There are hundreds of castles in Great Britain, and we know we can’t see them all – even if we wanted to. So we are being selective about the ones we do see. So far we have seen three. The first was Culzean (pronounced Cul-ane) on the coast in Ayrshire, a majestic family estate belonging to the Kennedy family of Scottish shipbuilding fame.

Culzean Castle

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We saw the second and third castles yesterday: Eilean Donan, after returning to the mainland from the Isle of Skye, and Urquhart farther east on the banks of Loch Ness on our way to Inverness.

Eilean Donan castle

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Both Eilean Donan and Urquhart were actual fortresses in their day, and both were blown up during the Jacobite Rebellions in the 18th century. Eilean Donan was partially restored in the 20th century, but Urquhart was left in ruins. Funny, but I think I like the ruins better.

Urquhart castle

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Brief history lesson, which the Scots take very seriously to this day: When the Catholic King James (VII of Scotland and II of England) Stuart was kicked off the throne in 1688 in favor of his Protestant daughter Mary (of William and Mary), his Catholic supporters in Scotland (Jacobites) staged various rebellions against the English to try to bring the Stuart family back to Scotland – just one series in a long history of Scottish-English tussles over the years. The Jacobites were unsuccessful, and Scotland has been largely Protestant since.

The rain was blowing sideways at Neist Lighthouse on the Isle of Skye, but my LL Bean duster and wellies held up fine!

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Packing update: The layers I packed are working beautifully. (See packing video.) Today I wore a cotton turtleneck, my black quilted vest, a scarf, my raincoat, and the waterproof wellies – perfect!

You gotta love a country (kingdom? island?) where walkers (they don’t “hike” here in Britain, they “walk”) are allowed to cross private property to follow a defined path. And there are paths everywhere; not just circumnavigating the island of Great Britain, but crisscrossing it as well. Brilliant!

After seven months of planning this trip, I can’t believe we’re here!

The 757 we flew in from Newark to Glasgow didn’t allow for tipping the seats back much, and I can’t sleep sitting up, so I didn’t sleep more than a couple of hours on the overnight flight. We got in at 7:30 am. Glasgow airport is relatively small for an international airport, so we got to the flat we are renting by 9:00. Unfortunately we couldn’t check in until 1:00.

The landlord was nice enough to let us leave our bags in the housekeepers flat next door, so we were able to explore the city unencumbered. The city centre is only a 15-minute walk from the flat, so in no time we were downtown. First order of business: get a pay-as-you-go cell phone. Every step of the way we will need to be checking in with landlords, and we feel much more comfortable driving around the back woods for three months with a phone. Second order of business: Get some local cash. Check, and check. We also got a bite to eat. Then it was time to head back to the flat to check in.

By the time we got checked in, I could barely keep my eyes open, so I laid down for a wee nap. In 30 minutes I was up again and ready to go. On our second venture into the city, we shopped around a bit and got a bite to eat at one of the oldest pubs in Glasgow. We had a great conversation with the guy at the table next to us, a local Glaswegian. It turns out that the book Marcus is currently reading, Whisky Galore! by Compton Mackenzie was this guy’s favorite book as a kid. The people in Glasgow have been fantastically friendly. They don’t usually make the first move, but if you ask someone a question, they usually are very willing to chat.

Due to some wifi problems, which our landlord dropped in to work on, we were able to stay awake until 9:30 pm. Getting up after 10 hours of sleep, more or less, was not a problem. (Less for me, having been awake for two hours after our GPS unit, Rita, felt the need to wake me and tell me she lost satellite contact at 12:30 am. Whoops! Someone forgot to turn off the GPS unit before bed, Marcus.)

Day Two was marvelous! We had signed up for the local “hop-on, hop-off” city tour bus through viator.com. For 48 hours we can pick up this bus anywhere on its loop through the city. We sat for the one-hour-45-minute loop guided tour this morning to get our bearings. Turns out Glasgow is much bigger and more impressive than the wee peek we got yesterday. After the full tour we had lunch in another of the oldest pubs in Glasgow. Then hopped on the bus again to make our way back to Kelvingrove Park. It was a gorgeous afternoon, sunny and warm. We walked around the park, went through the Art Gallery and Museum and the Botanic Gardens (all free!), and found another pub (you guessed it – one of the oldest in Glasgow!) along Byers Road in the neighboring Glasgow University area. We bought a few dinner groceries, went back to the flat, and had a relaxing meal at home. Now it’s time for bed. This time I’ll make sure Rita is silenced!