April 2023
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April 30 Aviemore to Edinburgh
Travelled in
The better planner wants to learn how civilization began in wet and craggy Scotland, so we bung our bags into the Mazda again and head south an hour-plus in steady drizzle to the Scottish Crannog Centre on a bank of… Continue reading
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April 29 Portree to Aviemore
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Leaving Portree we drive south and back across the bridge to the mainland highlands heading east. Along our route is the Clava Cairns historic site. Three bronze age burial cairns. There is not a lot of information and so we… Continue reading
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April 28 Portree
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Still an inclement weather day so we will divide and conquer. Cynthia will hike with David at the first natural wonder place – Quiraing – but from near there take a bus to the Skye Museum of Cultural Life, while… Continue reading
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April 27 Portree
Travelled in
Dunvegan Castle, Neist Point Lighthouse, Sea Breezes retaurant Though David is chomping at the bit to do some serious hiking up, down, and around the isle’s natural wonders, the morning’s weather and David’s better planner, known as Cynthia, have other… Continue reading
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April 26 Portree
Travelled in
Eileen Donan Castle, Portree After another splendid home-cooked breakfast of steel-cut oats soaked overnight in milk for her porridge, Cynthia and Dawn discuss the Scottish National Party’s drive for independence from Britain to remain part of the EU. Dawn has… Continue reading
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April 25 Glencoe
Travelled in
We wake late and have a wonderful home-cooked breaky after which we drive to the Glencoe Visitor’s Center in a woodland under some nice hills whose names we forget but probably have “glaich” or “clathearn” or “morloch” in them. The… Continue reading
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April 24 Glasgow to Glencoe
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We leave our hotel in a flurry of German giants who say they are off booze for the next week because they have sampled all the scotch in Glasgow. A jovial fellow from Arnold Clark car rental picks us up… Continue reading
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April 23 Glasgow
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Our last day in Glasgow, a city that easily opens itself in little moments and grand displays to strangers and offers its history and ongoing reformation to strangers like ourselves, we wake and eat a brunch of eggs benedict and… Continue reading
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April 22 Glasgow
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We board the tube for The Huntarian Museum and Mackintosh House on the grounds of Glasgow University, getting to them just before they open at 10 AM. The house is where he and his wife lived for about 10 years… Continue reading
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April 21 Glasgow
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Glasgow is not London but it’s like a smaller, earlier version of London. How do we think of it? Strangely: like John Knox’s passionate, puritanical spirit leavened London’s wilder culture … reformed it (all puns intended) … but gave it… Continue reading
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April 19-20 London to Glasgow
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Our last day in London turns out to be somewhat anticlimactic because we have not fully planned our trip to Scotland: what to see and where to eat and how, exactly, to get to each place during the remainder of… Continue reading
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April 18 London
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After another groaning board breakfast, we bounce on the tube — Cynthia with her preserved Oyster card and David tapping on with his Capital One (because … not to put a finer point on it AGAIN … David lost his… Continue reading
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April 17 London
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Monday morning’s late breakfast iPhone browsing reveals a day destined for sunshine and bodes well for outdoor endeavors so we dress snugly, tube and bus about an hour north of central London to Highgate Cemetery, designed by David Ramsey. One… Continue reading
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April 16 London Bankside
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Bankside Walk, Witness, Hunters Moon Lowering skies but not a drop today. Good show, we say, “brill, wizard and hunky dory.” We’re off to London Bridge — not the one with towers, but the modern version of the wooden one… Continue reading
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April 15 London
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Dennis Severs began life in California but escaped to London five days after graduating from high school in 1967. A dozen years later, he bought a derelict house in Spitalfields, the market area in the East End where Jack carved… Continue reading
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April 14 London
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Despite last night’s prayers, we wake to pouring rain and slanting wind but another nice English breakfast after which we are misdirected from street to street by Google Maps, trying to find the wash-and-fold laundry that says “get it tomorrow”… Continue reading
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April 13 London
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Thursday’s weather was immeasurably improved: We only needed three layers under our technical gear and, after an English breakfast whose ingredients cover two sides of the hotel’s dining room, we swiped our Oyster cards on the 14 bus in front… Continue reading
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London April 12
Travelled in
After we greet the six South Africans who in retrospect must have spent three days in our basement washing clothes — lovely family actually — we take the Silver Line for the first time to Dulles Airport and board an… Continue reading
Two Tramps 