Week in Scotland

On Monday we travelled to Symington just outside Biggar on the Scottish Borders,  and stayed at the Tinto Hotel.

This was a coach trip from the North East and took in many interesting places.

The journey up was long and tiring as we travelled up via the West Coast, so we were all pleased to get settled into the hotel for the night

The next day we travelled to Rosslyn Chapel, which is a small but beautiful chapel with a lot of history and was founded in 1446 by Sir William Clair.

The chapel was never completed because Sir William died, but what was built, was really beautiful and ornate.

Photography is not allowed inside and to be honest I could understand why.

I don't in all honesty think anyone could photograph this lovely chapel and do it any justice.

This chapel was covered in stone carvings, and it was difficult to take them all in.
When we consider that these stone carvers could not read or write etc, it's hard to understand how they could work out and  plan all of this stunning work.

As someone who used to love wood carving as a hobby, I found this chapel to be stunning and beyond belief.
It used to take me a long time to draw and plan carvings, yet these people  created all if this stunning work without the education  etc, we have these days.

After a short talk about it's history, we were allowed to wander round to take in its history.

I confess that these days with chest problems,  I struggle when the air is dry and feels full of stone, so I went outside to look around.

The chapel was briefly mentioned in the book and film By Dan Brown in  "The Da Vinci Code", and this in turn made the chapel known to millions of people around the world.

After this we travelled to Edinburgh where my wife and I went to Hollyrood House or Palace as it's often known by.

This too was amazing to see, and we intend to go back when we have more time.

The following day we went for a drive around Loch  Lomond and the Trossachs taking in the stunning views.

I have always loved  this area and have spent many holidays here, as well as having our honeymoon around Stirling and Perth.

On our final day we travelled to Dumfries House, a very large stately home which was saved by The Prince of Wales and a group of trustees when the owner died, and it was going to be sold off.

This was a lovely house, and although we did not have a lot of time there, it was well worth a visit.

From here we travelled to Ayr for lunch and sightseeing before heading back to the hotel

After this we arrived back home again on Friday afternoon, feeling very tired.

We met quite a lot of interesting people in our coach party, and in some ways it was sad when it ended, but it was a taster for future visits.

Scotland is such a beautiful place, and I could happily stay there, because the scenery is so stunning, and always changing.