International Market Day

After a good sleep-in we started our last day with Hanneke and Jul with a trip to the International Market.  We think that it only comes by twice a year, so it was a happy coincidence that it came through town when we had visitors in town and time on our hands.  As a final bonus, the day started out as probably the nicest day we've seen in our six months here.

We ambled through at a relaxed pace, taking in all the sights, sounds and smells.  First stop, the French cheese stand where we picked up some great smoked Brie.  Next up, the German stand where they had such a good deal on salami that I picked up more than I needed (and is probably healthy).  After that we stopped by the Belgian stand where they had a fine choice of biscuits - chocolate covered and plain.  We stopped at the Dutch stand for some poffertjes; enjoyed on a sunshiney park bench.  Fiona and Hanneke bought nice pashmina scarves from a French lady while I was buying some cranberry cheese.  The Spanish stand had a great deal on strawberries, so they came along too.  Jul and I finished it up with a bratwurst.  All-in-all a good market experience.

We wandered a little further into Aberdeen and came upon the monthly farmer's market, allowing us to pick up some last minute extras.  The afternoon was spent relaxing, as much as you can while playing Raving Rabbids on the Wii.  

Fiona went all out for dinner - putting her two signature dishes on the table.  Her BBQ Bourbon ribs were followed up with her now famous apple-rhubarb crumble.  Fantastic!

We dropped Hanneke and Jul off this morning at Aberdeen airport with a depressing mist covering the city and doing a good job of expressing our mood.  I guess we can't complain too much, we'll be seeing them again in less than a week - when we go to Canada!

Puffins

It was a slightly foggier start to our day yesterday, but it didn't rain and the sun did eventually come out.  The plan was to do some more birding - this time along the Ythan Estuary, a long, open tidal estuary just a few minutes north of the city.  We had expectations of ducks and terns, as well as several smaller song birds and possibly some sea mammals.  The trip had started poorly, as we were cut off by a large lorry and forced to take a detour.  But even this turned out OK as it led us straight to a new species for everyone - the yellowhammer (much less intimidating than its name suggests!).

We soon came upon a large group of Eider ducks - about a dozen males all assembled around a single female.  Their "oooo...ooo" calls were quite humourous.  The ducks had also caught the attention of some seals.  It appeared to be a couple of immature seals, not because of their size or coat, but because of their attitude - flipping around and splashing each other.  Our resident nature photographer Fiona set up camp and ended up getting some good shots.  The rest of us wandered further into the dunes towards the area where the terns were nesting.  We couldn't get too close as the area was roped off (good), but we think we saw several uncommon tern species.  Regardless of the wildlife, the views were spectacular.  After lunch we went around to the other side of the estuary and got a better view of it all, including a large seal colony sunning themselves on the beach.

Lunch is well worth mentioning on its own.  We went to the Cock and Bull based on the recommendation of our friend Jim in Houston.  It was a little out of the way but well worth it.  Jul and I had the fish and chips.  It showed up as an artistic tower, which made me think it might be style over substance, but they were some of the best fish and chips I've had here.  Even the mushy peas were good.  Fiona scored best, though, with her chicken and leek pie.  Mad props to Jimmy Law!

We met up with Jul's local birding contact who gave us some hints on where we might find some puffins.  We ended up taking some back roads and 4x4'ing over roads that looked like driveways.  The little Honda was taxed.  But the results were spectacular.  We ended up at the Mains of Slains, where the sea was crashing against the rocks and the wind was whipping around.  An outcropping in the ocean had several puffins on it, standing outside their burrows and flying out to sea.  We even saw a fox scrambling across the rocks - possibly looking for a puffin that was not as alert as it should be.

We put some steak on the BBQ at home and had a nice dinner.  The cards afterwards, however, was a slightly different matter.  In an all-encompassing slaughter of epic proportions, the hosts were repaid for their kindness with a 400+ point whooping at back-alley bridge by the visitors (who had never played the game).  

A day on the Dee

We're once again privileged to have visitors in the house.  We picked up Hanneke and Jul from the airport on Tuesday night.  After a full day of travel from Spain they were quite tired and spent most of Wednesday recovering as I was at work.  Even for a recovery day they were quite productive - checking out the Aberdeen beach (kite surfers were at work there!) and Victoria Park.  

Thursday we decided, on the advice of a local birding expert, to go to the Lin of Dee in search of some indigenous species.  Hanneke and Jul are tireless and expert birders and had a wish list of species they wanted to see - including several thrushes, some finches and the elusive dipper.  The Lin of Dee (a beautiful valley near the source of the Dee in the Cairngorms) was flagged as a good place to see several of those.

The river was beautifully clear and I always expected to see the trout swimming, although I never did.  In fact, I almost went swimming myself, seriously misjudging the slipperiness of the streamside rocks.  As always, the nature didn't disappoint and we saw several of the species we were looking for.  The dipper, however, was nowhere to be seen.

