October Holiday in Lanzarote

First off, my apologies for the delay in getting another posting up. The month of October flew by and now we are almost in the middle of November already! Part of what kept me busy in October was the fact that Lynn had 2 weeks off - so we took advantage and spent a week in Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa. When we were trying to decide where to go, we asked some of Lynn's friends where we could be the most guaranteed to experience warm weather and sunshine - the resounding response was to head to Lanzarote. And they were right! We had beautiful sunshine every day (except the day we left) and temperatures in the 70s and 80s. It felt like being back in So California! Wearing shorts and sleeveless tops again were just what I needed. It was the perfect holiday destination for us after a relatively non-existent summer in Scotland.

We were staying at a hotel just outside of Puerto del Carmen, which is on the south side of the island on the coast. Our first night we were in a less than desirable room - on the ground floor next to a heavily used walkway and our balcony looked out on to another section of the hotel. Thankfully we were given the option to upgrade to one of their suites the following night, and I think we ended up with one of the best rooms in the entire hotel. Top floor, at the west end of the hotel, looking out on to the beach. We loved just hanging out on our balcony, reading books, soaking up the sun/view, sipping a wine/beer ... it was marvelous!

Many people go to Lanzarote to sit by the pool or on the beach all day to work on their tans ... but that wasn't the way Lynn and I wanted to spend our time. We wanted to experience the island and what it had to offer. One day we rented bikes and rode to the capital city of Arrecife along the coastal boardwalk. Two other days we rented a car - well, I think it was a car ... it was a Chevy and felt like we were riding in a tin can on wheels! But, hey, it got us from point A to point B without any issues on very little petrol.

In the interest of being able to post more photos, I'm going to create two more blog entries of the 2 days of exploring Lanzarote via the rental car ... stay tuned for the next entry ...

Castle Fraser

We woke up Sunday morning to sunshine and blue skies, so we knew we wanted to be out and about for the day. Since we have memberships to the National Trust of Scotland, we decided to go visit one of the local castles - Castle Fraser. The good news with this castle, as with a lot of the Scottish castles, is that there were two woodland walks on its grounds ... so we were able to stretch our legs and Tux had a terrific time running around and exploring. Between the two walks, Lynn and I stopped in at the tearoom and had a cup of tea/coffee and shared a "fancy piece" (ie, piece of apple sponge cake) and then we did a quick self-guided tour of the 16 rooms within the castle.

As we were leaving the castle grounds, we saw a hot air balloon group preparing for an evening launch. Lynn, her sister and 2 friends did the same ride about a year ago, on the same type of beautiful evening ... sunshine/sunset, blue skies and slight breeze.

All in all, it was a super day enjoying one of the historic sights of Scotland!

Lonach Gathering & Highland Games

Last Saturday we attended the 169th annual Lonach Gathering & Highland Games at Bellabeg Park in Strathdon. What an amazing experience! This is a true Scottish tradition. The day starts with the March of the Clansmen at 8 am where, carrying pikes, axes, and standards, they visit prominent households in the area claiming wee drams of whisky at each stop. Dressed in full highland gear they march over the hills for 6 miles. With a wee dram at each stop it is no wonder they continue the tradition of being followed by a horse and cart should any feel the need for a wee rest.

At 1 pm (and then again at 3 pm), this huge group of clansmen march into the Bellabeg Park arena being lead in by a large (bag)pipe band. What an experience to witness! Other events of the day at the Park include Highland Games (throwing the hammer, tossing the caber, etc.), best dressed Scotsman competition, highland dancing, bagpipe competition, tug of war, and the hill race (people of the general public register to run up a local hill - what stamina they have to have to compete!)

There are also tents set up all around the arena where various vendors sell their wares (food, drink, candies, clothes, kilts, etc.).

We lucked out with the weather - there were a couple bouts of showers when we had to break out the umbrellas but in general it was fairly clear and the sun even came out a few times! Thankfully it was dry during the two clansmen marches, so I was able to really "soak" it all in!

Morven Climb

Well, Lynn and I had said that before the summer was over we wanted to climb the "hill" that the street we live on references - Morven (we live on Morven View). Since last week was Lynn's last week on her summer holiday, we were running out of time. Friday we woke up to fairly clear skies, so we decided that was the day to tackle Morven. Lynn packed up a picnic lunch for us and some snacks and waters, plus some winter-type gear (hat, ski gloves, buff, jacket, water-proof pants) for when we made it to the summit. Good thing Lynn knows how to prepare for a hike like this!

