Here you can browse through my blog posts prior to February 2022. Currently I'm sharing my travel experiences, candid opinions, and what's on my mind solely on my Facebook page. — Rick
I’m well into our Best of Scotland bus tour, and I think the best couple of hours so far has been the Kenmore Highland Games. Here’s a compilation of my favorite clips showing all the fun. In small-town games, everyone plays. It’s fun for all — young, old, tourists, and locals.
If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.
Many travel all the way to Scotland to see the big clan gatherings and the famous Highland Games events. But twice, I’ve come upon small-town games, which are very charming. You simply donate £5 (about $7.50) and join the local scene. Here’s a peek at the Kenmore games, just two hours north of Edinburgh.
If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.
One day a year, the Scottish village of Kenmore hosts its Highland Games festival — and our tour group was lucky enough to be there, mixing it up with the locals enjoying an amazing Scottish scene…perfectly through the Back Door. The open field (just a short walk from our hotel) was filled with families having a delightful day out watching tug-of-wars, little kids’ sprints, gunnysack races, bands of marching pipers, and Highland dancing. While the girls impatiently and anxiously awaited their time with the bagpiper on stage, the big boys took turns tossing big things: Stones, hammers, and the caber (a log the size of a small telephone pole) were sent end-over-end to the delight of those gathered.
Over the next few days, I’ll share a few videos from the festivities. But for now, enjoy these photos.
Little dancer #691 was a model of grace, focus, and composure.
The tiny village of Kenmore—little more than the fancy domain of its castle, a church set in a bouquet of tombstones, and a line of humble houses—provided us with a fine dose of small town Scottish flavor. I’m traveling with our Scotland tour and we filled the town’s creaky inn. As a tour organizer, my challenge is to see the big must-see sights in the city and then immerse our groups in the sleepy, more traditional, and—as is so often the case—more enchanting rural and village scene. Kenmore did exactly that for our tour group. Everyone loved it.
If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.
Sure, there’s plenty more to Scotland. But Edinburgh is one of Europe’s most entertaining cities. It seems to hold half of the country’s tourists — and for good reason. The Royal Mile, a leisurely and fascination-filled stroll gradually downhill from the castle to the palace, is one of Europe’s most enjoyable sightseeing walks.
Edinburgh’s Royal Mile: Hume and St. Giles – The pride of Scotland — from its philosophers (such as David Hume, depicted in this statue) to its very own Church of Scotland (embodied by St. Giles’ Cathedral, home church of the great reformer John Knox) — shows along Edinburgh’s historic High Street.
Scotland is a pint-sized nation, with just five million people. Its culture comes in easy-to-digest packages, like its delightful National Gallery.
At Edinburgh’s National Portrait Gallery, you walk through history looking all the famous Scots in the eyes. This is the wannabe king, Prince Charles Edward Stuart. Also known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie,” he was clearly a dandy and a lady’s man (as a good percentage of the men of the Highlands died struggling to put him on the throne in the 1700s).
Whisky is high on the experience list of most visitors to Scotland. While there are plenty of distillery tours, a visit to a fine whisky shop (like Cadenhead’s, at the bottom of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile) offers a chance to gain an education and have a small bottle filled directly from the cask of your choice.