My Scottish Adventure - Part 2

I have returned from my travels safe and almost well; one chest infection that I took with me is still bothering me but I have drugs now so will be fine. The second part of my Scotland Adventure took me to Stonehaven and while there I went walking about to see Dunnottar Castle (probably not the wisest thing to do with a chest infection, but I swear the sea air helped). The pictures below will do far more to convey the beauty and splendour of the place than any words. The place took my breath away with how majestic the scenery is. I had to stop every few minutes while walking along the coastal path to take a picture, as every step revealed a new perspective that was even more stunning than the last.

My Scottish Adventure - Part 1

This is a day of firsts. It will be the first time that I've written a blog post from my phone and it will be the first time I've gone on holiday by myself. It may only be to a harbour town in Scotland and only for a few days, but I think it still counts. Here's hoping I can format this post right on my smaller screen...

I've been up here a few days now to offer moral support to friends running the Edinburgh Marathon and had forgotten how stunning this city is. Of course the unusually sunny days have helped, though even on this colder grey day it's still beautiful. My friends have also been astounding, both managing to not just finish their first full marathon but to go out afterwards for dinner and drinks. I'd be a useless pile of limbs, gibbering and shivering, if I'd just run 26+ miles! So bravo ladies - you are an inspiration.

At this very moment I'm sitting in a generic coffee shop, that doesn't pay a lot of tax, waiting for my train to Stonehaven on the east coast of Scotland. I decided to go there after reading about it in a book (as good a reason as any) called Sophia's Secret by Susanna Kearsley and discovering that the ancient castle Dunnottar is still standing. Look the place up on Google and you'll see why I just had to see it.

With a tummy filled with haggis I should br on my way in an hour on the next leg of the journey. I'm hoping for dry weather so I can draw and paint in the open air, maybe with a wee bottle of whiskey in my bag to keep me warm. And Evernote is being used extensively for writing ideas and snippets. Fingers crossed for a creative few days to come.

Burns' Night and A' That

In all honesty I've never celebrated Burns' Night - despite counting myself a member of the fine Scottish folk. I blame my parents - they moved away from Ayrshire, Scotland in the '70s and settled south of the border in London, and neither of them can stand the Burns Night stuff. It's often been described to me as "a night when fat, psuedo-Scots cover themselves in tartan and recite the same boring ol' shite." Actually they say a lot more than that - the tartan thing in particular pisses them off, what with it being a tourist thing, rather than something that all Scots historically wore. My folks are big on the whole "historical accuracy" thing. Especially where Scotland's concerned.*