Hello! It's me, Wilfred! Part II of my great Scottish adventure with Grandma starts on a ScotRail train. Poppy reserved us good seats so that the four of us (me, Poppy, Daddy and Grandma) shared a table and a big window.
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| Me and the ScotRail ready to leave Waverley in Edinburgh |
We crossed the Firth of Forth and went along the foggy Scottish coast for an hour or so, before we headed into the highlands. Dad said he knew we were getting close to the land of Grandma's ancestors when we got to Dalwhinnie and he saw the whiskey making place.
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| Dalwhinnie whiskey making place. |
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| A sheep farm near Kingussie |
This part of the highlands used to be called Badenoch in long ago times and the town of Kingussie was its capital. Grandma's great grandparents -- McDonalds, McBains, Gordons and Clarks --were mostly shepherds here way back, but they had their land taken away and then they had to make a new life in Canada. Today, Badenoch is part of Inverness-shire (shire is old Scottish for "county") and Kingussie is mostly a tourist town inside a national highland park called, Cairngorms. When our train stopped at Kingussie, Dad took my picture.
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| Kingussie olden capital of Badenoch |
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| Me in Kingussie |
Grandma always knew her ancestors were from near Inverness, and Dad found out her Great Grandpa Gordon was baptized in a church not far from Kingussie in 1798 -- a little place called, Insh. The train goes past Loch Insh and the old church is still there! You can see it on the banks of the loch (loch is the olden Scottish language word for lake) .
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| My 3X Great Grandpa Gordon. Does he look like me? |
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| The olden church at Insh |
It was cold and misty when we left Edinburgh, so we didn't know what to expect at Inverness. But the farther north we went the sunnier and warmer it got! Can you even believe it? When we got to Inverness, there was blue sky!
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| The train station at Inverness |
We took a taxi to our B&B. It was a really nice place called Moyness House. Dad and Poppy had their room and I got to share with Grandma! In the old Scottish language (Grandma calls the Gaelic), Inverness is called Inbher Nis, which means mouth of the River Ness.
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| Moyness House |
After we dropped off our luggage, we walked down to the river to have supper. Inverness is really pretty. It became a city in the Queen's Jubilee in 2002. It doesn't have a subway, but it has lots of cool old buildings -- like a toll tower, which looks like a church steeple without a church and a castle -- and it has a really fun place to walk beside the river, called the River Walk, where we went to a restaurant called Riva, so I could have some good Scottish pasta.
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| Inverness today. See the Toll Tower? |
There has been a town here since a long ago people called Picts and there has been a castle here for over a thousand years. Inverness Castle is where long ago King Duncan was killed by long ago MacBeth (they say). Later, the town was raided by fighting clans from the Isles -- the fierce MacDONALDS! And Grandma's ancestors decided to stay.
Later -- but still a long time ago -- there was a prince called Bonnie Prince Charlie, who the Scots thought was their proper king, so the MacDonalds and other clans helped him fight the English in a war. He blew up the Inverness Castle so that the English would not get it (the one here today is 150 years old). Poor Bonnie Charlie lost the war and Grandma's long-lost maybe relative, Flora MacDonald, helped him escape. They really like Prince Charlie in Inverness, even if he blew up their castle, and there is a statue of Flora MacDonald in front of the castle today.
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| The castle (not the one they blew up) and Flora McDonald...maybe a far back relation |
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| The River Ness, Inverness |
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| Me at the River Walk |
At the B&B, I found out one of the other guests was a boy about my age! His name was Harry, he was eight and we ran around in the backyard. Harry had cool toys that were all WEAPONS. His mom said that was because they were American.
Next day was our only full day in Inverness, so Poppy and Daddy needed a plan. Most tourists when they come to Inverness go to Loch Ness to try to see the monster. I really wanted to, but Dad and Poppy had already been and they said that Loch Ness is a pretty lake, but they wanted to show Grandma something else. They said the monster probably doesn't exist, anyhow - but how do they know for sure?
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| What I didn't see. |
Dad wanted to rent a car to show Grandma stuff from her history, but the hire place was out of cars because it was Easter. So, after a big Scottish breakfast at Moyness House, we went to the visitors' centre, where Dad hired a driver who would take us around on our own private tour in a van.
Our driver was named Jim and the first place Jim took us was a field about five miles from Inverness. There was a big pile of stones in the middle that Jim called a cairn. In the long ago Bonnie Prince Charlie time, this was where the clans fought the final battle with the English -- a place called Culloden.
