A B&B in Callander, north of Glasgow, where we spent our first night in Scotland.
A highland cow named Hamish next to a working woolen mill west of Callander.
The sign said to wash your hands after petting "Hamish". I think I would have done that anyway.
A working mill west of Callander. The looms are about 80 years old.
A beautiful loch somewhere west of Callandar and north or northeast of Loch Lomond.
Dail by the same loch. Yes, it was cold.
Waterfalls everywhere throughout the highlands. The bracken was brown and dying everywhere as winter was approaching.
Bedroom window view. The next picture shows what we could see from there in Oban.
Oban harbor from a room with a view.
Ferry approaching in the harbor of Oban.
The port of Oban as seen from the top of a Cal Mac ferry. Our B & B was somewhere halfway up the hill in the middle.
Dail on top of the Cal Mac ferry with the Oban harbor behind her.
Oban harbor again and the North edge of the town along the waterfront.
Warm and comfortable inside the ferry.
A castle near the port on Mull.
On the ferry on the way to Mull. Lighthouse on an island between Mull and the mainland.
A view of snowcapped Ben More on the Isle of Mull.
Fire station on the Isle of Iona.
Fishing boat at the pier/landing on Iona. The crowd is waiting for the ferry back to Mull.
Parish Church on the Isle of Iona.
A garden looking from Iona toward Mull.
Garden gate, looking out across the water from Iona to Mull. Legend says that when Columba was rebuking a lazy monk, his voice could carry all the way across the water to be heard by the inhabitants of Mull.
The Isle of Iona Post Office.
Bishop's House in Iona where Steve spent the night in 1992 when he visited Scotland.
A view from the Iona cemetary looking West. Note the rocky, high ground in the middle of the island.
Chapel in the cemetary on Iona.
Dail entering the graveyard of Iona where many kings are buried.
Iona Abbey. Mull across the water.
Approaching Iona Abbey from the rear, which turned out to be quite a muddy approach.
Steve and Dail in front of the Celtic cross in front of the Abbey. This cross is a reproduction. The original, which is broken and damaged, is in the museum behind the Abbey.
A view of the Abbey from higher ground. So often throughout Britain, when you want to take a picture, it is partially spoiled by construction work.
Looking down the King's Road toward the Abbey. Many kings were carried from the Abbey to the cemetary along this road.
The Abbey from the South from inside the cemetary.
Nita, Dail and John in front of the nunnery ruins on Iona.
West end of Loch Ness. It was raining, so Nessie never showed himself/herself.
Looking down on the west end of Loch Ness from high up.
Castle ruins on Loch Ness. Graham McDonald informed me it is Urquhart Castle and the link immediately below will give you more information about it and Loch Ness. Click here for a web site on the castle ruins.
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/drumnadrochit/urquhart/index.html
Loch Ness is quite large. This is a view from about midway, looking to the East.
Another view of the castle ruins, Loch Ness.
Beautiful countryside near the middle of Loch Ness.
Beautiful buildings along the river in Inverness. It appears to be high tide.
Beautiful scene along the river in Inverness.
St. Andrews Cathedral in Inverness.
Steve and Dail outside St. Andrews in Inverness, the river behind them.
Highland snow south of Inverness.
Cannon outside of Blair Atholl.
Blair Atholl, front view.
Church ruins above Blair Atholl again.
Old graveyard on the hill above Blair Atholl.
Rare sunshine during out trip. East side view of the church ruins above Blair Atholl.
A church on the hill in Pitlochry.
Looking northward up the main street of Pitlochry. The women couldn't wait to go shopping.
Side view of the church on the hill in Pitlochry.
Baptist Church in Pitlochry.
A wedding was about to begin in the old church in Dunblane.
Stirling Castle is an impressive site, visible from miles away.
In the parking lot about to enter Stirling Castle.
Inside Stirling Castle.
Garden in the lower sections of Stirling Castle.
East Northeast view from Stirling Castle. Notice the William Wallace Memorial in the middle on a hill.
Another view of Stirling Castle.
William Wallace memorial. The picture doesn't give one a sense of the size. It is huge.
Dean Castle. Ancestral home of the Boyds for about 400 years.
Beautiful gardens at Dean Castle.
The keep of Dean Castle.
Dean Castle buildings on the side by the river.
Courtyard inside the Dean Castle complex of buildings.
This entrance to Dean Castle is fairly modern, by Scottish standards.
Some walls of Dean Castle are 10 feet thick at the bottom and 3 feet thick higher up.
Another view of Dean Castle from the entrance road.
Looking down into the courtyard of Dean Castle.
Woolen mill in operation just below Edinburgh Castle.
In the parking lot headed up to Edinburgh Castle.
Looking East out of a gun placement in Edinburgh Castle.
War memorial inside Edinburgh Castle.
Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland, on the Royal Mile.
Statue to Grayfriar's Bobby. Everyone say: "Awwwwwwwww."
Tombstone for Greyfriars Bobby.
Dail in front of the pub by Greyfriars church.
Baptism of a young lady in Cumbernauld by Jack Strachan of East Kilbride.
