We settled in Pitlochry, Perthshire, for the night on our way to and from the Highlands.
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| Sharp-looking Pitlochry B&B for Chris and Ben |
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| A Hielan' greeter |
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| Attractive welcome to Rosehill B&B |
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| Now this is more like the Highlands! |
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| Our rental car puts on more miles by the ubiquitous yellow gorse |
The second half of Alison's tour began with her childhood home in Golspie, Sutherland, in northern Scotland.
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| 12 Lindsay St., Golspie, Alison's old hame (1952-56) |
It's a wee bit breezy today! I remember standing on those stairs and being told we couldn't go on our Big Vacation touring around England in our brand-new van on that day as planned, because one of the kids had come down with measles or some such annoyance!
Nice of that young couple to let strangers barge into their house!
Father and Mother dumped the two live, potted Christmas trees they brought with them either side of the door above when we moved in in late December, 1952. This house was where I at age 8 garnered the attentions of over 100 penpals, mostly U.S. but some from exotic parts of the world. (Bless Father James for his help ditto-copying letters at some points!)
This shows the Lindsay Street house with its big corner yard where James grew giant vegetable marrows.
The new extension on the house is where there was a coal bumker from which we drew our coal for the fire that was supposed to heat the house. It was quite an experience getting a speck of coal-dust in the eye. Where Chris is standing my friends and I used to play rounders (a primitive form of baseball) on a summer evening: it was great! Just east of where Chris is, was the local sledding hill, which got very fast a little while after a snowstorm. Vehicles were rarely encountered!
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| Fancy a circular bedroom? Turreted house at ford near Dunrobin Castle |
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Ben gamely negotiates ford
(Building right behind car is Alison's 6th grade classroom!) |
My class had the honor of being housed a good ways distant from the school, which was a weird feeling. I guess that year they ran out of space for everybody at the main school, so they built us a classroom, a small teacher's office and a couple of "cloakrooms."
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| A happy visitor to the old Big Burn |
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| A dipper bird, just as there used to be in 1955 (see it on a wee rock--middle, right?) |
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| Dear old Golspie Main Street |
My friends and I would tramp down this street daily to school. Our modest hotel on left.
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| Formal entrance to Dunrobin Castle, north of Golspie |
My friend and I would play around this (apparently deserted, then) castle, making up all sorts of adventures with trap-doors and weird inscriptions and so on. We'd comb the attached woods and find glorious banks of white snowdrops, yellow daffies or bluebells for the picking (or so we thought!). I don't remember us going down to the beach that the castle overlooked, but we did when we held Girl Guide camp in Dunrobin Castle grounds. On other days we mights also take off quite early on our black bikes in a different direction in search of fun and interest--and not come home till later in the day. Nobody seemed to worry about us!
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| Back view of Dunrobin Castle, of ancient origin but most of its structure 19th century. The clouds are gathering. |
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| Any volunteers? (falconry show) |
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| One of the most picturesque castles in the country--especially with the trio in front! |
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| Even the cold can't dampen our enthusiasm as we emerge onto the sidewalk |
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| Cafe food. Ah! This will stick to your ribs! |
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| Fish 'n' chips with "mushy peas." Pass the vinegar, please! |
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