Remembering our last vacation to Scotland

It was the middle of September in 2007 when we took a two week vacation to Scotland. We landed on a Saturday morning at Edenburgh just as the sun was rising in the eastern sky. It was a wet day, with temperatures in the 50's.

It took us about an hour to get the rental car and load up the luggage, then we were on our way south to Rosslyn Chapel in Roslin, Midlothian where we toured the chapel that was used in the final scenes of the DiVinci Code. Many pictures of the architecture and artifacts were taken, then off we went driving the countryside on our way to Haddington, East Lowthian area where we were spending our first week at a working farm that had a B&B Manse. The family we stayed with were very hospitable and friendly, and the room we were give looked out over the wonderful garden in the front of the house. I sat several mornings in the window sill looking out to the garden as I drank my morning cup of coffee.

We were up early every morning to enjoy a wonderful Scottish breakfast that consisted of offerings of dry cereal, fruit and sweet breads, then the main plate comes with eggs, sausage, bacon, and toast. (blood pudding was offered too, but we abstained from having it after the first time of trying it. It is an acquired taste.).

Each morning after breakfast we would have our agenda planned, and off we would go to explore the lands of my fore fathers. East Lowthian and Berwickshire Counties are the homeland of my ancestors, the Douglass Clan.

Our first day of adventure was to travel to Spott, East Lowthian, where my Great Great Grandfather was born. We stopped in the small village to look at the graveyard, but the rain started coming down, and we decided we would come back another day when the weather was cooperating. So down the lane we traveled to find the next village on our list, Coldingham, Berwickshire.

As we traveled down the highways and byways we would stop to take pictures of the countryside. The beautiful rolling hills of green could be viewed for miles. We also would stop to see an occasional ruin of what was once a medieval castle or manse. My excitement could hardly be contained as we got closer to Coldingham. This is the village where my great great grandparents lived and worked for many years before they immegrated to Canada in 1854.

We got to Coldingham around 10 am and drove through the small streets to visualize the paths my ancients had walked. It was a moment I will always remember. We stopped at the village graveyard, and hoped to visit the Coldingham Priory to be able to view the family records, but alas...it was not open that day. It was only open one day a week. We would have to plan a trip back if the time allowed. From there we traveled south to the next fishing village of Eyemouth, where we stopped at a local eatery. Fish and chips were the greatest. Fresh catch of the day...melted in your mouth...

After lunch we were off again to visit some of the other villages in the area that were on my list of places to see. By late afternoon it was time to head back to our B&B and plan on finding a place for dinner. We soon found that in the local area, we had to plan on dinner hour being earlier than we expected, or we would find ourselfs doing without. Dinner this night was at a local hotel bar in Gifford about 5 miles from our B&B. If you are planning a trip to Scotland, our recomendation is to look for the small eateries or the pubs that provide food. They are more reasonably priced, and the food is alway very good. Restaurants tend to be more pricy.

On the second day of our first week, the morning followed the same schedule, and since the weather reports were showing rain throughout the day, we decided to travel back into Edinburgh to the city center were we found the Heratage Center. We spent the whole day from about 10 am to 4 pm in the center, looking up family history information. It cost about 9 pound each to be there but the information you can gather is great...

On our way back to the farm, we travelled to a couple more sites of interest, took pictures, and then back to Haddington to the local pub were we could access WIFI and make our connections with the family back home. And I could get my connection with 6 week old Sophia, our grand daughter. We brought a webcam with us to have visual connection. It was wonderful, although at times we didn't get the audio hooked with the visual...had to talk with our fingers. After dinner at the local eatery, we were off to the farm, to relax and recoup for our next days adventure.

Day three we were off to some of the local castles in the East Lowthian area, that had connections to the family ancestors. The first castle was Dirleton, located north west of Dunbar in the small village of Dirleton. The next castle on the Coast due east of Dirleton was called Tantallon, it was a Douglass fortress and is now is maintained by the Scottish Historical Society. It was very interesting to walk through the ruins and daydream about who may have walked the halls when this was a viable fortress.

I will end my recollections for today, and continue my travel story when I can..it is time to close up shop for the day...