Beautiful Scotland

Today we are in a most historic town called Stirling and Mr Cumming is meeting with some people here, so I thought I would hijack his blog and tell you about some of the less educational but beautiful scenery we are seeing.

After leaving Glasgow we drove north along the edge of Loch Lomond which I have always wanted to see because when I was growing up we were taught a song about Loch Lomond. A Loch is what we call a lake and although this was not that wide it is long and on the other side of the Loch beautiful mountains roll down to the water.  There are so many old buildings everywhere, you can't believe it.  Castles, ruins, manors, churches....some, people are living in, others are there for people to look at.  After Loch Lomond we headed west and up to Fort Williams and again on the way up there, there were mountains, lakes, castles!  We stayed the night at Fort William overlooking a Loch which we loved and then the next morning headed up to Ben Nevis...I have been told that a Ben is a mountain and a Glen is a valley....so I hope that's right. We caught a cable car 1/2 way up a mountain range and then Mr Cumming and I went for separate walks, with Mr Cumming going off the track as per usual to climb up to some snow, where he filled his water bottle.  He loves climbing mountains particularly where there is snow! 

We then heard about the Glenfinnan Viaduct which was the bridge used in 3 Harry Potter films where the Hogwarts Express travels across it, so we thought we must go there and take some pictures, especially for Chloe Anderson as I know how much she enjoys reading Harry Potter.  That was absolutely unbelievable. I didn't realise a bridge could be so beautiful and for me it was quite breathtaking.

We continued up to the west coast to a place called Mallaig, a very picturesque fishing village with oceans on one side and mountains on the other.  The roads are very narrow in most of these towns with buildings right on the edge of the road.  We think we could see the Isle of Skye across the ocean and we hope to go up there next week. We then headed back inland and up to a place called Glencoe where there were the most magnificent mountains and waterfalls.  It looked like something out of the dinosaur ages and Mr Cumming has said he will be coming back to Scotland one day to climb those mountains.  All along the edge of the road are poles a couple of metres high and these are so people can find the roads when there is snow.  It is hard to believe these mountains could be covered in snow as the only snow we are seeing is right on the very top of these high, high mountains.

We are now in Stiriling and I know there is a huge castle here with a moat that we will go and look at once Mr Cumming is finished working.  It doesn't get dark till around 10.30pm so you can fit a lot into 1 day.  Mr Cumming went for a walk late last night to the castle and said he nearly fell into the moat and was going to have to wait for a knight in shining armour or a fair maiden to come and rescue him.  Fortunately he didn't fall in as I'm not sure there are many of them around any more!!  This afternoon we head off to Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland and I have been told this is another beautiful place.....there are so many!! 

Hope all is well at Withers...I heard you are having loads of rain..we have been very lucky...no rain as yet.  Hope you are all enjoying the blog and I know Mr Cumming is really keen to talk with you all about what he has found in schools in Scotland and England.  Take care.....Mrs Cumming