotland.  Sunny, no rain, and I didn't even need to wear a jacket.  We booked a trip to see a small farm. Our guide was Russell Frasier and he was raised in the rural area where the farm was located.  He told us that he went to a very small school.  He had 2 people in his graduating class.  The farm was known for raising Highland Cows (also known as Hairy Coos).  The cows are a Scottish breed of rustic beef cattle. They originated in the Scottish Highlands and have long horns and a long shaggy coat. It is a hardy breed, able to withstand the intemperate conditions in the region.  Another highlight of the day was trying to see if we could locate Nessie (the Loch Ness Monster) in Loch Ness.  We spent some time looking and calling his name, but he didn't appear :( We visited the Inverness Cathedral, which is also known as the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew.  It is a cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Church.  The foundation stone was laid in 1866 and c