We did lunch at this wonderful little cafe in Braemar - a small town that hosts the annual Highland Games in September.  We had a great lunch of potato-leek soup and sandwiches, with a strawberry and cream scone for dessert.  It was nice because we could sit on the patio with Casey.  The waitstaff loved her.

We found the dipper (finally) sitting on a rock in the middle of the river in Braemar.  We had decided to take one last look - I think we had identified it as our last, best chance to see one.  A local spotted us looking intently at river and asked what we were looking at.  When we said we had spotted a dipper, he casually said that it was no big deal - they nest under the bridge.

We decided to make one last stop before heading home and dropped in on our homegirl Lizzie and her small country shack at Balmoral.  The Queen's estate is actually magnificent and well worth the admission and effort.  The grounds are gorgeous, and while you don't get a lot of access to the inside of the castle (it is actually a royal home for a few months of the year) you can still spend a few pleasant hours imagining what it would be like to adopted into the Royal Family.

After spotting a few other species on the grounds of Balmoral, we headed home, making a reservation at our favorite Italian place on the fly.  We had a nice dinner, although the pasta pretty much ensured that no cards or dominos would be played - two nights in a row without gaming is unusual for a gathering in our family.

We're off to the Ythan Estuary to find some terns (and possibly puffins) and then to the Strathisla whiskey distillery.  We are determined to play some type of card game today - so we're trying to take it easy ...

Bits and bobs ...

A few items from a lovely spring weekend in Aberdeen:

We purchased our second car from friends that are heading back to Houston.  A nice little Honda Jazz.  Good car, reliable, comfortable and room for four.  It has a decent factory sound system as well, so that's cool.  It's also an automatic, which might be a little easier for any visitors to handle should they choose to be brave and drive off on their own.

And with the older Scenic starting to act up occasionally, it's nice to have a backup car.  

Had a nice dinner out with the Stubbs' yesterday, followed by the traditional game of back alley bridge.  The women kicked the men's butts again, this time even worse than before.  It's starting to get embarrassing.  Oh well.  I know I'll miss it once Bob and Vicki are gone in two weeks.

We spent the day today in the back yard, trying to get it ship shape.  It was looking quite pathetic next to neighbours fine, manicured garden, even though Mother Nature was trying her best to put some colour into it.  We bought some planters and plants, did some trimming and used the "lawnmower" to cut the grass back.   I had mower envy when we moved from Canada to Houston, where I was pushing a small electric and everyone else had these big gas powered machines.  Now I feel even worse, as I have to use a glorified vacuum to mow my lawn.  It's like a weed whacker, but with a skirt on the bottom that rides on top of the grass to give you a consistent cut.  Not cool, but gets the job done.  At the end of the day the yard looks great and we thoroughly enjoyed an entire day out in the sun.  

New rule:  always listen to people over 80.  We met the neighbour, Connie, this morning while unloading our plants.  She remarked on the day and the workload it looked like we had in front of us.  Then she told us to watch out for sunburn.  We kind of chuckled.  It was nice, but not that nice (we thought).  Now we're sitting here with our red faces, acknowledging the wisdom that comes with age - or the folly that comes with youth?

I'm also looking forward to another short week at work - I've got Thursday and Friday off because Hanneke and Jul will be coming into town on the back of their trip to Spain.  I'm glad that Aberdeen seems to be preparing to put on a good show for them.

Odds and the End of Skye

Our trip to Skye finished under beautiful blue skies and temperatures in the high teens - peaking at 20 C in Aviemore at lunchtime.  

Even with these warm spring temperatures we were inspired to buy a couple of knit sweaters ("jumpers" to the British) at a cool wool and knitwear specialty shop on the pier.  Fiona was in her own personal nirvana, admiring all the handiwork.

Although we had managed to avoid it all weekend we ended up on a ferry for the first part of our journey.  Actually Fiona was nice enough to cater to my love of big boats and agree to the ferry.  It was only 25 minutes, but it will tide me over for the near future.

Fiona was driving home, so if you heard a sonic boom Sunday afternoon, it was probably us.  I joke, but it was really nice not to be behind the wheel.  On some of the more winding stretches and single track lanes it was white knuckle driving for me.  I was quite tense in the shoulders at the end of each day.  But Fiona loves it.  She only wishes we had something better than the little Renault to put to the test.

We found another gorgeous scenic drive to add to the list (North Deeside, Loch Ness, etc ...) - the Spey valley in the Cairngorm Mountains.  Mountains and greenery, with a slowly meandering river alongside.  I can see why it was so busy in Aviemore.  I guess all the families on Easter break took the chance to drive through as well.  The Subway where we stopped for lunch had a line out the door and had run out of all veggie extras except pickles, cucumbers and olives.  When a Subway no longer has lettuce, you know things are bad (or good, if you own the Subway).

