Scotland 2016...Ayrshire

 Lovely Scottish thistle down the road from our B&B.

I had originally meant to type this post up quite a few days ago, but between working and parenting it's hard to find the time.  So, my apologies for taking so long to post!

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

From Glasgow we took a train to Ayrshire.  This train was quite nice and had a USB port that I could use to charge my phone, and also had free wifi.  I had originally bought an international talk/text/data plan from Koodo for the trip but it never worked, so I relied on free wifi the entire trip to stay in touch via email, Skype, and Facebook.  

When we arrived in Maybole we had to toodle around a bit to figure out how to get to our B&B.  One thing to mention is that Steve didn't really want to plan anything for this trip...no booking of hotels or B&Bs, no booking of trains, no pre-planning at all really.  The only things we booked ahead were our sleeper train from London to Glasgow and our first B&B, which I booked about 8 months in advance.  We had a rough schedule of where we wanted to go during our trip and when, but no real plan.  I, however, couldn't help but plan and research, and research and plan, but in all my planning and research I forgot to get directions to our B&B, lol.  What I did know was that it was close to Culzean Castle, so we were able to figure out which bus to take with the help of a nice girl from the US who was trying to go to the castle.  We grabbed the bus there (expensive...like 6 £ each or something for a 4 minute ride!), asked directions at the visitor center and only had to walk a mile or 2 to the B&B.  

Our B&B, Whitestone Cottage, was the house that my granny grew up, which was why I booked it in the first place.  It was also the birthplace of Robbie Burns' mother, Agnes Broun, and the smaller cottage in the back (where our room was) dates back to the 1700s.  The cottage was also the home for the groundskeeper to Culzean Castle, which was how I knew it would be close to the castle, lol.  My research came in handy after all!  

Our hosts were George and Sharon.  Though we didn't meet Sharon, George was so welcoming and made a Scottish breakfast that was amazing!  Picture a bowl of porridge, OJ, coffee, yogurt cup, a banana and/or apple, piles of toast, potato scone, 2 sausages, 2 pcs of back bacon (most of the bacon we had in Scotland was back bacon), 1-2 eggs, baked beans, and a cup of rice pudding.  It was enough food to last us until dinner...and DELISH.  I can't say enough how wonderful it was staying there.  

This is the cottage where granny grew up.  When you walk around the back of the cottage (left side of picture) you see what is in the next picture.

We stayed in the little building on the left in the picture below, which had 2 suites.  I don't know why I didn't take a picture of the room...too tired I guess.  We had a nice little table in the yard where we ate breakfast in the mornings.

The driveway of the cottage.  There are huge rhododendron plants everywhere in Western Scotland. 

  
We arrived early to the cottage so we dropped our packs in the yard and wandered around down a trail through the back forest and found a cool aqueduct tunnel.

We eventually got settled into our room and popped back to Maybole for groceries and enjoyed some weird British TV shows on our little TV...pure bliss!

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

The next day, after our immense Scottish breakfast, we set out to walk down to the ocean and head South to Culzean Castle and then down to the fishing village of Maidens, where my mom lived as a child.  

The roads criss-crossed through back properties where we saw quite a few pheasants and beautiful ocean views.  This little road turned to the left a little ways down and led up to the ocean...about a 10-15 minute walk from the cottage.

A little bit of walking along the beach and we could see the castle on the point.

The stairs leading from the beach to the castle.  You have to pay to enter the castle, about 15 £ per person, and you're probably supposed to pay to enter the grounds, as well, but we just walked up the stairs and right through the grounds. 

Looking back down the stairs towards the direction we came from.

Looking at the ocean from the castle courtyard.

Beautiful, ornate cannon in the courtyard.

We sat here awhile and continued on through the grounds to the swan pond.  My pictures of the swans weren't the sharpest...I didn't want to get too close because they had young ones (cygnets).  My mom told me that the swans chased my brother when she was there before I was born, lol.  I did not get chased.

From here, we walked through the treed trail down to the beach and then south to Maidens, where Granny and Grampa lived when my mom, uncle and aunt were children.

The town of Maidens is on the middle right of the picture below.

Walking along the gorgeous beach towards the town.

On the breakwater looking towards the town, the harbor didn't have much water in it.

On the breakwater looking back towards Culzean Castle.

Looking back towards the town.

We made use of the public washroom on the harbor, where I stuffed paper towels in my pockets for future bush-peeing use, bought some crisps (potato chips..mine were roast beef and mustard flavour) and chocolate, and walked up the road to Turnberry golf course.  This was part of Granny and Grampa's old stomping grounds when they were kids and was used as a military air strip during the WW2.  Now, it's a super posh Trump golf course, but you can walk through the middle of it as part of the Ayrshire Coastal Path, so we did.

That is the Trump Turnberry resort in the distance.  We only walked to the trail through the course. 

Steve "golfing" at Turnberry, lol.

Ailsa Craig island in the distance.

Turnberry lighthouse.  There were workers doing some kind of maintenance to the lighthouse and its grounds so we couldn't go in.  I'm not sure if we would even be allowed to if they weren't...probably would've had to pay.

