Day 11 - The Great Scottish Tour

Dublin to Minneapolis

This goodbye was a little easier since we knew we’d more than likely be back next year for Part 3 of our conquest of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. But still, neither of us was in a hurry to leave.

We did make it to the airport and the trip home was pretty uneventful.

I think we were both still wrapped up in the incredible trip we’d just had and already making lists in our heads of what we wanted to do next year.

We arrived home safe and sound to the joyously wagging tail of Remy the Rescue Mutt, more than 1300 pictures to go through (none of which did the trip justice), and back to our real lives…

…Until next year.

Day 10 - The Great Scottish Tour

Belfast, N.I. to Kill and Dublin, Republic of Ireland

We were both sad to head back south to turn in the motorcycle. It had been a marvelous trip. One we couldn’t have ask better of. But the time had come.

 We dropped the bike off at Celtic Rider, 

said our goodbyes to the team there. 

Promising we’d see them again next year, we headed back to Dublin.

We were back at the Harding, and Darkey Kelly’s, where our adventure had begun. 

We did walk over to the Teeling Distillery nearby and bought Brother Paul a bottle of Whisky for his 50^th birthday. (that bottle never made it home. Long story short, whisky is not a carry-on item). 

Then back to Darkey’s for a final meal. I had green curry with rice AND chips per the bartender’s recommendation.

 Sean had one last serving of authentic Fish and Chips.

Then relaxed and enjoyed the local group that was playing all Irish songs in the bar. I think we closed the place down, wanting to take in as much of Dublin as we could before we left for home.

Day 9 - The Great Scottish Tour

Edinburgh, Scotland and England to Belfast, Northern Ireland

Last days of a vacation are always hard, and leaving Scotland wasn’t easy. This morning we were smart and left before the city woke up

…and before the parking ramp woke up, since we had a lot of trouble getting our bike out and on the road.

We had time to kill before our ferry back to Belfast, 

so we headed south to the border visit England, just because it was there.

We didn’t realize we were so close to Hadrian’s Wall and the forts the Romans built along the wall in the ancient times, Apparently we may, or may not, have actually seen the Wall, 

Probably not Hadrian's Wall.

...since it looks like a regular stone farm fence (according to friends who have visited it).

This little side trip caused us to be late reaching the ferry. The attendant was nice enough to just book us on the next ferry, which wasn’t for several hours. 

With some extra time on our hands, we knew where we had to go.

Ivy’s Fish and Chicken Bar in Stranraer, just down the road.

We weren't disappointed. The food was just as good the second time!

We made our way back to CairnRyan...

...made it onto the ferry, and headed back to Northern Ireland. 

We’d enjoyed our time in Belfast so much the year before, that we made sure we had a night in the city. Staying in the same area we’d stayed previously visiting a few of our favorite places, like

The Duke of York

Kelley’s Tavern

Eventually we had to force ourselves to call it a night,  after another wonderful time in Belfast.

Day 8 - The Great Scottish Tour

Edinburgh

Day Eight was a little lazier than usual, though we were still up early, exploring the city.

Our stops included Edinburgh Castle. 

Our tour guide was great and really brought the past to the present with his stories.

One of the places I remember in Edinburgh is a restaurant called The Witchery. My friend Betsy and I had ducked in there decades before to get out of the rain and grab a bite to eat. It was still in the same spot. We managed to get dinner reservations when we first arrived in Scotland and looked forward to a nice meal.

Funny how I can’t remember what I did two days ago, but I remembered exactly where we sat 33 years ago and even what I had to eat. I have no idea why it’s stuck in my brain all these years, but it was fun to go back and revisit this old haunt.

After dinner we had important business to take care of. The US Women’s team was playing England for the Soccer/Football World Cup. The evening before we’d scouted out a couple possible locations to watch the match and it was time to settle our rears on a couple of pub stools and enjoy the game.

It was a great match and the US Women won, which made the night just a little bit extra special.

Day 7 - The Great Scottish Tour

Inverness to Edinburgh

We were sad to leave Inverness. It was one of the pleasant surprises on this trip, but we still had a lot of Scotland to see.

We rode through Cairngorns, along the park’s western route to Stirling – and Stirling Castle.  I don’t think we were expecting anything so …vast.

If you saw the movie Braveheart, this is the historical era we were visiting. Where, in the 1200s, William Wallace and Robert the Bruce attempted to break free from English rule and suppression, and the Battle of Sterling took place.

We had a fantastic tour guide, who really brought the castle to life.

The castle itself was really interesting and standing on the gun decks it was easy to see why this plot of land was such a vantage point to whomever controlled it at that time.

