Monday, May 5, 08 - Aberfeldy, Scotland

(See pictures on Flickr - the set is UK 08/Aberfeldy)

We woke, had breakfast, and were at the reception desk at the resort shortly after 8:00 checking out ping-pong balls and paddles. We haven't played ping-pong since we left home, and we were pleasantly surprised that the resort provided a table and equipment. We found a few places on one of our tours of Germany a few years ago, and we've found a few at RV parks in the U.S.; but it's rare that we are able to play when we travel.

Soon as we finished, we headed off to the Birks of Aberfeldy, which turned out to be a wonderful hour-long, plus, uphill walk. The path is marked well, and there are steps where the hill gets very steep and rails where the path is particularly narrow and the drop sharply close to the edge. We found a few places where the canyon (gulch) slopes had eroded, but it seems the Perthshire Council keeps close eye on unsafe conditions and fortifies areas or closes them off. We are grateful for those who look after such wonderful places so that we can enjoy them. I'm sure it's good for tourist business, but I think they would do it for the local people even if no tourists came. The paths might not be as good were it not for the tourists because the economy wouldn't be as good; but it's my thought that these people walk these lovely glens as a matter of daily living - and that they have walked these glens for eons. The Scottish Highlands are lovely, no matter where you look.

The Birks walk goes up one side and down another of what we believe is the Moness brook or stream or whatever it might be called. It's the same rushing water we hear from our cottage. The walk is about 1.7 miles, according to the sign, and we assume this is the entire walk up and down. From our lodgings and back, it's probably a little better than 2 miles. The walk is advertised to take about 1-1/2 hours, but it took us three because photo opportunities were there wherever we looked. There are rushing streams and falls, moss-covered tree trunks and rocks, birds galore, and just wonderous things to attract the senses. So many times during the few days we've been here, I've thought there's nothing to do but to draw this place or write about it. Everywhere you go, your imagination is inspired.

We got back to our lodgings at noon, had our sandwich, and immediately took off for Dewar's distillery just about 1-1/2 miles from where we're staying. The family of Dewars sold the distillery in the 1960s to another family of about 400 people, so there is no longer a family with hands-on attention to the company. But Dewar's thrives and has a wonderful exhibit here at Aberfeldy. We even found a little exhibit that allowed us to send a video e-mail, and we took advantage of it by sending one to ourselves and one to a couple other people. We were then given a guided tour of the distillery and treated to a small glass of Dewar's White Label, a premium blend Scotch whiskey, before we were through. It was smooth and tasty. It was surprising to us that it takes only a few people to run the distillery. Much of the operation is computerized these days, and the few workers make sure that things run smoothly. The site has a manager to manage the few workers. He has a big house nearby on the distillery property.

Aberfeldy is definitely a tourist center, and we believe the children may be on school holiday right now. At least there are a lot of families in town, and the caravan (RV) park is full - at least 50, and probably upward to 100 caravans in the park. The park is by the River Tay, and it looks quite nice.

The sun came out in full force about noon and the temperature warmed up to the point that we could go around without jackets or heavy shirts. The skies were clear except for puffy white clouds, and it was a beautiful day.

My biggest fear when we travel is that we won't see anything, that we will get to our lodgings and just hang out there. I hate that thought, but driving in strange places isn't Lauren's fondest dream, so we strive for compromises. I think I could spend a month just in Scotland, driving all the roads possible to drive, but we don't have a month and I need to be a little conservative giving in to my drive to go and explore. I hope we get at least up A9 to Pictlochry and maybe a little north and to Crieff and maybe a little west, to the south of us. It's hard to be satisfied that I've seen enough - it's just that beautiful. I've picked up every brochure I could find looking for how to see the standing stones, and I think I've figured it out. I want to drive back to Kenmore, too, and see if we can find that farm road entrance and then the little road just west of it so we can see them and I can photo them. To do these three things would be all the time we have here - one goal to reach each remaining day, because we will be leaving Friday morning and heading toward Devon. We will stop just north of Chester for one night, and then arrive in Devon on Saturday.

Our little challenge to find needle and thread was met yesterday. We had looked in the Yellow pages for needlework, crafts, fabric, and any other topic we could find that might lead us to a nearby place for needle and thread, but we were unable to find anything this side of Dundee (too far for us). Yesterday, we went to the Mill, a bookstore in Aberfeldy, and we spotted a sign with the word, among other words, "fabric" leading to another store. We went to the other store, but her fabric was all made up, so we asked her if there was a place in Aberfeldy for needles and thread. She directed us to another store several buildings away.

When we got there, the store's sign said Antiques, but the window display was full of clothing. Go figure. We know we have some language barrier, but we don't remember that swap of meanings for familiar words.

We found that it was actually an outdoor clothing store, and we were sure we wouldn't find what we were looking for. And just when we were about to give up, we saw, in a small display, not more than a yard square in one of the store's corners, just what we were looking for - needles and thread and no more than that! They had a package of sharps and one of a mixture of needles - we bought the mixture; and they had one spool of black thread. We bought it up immediately, and Lauren fixed his umbrella as soon as we got home. Who would have thought we would find anything "sewing" in an outdoor-clothing store!

Finding popcorn in the UK is also a challenge. I am always on a quest for it. Microwave popcorn is out of the question, but we have found two kinds already popped - wonderful sugary "movie" popcorn, which I would rather avoid, and a carmel-flavored popcorn which I would rather avoid, too, but not as much as the higher-calorie sugary one. However, finding either of these is not easy. It seems only a few places carry popcorn. Maize comes from North America and was introduced into the U.K. and other parts of the world, if I remember my history correctly, after trade started between those countries and the colonies that would become the U.S.

Little things that make traveling easier:

Plastic bags, from sandwich bags to small-to-medium trash bags
Clothes pins to hold things closed, or to mark pages in map books
Binder clips for the same reason
String to hold things closed or tie things together
Empty water and coke bottles (small to large) to hold liquids
Disposable face clothes to substitute for wash cloths
Wipes for all kinds of uses
Things we've found:
2 zipper pulls
2 buttons

Things we've lost:
One book (left in airplane seat pocket)
Three boxes yummy cereal (left in cabinet on boat)
Three clothes pins (holding cereal packages closed in lost cereal boxes on boat)

We made a pact a few days into the trip that we would wear the same clothes as long as we could. So far, Lauren has alternated between two pairs of jeans (one blue and one black), one T-shirt, two sweatshirts, and one long-sleeve shirt, and a jacket. I've worn a pair of dark blue slacks, a maroon long-sleeve shirt, a black short-sleeve shirt, a maroon sweater, and a sweatshirt jacket. This is day 17 - we're doing pretty well! Of course, we're in cooler climates, and the rain seems to wash our clothes while they're on our bodies, on a regular basis. This wouldn't work if we were touring warmer climates. The odor of our clothing would offend even us, the wearers.