Sunday May 25th & Monday 26th

I am writing this as quickly as I can as I am worried that I will run out of of internet access and have to resort to using that provided by the ship at an exorbitant cost.

Just trying to remember what actually happened yesterday.  That's right - we went to a highland gathering at Blair Atholl in the highlands (where else would it be). We visited Blair Castle first and the Duke was in residence - we knew that because his black and gold flag was flying from the roof. 

The castle was impressive, maybe not as much as Culzean Castle in Ayrshire but not so bad and the grounds were good.  The duke has his own private army called The Highlanders, an army of 100 men. I think it is rare for anyone to have their own private army these days so that was special.

I really enjoyed the games.  There was caber throwing, 

shot put, 

hammer throwing, an event in which they tossed a 25 kg wt over a bar, wrestlong and the highlanders dash where men in kilts raced across  the field.  

We were also entertained by highland dancing and pipers.

All in all a good day.

Today we headed in to Edinburgh where our first stop was Mary King's Close - a narrow laneway under the Royal Mile in the old town of Edinburgh.  No photos sorry as we were not allowed to take photos because the area is owned by the town council.  After this we walked up the Royal Mile 

then explored the Castle 

when the heavens opened and spoiled my photos do the view from the battlements.  

Back on the bus again, we headed west towards Glasgow and arrived at the docks at Greenock at 5.02pm - a little late for the prescribed boarding time but they got us through security and all the other procedures in record time and the ship left right on time.  

We were far welled by a pipe band and someone dressed in a strange costume dancing around on the wharf.

Food and drink here is not going to be a problem as both are available in plentiful supplies and my cabin is comfortable.  Will post photos of the ship tomorrow but here are a few I took tonight. 

As you can see the day ended up not too badly.