Janet and Marie Morrison's
1999 Trip to Scotland

by Janet Morrison of North Carolina

Part Four - the Final Part

    Our last stop on the tour was the Italian Chapel at Lamb Holm. It was constructed from two Nissan huts and whatever materials could be gathered by the Italian prisoners of war that built the Churchill Barriers. The inside of the chapel is beautifully appointed. The interior walls and ceiling give the appearance of brick, but in reality they are made of cardboard painted to look like brick. One of the prisoners painted the Madonna and Child on the wall behind the alter. He returned a few years ago to restore the painting and when he died last year, his family came from Italy to the chapel on Orkney for a memorial service for him. It is a lovely chapel. As you can see, we had an interesting and full day. Orkney definitely deserves more than one day!

    Tuesday, August 10 promised to be a tiring day of traveling, as we had 170 miles of mountainous road between us and Ullapool. We had reservations on the 5:15 p.m. ferry from Ullapool to Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis and we had to check in at the ferry terminal no later than 4:30. Since the weather was favorable, we chose to take the very scenic coastal route via Thurso, Tongue, Durness, and Unapool. Since it was an "A" numbered road on the map, we were completely taken by surprise to find that perhaps 100 of the 170 miles were on single-track road! The miles slowly ticked by as we kept an eye on the odometer and the clock. Early in the trip in Caithness, we could see the Pentland Firth from the road. Then we crossed into Sutherland and the land became more and more mountainous. The mountains were rocky (very different from the Grampians) and reminded us of the landscape on Harris and even a little of the Rocky Mountains in the United States. They were in stark contrast to the Grampian Mountains we'd seen the week before, which reminded us of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and Virginia. We were in and out of rain all morning and, early on, the clouds hung low on the mountains.

    At Kylesku we came to a beautiful bridge. Our father was a structural steel draftsman and admirer of interesting bridges. We immediately thought of him when we saw this bridge and just had to stop to take a closer look. I missed the overlook on the north end of the bridge, so I turned in the car park at the south end of the bridge. By then it was about 2:30 p.m. and with only 35 miles left between us and Ullapool, we could relax a little and finally stop to enjoy the scenery. There was a sign telling about the bridge, and we were excited to learn that it was built by Morrison Construction Company.

    Unfortunately, when we returned to the car, the immobilizer had gone out on it again! British Telecom apparently knew we were coming to Scotland this summer and had strategically placed pay phones near where we needed them that day at Kylesku and another location near Ullapool. We weren't exactly in a metropolis and wondered just how long it would be before assistance would arrive. A nice couple from Fraserburgh happened along and noticed we were having problems. They were very friendly and helped us pass the time as we waited for assistance. While Marie walked back to the phone booth to cancel our ferry reservations, I nearly had to duck once more for a military jet which cut through the valley there flying lower than the mountain tops. Just what my nerves needed! A RAC mechanic arrived about 4:00. Of course, he could not start the car either and had to arrange for a flat bed wrecker to come from Keith Pickard Motors in Ullapool. The wrecker arrived about 5:00 and I was greatly relieved to see that I was not going to have to steer my disabled car again on the end of a tow bar. As fate would have it, the sun had come out by then and the scenery was absolutely spectacular from Kylesku to Ullapool. Too bad we were riding in a tow truck and could not get any pictures or stop to really see anything. If we catch a pretty day in that part of Scotland again, we're going to have to give that road a second chance!

    The wrecker driver and Mr. Pickard couldn't have been more helpful. Mr. Pickard talked to the car rental company in Inverness and made all the necessary arrangements for us to get a new car. Our next problem was that by the time we got to Ullapool it was after 6:00 p.m., we had no car and no room reservations and there was not a room to be found in Ullapool. One of Mr. Pickard's employees took us from B&B and hotel to hotel for an hour and a half that night. Several hours earlier, I had visions of our having to sleep in our car that night, but now we didn't even have the car any more! Finally, the sister of a woman whose B&B was full for the evening volunteered to let us have a spare bedroom in her home. Talk about the kindness of strangers! We really experienced the hospitality of the Highlands that night. Such a gesture would be unheard of in the United States, but it seemed perfectly safe in Scotland and we will forever be grateful to the kind young woman in Ullapool who took us in when there was "no room in the inn." With a place found to lay our heads that night, we then searched for a phone so we could let our friends on the Isle of Lewis know that we would not be arriving on the ferry that evening. By the time the details were worked out and we arrived at her house, it was after 9:00. We walked several blocks down to the street along the harbor to get some dinner. The sandwiches we had eaten around noon were long gone! Unfortunately, all the restaurants had stopped serving at 9:00 except for one and it was not going to have a table become available before it's 9:30 p.m. closing time. All we had accomplished was getting a little exercise and being nearly carried off by midgies! They were horrible! We walked back to our room and ate pre-packaged peanut butter crackers and drank water for dinner.