The end!
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on Delta Airlines to Atlanta, Georgia, and then to Orlando, Florida, joining Dail and Steve.
We took Continental Airlines to Newark, New Jersey, from which we departed to Scotland.
We arrived in Glasgow about 9:15 AM. Entry and customs required at least thirty minutes.
Graham McDonald arrived about 10:00 AM and took all of us to his house, meeting Elizabeth, Bethany (2), Megan (3) and Joshua (5).
We ate lunch there. Graham loaned us his Mercedes which was insured for Steve as the driver.
Steve did all the driving. We went first to Callander.
October 23 - Andy fed us a great breakfast at 8:30.
We departed, stopped to look at Teith River which has some salmon.
We stopped at woolen mill to watch weaving and purchase woolen products.
We drove Hwy. A85 to Oban and booked rooms in the Thornloe Bed & Breakfast.
We ate fish and chips by the bay.
Swans were in the ocean, plus we had a view of the bay from our window.
Many snow capped peaks were visible on the way to Oban.
We stopped by St. Conan's Kirk by beautiful loch and went inside.
October 24 - We rode the 10:00 a.m. ferry, the Caledonian McBrayne, to the Island of Mull, about 45 minutes.
We rode the bus across Mull to a smaller ferry going to the Isle of Iona.
We had a good lunch on Iona, walked through the pasture to the Abbey built in the 1300s, which has been restored and is still in use.
We came back by the ruins of the nunnery.
The outer walls are still standing. Hail fell as we walked to the ferry on Iona.
A golden eagle and seals were observed on the bus ride back across Mull.
Our dinner was salmon, fish cakes, or sea bass.
October 25 - We drove by Loch Ness on the way to Inverness.
We took pictures of St. Andrews cathedral there.
There also was a cathedral across the river and Inverness Castle.
Previously we had lunch at Fort William.
There was lots of snow in the mountains around Inverness.
We stayed overnight at Aviemore at the Dunroamin Bed & Breakfast.
This day we saw the most snow covered peaks so far.
October 26 - We stopped by Blair Atholl castle in the morning.
A bagpipe competition was under way, but no tour of castle.
Going to Perth, we visited the glass factory.
It was cloudy on Saturday. Next was Stirling castle.
Its history includes Mary Queen of the Scots and Margaret Tudor.
We enjoyed a good meal at Brewsters in Cumbernauld. Graham and Elizabeth provided their king sized bed for us.
Dail & Steve stayed with David and Maria Coggin.
October 27 - Bible class was at 10:00 AM. Graham preached at 11:00.
Adam Barr led singing.
Elizabeth's mother and sister Pauline were in the assembly.
We had a late lunch about 3:00 p.m. at the McDonalds. I spoke at the 6:00 PM service on "What is in a Name."
At 7:00 PM we rode the church van to Stirling to the Albert Hall to worship and to hear Mack Lyon.
We met his new wife Lois Durean Lyon. Everyone stopped for chips on the return trip.
October 28 - The weather is beautiful with a few scattered clouds.
We are going to Kilmarnock today.
There was beautiful country scenery all the way.
We had lunch at a coffee club, then we went to the Dean Castle for a tour at 1:15 PM.
The guide was Charles Brown.
First we went through the keep with swords and fencing swords, the dungeon, and finally through the castle.
Fire destroyed most of the wood in 1700s, but it was all restored about 1935.
We spent the night at Blairmains Bed & Breakfast east of Stirling and ate at the Stirling Hotel.
October 29 - A few leaves are changing color.
We took pictures of the Club House at St. Andrews golf course and also of the ancient cathedral ruins.
We drove to Leven and Buckhaven on the North Sea.
The "Chariots of Fire" movie was partially made at St. Andrews.
We drove to the Edinburgh visitor center and booked a room.
We spent the night at Acer Lodge on Queensferry Road. It was a beautiful bed and breakfast.
October 30 - We rode the city bus to downtown and St. Giles Cathedral and walked to Edinburgh Castle.
Nita and I had lunch at Garfunkels while Dail and Steve visited Grayfriars Church.
We took the bus back to Acer Lodge for our car. Soon we were on our way to Cumbernauld and the 4:00 p.m. baptism of Leann Rush.
Jack Strachan did the baptizing.
Graham drove through thick fog taking us to the Glasgow Airport Holiday Inn Express.
We had dinner at the Holiday Inn and a continental breakfast.
There was a covered walkway to the terminal.
The girls and Steve spent their remaining pounds in the duty free shop.
We departed at 11:10 AM.
There were clouds for the first four hours.
Finally they broke to reveal land, probably Nova Scotia, then Maine.
We landed in Newark, New Jersey, at 12:58 EST, went through baggage claim and customs, transferred from terminal B to C, ate ice cream, etc., departed for Orlando, and arrived at 7:15 PM.
Steve drove us to the Country Inn.
November 1 - Nita and I arose at 4:44 AM.
We had a good continental breakfast and took the shuttle to the airport by 6:30 AM.
I removed my shoes for security. We arrived at Little Rock at 12:15 PM CST.