So we set out to begin the climb from the Ballater side of the hill. Everything was going along really well for the first hour or two. I was using a walking stick and was in the lead on the trail with Lynn and Tux behind me when I got quite the shock. Right beside the trail and inches from where I stuck down my stick, I saw TWO Adder snakes, which are poisonous and basically the only dangerous thing you can run across hiking in the UK. On previous hikes I had asked Lynn about how often she has seen one - and she said she had only seen one once. So, needless to say, I was quite surprised when I ran across 2 at the same time, sunning themselves next to our trail. Nothing happened, thankfully, but I was sure nervous for the next hour or so that we hiked ... wondering if we would run across any more ... I was mostly worried about Tux, since it would be serious if he was bitten.

Once we were through the wooded areas of the climb, we could see that our trail was going to come to an end ... and the last bit of the ascent would be just climbing through heather, tall grass and bogs. Not what either of us really wanted to deal with, but we didn't have any other option if we wanted to make it to the top. Tux, on the other hand, was having the time of his life! He was romping around all over. My spirits took another dip when I stepped into a bog with my left foot and sunk in up to my knee - having my left foot soaking wet for pretty much the remainder of the hike was less than desirable. Lynn has the patience of a saint listening to me whine about the conditions of the hike! I had basically had enough when the summit was getting close - we stopped for a snack and took some photos of the terrific views - and then we started on the final climb.

When we reached the top, we found a book in a Tupperware container where fellow hikers who had come before us signed, dated and commented on their hike. We both jotted down our entries in the book. Lynn started to take a video of the view at the top when the clouds quickly started coming in - since we didn't have a trail to follow back down, Lynn thought it was best that we start our descent before things got too clouded over. We took a little different direction down in the hopes of catching a road we saw in the distance for part of the journey down. Unfortunately, the way we went ended up being more wet and boggy, but we managed OK. The trek down was less eventful. I did get a bit nervous as we approached the area where we saw the 2 Adders ... turns out there was one coiled up there at that point - I assume it was one of the 2 we had seen earlier. Tux stopped on the trail right next to it, oblivious to the fact that he was inches from a snake - we quickly called him away and thankfully he moved on with us. After being on this hike for 8 hours total, I was very happy to see our car. We are very happy we accomplished the goal of climbing Morven, but I don't think I'll be volunteering to do it again any time soon.

Skyline (Pressendye) Hike

FIRST OFF, my apologies for not creating any posts lately. With Lynn on her summer break, we've been busy making the most of our time together; and therefore, I haven't had much/any time to sit at the computer and update my blog. Unfortunately, Lynn goes back to work on Monday ... the only good news with that is I hope to update my blog a bit more then with some of the fun activities we did during the summer.

One of the highlights of the summer, though, has been our 5 hour hike starting straight out our front door. I'm still amazed by how many great walks/hikes there are literally stepping out of our house. The Skyline Circular Route is a 15 1/2 km hike which took us through some quiet country roads and a "drove" road (where they used to drive cattle to market), climbing all the while towards the ridge of hills behind our house. Once we got towards the crest of the ridge, we were walking through the terrific Scottish heather. This area is ideal for grouse hunting - and Tux had a wonderful time running through the heather in search of anything he caught the scent of! We stopped at a grassy spot between Broom Hill and Pressendye to have a small picnic.

The sky was very gray and cloudy throughout the hike, and we could see rain showers falling everywhere around us. Fortunately somehow the rain managed to skirt around where we were and we stayed dry. It was cool at times when the wind was blowing, but for the most part we remained comfortable (no doubt, partially because of the uphill climb).

Once at the top of Pressendye, we stopped at the trig point and took a few photos. The views at the top of the summit were terrific! And we even got a clear cell phone signal to boot! (which at times can be a challenge in and around Tarland.)

An added highlight to this hike was being marched off the hill to the sounds of a (bag) Pipe Band playing at a local estate house, which is only a mile or so from our house. Quite surreal. Really made me feel like I am living in Scotland!

Portsoy Boat Festival

Two weekends ago we went to Portsoy (which is in the north east coast of Scotland) for their annual boat festival, a celebration of the sea, boats, history and folklore. There was also plenty of food and drink on offer. Portsoy has a 17th Century harbour - one of the oldest in Scotland, and much has been done to ensure the old traditions are passed on down the generations.

Tux even got to join us! He coped exceptionally well with the crowds and all the activity.

We listened to local musicians, drank local beer, enjoyed fish pie and kippers (a type of smoked fish), and watched rowing boat races. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable day!

Puffins!

Today Lynn took me to the east coast, just south of Aberdeen, to an area called Crawton - a spectular coastal cliff area which serves as a breeding ground to many of the sea birds found in this neck of the woods. We went with the specific goal of looking for puffins! A beautiful bird with colorful features in its beak, eyes and feet. They come to the cliffs only to breed and to rear their young. The rest of the time they are at sea. So we were fortunate to catch a glimpse before they return to the open waters. We also got to see several other types of birds with their young - but the puffins were a highlight!