This was the biggest trip of all the ones we’d made to the "auld country". This year was our 25th wedding anniversary and I wanted everything to be absolutely perfect.
Hey, I pulled my wedding together in roughly four months (including making my own wedding dress) so pulling a renewal of vows shouldn't be too terribly difficult, right? Well, if we were doing it locally, easy peasy, but we were doing it in Scotland in Mt Zion Church in Quarriers Village – the former Orphan Homes of Scotland – where my father was raised.
So not only did I have to sort out accommodations and places to go, things to do, people to see, I had to coordinate that and our "do" in the church and reception afterwards back at Cottage 8 – the B&B in Quarriers Village.
No trip to Scotland would be complete without a trip to Glasgow or Edinburgh, and we had other places we wanted to look up in an attempt to discover the location of the home one of my father’s relatives lived. A police constable, no less who married into the Robertson family.
We toured throughout southern Scotland taking in Abbeys, burial cairns, ruined castles before our big day.
At the reception after the renewal ceremony, the only drink spilled was done by one of the non-drinkers. The rest of us managed to keep our glasses upright. The next morning, however, was a totally different story. There were a few sair heids among the group. We'd partied with some of my Scottish cousins before and knew they were a lot of fun, but this time we added two cousins I’d not met before. What a blast! Along with family who couldn’t attend, we would be visiting these folks, too. before we had to return to Canada.
Since we'd been treated so well at the Dunalastair Hotel in Kinloch Rannoch after the booking snafu in 1997, we booked in there for one night where had a lovely meal, the bottle of champagne received as a gift, and a wonderful walk around the village afterwards.
Plockton was the next place we would be spending the night. Anyone who watched the television programme, Hamish Macbeth, will recognize my photos from there as being the village of Loch Dubh. Two nights in Inverness then off to our comfort zone – Kennethmont.