Casey seems to have had a good time at her kennel.  Not as nice as Waggin Tails in Houston, but she had an indoor/outdoor dog run and access to other puppies.  She's sleeping it off now, and doing a lot of dreaming, moving her paws and barking softly.  It's a dog's life.

I think we're in need of some extra sleep, too.  As a parting gift today I've cobbled together a map showing our journey over the weekend.  Blue for the way out and Skye itself, red for the trip back.  If we were to put together a similar map for all our Scottish travels, we would have a lot of the map covered.  

Flora, fauna and the works of man

Flora:

Gorse.  This entire island is covered in beautiful flowering gorse bushes.  Entire hillsides covered in brilliant yellow flowers.  I'm sure you've seen them in the background of some of our earlier pictures.  I don't know how long it flowers and whether it will be here when the heather flowers.  I think that would be especially impressive.

Peat.  It doesn't just come in sealed plastic bags at the local DIY store.  We've come across a few people digging their own peat (for whiskey flavouring perhaps?) in the hills.  For such a dirty job, they generate nice neat, terraced lines.  No machinery, either.  Just a guy in his wellies and a spade.

Logging.  We've been trying to figure out whether this island is naturally (mostly) treeless, or whether it has been heavily logged.  We do see evidence of clear cutting - and a little more of it than expected.  It seems like they don't much mind putting large scale industrial environmental exploitation out for the tourists to see.  I have this idea that at one point the isolated little forests of pine that dot the island once used to be connected and were extremely hard done by by hundreds of years of foreign (English) exploitation.  I've also heard that the introduction of sheep and deer by the aristocracy keep anything from growing larger than a bush.  I'll have to do some more digging to satisfy my curiosity on this.

Fauna:

Seals.  We went on a glass bottomed boat tour of the Skye Bridge area (fun fact: the bridge is hollow and only the second box designed bridge ever made - the other fell down - and that it was built to its height specifications to ensure the Royal Yacht Brittainia could pass underneath - the yacht was decomissioned a year after the Bridge was built).  Anyway, we saw several Common seals frolicking in the bay and sunning themselves on the rocks.  They remind me of sausages with flippers.  We saw several more at Otterhaven.  They were cresting and diving like dolphins.  Actually, we were pretty disappointed when we figured out they were seals, as we had seen them earlier in the day.

Salmon Farms.  We've seen a couple of these floating in the Firths and lochs.  Some of them are towed to different parts of the loch depending on what time of day it is.  Cool to see some industrialised fish farming.

Otters.  We didn't actually get to see any otters, although they are "common" in this area.  I still have problems with the glass-bottom boat tour company, who heavily advertise the fact you might see a river otter while on a trip into the salt water bay.  We also took a trip to a place called Otterhaven, which is a little place in the middle of nowhere, where they've placed a shack up in the woods with good viewpoints and free binoculars.  We didn't see any otters, but got plenty of seals and a nice, quiet place to relax for an hour.  Plus the drive there was on a one track road with twists, turns, and hills that made your stomach turn.  Fiona took the wheel and worked the blind corners and summits like a pro.  I think I see an F1 championship in her future. 

Oystercatcher.  Fiona saw an Oystercatcher.  It was cool.

Mean seagulls.  On our boat trip we saw some sort of black backed gull, which has, according to our guide, an almost 6 foot wingspan and eats puffins whole.  I thought he might be pulling our collective legs when he talked about them attacking sheep by sitting on the back of their heads and knocking their eyes out with a peck to the back of the skull.

The Works of Man:

Eilean Donan Castle.  Wow.  Beautiful castle shown on a gorgeous Isle of Skye day.  It's situated right on the loch, and the parapets hung onto the rocks.  It's been extensively rebuilt by the leaders of Clan MacRae, which means you get a nice intact castle on the one hand, and on the other, you wonder a little if they are running cable TV through the 14 foot thick walls.  It think this is a necessary step on the Scottish tour of castles, even though as one of the more touristy ones it tends to be very busy.

Double Jeopardy Category: Isle of Skye

Hello everyone, I'm your host, Alex Trebeck, let's start today's round of Jeopardy!

Q.  Although not known as the "Lord of the Isles", this clan possessed a much finer castle home.

A.  Who are the MacLeods?

We visited Dunvegan castle today, traditional and current home of the chiefs of clan MacLeod.  Although their neighbors on Skye, the MacDonalds, considered themselves Lords of the Isles, the MacLeods had a much finer castle and grounds.  A lot of history was on display and the castle is in really good shape for Scotland.  I think we were a little too early to catch the gardens in their best shape, but the waterfall was great and the tulips were almost too good to be real.

