Culcreuch Castle, Hamish, and Mom's kilt skirt

We headed out first thing this morning for Fintry, which is where Culcreuch Castle is. Culcreuch was built by a Galbraith about 900 years ago, but the Galbraiths only owned the castle about 300 years. It wasn't as big as some of the other castles we've seen, but it was exciting to see it and to walk around the grounds. You can get lots more information about it on their website at http://www.culcreuch.com/, more than we could get today, because the castle is now a hotel, and there was a large wedding party just checking out as we were there. We didn't ask about seeing the inside, we just took pictures and looked.

The best part of the trip today was that it was an absolutely beautiful, bright sunny day, so we had clear views of the countryside as we drove. Everything was green and bright and beautiful. We took a few pictures here and there, but so much of it was just this vast, beautiful scene, and I know my pictures won't be anywhere near as nice. Then, at the end of the day, as we drove back to the cottage, the clouds started moving in and things got hazy and cloudy, but that's even beautiful too!

Today we set off in search of Mom's kilt skirt. We have been asking people at different places, and we were referred to a place close to Callendar, called Kilmahogg. We arrived at the little gift shop and discovered a local celebrity was there - Hamish. (pronounced with a long "a") Hamish is a Highland cow, one of the long-haired cows that I mentioned yesterday. It looks like they've built up quite a reputation for Hamish in that area. He has T-shirts, mugs, pens, towels, postcards, and even stuffed animals that look like him. He's very big, and very sweet. He happened to be up by the fence when we drove up, close to a sign that is written in about 3 languages telling everyone what his name is, his age, and other little tidbits about him. I walked up to the fence and reached my hand in and this HUGE red nose reached over and sniffed me, and then he let me pet him and touch his horns. Later, in the shop, I found out that he wasn't really being sweet and nice to me, you can actually buy fruits and vegetables in the shop to feed him, and he just thought he was going to get food. Reminded me a lot of Peaches, only bigger. (my husband's Pekingese!)

In the shop, Mom asked about getting a skirt made in the Galbraith tartan, they directed her to another shop just a few hundred yards down the road, and they called someone and then directed us to another shop in Callendar. Callendar is another of those really wonderful touristy type towns that has all kinds of Rob Roy connections and historical significance, and has kept a lot of its old charm but in a beautiful way. We loved it. We found the shop, Mom was measured for her skirt, and she has her kilt skirt ordered and should get it in about 2 months. I'm so excited that she's finally going to get it!

Lunch was there in Callendar, where we went into a shop called Eat Mhore Fish, and had fish and chips for our 2nd time. It was also wonderful, we were very relieved that we had picked a place that made the fish so light and flaky and not too oily. Yum. Then, we headed for Beith.

Unfortunately, neither of us checked our email before we went out today, so we didn't have the information that Cheralyn sent us about Beith and the people they had met, etc., so we were on our own to wander and look. We found both the High Church and the other one she mentioned, but, again, we weren't able to look inside. Everyone was done with church services and had gone home and shut everything up, I guess. But we were there, we saw them, and we also stumbled on the LDS church just for good measure. Beith is a very old town too, not as clean and nice as some of the others, but very old. Again, it was a great experience to walk the areas that my long-ago ancestors would have known and walked in. We also had intended to go to Irvine, which is where John Cameron Galbraith and his brother were working when they joined the church, but there wasn't really anything to see, other than the town itself, and it was getting late in the day, so we chose not to.

The worst part is knowing that tomorrow we leave Scotland. It just doesn't seem like we've had enough time here. We hurried through the sites Mom wanted to see, accomplished the things she wanted to do, and even saw a few other things along the way, but we could happily spend another week or 2 here to see all the rest of it that we're missing out on. Today as we drove we saw, far off in the distance, Stirling Castle, which everyone says is a castle that you can't miss out on. It's huge, and it's perched precariously way up high on the side of a huge cliff. And we're missing it. Not enough time!

We leave here in the morning and head for England again, but we'll be stopping near Carlisle again and staying in a hotel there. There's a place where the Sharps came from that we'll be going through, and then when we get closer to Carlisle Roger had told me I will get the chance to walk on Hadrian's wall. Looking forward to that! We will have internet at the hotel, so I'll be able to add to this tomorrow too, and then we'll be back at Pam & Roger's house. One week from today we will be home. When we look back at all we've done and seen, it feels like we've been gone a lot longer than 2 weeks, but we're both also homesick and ready to go home. That's all about today. More tomorrow...