Bowes Updates

Went with Des’s Stantec crew to skate on the Rideau in Ottawa.  The weather couldn’t have been more cooperative!  Met up with Dan, Shannen, Jaia, Sonja, Mark, Gary, Michelle, Evan and Jason for the skate and for a great dinner afterwards.  Photos

Michael, Krista, Colin, and Jon were travelling anyhow, so went to San Francisco instead of home.  Most of the highlights were food –related: House of Prime Rib, salami cones at Boccalone, Peet’s Coffee… Photos

  We took a nice weekend-getaway to Nassau.  Stayed at the Colonial Hilton (I love my points!) and toured around Atlantis.  Coincidentally, Shaker was sitting in the same row as us on the way down! Photos.

Photos here

Day 3: Another giant breakfast, and back into the car for a drive around the island.  Today we tried something new: single track roads.  When you come up against oncoming traffic, one of you has to pull over.  Very fun, let me assure you.  Up to Neist Point (scenic), down to the Piper’s Museum (retarded rip-off), and over to Dunvegan Castle (seat of the MacLeod Clan – Mom’s family).  It isn’t the coolest castle ever – in fact it looks like they stuccoed the walls at some point (turns out, this was the fashion of the time for high-end stone residences).  From Dunvegan through the Cullins to Elgol.  Along the way we stopped to admire some scenery.  A single sheep approached the car, and then ran off.  Five minutes later, a steady stream of them were charging towards us, as if they were trained as some type of guard-sheep.  As we raced off, the leader actually chased us a few feet.  Very odd – for sheep, anyways.

Day 4: We followed the usual morning theme: get up early and gorge ourselves on bacon, eggs, toast, sausage, beans, orange juice, and oatmeal.  This time they “nicely” offered some black pudding (boiled pig’s blood, pork fat, and oatmeal in a length of intestine).  Made me wish I had some of that Scotch to wash it down.  Over to Portree (anglicized version of Port Righ (Port Regal), from a visit by King James) which is a cute seaside town and up the East coast, seeing mountains, waterfalls, and Flora MacDonald’s grave (she thanklessly smuggled Bonnie Prince Chuck to safety), before our 14:00 ferry from Uig to Tarbert. The ferry terminal had a brewery (Isle of Skye) and a restaurant where we watched some dreadful old hag abuse a harried waitress.

Photos here

Day 1 (Sunday, September 19): We woke up bright and early to get the bus & train to Gatwick. Coming into Inverness we could see oil rigs in the firth. Turns out that is where they store the unused rigs. We picked up a small car (Vauxhall Astra) at the airport and drove to Culloden Battlefield.

The battlefield is was the site of the final defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s bid to get the crown back. It was also the last battle to be fought on British soil.  It is a pretty bleak, boggy spot where “The Young Pretender” got a rough lesson in military tactics. After retreating from Northern England for several weeks, Charlie picked a bog for his last stand.  What had allowed the Highlanders to win their previous battles with the English was a fierce charge with a two-handed sword.  The swampy ground precluded that tactic, and the Scots were slaughtered.  Even though the Bonnie Prince was born in Rome, was an idiot who got most of his supporters killed in a selfish pursuit of the crown, and then ran away back to Italy where he died as a drunk, he is a popular figure among the Scots, and the battle of Culloden Moor is still a symbol of Scottish nationalism.  It was sad to see mass graves with nothing but a family name to mark them.

From there we drove to the Clava Cairns, which were Neolithic burial mounds. They are considered a “thin place”, or a place  where the veil between this world and the eternal world is especially transparent.  Next to Cawdor Castle, which was the setting for Macbeth. It was closed, but I dodged some shaggy cows to get a picture.  A quick drive to the beach at Nairn,  then to Fort George (quite an impressive fort at the mouth of the Moray Forth) , onto the Black Isle, then into Inverness.  The B&B there was awesome. Had a nice pub dinner, and an early night.

Day 2:  After a HUGE fry-up for breakfast, we hopped in the car for a long day of driving.  The first stop was the mountains of the Cairngorms (the UK’s largest park).  Though sunny, it was cold and windy.  Need a quick way to blow £15million of public money? Maybe you too would like to build your very own funicular railway.  Basically it is a chairlift…on rails…at an isolated park in Scotland.  When we arrived, it closed due to wind.

From there we had a lovely drive in the country (past Craigellachie, towards Banff) to the Glenlivet distillery where we had a nice tour and a dram of 21 year old Scotch.  It still tastes like rubbing alcohol, as far as I am concerned.  Out of politeness I didn’t ask for some Coke to mix it with.

By mid-afternoon we were driving alongside Loch Ness. It was big, rough, cold, monster-free, and beautiful (particularly Urquhart Castle).  Not far past there, however, we got caught driving in a crazy storm.  It was bad enough that we had to pull off at a roadside pub until it settled down.  While we were there a motorcyclist came in to patch himself up after the wind blew him off his bike.  A quick stop at Eilean Donan castle at twilight, and then back on the flooded road to Skye.  The driving experience continued to be exciting: Pitch black, narrow roads, sheep everywhere, occasional pounding rain, and no idea where we were.  Eventually we found the place, pried Jon’s fingers off the steering wheel, and collapsed into bed

Oxford is one of the world’s best-know university towns. It has been settled for since 4000BC (similarly to London, there is an unlikely legend that the town was founded by Trojans looking for a new home after the Greeks torched theirs), and was mostly ignored through Roman times. In the late Saxon period it was positioned on a major trade route between the powerful kingdoms of Mercia and King Alfred’s Wessex. In 911 the city became a fortified town known as a burgh. Through the 11th century, it was repeatedly sacked and/or occupied by the Danes (Cannute was crowned king there in 1018). The “modern” history of the town began in 1167 when Henry II barred English students from studying at the Sorbonne. Although there were already schools in Oxford (one legend has King Alfred founding the first colleges in 899), this ban led to quick expansion. By the middle of the 13th century Oxford University was firmly established, and drawing students from around Europe.
Much like college towns all lover the world, the relationship between the students and the townies wasn’t always friendly. The St. Scholastrica’s Day Massacre (February 10-12, 1354) started over a complaint about a glass of wine at the Swyndlestock Tavern. The innkeeper (also the mayor) didn’t take the criticism lightly, and a fist fight broke out between townspeople and the students. Three days of fighting left 62 students and 30 townies dead. Edward III had to send troops to intervene. The King found in favour of the university, and drew up a charter that brought the town under the control of the university. Further, on the anniversary of the massacre, the mayor had to present to the university a penny for each student killed. This went on until 1825 when the mayor finally refused to attend the ceremony. The hatchet was not finally buried until 1955 on the 600 hundredth anniversary when the university offered the mayor an honorary Doctorate of Civil Law.

Yes, that is a picture of a shark sticking through the roof of a building. I’m obviously not the only person who finds the row houses a bit boring. This guy had an unusual approach to sprucing his up, though. Click HERE for more details.

Blenheim Palace is a UNESCO World Heritage site, the home of the 11th Duke of Marlborough, the Birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, and one of Britain’s greatest houses.

In 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession,  John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, defeated the forces of Louis XIV near a small village called Blenheim.  This was the first defeat that the French had suffered in decades, and had far-reaching impact into European development (click here for some entertaining reading about France’s proud military tradition).  The most remarkable aspect of the victory was Churchill’s incredible logistical feat of  marching an army of forty thousand men 250 miles in twenty one days and having them fresh enough at the end to defeat a French army of superior numbers.

His reward from the Queen was the Royal Manor of Woodstock and a new palace there (to be called Blenheim).

Photos here.