Q.  Known as the "Sheepwhisperer" this real-life Doctor Doolittle discovered his ability to talk to sheep while on vacation on the Isle of Skye.

A.  Who is Rik?

There has to be at least a 10:1 ratio of sheep to people here, they literally are everywhere.  Whenever Fiona scampered off to get the perfect shot to feed your incessant demand for blog pictures, I would invariably be left face to face with a herd of sheep.  I soon discovered that I could command the attention of the entire flock by bleating.  They would all stop eating and stare at me intensely.  I thought it was cool at first, but now I feel the weight of responsibility on my shoulders - being the sole link for communication between humans and sheep is a little more than I bargained for.  

Q.  The Isle of Skye's lone brewery.

A.  What is the "Isle of Skye Brewery"?

OK, so the name is not so original, but the beer is pretty tasty.  I've been looking for a local Scottish beer that I could enjoy as much as I loved the local beer in Houston, Shiner.  I think I've found it.  It's called Red Cuillin and it's brewed in a small brewery in the town of Uig ($5 if you can pronounce that correctly first time).  I bought a case.  It reminds me a little of Rickard's Red ...

Q.  In this hidden gem of Scotland, hobbits would feel right at home.

A. What is the Fairy Glen?

Our Lonely Planet guidebook steered us towards this beautiful piece of scenery just outside Uig.  We've never seen anything quite like it.  These small hills covered in grass and slumps, with sheep grazing.  Ponds, waterfalls and ruined cottages rounds out the perfect imitation of the Shire from Lord of the Rings.  

Q.  A formation of sandstone and vertical volcanic sills makes up this famous Isle of Skye viewpoint.

A.  What is Kilt Rock.

So named because the vertical beds in the cliff look like the pleats on a kilt, it truly was a spectacular view.  The railing keeping you from falling 100m down into the sea below were humming in the wind, creating this eerie noise, like a faraway boat sounding its horn.  This was probably the busiest place we've been on the Isle - with tour buses galore.

Q.  About one day.

A.  How long does it take to drive around the Isle of Skye?

We've done this before, on PEI when we were there for Adele and Doug's wedding.  It looks intimidating because it takes up a whole page on the driving atlas, but, even with some single track lanes, we managed to make it around most of the island in one day. 

Q.  They're having a great time on the Isle of Skye.

A.  Who are Rik and Fiona.

Truly.  It's such a unique landscape, and it feels like stereotypical Scotland, from the sheep to the castles to the weather to the small lanes.  If you're coming to Scotland, you might want to leave a couple of days in your itinerary for this.

Isle of Skye

We got up bright and early today to start our Isle of Skye long weekend.  We had dropped off Casey at a kennel the night before - getting to and from the country kennel is a story on its own - we ended up having to get directions from someone on a horse!

I was about to write that the trip was uneventful, but I don't think that is entirely accurate.  It's always an adventure driving through northern Scotland, where the main roads disappear and are replaced by a series of tracks and roads that barely fit one car.  If you are unlucky enough to end up behind a bus or tractor you could be driving 30 miles an hour for the next 50  miles.

We dodged and weaved our way to Strathcarron by lunchtime and pulled into the local pub for lunch.  The bartender had a buddy he was talking to, who was quickly joined by his granny for lunch.  It was all very quaint.  And just when you think that you've gotten as far away from home as possible, the bartender/waiter asks where you're from, and when you say Edmonton, he tells you about the year he spent working there and how wonderful it was to see a mall with dolphins and submarines.

As we got to the "other" side of Scotland and started to see the ocean, we were taken aback by the amazing view points.  It was hard to take my eyes off the blind corners and hills, but Fiona tells me it was quite nice.  We eventually got to the Kyle of Lochlash, where the Skye bridge takes you from the mainland onto the Isle of Skye.  The rain was intermittent, which is a bit of a problem for us as our wipers are really bad.  We need either a good steady rain to keep the wipers lubricated, or no rain at all, otherwise they scrape and generate a noise that has no equivalent in the natural world.

We got to our hotel in the early afternoon and it was fabulous.  We've got a nice room overlooking an old garden and a stone's throw from the sea.  After we got settled we headed out into the island, stopping first at Armadale castle, the traditional home of Clan MacDonald.  The castle itself is not much more than an assembly of ruins, but the associated gardens were fabulous.  There was an interpretive centre with a history of the MacDonalds that was kind of cool.  Afterwards we trundled up the coast a little further on these small one track roads until our car was attacked by a goose - or gander I guess.  He seemed quite upset at the prospect of us driving past his ladies!

We got back to the hotel and had a very nice dinner.  We're catching up on some Master's golf highlights before bed - although we're more used to watching major tournament golf highlights in the afternoon with Roger, the calm demeanor of the announcers helps put you in a nice frame of mind for bed.  I think I can get used to it.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures, we should have more over the next couple of days.