    What a day it had been! It was just one of those strange days from which memories are made. God had taken care of us and provided for all our needs that day. I couldn't help but be reminded of Mary and Joseph as we went from one B&B to another that evening and were told repeatedly that there were no rooms available. At least we didn't have to sleep that night in a stable.

    Wednesday, August 11 promised to be a tiring and full day and, in that respect, we were not disappointed. Our hostess gave us a very good breakfast and we gladly paid her the going rate for B&B. We walked several blocks to Keith Pickard Motors and found Mr. Pickard on the phone again with our car rental agency. They had not gotten a car with an automatic transmission for us overnight from Aberdeen as promised, but assured Mr. Pickard they would have one for us that morning. With that, Marie and I got back in the cab of the wrecker and were taken 60 miles to the Inverness Airport. It was becoming an all too familiar sight. We arrived at the airport about 11:00 a.m., which was the time of a total eclipse of the sun in Great Britain, but it was cloudy and we could not tell much about it except it maybe grew just a wee bit darker for a few minutes. To make a long story short, an hour later I was handed the keys to another rental car. With car keys finally in hand we went to a pay phone and made arrangements to be on the 3:45 p.m. Ullapool to Stornoway ferry and called our friends on the Isle of Lewis to alert them to the fact that we would be arriving at their house around 7:00 p.m., nearly 24 hours later than we had anticipated.

    It was 2:00 p.m. when we got back to Ullapool to gather our luggage from the house we had stayed in the night before and get some lunch prior to catching the afternoon ferry. It was a beautiful, warm day and we enjoyed our fish and chips lunch outside by Loch Broom. Ullapool is a nice town and is interesting in that the street signs are in Gaelic and English.

    We had a smooth sailing across The Minch. The two-hour and 40-minute crossing was an improvement of nearly an hour on the former ferry. The new ferry, "Isle of Lewis" is a quite impressive ferry. It looks more like an oceanliner than a ferry. It was nice to return to the Isle of Lewis to the summer home of our friends, Mary and Alex of Edinburgh, where the light of the Butt of Lewis Lighthouse shone in our bedroom every three seconds during the several hours of darkness each night.

    Thursday, August 12 was a day for us to catch our breath and relax a little at Knockaird and nearby Port of Ness after the stressful couple of days we'd had. In the afternoon we put on Wellingtons we borrowed from Mary and the four of us walked across the road and across a sheep pasture to the land's edge across from Dun Eistein -- the ancient Morrison stronghold. It was just as impressive as it was the first time we saw it in 1993. One cannot help but wonder how the Morrisons of old got their families over there to safety when being attacked by such enemies as the MacAuleys and MacLeods. There is some talk now in America of arranging for an archaeological dig on Dun Eistein. If that does take place, we hope it will be done in accordance with and with respect for the wishes and high standards of the local people.

    Mary and Alex took us to the new visitor's center at the Callanish Standing Stones on Friday, August 13. We searched the Isle of Lewis in vain that day for a Lewis Bear for our great-niece. In 1993, we bought a Lewis Bear, which was a high quality stuffed bear made entirely of Harris Tweed. Unfortunately, Lewis Bears are no longer being made. That evening we enjoyed the company of Mary's sister and brother-in-law, who are also Morrisons. It was nice to renew our friendship with them from six years ago.

    We bade a sad farewell to Mary and Alex at Knockaird on the morning of Saturday, August 14. We drove by the Butt of Lewis Lighthouse for one last look before heading south to Tarbert on Harris. Lewis and Harris are considered to be separate island but, technically, they are one island. We took the 11:50 a.m. ferry from Tarbert to Uig on the Isle of Skye. The weather was perfect for the hour and 45 minute crossing of The Little Minch and we thought we were going to get to see the lovely island of Skye in the sunshine, as opposed to the rain and fog we experienced in 1993. Within five minutes of arriving in Uig, the bottom fell out (as we would describe a downpour of rain in North Carolina), and it rained on us all the way across Skye. It had stopped raining when we arrived at the ferry car park at Armadale/Ardvossar. (The ferry schedule refers to it as Armadale, but our road map identified it as Ardvossar and we're still confused as to where we were.) There was a bagpiper playing for tips in the car park, which was a nice touch, and we bought wonderful Italian Rizza ice cream while we waited to board the 4:00 ferry. We arrived in Mallaig at 4:30 p.m. The drive from Mallaig to Glenfinnan was very curvy and hilly with a lot of it being single-track road. The road from Glenfinnan to Fort William, which we had been on before, was a very good road and less strenuous topography. We checked in for a two-night stay at the Ben View Guest House in Fort William, where we were within a three-minute walk to the train station where we needed to go the next morning. It was also within walking distance of most anything in town. Part of a street in the city center has been made into a pedestrian mall, making it very convenient for the many tourists who visitor the city.

