Outlander Tour Day 3

 

Well, today sadly my Outlander tour will come officially to an end, but of course I managed to find places in Edinburgh and beyond that were in Outlander over the month in Scotland.

As usual we were picked up near George Square in Glasgow and then headed out to our first stop on the tour which technically was not from Outlander, but was a lovely stop - the little town of Pitlochery.

I got a kick out of this "diversion" sign - here in the U.S. we would say "detour"

 Pitlochery is known for its Heathergems factory and we had a great time learning about how they made their gems. They are actually made of heather stems that are cut and dyed and then pressed together to make brooches, earrings and necklaces. Here is a link to the factory and store heathergems.com

After our tour we had some time to wander around the town and I came across another sign that truly made me laugh out loud

 

I wonder how that tasted!

There was a wonderful scene in front of the factory with willow people that made me wonder if Sam Heughan's uncle, Trevor Leat had made them.

Now if you were on this tour in the summer, your next stop would be the Highland Folk Museum where the "Rent" episode took place, but they close after the summer, so sadly it is one place I didn't get to go to. But, our next stop was so important to me, it was Culloden Moor Battlefield. This was one of those places where you could almost hear the spirits of those brave Jacobite soldiers on April 16, 1746 as they valiantly fought the British to restore the Stuart throne and thus the freedom of Scotland. In less than an hour the battle was over and over 1,000 highland soldiers lost not only their lives, but the Highland culture was lost as well.

As you enter the field, you come to Leanach Cottage which was originally built in the 18th century. It was actually lived in until 1912, but then fell into disrepair. Artisans came and made a thatched roof from the heather on the battlefield, the walls are stones and turf.

Next comes the visitor's center which houses a museum, store and cafeteria where we grabbed some lunch. They have scooters there for the handicapped which was nice to see as the field is quite large. The museum is wonderful - you truly need a few hours just to see and experience it. The 360 degree Battlefield Immersion room that places you inside the battle and has tables with the places of the battlefield as they played out was incredible. They also have a fantastic collection of swords and a blunderbuss taken from the actual battle. They have musket balls and a Jacobite necklace that someone dropped in the battle which made me think of the dragonfly in amber. From there you exit out into the battlefield.

 There are flags showing the position of the armies, a memorial cairn put there in 1881 

and of course the stones representing the clans that died on the field. 

To think of all these men cut down in their prime, as in many times of battle, is a sobering thing.

Our next stop was Clava Cairns where we would see stones similar to what they recreated in Outlander. They say the stones are over 4,000 years old.

This is one of the cairns. It is a bronze age circular chamber tomb. In the front there is an opening where the sun hits it and comes right up the middle. They believe it has something to do with fertility rites. The stones by the opening have these marks they call "Cup marks" but no one really knows what they are for or how they were made. There was another cairn there, but it was a burial cairn and closed with no entrance for it

And...of course the standing stones - there were quite a few. I tried my best to go trough to no avail.

All that was waiting on the other side was Andrew, my wee tour guide

We had one last stop this day and that was The Hermitage woodland that was created by the Third Duke of Atholl in the 18th century. It was so beautiful that I visited it twice while I was there, having more time to explore it at my leisure. It was used in the last few episodes in Season 5.

Before I forget, I want to pass on a useful piece of information. Many tours do not include entry fees, they are the paid by you, but Scotland has the Scotland Explorer Pass which can save you quite a bit of money. There is a 3, 7 or 14 day card running from £33-45. There is also a family pass. You can buy them at the first place you visit, but then you lose time on line. You can buy them online here: https://www.tiqets.com/en/edinburgh-attractions-c21/tickets-for-historic-scotland-explorer-pass-p997442/?partner=myvacation&tq_campaign=sco_pass

Next I headed out to Edinburgh to catch a  4 day Highland/Isle of Skye tour. I can tell you this - it was the most amazing of all my time in Scotland and Ireland!

The Highlander Fling

 

Having arrived alive and well in Glasgow, I spent the first 2 days acclimating and sleeping off my jet lag - I had prepared for this because I wanted to be ready for the Fling. As I mentioned in my last post, having heard of the Fling, I changed my whole vacation just to be able to attend this. It is put on by actor Scott Kyle who played Ross the smith in Outlander. I had started to follow him on Twitter and was surprised when he immediately followed me back and even responded to some of my tweets - that's the thing about Scott, while of course this makes a bigger fan base for him, he really does want to get to know the fans and it's one reason he started doing the flings. 

