Scotland in Style

Hey there!  Austin here with an update from the land of Her Majesty.  There is much to share on our travels from Clare County Ireland to North Ireland to Scotland (with details involving beautiful views, cold nights, car ferries, and blizzards), but first I must speak about our new WWOOFing location just north of Perth, Scotland.  First of all, we are in freaking Scotland!!  The land of William Wallace, kilts, steel cut oats, and epic hills.  The place absolutely lives up to its rugged reputation, with blizzards on our drive from Cairnryan through busy Glascow up to the foothills of the Highlands, right where we now reside.

Our new WWOOFing location, a winter wonderland!

Our WWOOFing host is on a 600+ acre estate, with a cattle ranch, orangery, gardens, greenhouses, a massive river, fields, hills, forests, and a huge twenty something room mansion.  We arrived while it was snowing, and it was absolutely romantic and breathtaking.  Our hosts are Tiffy and Charlotte, a wonderful couple with four grown up kids living in England.  Tiffy has a personal, witty demeanor, and is a cyclist to boot.  Charlotte is a bubbly, sweet woman with endless knowledge on gardening and the local area.  We felt like family immediately.  Staying with us and working alongside us is Antoine, a fellow WWOOFer from France.  He is studying computer engineering and is taking a break from the technology world to work farm style. 

                                            Video of our snowy entry to our Scottish home.

 Our first few day's work were mainly "bonfiring" fallen tree branches from the blizzard.  Our teacher: Polish immigrant Martin who is the estate manager and who lives on the property.  First thing he asked me on reporting to WWOOF duty Thursday was 'did I know how to drive a tractor.'  I said no, and he proceeded to teach me how!  So I have been dumping huge loads of branches into the bonfire the last few days; absolutely awesome. 

A walk touring the grounds.

Sunset!

The weekend Kindra and I spent sleeping in, trying to find the billiard room in the house (honestly, exploring this house is like something out of The Secret Garden), and hiking the Scottish Highlands.  I feel so invigorated to be living in the lands of my McRobbie ancestors.  It is like the woods and paths here whisper to me, speaking of the footsteps my ggggrandfathers made on the same land.  The other morning I woke up before Kindra and felt God speaking to me that my time in Scotland would be a journey into the roots of who I am, and that I would discover things that no McRobbie has yet journeyed through.  The wildness of Scotland is in my blood, in my spirit :)

Scottish oatmeal!!  So awesome with the kilt.

More to come on our trip to Scotland, but you have at least a brief idea of our current adventures!


For pictures of Ireland, see: https://picasaweb.google.com/117860913937238604610/Ireland

For pictures of Scotland that are constantly updated, see: https://picasaweb.google.com/117860913937238604610/Scotland

Leaving An Teach Lapa

Kindra here.
The day has come-we are leaving Mark and Tina and their home in Ireland tomorrow, heading towards the open road and sightseeing for a week before arriving at our next hosts in Scotland. An Teach Lapa, as it happens, translates to 'The Poor House' in Gaelic, but don't worry-it was named that for the animals it used to host here.

What a time we have had here!! Out hosts have been absolutely wonderful, helping us find, buy, and insure a car to start with (no mean feat at all-we have all been trying to figure out how to get an American driver insured on an Irish car that will be driving around Europe for 6 months all week and only just found a solution today!), and giving us great advice on Ireland, along with keeping us fed, warm and happy.

It's sad thinking of leaving, as exciting as driving through Ireland does sound. We have had the most stable 'home' here that we have had since September, although we are trying to make our little Fiat more homey by homemade curtains etc. Tina's delightful lunch time conversations and witty jokes, along with Mark's wonderfully dry, British humor, will be undeniably missed. Not to mention the new foods we've encountered here! Brown sauce, toasted bread with baked beans and Worchestershire sauce on top-delish! In fact, I've been so inspired by the new foods that I've decided to keep track of notable recipes from around the world and make a cookbook when we get back! Should be fun, and keep me off the streets anyway. We tried to go to a local pub to see live dancing and music, but of course the night we went they a had a DJ playing American music. =(

Our amazing hosts, Tina and Mark, in front of their property

This beauty was right by the side of the road as we were driving through the Burren, a classic Irish tourist site

On a walk to a local 'mountain' which to us=hill

How much it costs to fill up our tank in Ireland. Yep.

We've been playing 'Up the River Down the River' and loving it!

Overall we have had a terrific time here, insane minute to minute changing weather notwithstanding, and are extremely grateful for alllllll of our hosts help since we have arrived! As we will be on the road, we will probably not have another post for over a week, until we arrive in Scotland. May the Fiat be with us.