Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Ever been to Scotland ?

Well I never been to Spain.

During the naval gunfire exercise I mentioned above, the British had a couple of Tornados on station and a British Major who was their air officer asked me if I wanted to run a 9 line. Who am I to say no?
I have no idea what kind of bomb it was, but it was every bit equivalent to what our fighter/fighter bombers carry. 500 lb GBU(ish)? I don't know but I was told we blew windows out due to the concussion.

Lived in England from 1963 to 1966 when my dad was stationed over there in the USAF.... my family toured a lot when we lived over there, all over the British Isles and also on the Continent.... guess it may have been the Scottish Blood I have in me.... there as a lot of places in Europe, and the UK that I loved...

but top of the list had to be Scotland.... by the time I was about 12, I had it in my head that when I grew up and it was time to get married, I wanted it to be a Scottish Redhead.

which sadly didn't happen...

been to Edinburgh tho, many times... favorite times was the Edinburgh Flower Festival.... and that "tattoo" event in Edinburgh Castle....but I think they called it something else back in those days...

I love to listen to Scotch people speak.... we have one at our local Supermarket, who stocks shelves at night.... I love listening to him speak...

Pretty much most of this. HISTORY. Nature, countryside, libations.

My sister and I got into genealogy a while back. We are ~70% Scottish with a lot of Keith, Wallace, and Bruce tribe blood. The DNA findings were pretty cool and corroborated most of what we had uncovered. . We visited multiple castles and saw, LITERALLY, rooms and halls where our forefathers ate and slept, along with family burial grounds where my great grandfathers and grandmothers lay. So, it was particularly cool for me.

Not yet but it’s on the bucket list. I did wake up in Ireland this morning and am heading for a couple of days in Northern Ireland tomorrow to tour Bushmills Distillery and see the Giants Causeway. My daughter lives in Roscommon Ireland and with our trip canceled in 2020 due to Covid this is our first trip opportunity since.

Was there on a hiking tour in 1990. The rail we hiked was the "West Highland Way" from Milngavie to Fort Williams. Well that was the plan. We startet in Milngavie hiking north, camping somewhere in the Lowlands not far from Dumgoyne, staying the next night in a B&B in Balmaha, heading north and trying to get some rest in Inversnaid Hotel but no vaccations. Lots of old folks there. We had to stay in out tent at night and were almost eaten up by the midges. The rest was done by train to Fort William, from there by train to Glenfinnan, then heading vor Mallaig, Eilean Donan Castla, Skye Island, with a bus to the Loch Ness (no monster there) back to Fort William,Glasgow and then back home. Almost no rain, I am not kiddin'! Beware of the midges. They are killers. They drive you nuts.

In '16 we drove all around Ireland as prelude to Scotland. Spent 4 weeks in Ireland amd then 2 in Scotland. Would not waste a minute in Scotland again, but would happily go to Ireland tomorrow.

Many Irish pub crawls where everyone was incredibly friendly inside 5 minutes. Multiple attempts in Scotland and could not engage the first Scot in the first conversation.

Cheap SOBs were afraid to buy anyone a drink! Or accept one lest they feel the need to reciprocate.

Been in a lot of different countries all around the World... no other has been as negative. And Scotch is my drink of choice, over half my blood, and the previous top of my list to visit.

Loved our time there and would go again tomorrow.
IF and when they get travel restrictions straightened out we plan more trips to Europe. Seems a big wish at this point 😕

They like to Fight.. Especially when their Drunk ..
I mean Sloppy Drunk..
Flew into Inverness and as I was being driven into town the Taxi Driver said Lad it a bad day to Visit.
All 3 Major Sports Teams lost and their going to be Fighting.
He was right.. Like something out of Blazing Saddles..
The brought in this Special Police Force to clean up the Mess..
Took them awhile.. Hahahahahaha..

Two kinds of weather in Scotland; raining and about to rain.

Two kinds of weather in Ireland; rain and drizzle, which is why it really is green.

England sits in Ireland’s rain shadow, which is why the sun sometimes shines there.

Falkirk. The Wheel.

Glasgow is sorta like Belfast East, descendants of Irish immigrants, Prod and Catholic. Prods east Glasgow, Catholics west. Two soccer teams, Glasgow Rangers (Prod), Glasgow Celtic (Catholic).

When I was cycling through in June of ‘16 there were no road maps on account of everybody used phones. I had never done that yet but how hard could it be I thought; ride north through Glasgow and then turn left, no way I could miss Loch Lomond.

Turns out Glasgow was a friggin’ maze. It was a weekend, the European Cup was going on, everyone I asked directions from was drunk. One lady warned me that if I left my bicycle unattended for a moment it would get stolen.

