Sandie's Memories Revisited: Still in Arbroath

Thursday 30th August

Although I still have a few days left in Scotland, today Kylie and I leave Arbroath. Our time here has been wonderfull and (on the whole!) the weather has been very kind to us. After Saturday in the rain in Edinburgh, Sunday was a beautiful day - cool but dry and often sunny as well. My cousin Yvonne and her husband Andy picked us up in the morning and we set off for Pitlochry, via Perth. Kylie had her photo taken beside the Welcome to Perth sign (she hails from Perth in W.A.) Via Aberfeldie and Dunkeld we drove through the lovely forested Perthshire countryside and had lunch at the top of Loch Fiskally, which is a big hydro electric scheme. There is a ladder for the salmon to "climb" to get past the dam wall and after a lot of intense scrutiny we finally saw some salmon leaping!! We drove home through some more rugged countryside, over Moulin Moor, where the heather was actually coming out and turning the hills a soft shade of purple.

On Monday (in the rain again) we drove up to Ballater on Royal Deeside where we spent Monday night with my friend Connie in the Hilton timeshare resort there. Connie comes from Neerim in Gippsland and it was so coincidental that we were both to be in almost the same part of Scotland at the same time. Tuesday was again a better day so we drove the short distance to Balmoral - but although we had our photo taken with the guard on the castle gates, we saw no royalty!! Did go into Crathie Church though and it was a lovely, old, typical Scottish church, with lots of wood and quite plain. There was soft organ music playing all the time which was very restful - and also a souvenier stall in front of what I presume were the seats for the Royal Family when they attend. After lunch with another old friend who drove down from Fraserburgh to catch up with us, Kylie and I set off to drive back to Arbroath. On the way we had a quick look at Dunotter Castle which is the castle used as the inspiration (or whatever!!) for the new movie Brave. Wednesday brought the rain again so we just went to Dundee for a bit of shopping and a quick look at the ship Discovery, moored at the docks. This is the ship that Scott used on his ill-fated trip to the Antartic. I had my last wander around the streets of Arbroath, revisiting old haunts and reliving many many memories. Tonight we are out to dinner to celebrate a great week of nostalgia for me - and for Kylie, discovering where her ancestors all came from. Thanks heaps to Yvonne & Andy for taking us to Pitlochry last Sunday, and to Connie and also Betty for the time in Ballater. Next stop Dalbeattie!

These photos following are all out of order - but see the captions to see where they are.