    Sunday, August 15 was a day to which we had looked forward, for we had tickets to ride "The Jacobite" steam train round-trip from Fort William to Mallaig. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience, even though it rained most of the day. We had such beautiful weather for most of our trip, we could not complain when we did have an occasional wet day. The scenery was still lovely and, although we had just driven from Mallaig to Fort William the day before, we saw things from a different perspective from the train. On the train, one is assigned a seat facing backwards going one way and facing forward the other leg of the trip. A highlight of the trip for most people is when the train crosses the 21-arch stone viaduct at Glenfinnan. It was an enjoyable day and we finished it off by eating dinner at McTavish's Kitchen and staying for the two-hour Scottish music show. I thought the trip would not be complete without eating haggis again, so I bravely ordered the haggis starter. (What we would call an appetizer in the United States, is called a starter in Scotland. Somehow when referring to haggis, "starter" seems more appropriate than "appetizer.") The waitress was amazed that I ate every bite of it and said, "It's not too bad if you don't think about what it is!" How true! Alex Forshaw said "haggis" should always be said in a deep voice, which I am now trying to master. Now that I am a haggis eater, I feel invincible!

    Sadly, Monday, August 16 was our last full day in Scotland. Although we had been in the country for an entire month, the time had really flown by and we hated to see our vacation end. We left Fort William that morning for a leisurely drive to Edinburgh. We had no particular plans (which is unusual for me on a trip!) and just stopped to see things that interested us along the way. Our first stop was the Great Glen Candy Factory at north Ballachulish, not far from Fort William. Through glass we watched employees making candy by hand. In the factory's shop we discovered Scottish fudge of every flavor imaginable made with goats' milk. The fudge was called Islay Tablet. We couldn't pass through Glencoe without stopping at the visitors centre. We ate lunch in one of our favorite towns, Callander, then went to Stirling. Stirling was not on our itinerary, but it just didn't seem right not to visit Stirling Castle. We enjoyed touring the castle very much. That was a nice way to end our visit to Scotland. We stayed that night in a hotel near the Edinburgh Airport.

    We had good flights that day and arrived in a sultry Atlanta, Georgia about 7:15 p.m. at the end of a long day. Our brother and sister-in-law met us at the airport and listened intently for the next several hours as we shared all the details of our wonderful trip.

    In writing this narrative of our trip, I have worn out superlatives such as "wonderful," "beautiful," "lovely," "fabulous," and "outstanding." And yet, these words all seem inadequate in describing the month we had in Scotland. We met wonderful and gracious people everywhere we went. I wish everyone whose roots are in Scottish soil could have the same experience Marie and I had this summer. This trip, more than anything, made us realize that John and Mary Morrison, our great-great-great-great-grandparents from Campbeltown, must have been living in desperate circumstances to have left their bonny Kintyre for the uncertainties held by the American frontier. The images of Campbeltown, Davaar Island, Campbeltown Loch, Southend, and Ben Ghuilean will remain in our hearts and minds forever -- much as they must have stayed with John and Mary Morrison until the days they died in faraway North Carolina in 1777 and 1781.

    Scotland is warm hospitality, gently rolling hills and glens, trickling burns, the sea crashing onto foreboding rocky cliffs, and sunsets that set the sky ablaze in streaks of red, orange and gold. She is a country with a stormy past and a proud people filled with an independent spirit. Scotland is a land of long summer days of cold rain and brilliant, warm sunshine reflecting off hundreds of lochs. She is the pungent smell of a peat fire and the high stakes of North Sea petroleum exploration. Scotland is Skara Brae and the World War II Commandoes Monument. She is the Saltire, the swagger of the kilt wearer, the skirl of the bagpipes, rolled r's, Harris Tweed, clan tartans and malt whisky. Scotland is Highland cattle, blackface sheep, border collies, seals, ringed cowries, puffins and ospreys. She is John Knox and Andrew Carnegie. Scotland is dykes, brochs, standing stones and lighthouses. She is haggis and poached salmon. Scotland is a canvas of wildflowers painted from a palette of colors found only in nature. She is a place and a state of mind forever calling home her children who have been scattered to the ends of the earth. I think I hear her calling my name....

Wee Drams

Page  2:    Janet and Marie Morrison's 1999 Trip to Scotland - The Final Part

Page  3:    The Ralston Correspondence - Part One

Page  4:    Bits and Bobs / Genealogical Queries

Page  5:    Heather McFarlane's Page - The Will of Miss Lucy Campbell

Page  6:    Campbeltown's New Library & Museum, 1899

Page  7:    Aurora Borealis / Distribution and Breeding of the Barn Owl in Kintyre 1995-1998

Page  8:    By Hill and Shore - Part One

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