Sewell Travels: Scotland - 7th July to 12th July

Edinburgh Castle

Flew into Edinburgh from Prague to a nice day. Into the rental car and headed to friends who live at Wester Coates Gardens, about 20mins walk from the main street in Edinburgh being Princess Street. Left the car parked in their driveway and walked into town to meet a friend, Susan, who had made time to catch up between meetings. She was in fine form, still with the Bank of Scotland.

Back to Wester Coates Gardens where friends, Selena and Derek were about. Selena works from home for Goldman Sachs and Derek is having time out from a high stress career. Their sons are are keen swimmers and footballers so the weekly schedule has 5am swim training starts and ending with football 7.30pm. Lots of ferrying about by Derek and Selena. Was great to spend time with them again and catchup with the Cape Wrath event Derek had run - 400 miles from Fort William to Cape Wrath over 8 days. Selena does ultra distances also. We feel tired just envisaging the efforts involved.

They were not free the next day to go to Dunfermline to see the Scottish Wood business. Jim and Katherine showed us about the business milling hardwoods like oak, beech, ash etc. Jim had started the business 20+ yrs ago. They mill to order as well as have a shop that sells everything from oak floor boards, larch panelling, beech for furniture etc. All the buildings are timber, biofuel powered from milling off cuts. A family operation with Jims' two sons and daughter involved including partners. They all live on site in various abodes.

Some of the oak trees are 150yr old

Drying stacks

Cutting into planks

Tongue and groove panelling

All the buildings had solar on the roof as well as biofuel wood waste for power generation

Inside the shop, a woodies dream

Jim and Katherine in front of an Elm bed head commission Jims' son undertook. Two pieces of elm keyed together.

Jim was keen Jeff has a go at axe throwing after we had been for a walk in their woods with the crazy spaniel Bo.

Back in Edinburgh we had a walk about the city in the afternoon. Edinburgh has always been one of our favourite places having spent time in and around it in the winters we scanned sheep in the Scottish Borders from 1992 to 2013. Sadly it is very rough looking with litter everwhere, scruffy gardens etc. Given the 4m tourists that visit each year we wonder what they are doing with the income, certainly not keeping the city clean or caring about the infrastructure. SNP government ala Nicola Sturgeon, has a lot to answer for with their share waste of tax payers funds. Thankfully she was booted out in 2024.

Went our to dinner to a pub Selena and Derek love, The Raeburn, where we all also frequented last year. Great fun and good food.

Said goodbye next morning and headed to Glasgow via Bathgate where Alan, who owned the business that Jeff bought scanning equipment from lives. He has become a keen cyclist since retiring at 55yrs, we follow each other on Strava and swapped cycling stories.

Onto a small town near Glasgow called Houston, where friends Ken and Sue live.

Ken is a great chatter with a deightful sense of fun, a retired GP. Sue and Jeff did Contiki together in 1979 !! and have stayed in touch all these years, staying with us in NZ on occassion. Sue was a nurse so she and Ken worked in his general practice. A busy house bursting with adult family, relatives, grandchildren so we had booked the Lynhurst Hotel. After a raucous evening family meal together the next day we undertook a walk to what is known as the Greenock Cut but not before Ken had us passing the Glasgow docks, where he was born and telling the associated stories. Quite the trick.

Ken, Sue and the Sewells. Sue is originally from Binella, Australia.

Their daughter is a GP, married to a Scot who plays rugby in Japan, so they travel back and forth. With two small children quite the undertaking. Their daughter does tele doctoring for the NHS wherever they are and eventually will go into general practice in Scotland. At days end we had dinner at the Lynhurst with Ken and Sue. Another friend up from Chichester, who also was a GP, Marjorie, joined us and as medicine is a small world even in the UK, plenty to chat about.

Friday headed to Duns where Hamish Hall lives nearby. Hamish came out to NZ for 12 years living with us and scanning sheep that Jeff could not get done in Marlborough/Tasman. Was a lovely drive down from Glasgow going through areas we are familiar with, going over the top of the Lauder Hills.

Plenty of stone fences

Blackfaced sheep on the common ground

He and Lesley have a lovely home in a rural area where Hamish still scans in the Scottish Borders and Lesley works in a local business. He knows us well of course so the pressure is on for a walk to be thought of. Hamish used to cycle and Lesley still does. So today we headed off to what is known as Edins Hall Broch by Abbey St Bathans.

The weather in Scotland has been "roasting" since we arrived Monday. Up to 23C which is roasting if you are a Scot. Very interesting walk on the hills and historical iron age remnants. There was even a wee cafe at the end that served decent coffee and cake.

Really?

Plenty of bracken known for ticks but no issues today

Remains of the Broch

This is a pheasant hatchery. They are released in the Winter for the shoots

Hard to imagine how they coped with the harsh winters, found food while fighting to retain their land in the Iron Age. Life expectancy was 25 - 30 years of age.