At one point, pushing my bicycle north up a narrow sidewalk against traffic on a narrow one way street I accidentally knocked over a speaker blaring AC/DC on a chair set up outside a garage.

An immediate chorus of East Glasgow “F*CK, F*CKs” erupted from within. These guys were East Glasgow bikers, wrenching on their bikes. Three or four of them came striding towards me.

Ya gotta understand, genetically I’m 88% Irish Catholic, I LOOKED like a local, and a thumping may have been imminent.

Thinking fast, in the best American drawl I could muster I said...

”Well hey, clearly I’m lost”

On hearing me speak they all stopped, looked at each other and burst out laughing. “What the f*ck are you doing here?” one asked. They became friendly and helpful, interested in my journey, though at the same time eying me like a keen-eyed pack of wolves deciding if I was a rabbit or not.

As I was leaving I apologized for knocking over the sound system. “Och, no bother.” said the guy setting it back up.

IN 2009 my wife and I went to Scotland. I was on a leave from my job working for Dyncorp. We met in London and flew up to Edinburgh where we hopped a train to Stirling. My mother's family immigrated from Stirling. My 3xgrandfather and his father were both the military governors of Stirling castle. I managed to find the grave of my 3xgrandfather's head stone. Stirling was/is an easy town to walk through. We stayed at a hotel that used to be the only school in city.

kwg

Been all over the place from Jedburgh to Inverness. From Largs to Edinburgh. Go!!!!

Go, you won't regret it. Beautiful, beautiful country. Lassies walking down the street, one with fur boots and heavy coat, the other in shorts and tank top lol. Never leave home without a sweater and raincoat. Go to the Isle of Skye if you can, two way traffic on one lane roads lol, beautiful scenery.

Mike

Honeymooned there 20 years ago. We started in Edinburgh, went through the Highlands and ended in Glascow. I loved it all but Glascow. The Highlands were beautiful. We stopped at several different castles and ruins along the way. Edinburgh was just plain fun, but it is touristy. The people were extremely friendly. We stayed the longest in a small town called Uplawmoor. It was definitely worth the travel.

Lived on the outskirts of London in 1990-91 and twice visited Edinburgh.

Scotland is quite different from England. Both are beautiful. Man’s fingerprints are everywhere in England whereas vast parts of Scotland are untouched.

My family attended the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo - one of the greatest memories of all my travel. This is a show of drum & bagpipe corps performing in the forecourt of Edinburgh Castle. I believe 2022 show dates are Aug 5-27.

Here is their website: https://www.edintattoo.co.uk/

Leisurely enjoy walking and shopping on the Royal Mile connecting Edinburgh Castle with Holyrood Palace.

See the Princess Street gardens built at the base of the volcanic crag - the castle is at the top of the crag.

You may want to consider dropping down into northern England and touring the Lake District, especially Lake Windermere. Also the Yorkshire Dales - make sure to go into York, a walled city, and visit the Cathedral. If you go all the way into southern England, visit villages in the Cotswold hills and the Roman city of Bath; skip Stonehenge - it is just a lot of big rocks in a field. About an hour west of London, near the small town of Beaconsfield, have a meal at the Royal Standard of England - an ancient pub that has been in continuous operations for 900 years.

Royal Standard of England
Forty Green Road
Beaconsfield
HP9 1XT
England
website: rsoe.co.uk

Don’t be intimidated to drive - yes, they drive on the wrong side of the road. Which means the driver is sitting on the wrong side of the car, and you shift gears with your left hand. Foot pedal configuration is the same as ours accelerator on the right. I actually prefer the wrong side! Remember that the driver should align themselves in the right side of the greasy stripe in the road. Have your traveling partner act as your navigator. Remember that a right hand turn means you are crossing all paths of traffic - look both ways before turning!

Buy some sweaters and a Barbour coat.

Fly into London. Spend 2-3 days there.Take a small plane to Ireland. Spend 3-5 days there, skip Scotland

Scotland is a nice place to hunt. They do it differently from most other places, and game is plentiful. It has some interesting landscapes and if you have any liking for Scotch you can see a lot of the landscape by touring their distilleries. Things may have changed due to popularity but last I was there they'd pour you a sample of 30-40 year old whisky like it was an everyday thing for them, because it probably is.

The weather is not my cup of tea so wouldn't want to spend more than 2 or 3 days there at a go.

Definitely a better use of time than Paris. We met some friends there just ahead of the pandemic before heading to my wife's family place. Still some things to see there if you've never been but it has fallen a long way in the last 5-6 years. "Paris is no longer Paris" - Donald Trump 2017.