Northbound Again

Tuesday morning we headed back into downtown Norwich, to have a bit of a look around the city centre itself, and to visit the Family History Centre. The city seems to have at least, and sometimes several, churches in each block.....most of them very imposing, with spires and turrets. We walked around a bit, and found the Family History Society's building. Here, we were made welcome, and given a tour of the facilities. None of the family trees they have on record seem to match ours, but they do have a lot of access to historical documents of all kinds, most of which are available online, for members. So we joined up and became members. Then we walked around the town a bit, trying to find a pair of sunglasses for Linda, and just generally being tourists. By lunchtime it was time to move on. We bought an apple and an ice-cream in the market (lunch!) and headed on, driving back past Swaffham and then turning northbound. All through Norfolk and the trip into Lincolnshire, we passed flat agricultural land, well ahead of our fields back home. We stopped for the evening in Lincoln, which, I'd like to say, was named for my gt-nephew – but I don't think anyone would believe that! It's called “Historic Lincoln”, because of all the takeovers and regimes the area went through – but from what I can see, almost all of the UK is able to claim a great deal of historical authenticity!

We continued northbound on Wednesday, passing places such as Grimsby, Whitby, and other places similarly named back in Ontario. Much of the coastal route we followed was still several miles from the North Sea, so we mostly just got peek-a-boo views of the ocean, but still enjoyed the winding, narrow roadways with fields interspersed with little villages. So far, we've seen far more sheep in the fields than we'd expected. In fact, I swear there are many more sheep here than in New Zealand! A big factor in this, I believe, is the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic of a few years ago, when many of the cattle farmers were forced to kill off their herds, and turned to sheep instead. At any rate, we bypassed the mostly industrial, and large, city of Newcastle Upon Tyne, then turned back along the coastal route. Although we liked the village of Amble, but accommodation was all taken, so we were referred to the next village north, where we found a little B&B in Alnmouth (at the mouth of the river Aln!). While walking around the streets there, we met a fellow researching the same family line as the ones we'd been researching in Preston – a possible cousin! While standing in the street chatting with him, we were introduced to many of the locals, all out walking their dogs....but we eventually had to leave for a warm meal as it was quite cold outside, with a wind blowing in off the North Sea.

Thursday found us leaving England, and back in Scotland, headed for Edinburgh. Before leaving, however, we stopped to view a castle at Alnwick, which my new-found cousin had recommended. It turned out to be quite impressive, and some of you may remember details of it from the Quiddich matches in the first Harry Potter movie.

Quiddich Anyone?

With that stop, and a leisurely drive in the countryside, over a wide area of moors, where even the sheep won't graze, we entered Edinburgh in early afternoon, booking into our hotel by 4PM. That left us time to walk around town a bit, viewing the very imposing castle perched on an extinct volcano, and walking the “ Royal Mile”, which is a major tourist roadway extending from the Castle to the old royal residences a mile away.

Edinburgh's Castle perched above the City

There are lots of whisky shops here, with a selection of hundreds of choices. A bit of a challenge! There is also a locally celebrated dog, Bobby, who, after his owner died, continued to stay by his master's grave for 12 years as a loyal companion. Several shops and pubs have named themselves after this dog, and a statue memorializes him.

Bobby, memorialized.

Following a pub dinner with some local ales, and a bit of a wander, our feet were starting to get sore. We made it back to our hotel in time for a late cleanup, and then off to bed.

Friday we had a choice to make – with our limited time here, we decided to take our laundry to a laundromat nearby who would do it for us, leaving us more time to explore. The Scottish Records Office is also in Edinburgh, with all of the Parish and Genealogical records centralized here, rather than in various county offices and parishes, as it was in England. However.....almost all of these records are also available online – so we decided to give the genealogy a bit of a break, and we did the “Tourist Thing”. We walked into the city and took a tour bus, with a guide, to get the feel of the city and to learn about it in our limited time. Perhaps it was the noise of the city as we rode around in the top of an open double-decker, or maybe it was the scottish accent, or maybe it's just my very old ears – but I had a bit of a problem understanding the whole “spiel” of the guide, so we took the same tour a second time. By then I'd adjusted a bit to the accent, and got most of it! I managed to get a taste of some whisky while visiting a shop, and ended up getting 3 small bottles of single malts which I'd never tried, but was assured, based on my present tastes, I'd enjoy. Linda and I actually did enjoy them....so now I'm in a quandary as to what bottles to bring back with us. More tasting is surely in order! I was also tempted to get a kilt here, but at least for now, my practical side (Linda) has over-ruled that temptation.

Obviously, we didn't have time to see everything here, but we did manage to go through much of the National Museum, which has an extremely good presentation of Scottish history. We made it back to our laundry by 6 PM, in time to get our laundry – and then had our supper at our hotel.

By Saturday it was time to continue on, bound for Aberdeen. On our way out of Edinburgh, we crossed the Firth (a bay at the mouth of a river) of Forth (the Forth River) on a very impressive bridge. I'd promised Stan, a friend who'd seen us off in Vancouver, that I'd look for his cousins' cottage on the northwest side of the RR bridge there – but – sorry, Stan – I couldn't see it. Must have been the pouring rain, or the other 5 lanes of traffic passing me by! We entered Perthshire shorly, and then turned inland as we drove north, ending up in Pitlochry by 11AM – just in time for a tour of the Edradour distillery. This is the smallest distillery in Scotland, with a good reputation for fine whisky, so we had to check it out. A very good tour, and a tasty sampling! We even ended up purchasing our first bottle to bring back, a cask-strength whisky which can't be found in Canada. We continued on into the highlands, crossing into Cairngorm National Park, and scenery which I'd always considered to be typical of Scottish Highlands.

Driving through the Highlands in Cairngorm Park.

At the north end of the park we found ourselves passing the village of Braemar, where the castle for the Clan Chieftain of the Farqhar Clan (of which the Finlayson clan is a sept, which we are researching). The Earl's Hunting Lodge/Castle is here, so being an official Finlayson, we had to stop and see it. I was even asked to sign the guest book as a visiting Clan member.

Our "Finlayson Family Hunting Lodge"....seat of the Clan Farquharson

Sunday was another day of looking for kin – this time, Linda's. Her father comes from a town near Aberdeen, a place called Peterculter. We contacted some of her cousins, and then headed into the area to explore a bit. At the churchyard, we found some of her long-lost ancestors' headstones, overlooking the Dee River. Then we visited her cousins, Sid and Mary, and joined them for a pub lunch before visiting the Family History Centre and the graveyard to locate a few more kin. Several hours of visiting at their home, with some old family photos, and we headed back into Aberdeen for the evening.

Today is Monday, 30^th May. Internet useage is reasonably expensive or not available, at least where we've been stopping.....so this ended up being a long entry on the blog.....not sure if this will continue, but I'll try to update when I can. We went into Aberdeen itself today, to have a look around the Granite City, and to visit the city Family History Centre, where we found some books and records pertaining to Linda's family. By afternoon it was time to find another distillery – this time to Glen Garioch (pronounced Glen Geery), for another wonderful tour, and several samplings of their whisky. Back to Aberdeen for the evening, with just enough time to get this Blog updated finally.