Rotary Trip to Scotland

Wednesday September 13th
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Morning and Afternoon
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Today we said goodbye to the Glynhill Hotel - at least for a couple weeks. We’ll be back September 26, and then also on our last night here before heading home.
We had a lunchtime presentation for the Paisley Rotary Club at the Glynhill. It went well from our perspective, but the hotel was swamped and we were crammed into an odd space, not the room they are used to.
I was then taken by Ross Anderson out to his B&B that he runs with his wife Janet. It’s the East Lochhead B&B and is wonderful.
www.eastlochhead.co.uk
We went for a walk with his three dogs up to the local town of Lochwinnoch. I learned all sorts of fascinating details about the area (a local castle was once owned by Robert the Bruce’s family) and then it started to rain a bit. Of course at that point we were in town, and it only made sense to stop in the Brown Bull pub to get out of the rain. And then, of course, it only made sense to have a pint. So we did. The Brown Bull allows dogs, so our three charges were quite happy in there with us.
They have a beautiful, yet camera-shy mare and also some interesting sheep, lots of land and a great view of the local lochs, one of which abuts the property. They have a Jacob’s ram - it’s got four horns, and frankly defies description.
There will be a better photo posted at some point.
I couldn’t have asked for a better place to stay.

Evening and Night
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Our Rotary meeting this evening hosted by Gryffe Valley was wonderful. Some very lively conversation, and they received our presentation well. I’ll be having quite a time tomorrow on my vocational day touring some local music establishments with a couple of their more colorful members.

When we got back to East Lochhead, Ross offered me a nightcap of an unknown whisky (straight from a cask, as part of a Whisky Society he belongs to). Very tasty, pungent yet light. One of my favorites so far, but unfortunately will be gone forever once the bottle is gone. I’ll explain why if you ask.
We had a terrific talk about local and national politics both here and in the US, slow food (www.slowfood.com) and other topics.

It’s a little odd being without my group for the first time this trip. It’s nice to have some private time and meet new people, but I also miss the company of Adrienne, Bill, Melissa and Thorns.

Thursday, September 14 - morning
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Had some wonderful organic porridge made by Janet this morning. It’s raining today, and it’s rather nice to look at, but I haven’t been out in it yet. Lots of sparrows come to the birdfeeder outside the kitchen, and even a little brown mouse pops out of the bushes for some crumbs.

Scottish language note of the day: much like the South in the US, accents vary from region to region (and town to town). Jillian - who is temporarily filling in as housekeeper at the B&B - has a very strong accent. It’s wonderful to listen to, but I have to really concentrate to follow what she’s saying. She’s a local. Ross and Janet are originally from England, and have completely different accents.

Jason

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 14th, 2006 at 10:52 am and is filed under Jason's trip updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.