Walking back to Maidens from Turnberry.

  
If you draw a straight line with a GPS map from our B&B to Turnberry lighthouse it's about 6.5 km, but in reality we walked much more than that by following the coast line...and had to go all the way back.  It was gorgeous the entire day.  I got sunburned even with sunscreen on.  My feet were burning from all the walking too, and I was a little worried I would get blisters, but I didn't.  I got some nice shots of the castle on the way back through in the evening.

Cannons overlooking the ocean.

Plant conservatory at the castle.

Stables of the castle.

Up next is Iona.

Scotland 2016...the beginning

Well, Steve and I have been back home from Scotland for 3 weeks and I am finally getting around to writing a post about our trip.  Add up jet lag, being sick for 1-1/2 weeks, going back to work, and having to be responsible for other human beings (aka kids) again makes it hard to find a spare moment when I feel creative enough to write and look at pictures.  Better late than never, so here goes!

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Our trip started with having to drive from Nelson to Calgary to catch our flight.  Steve had booked our WestJet flights last September when they had just announced their new direct flights from certain Canadian cities to Gatwick, England, for really cheap.  It turned out that WestJet was having major problems with their new planes and had contracted the flights out to another airline called OmniAir International, which I read was used to transport military troops.  Needless to say, the plane was not what we were expecting (looked like it was from the 1970s and required a 2-prong adapter to use regular headphones for the movie), was 2+ hours late taking off from Calgary, and was generally uncomfortable.  However, we arrived safely in Gatwick Airport a little over 8 hours later.

Monday, May 30, 2016

From there we had to stand in a long queue for Customs and then hop on a shuttle to get from the North terminal to the South terminal, where we bought our TwoTogether railcard, which allowed us to save 30% off of our train tickets as long as we traveled before 9:30 a.m. and were traveling together.  We then hopped on the Gatwick Express and rolled up to London, where I basically was a tired sack of s**t for the next 8 hours.  I had planned to do some exploring in London and see the sights, but I was so tired I was falling asleep at the coffee shop table while Steve was buying coffee.  Somewhere in the middle of this exhausting fun, we rode the tube (London underground) from London Victoria train station to London Euston train station.  That was interesting and slightly scary.  You don't have much time to squeeze your ass through the doors and shove yourself between the masses of people before the door closes and you're whipped off to the next station at high speeds.  Keep in mind that we were both carrying back packs that weighed somewhere between 40-50 lbs each.  There were also 2 flights of very steep escalators that people are hurrying up and down to catch their next subway to work or wherever.  You are quite a ways underground when you're in the underground!  We walked around a bit but mostly stayed at the London Euston train station where we would catch our sleeper train to Glasgow shortly before midnight, due to my exhaustion.  I also napped in the park outside the train station using Steve as a pillow, and we both slept on the floor of the train station for a few hours before our train.  The sleeper train was pretty cool; it had different cars for different destinations (Glasgow, Fort William, Edinburgh, etc) and each car for those destinations is left at its station while the rest of the train continues North.  It had a little package with ear plugs and an eye mask for each passenger and it was actually pretty quiet, so we had a decent sleep.

We were pretty tired and not looking our best, lol.

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

We arrive in Glasgow!  Yay, finally in Scotland!  We arrived at the Glasgow Central train station and had to wait a few hours until 9:30 a.m. when we could buy our train tickets to Maybole, Ayrshire.  I was afraid to drink any coffee because my stomach was jittery and I think I had a croissant for breakfast...can't remember.  Oh, and did I mention that you have to pay for the bathrooms in the train stations?!  I think Glasgow was 40 p and the London Victoria station was 50 p, so basically $1 to go to the bathroom...and they weren't all that clean.  I think the women's was cleaner than the men's from what Steve told me; he looked like he'd narrowly escaped the clutches of the Sarlacc each time he returned, lol.  

Here are a few pics from the train station and around Glasgow.  I haven't done any editing on these pictures yet (I have over a thousand to go through), so hopefully the quality is not too bad.  The first 2 pictures are from the streets of Glasgow near the station.

These were from the Glasgow Central train station.  It was actually really beautiful.

I will save our time in Ayrshire for my next post, but for now here are some traveling tips:

• Take a travel pillow.  I didn't want to carry one with such a big pack but I would next time for sure.
• Get a railcard for the train if possible.  This saved us a bunch of $ and I loved traveling by train.  You can buy a railcard at any staffed train ticket office.  You need to have your application, which you can print off at home ahead of time, and a passport-sized photo and they will make your card up in about 5 minutes.
• Use the bathrooms on the trains when they are available!  They are generally pretty clean and they are free.  Be advised that they don't flush when at a station...not sure why, maybe because everything is flushed onto the tracks?  :/
• Have change handy in case you need the bathroom in the train station.  There are change machines at the bathrooms but you need some actual money to put in them...they don't take cards.
• Buy food at a grocery store if possible instead of in the airport or train station.  Station food can be expensive, though it is nice for breakfast when you want a croissant and a good coffee.  

Next up:  Ayrshire!