Australian Politics Forum - Scotland bound

Sophia

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Re: Scotland bound
Reply #30 - Aug 23^rd, 2025 at 11:52am

Sprintcyclist wrote on Aug 21^st, 2025 at 11:19pm:

About finished our stay at The Cotswolds.
Saw Arlington Row this morning.
Quintessential english village, loved the slate roofs.
Went to an Organ recital last night at St John the Baptists Medieval Cathedral at Cirencester.
England is better than I thought it would be.
Caught up with relatives.
Got a traditional butter Walnut cake with 2 layers of clotted cream in it for smoko.

Off to Carlisle and Hadrians wall tomorrow

I have to admit I was surprised how it was better than I thought it would be also!

Did you see the old church and the ancient graveyard at Cotswold?
I found it fascinating. Some tombstones are so old it’s hard to read the engraving being worn from hundreds of years of weather wear and tear:
Here’s a pic of a house in Cotswold. I wonder how people that live there put up with tourists coming in and out everyday.

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« Last Edit: Aug 23^rd, 2025 at 12:12pm by Sophia »

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Frank Gold Member Online Australian Politics Posts: 54053 Gender:	Re: Scotland bound Reply #31 - Aug 28^th, 2025 at 8:39pm I am going overseas next week, including Ireland. First time in Ireland. As for Scotland, Robin Williams always rings in my ear. https://youtube.com/shorts/lXCHNBqjXLI?si=m8l9JuzA2f-C9_Xo
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Baronvonrort

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Re: Scotland bound
Reply #32 - Aug 28^th, 2025 at 10:25pm

Sprintcyclist wrote on Aug 9^th, 2025 at 12:07am:

Londons very good. The underground can be challenging.
We had 3 days here, staying at a Premier Inns Motel on a recommendation. Big breakfast at the hotel was really good.
It's very good.

Booked 3 days here (4 nights) as one day may be written off due to flying. Wife was unwell so we did have a quiet day.
Went for 2 days on a hop-on hop-off bus tour. Works well. We saw pretty much all of London in 2 huge days.
The palaces, cathedrals,, Tower Bridge, Nelsons Column, Trafalgar square, squirrels in parks. The Kings guards, mounted horses, The Shard, The Wheel, Big Ben,
LOTs of money here, Amazing car sales agents. Bugatti, Masaretti, Bentley, ferrari all in the same block.

Quite a roman influence, a lot of statues to wars
Big nudie statue of Achilles that was 'inscribed by their country women'. So it said.

Traffic is slow, crossing roads is done at will, noone waits for the lights to say cross. Cyclists are plentiful. Perfect place for cycling. The parks are set up for cyclists
Weathers been perfect,

Off to Salisbury tomorrow.

I was in England for 2 weeks early August.

Went to London Tower saw the crown jewels they were very strict with not allowing pics. Lots of Gold there doors are bigger than bank vaults.

Have ancestor buried in Westminster Abbey saw his grave only had one day in London.
No problems with underground had English friends who know it

Most of my time was further north around Oxford went to Blenheim Palace Winston Churchill was born there.

450 pounds for tour of McLaren F1 factory. Shocked

Lots of cyclists in England bikes locked up everywhere no helmet laws. Most of the bikes were older shitters ridden by young and old.

British Airways suck plane was delayed when leaving for new wheels blamed on towing it 2 of the hardest landings i have ever had in 787 which was likely cause.
Air Canada is worse.

People are really polite and considerate much better than expected.

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Sprintcyclist

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Re: Scotland bound
Reply #33 - Aug 29^th, 2025 at 3:33am

Sophia wrote on Aug 23^rd, 2025 at 11:52am:

Sprintcyclist wrote on Aug 21^st, 2025 at 11:19pm:

About finished our stay at The Cotswolds.
Saw Arlington Row this morning.
Quintessential english village, loved the slate roofs.
Went to an Organ recital last night at St John the Baptists Medieval Cathedral at Cirencester.
England is better than I thought it would be.
Caught up with relatives.
Got a traditional butter Walnut cake with 2 layers of clotted cream in it for smoko.

