Hi, When you drive up the M74 from England you see a sign for Drumlanrig Castle. I must have passed it dozens of times but never visited. In 2011 there was a half marathon at the location and I went down to run it. The castle isn't near the road at all. You meander through conical hills and eventually you see it at the top of a magnificent tree lined drive. It was at the end of October but the castle was closed. I had always meant to return and see the interior ...

11th July 2019 Hi, I finally achieved a long held ambition to travel on the West Highland line, one of the most famous train journeys in the world. Along with my brother Donald we travelled north on the second of July, taking in the whole route and stayed overnight in Mallaig. The following day we took a boat trip to Canna, stopping briefly in Rhum on the way over. Lorna appeared out of nowhere to join us for the day! This fulfilled another long term ambition...

June 15th 2019 Hi, Along with my brother Donald I travelled north on Saturday 1st June to Farr Hall at Inverarnie for the MacQueen Family Gathering. Our mother was Grace MacQueen (1926-2008) and we were invited to the Gathering as descendents of Hugh MacQueen of Ruthven (1843-1913) our great-grandfather. It was a great opportunity to meet family, some of whom we had never seen, and jointly to explore our common heritage. It was an amazing experience sharing h...

September 29th 2018 Hi, On my second weeks holiday following the 60th birthday milestone I had a sort of staycation based in Glasgow and managed to tick off a few sites on my list. The first was Abbotsford House in the Scottish borders. The home of the writer Sir Walter Scott, it was built in 1824. Scott is a fascinating character from Scottish history and in addition to creating many phrases which have found thier way into common usage in the english langua...

25th September 2018 Hi, Given that some of the family and friends were already in Kintail, it seemed opportune for us to get over to Raasay for a visit. Our grandmother Rachel MacLeod came from Oskaig on the island and we had visited as children on a number of occasions whilst holidaying in Skye to see our great aunt Kate who eventually lived to be one hundred years old. I had not been on Raasay since 1995 and sister Rachel had not visited since the 1970s. Nee...