Scotland

Staying in the heart of Aberdeen with access to unlimited city buses we didn't need our own transportation. A day pass, costing approximately six dollars, gave us unlimited travel, allowing us to hop off and on up to about 20 different bus routes.

I had a day pass on the day Cathie and Sarah went to Balmoral Castle. I passed up the Royal Deeside trip to visit St. Machar's Cathedral and the Gordon Highlanders Museum.

I was 11 years old the last time I was in St. Machar's Cathedral, taking part in a city school choral performance. The current church is dated circa 1350, but according to legend, the first seat of worship was founded around 580 and became a cathedral church in 1131.

Originally the seat of Aberdeen's Roman Catholic bishops, the cathedral changed hands during the 1560 Reformation. It survived a turbulent history, including the Wars of Independence and the Jacobite Risings of 1689 and 1715. Vandalized badly by mobs during the Reformation, it was damaged again during Second World War air raids.

I browsed around the cathedral and gift shop for an hour before making my way by bus to the Gordon Highlanders Museum.

Based always in Aberdeen, the Gordon Highlanders Regiment has a 200-year history. There are some fascinating displays, including the most recent one on the regiment's participation in Afghanistan wars. It was involved in battles at Charasia and Kandahar in 1879 and 1880. Today, 130 years later. the Gordon Highlanders, now amalgamated with other Scottish regiments, is back in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile in Royal Deeside, Cathie and Sarah were experiencing a different type of history. They travelled to bus to Ballater, where the old train station is converted to a museum, with waxwork figures of Queen Victoria and her staff. It was here the royal family once arrived by train on route to Balmoral Castle, their Scottish residence,

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were the first English royals to stay for any length of time in Scotland. They loved the Deeside area and purchased the Balmoral estate as a Highland retreat in 1852. They had the white granite castle built and bought land to enlarge the estate. Today, thanks to Prince Albert, many species of trees from all over the world are found in the grounds.

Of course it was raining again, but it was a fine mist, or as Cathie and Sarah agreed, "Acceptable rain." Because the royal family wasn't in residence they were allowed into the grounds and castle. However, once inside, visitors are restricted to the ballroom. But, according to Sarah, just seeing the castle and grounds was worth the visit.

Getting to talk to local people was for Cathie, one of the most interesting parts of travelling. She struck up a conversation with a woman at the bus stop who told them how important tourism was to the area.

"We learned that August is when the most tourists arrive; hoping to see the royal family. From what she told us, it is clear their economic story is very similar to ours in Newfoundland. Her husband works in the North Sea oil, but like rural Newfoundland, Royal Deeside is dependent on tourism for survival and most of their young people move away to work," says Cathie.

Aberdeen is thriving and continually enlarging because of the oil and the people who come from all over the world to work in the industry. This is very noticeable as many nationalities can be seen, and languages heard, as one walks around the city.

Our days were drawing to a close in Aberdeen, but there was time for a visit to the Maritime museum near the very busy harbour, as well as an evening 'Haunted Walk' around older parts of the city.

Our last full day when we went by train to Stonehaven to attend the town's annual traditional Highland Games, was the highlight of our holiday. For once, the sun was shining brightly and all the women were dressed in light clothes to suit the temperature. The majority of men, however, were wearing kilts.

There were highland dancers of all ages, pipers, contestants in track events, teams for tug of war, a pipe band, but best of all, there were the strength contests. These included; the caber toss, hammer throw, and the weight over-the-bar contests, where the contestant throws a concrete weight backwards over a high set of poles.

Most of the contestants were Scottish, but Sam from Connecticut, USA, very quickly became the crowd favourite. When he topped the all time record of 16 ft. 9ins, in the heavy weight over-the-bar contest, the spectators were enthusiastic with their applause. No other competitor reached the record, but Sam wasn't content with this victory. He continued to throw, going over the bar time after time until it stood well over 17 feet.

By now, spectators were ignoring the other events to watch the young American. Even a sudden downpour of rain couldn't quench the excitement as he continued to throw, finally finishing with a new record of 17 ft. 6 ins.

Originally we had planned to spend just a couple of hours at the game and then walk to Dunnottar Castle, one of Scotland's most impressive ruined castles. In the past, its famous guests included William Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots and the future King Charles 11. However, even Sarah, our most ardent castle enthusiast, was having too good a time to leave the games. She opted instead to view the castle again from the train.

At the small open air train station, while waiting to return to Aberdeen, we struck up a conversation with the only passengers, three Canadians from Ontario. Two men then appeared, one of them wearing a Blue Jays cap. When I laughingly asked were they also Canadians, we discovered they were American oil workers, who had spent quite a lot of time in Newfoundland, which shows what a small world we live in.

Our holiday in Scotland ended the following day when we flew to London. It was a great experience for all three of us. Sarah got to see her castles, Cathie was happiest talking to local people, while I was only too happy to share my memories and former home with them.

This concludes our summer travel series for 2009. Check back next year for more features from Around the World.