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| The cairn at Culloden |
Jim told us that the day of the great battle, the clans were outnumbered and hungry and tired and the English had better generals. The clans fought in family groups with pistols and swords. Bonnie Charlie got bad advice and told them to charge the English, who had rifles and cannons. It lasted less than an hour. After, the English general ordered all the wounded clans men and boys to be killed where they fell. A stone near the road marks where all the MacDonalds were buried in one large grave.
Jim took us to the visitors' centre so Grandma, Dad and Poppy and me could see exhibits about the clans and the battle. After, we walked on the battlefield.
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| A cottage where wounded Scots were killed |
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| Lots to think about |
Next, Jim took us a few miles down the road to see the Clava Cairns. The Clava Cairns are over 4000 years old. The cairns are big piles of stone that look like stone snow forts, but Jim explained that 4000 years ago they would have had roofs (like stone igloos). The doors line up exactly with where the sun sets. There are standing stones around the cairns, but - like Stonehenge - it is a MYSTERY what they mean. Each cairn had one or two graves in them once. There are fifty cairns near Inverness. Nobody knows why these fifty or so people were important. It is a MYSTERY.
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| Jim shows Grandma and Dad the Clava Cairns |
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| Jim explains the cairns to Poppy and Grandma |
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| They are a MYSTERY |
But near Clava Cairns is something REALLY cool -- an olden days, stone TRAIN bridge! Jim stopped so Dad could take my picture...
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| Me and the olden stone train bridge |
Next stop was Cawdor Castle. Cawdor Castle is famous, because Shakespeare wrote about it in his play about MacBeth, but it really belonged to the Campbell Clan. Dad said that the Campbells were one of the clans who took the English side, so they weren't crushed like the MacDonalds. In fact, the Campbells were our sworn enemies once, Dad said. But no one cares about that anymore, so we had a look at their castle anyway. It was very beautiful. Grandma really liked looking through it. The Dowager Countess of Cawdor still lives there. Poppy said Cawdor felt very homey - like he was invited to some place fancy for the weekend. Our driver, Jim, said the Countess was a very nice lady. For a Campbell, Dad said...
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| Me and Grandma at Cawdor Castle |
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| Me checking out the moat |
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| Cawdor Castle inside...nice little place... |
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| Grandma in Cawdor's gardens |
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| Me getting a good run around...and checking out the maze |
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| Cawdor's kitchen garden |
Because it was Easter, they had a quizz for kids and I won a big Easter Egg! They also had a huge chicken, named Charlie the Chicken who gave out Easter treats. Dad said a big chicken was about perfect for Campbells...
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| Me and Charlie the Chicken |
Our last stop was Fort George. After Bonnie Charlie, the king of England wanted to make sure the clans made no more trouble. He outlawed clans and tartan and bag pipes and the Gaelic. He built the hugest fort in all the land and made sure the clans were crushed good. Fort George could hold hundreds of troops and it is still pretty amazing and kind of scary today. It also has a great view of the Firth of Moray out to the North Sea. And guess who I met up with at the war fort? My American friend, Harry, from the B&B! Can you even believe it?
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| Grandma, Poppy and me check out Fort George |
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| The fort could hold hundreds of troops |
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| I found my American friend, Harry! |
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| Harry showed me how to play blow up the enemy |
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| The view is amazing of the firth and the sea |
After a long day, we went back to Inverness. We walked across the bridge toward the Castle Pub for our dinner and on the way, we saw a whole bunch of real live bunnies hop, hop, hopping around the castle eating grass. Dad and Poppy said they must be Easter Bunnies building up their strength for a long night's work. I asked how it was even possible for bunnies to deliver eggs all over the world and Grandma said that was why they needed such a big supper.
The next morning was Easter Sunday. And guess what? The Easter bunny did come and he left me a stuffy bunny and all kinds of chocolate eggs hidden around the B&B! I took them down to breakfast and shared them with all the other guests at the B&B.
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| I named my stuffy, Hoppy |
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| Searching for eggs... |
After breakfast, we spent our last morning in Inverness poking around the part of town near the train station.
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| Oldest house in Inverness from 1500s |
In an old churchyard by the river, we saw people going in for Easter morning service and I missed all my friends at Eastminster in Toronto and the kids in my junior choir who sent me a birthday card with a paper butterfly that really flies!
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| Churchyard in Inverness |
We walked through the old, old grave stones in the churchyard and read the names. Grandma found some that sounded like they could be relations of hers, but she wasn't sure.
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| Me in the churchyard |
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| A maybe relation |
Grandma said that life may not have been easy for her family always, but if everybody has to be from somewhere, then Inverness was a nice place to be from. I think so, too.
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| Me by the River Ness |
Next stop on our great Scottish adventure -- Glasgow. I will tell you about that in Part III. Bye for now, Wilfie
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