Off to Carlisle and Hadrians wall tomorrow

I have to admit I was surprised how it was better than I thought it would be also!

Did you see the old church and the ancient graveyard at Cotswold?
I found it fascinating. Some tombstones are so old it’s hard to read the engraving being worn from hundreds of years of weather wear and tear:
Here’s a pic of a house in Cotswold. I wonder how people that live there put up with tourists coming in and out everyday.

We went there too

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Sprintcyclist

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Re: Scotland bound
Reply #34 - Aug 29^th, 2025 at 3:41am

Drove through the Trossachs and Scottish Highlands today. Scenery went from oak forests and waterfalls to a Ski field and very steep volcanic mountains. Heather covered slopes.
Our 2 hour drive morphed into a 7 hour exploration

I've got Scottish heritage so this is close to my heart. Come from the Gunn Clan.
We are onto the Jacobite Steamer tomorrow. Made famous in the Harry Potter series.

The Scots are a very genuine people. Scotland has never been overrun by anyone.
Not the English, not the Romans. No one. It's always been populated by Scots.

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MeisterEckhart Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 16224 Gender:	Re: Scotland bound Reply #35 - Aug 29^th, 2025 at 7:51am Sprintcyclist wrote on Aug 29^th, 2025 at 3:41am: Scotland has never been overrun by anyone. Not the English, not the Romans. No one. It's always been populated by Scots. Yep! Reminds of the tag of an old joke... At 70, a woman's body is like Scotland... Everybody knows where it is, but nobody wants to go there!
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Sprintcyclist Gold Member Offline OzPolitic Posts: 41122 Gender:	Re: Scotland bound Reply #36 - Aug 31^st, 2025 at 5:26am Am in Plockton Holiday Lodges for a few days. Will be visiting The Isle of Skye . The Scottish highlands has amazing scenery. Heather coated, Mountain streams cascading down the grassed mountain tops. Very craggy, distances are deceptive. deep ravines in the rocks, white colours high up could be quartz or white lichen.
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Sprintcyclist Gold Member Offline OzPolitic Posts: 41122 Gender:	Re: Scotland bound Reply #37 - Sep 3^rd, 2025 at 5:52am Made it over to Inverness. Spent time with the Coos, wonderful beasts, lovely. Is dryer here, cooler at nights. Will be off to Culloden and to see the city tomorrow. Bought some very nice Salmon here today Inverness has a different Scots feel to it than Plockton did Plockton was wilder.
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Sprintcyclist Gold Member Offline OzPolitic Posts: 41122 Gender:	Re: Scotland bound Reply #38 - Sep 4^th, 2025 at 2:14am haggis is pretty good. Very rich. Bought a vegetarian haggis to cook tonight.
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Sophia

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Re: Scotland bound
Reply #39 - Sep 4^th, 2025 at 4:13pm

Sprintcyclist wrote on Sep 4^th, 2025 at 2:14am:

haggis is pretty good. Very rich.
Bought a vegetarian haggis to cook tonight.

A normal haggis is this I looked up (not vegetarian) are you a vegetarian Sprint? Otherwise I’d be trying the real McCoy! Its ingredients are everything but vegetables! More like a load of a bit of everything else leftover!

What is real haggis made of?

haggis, the national dish of Scotland, a type of pudding composed of the liver, heart, and lungs of a sheep (or other animal), minced and mixed with beef or mutton suet and oatmeal and seasoned with onion, cayenne pepper, and other spices. The mixture is packed into a sheep's stomach and boiled

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haggis

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Sprintcyclist

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Re: Scotland bound
Reply #40 - Sep 6^th, 2025 at 7:19am

Sophia wrote on Sep 4^th, 2025 at 4:13pm:

Sprintcyclist wrote on Sep 4^th, 2025 at 2:14am:

haggis is pretty good. Very rich.
Bought a vegetarian haggis to cook tonight.

