Scotland - June 08

Picking up Stig from Sarah and Shays houseAfter 7 years down under it was Dads turn to visit Europe again. Ella and I flew in to Manchester friday morning and met Dad and Linda to the Airport where we picked up the rental car and headed to Sarah and Shays. We had a cup of tea and a good but brief catch up them before heading up to Arrachor in Scotland for the weekend where we were to attend the Burden family re union.

The Arrachor Hotel from the Cobler

We drove for 5 hours up to Arrachor on the west coast 1 hour north of Glasgow. We had no problems except bad coffee at the motorway service stations and the rush hour traffic in Glasgow. We got up early the next morning, ate our bacon and eggs breakfast before Stig, Ella and I headed up the Cobler to check out the famous peak.

Grandad's bridge - still looking good

The rocky peak of the Cobler

The eye of the Needle
Looking back down to Arrachor

It was a good 5 hour return walk allowing for an hour at the top to climb the three summits, there was a lot of rock scrambling involved so was pretty cool. We ate lunch and then headed back down in time to catch the reunion party at one of the local cafes.

Uncle John and Dad
The reunion was great, we were around 80 people, very different people of all ages and from all over the world. It was funny to talk to the people and think that we all came from my grandparents.

Some of the rellies back at the Arrachor hotel
Arrachor in the morning sun

On the Sunday we drove over to Loch Fyne for a fine lunch at the famous sea food restaurant. We then went to the Glengoyne distillery for a Scotch tour before taking Stig to Glasgow airport to catch his plane back to the US. Linda, Dad, Ella and I stayed another night in Arrachor before heading back down to Manchester. It was a great trip and fun to meet up with Linda, Dad and Stig on the other side of the world.