From there were could see the Stirling Bridge, though it was rebuilt after the famous battle, probably upstream a few hundred yards,

and the Wallace Monument on the other side of the river.

We ate our sack lunch on the castle grounds and struck up a conversation with a Dutch couple who were touring Europe on their modified Harley Davidson motorcycle. It was fun to compare stories and hear about their trips to the U.S. 

Across the river, we visited the monument to William Wallace.

It's just a single tower, but a really, really tall tower with three floors that hold artifacts from that time period (including, purportedly, William Wallace’s magical sword).

Not being a fan of steep, winding steps with no handrail, Sean went on up to the top floor/lookout alone. He says the view was spectacular. I’ll take his word for it.


It was mid-afternoon as we rode through Bannockburn and Falkirk toward Edinburgh.

I love Edinburgh. I have since I was there after college. I wanted Sean to love it too, but we arrived at evening rush hour, fighting traffic on a motorcycle...

...only to find the street our hotel was on was closed for construction, so we couldn’t actually get to it on the bike.

Eventually we found a parking ramp, secured everything motorcycle related, took our bags and walked the couple miles back to the hotel.

A refreshing shower, clean clothes (thanks again to Dionard Guest House) and a bite to eat made all the difference in the world in our attitudes.

It was early evening and the crowds around Old Edinburgh had died down as we started walking the streets.

As the sun started to set, the magic that I remembered came back to me – and Sean finally got to see it too.

Day 6 - The Great Scottish Tour

Inverness: John O’Groats and Culloden

Many of the Inns we stay at offer breakfast as part of the package. If we were people who got up leisurely sat over coffee then got going, this would be great. Usually we just politely decline the evening before as we would be up and going very early.

Our hostess at Dionard was having none of that – instead of giving us breakfast, she packed an incredible lunch for each of us to take on the road. Sandwiches and scones, potato chips and fruit. Since we usually live off of convenience store food for lunch, this was a gift.

This morning took us north.

As far North as you can go and still be on Great Britain’s mainland.

We managed the morning fog much better this time...

...(probably since we were on a main road and not a cow path with cars coming straight at us) and headed to John O’Groats, a fishing village on the north coast.

It was a nice ride and a very pretty little town.

It’s also part of the North Coast 500 – 500 miles of road on, you guessed it, the North Coast. We rode up to the east

and then came back on the western route.

The wind was ferocious and there were several times we felt like we were actually going to get blown off the road. So when we saw a drive that said “Public Entrance”...

 ...we decided to get out of the wind and see what we were publicly entering.

This was a wonderful surprise – Castle Mey, the late Queen Mother, Elizabeth’s Scottish estate which is now a public trust and open to tourists. The green houses were amazing with every kind of flower imaginable.

Side note: if you watch The Crown television series, Castle Mey was featured predominately in the second season when the Queen Mother went for a walk and ended up having tea with the owner of the castle, and then buying the estate.

Back on the road, we finished the North Coast 500 and headed back to Inverness.

Full disclosure. I am a closet Jacobite nerd. Have been since college and my earlier trips to Scotland. I don’t know why I’m so drawn to that time in history, but probably most of us experience this type of fascination about one thing or another.

So. If you aren’t familiar with the Jacobite Uprising read about it here – or in short, the Scots (and some Irish and English) wanted to re-instate a Catholic king in Scotland (and really all of Great Britain). In 1745/1746 they almost succeeded, but Prince Charles Stuart got greedy and moved farther south than he should have. The British government pushed the Jacobites back north, and in the final battle at Culloden Moor in April 1746, decimated an entire culture.

We were in Scotland. We had to visit Culloden.

Luckily, Culloden sits right outside of Inverness, so it was easy for us to stop there and spend half a day at the museum. The exhibit itself was really well done and fascinating, making it seem like the uprising happened not 250 years ago, but just yesterday. The tour of the battlefield itself was…gut-wrenching. 

Most of the Scottish clans were exterminated that day, any remaining clans were outlawed, as was the wearing of clan tartan. The clans and their fellow soldiers, were memorialized in this field.

On our adventures, we often talk about those who came before us, or who stood in the exact spot we were standing and saw, for the first time, what we were seeing.

We didn’t have to imagine. Like many battlefields (like Gettysburg or Vicksburg) the moor has been kept very much like it was in 1746 (upgraded with some walking paths, but still awfully close).

The fighting still hung heavily in the air and I could see and smell the battle.

We left and enjoyed a relaxing dinner and drinks, still surrounded by Jacobite ghosts.