A normal haggis is this I looked up (not vegetarian) are you a vegetarian Sprint? Otherwise I’d be trying the real McCoy! Its ingredients are everything but vegetables! More like a load of a bit of everything else leftover!

What is real haggis made of?

haggis, the national dish of Scotland, a type of pudding composed of the liver, heart, and lungs of a sheep (or other animal), minced and mixed with beef or mutton suet and oatmeal and seasoned with onion, cayenne pepper, and other spices. The mixture is packed into a sheep's stomach and boiled

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haggis

I had the real haggis, pretty good, very like in the piccie you posted. Very rich.
The vegetarian haggis is very similar, not so rich.

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Sprintcyclist

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Re: Scotland bound
Reply #41 - Sep 6^th, 2025 at 7:24am

Scotlands really good.

We went here https://www.dunrobincastle.co.uk/

The highlands are where the commandos were formed.
Due to it's rugged terrain and harsh climate.
Yet, it is outstandingly beautiful. heather grows up to the snowline, waterfalls cascade down the Munros constantly.

The Scottish people are very nice. Very proud of being Scots.

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Sophia

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Re: Scotland bound
Reply #42 - Sep 6^th, 2025 at 12:43pm

Sprintcyclist wrote on Sep 6^th, 2025 at 7:24am:

Scotlands really good.

We went here https://www.dunrobincastle.co.uk/

The highlands are where the commandos were formed.
Due to it's rugged terrain and harsh climate.
Yet, it is outstandingly beautiful. heather grows up to the snowline, waterfalls cascade down the Munros constantly.

The Scottish people are very nice. Very proud of being Scots.

Thanks for the link… I’ve found it on YouTube to share in here for you so others can see it. Looks like a beautiful castle and grounds. Very majestic.
I’m astounded it’s 700 years old! I bet the gardens didn’t look like that all that time.

Dunrobin Castle is the most northerly of Scotland’s great houses and the largest in the Northern Highlands with 189 rooms. Dunrobin Castle is also one of Britain’s oldest continuously inhabited houses dating back to the early 1300s, home to the Earls and later, the Dukes of Sutherland.

The Castle, which resembles a French chateâu with its towering conical spires, has seen the architectural influences of Sir Charles Barry, who designed London’s Houses of Parliament, and Scotland’s own Sir Robert Lorimer. The Castle was used as a naval hospital during the First World War and as a boys’ boarding school from 1965 to 1972.

Dunrobin Castle is on the east coast of the Northern Highlands overlooking the Moray Firth, just north of the villages of Golspie and Dornoch (famous for its cathedral and Royal Dornoch Golf Club).

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« Last Edit: Sep 6^th, 2025 at 12:48pm by Sophia »

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Sprintcyclist

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Re: Scotland bound
Reply #43 - Sep 10^th, 2025 at 5:09am

Thanks Sophia.

Our time here is running out, fly out in 1 1/2 days time.
We have spent the last few days in Edinburgh.
Coming back to civilisation is always a bit flattening.
We like the HighLands, Cairngorms, Red Squirrels, heather in bloom, forests that look too perfect to be true, Deer, Coos.

The Old city in Edinburgh has amazing architecture.
Some is Neo-Gothic. Think of the Batman building, then add 500 years to that.
Had Haggis, neaps and tatties for dinner last night.
England was better than I thought it would be.

I have Scottish heritage and own kilts in Aust.
Scotland is kilts, haggis, a beautiful accent, Black pudding pies, bagpipes, Deer, grit boxes on steep roads, Castles, Jacobites, heather in bloom up to the snow line, is the home of Commando training and Munroes.
Scotland is Scotland.

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« Last Edit: Sep 10^th, 2025 at 5:14am by Sprintcyclist »

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Sophia Moderator Offline Posts: 9235	Re: Scotland bound Reply #44 - Sep 13^th, 2025 at 11:42pm Thanks for your travel diary and mention of places which I looked up to learn about. Hope your flight back is smooth and comfortable.
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