I arrived at the Doubletree a bit early hoping to get a good table. I knew no one of course but had chatted a bit online with a lovely lady from Edinburgh named Lyn Wilson. She was kind enough to ask me to join her table, so getting there early made it much easier to find her before the crowds started coming in. I was met at the door by Jay Graham also from Outlander. He was simply a really nice guy and we got to know each other a little better over drinks later in the evening.

 Now he lookeLyn and her friends and I found a nice table and as we were settling in Romann Berrux who played young Fergus walked in with his girlfriend. As we were the only ones inside, it gave us a great opportunity to chat with him. He was a very sweet young man and I could see some of the mannerisms of Fergus in him. Of course the last time I saw him, which obviously was on tv - he looked like this along with Scott.Now he looked like this 

Shortly after Scott and his wife Karen came in and we told him how excited we were to be there and how we had been looking forward to it.  I asked if there would be Haggis and he said he planned the whole dinner to be traditionally Scottish, so yes, indeed we were having haggis.

People were starting to arrive so we settled down at our table and watched the people come in. Many were in costume which I thought looked like a lot of fun. Having two kids who are into cosplay, I could see myself doing it if I didn't have to lug the clothing across the ocean!

Stephen Walters who played Angus Mhor arrived just then and once again I was able to have a bit of conversation with him - another thoroughly nice guy, taking tons of time with the people  lined up to meet him. Later he entertained us with a set playing some of his funny original songs like the Diana Garibaldi (Gabaldon) Blues https://youtu.be/IzhzFlb-pxE  and some more traditional things like Don't Let me Down and Blackbird. Of course I had to get a picture with him as well - pretty good beginning for my time in Scotland!

Dinner was as Scott had promised: traditional haggis, tatties and neeps - that's potatoes and turnips! I have to tell you I really like haggis. I had tried it before when my husband and I went with his parents to the Feast of Haggis in Chicago. As a little aside here, this feast in Chicago was a big deal. It was held in a beautiful hotel and Helen Hayes was guest of honer. The funniest thing was all the men were carrying little suitcases with them. I asked my husband what they were and they were portable bars! The drinks were very expensive there, so they brought their own!  

Scott did an incredible job putting this fling on - As we sat down to dinner a pipe and drum group came in playing Scotland the Brave - my husband would have loved that - it was his favorite song.  You can see it here https://youtu.be/maohqT9I-MM

This was followed by highland dancers - young girls who danced as a group, https://youtu.be/nwO8Kz7zZlwas a set of four doing the sword dance (they could have given Sam and Duncan some lessons!) https://youtu.be/PAplxqPYtes and one lovely young lady who danced to Scotland the Brave. https://youtu.be/mxn0hh5R-9Q

Following that were various groups of young people Scott has worked with who sang https://youtu.be/_1jiTJ5eMJc   and danced https://youtu.be/-SbUTQDspkQ  their way into our hearts.  When dinner was over, the ceilidh began with some lessons for those who did not know how to dance.https://youtu.be/3s6n_bVaPqM The very enthusiastic dancer is Jon Dan Duncan who was in the Culloden episodes and also was a regulator this season.  I found it interesting that they come very close to our square dancing which must have been brought over to America by Scottish settlers and morphed into what we have today. Here you will see them all dancing - https://youtu.be/_LXEla0fdaI

The last bit of entertainment was done by a Rod Stewart impersonator who was very good and had everyone up and dancing. A lovely surprise was Adhamh O Broin (who taught Gaelic to the cast) who sang the last song which was plaintive and beautiful.

One thing the Scots do that is incredibly moving is they join hands at the end of the evening and sing all the verses of Auld Lang Syne while holding hands, walking in towards the middle and meeting, then stepping back again and doing that until the song ends. I have to tell you I was crying by the time it was over!

permission by Scott Kyle

BUT!!!! There was more! Some of us went with Scott, Jay, JonDan and some of the other actors  to the top of the Radisson Red Skybar which had a beautiful view of the city. We sat on the rooftop with our drinks for a bit, but when it got chilly we headed inside. The conversation was interesting and at times hilarious and we all hated to leave.  It was just such a perfect ending to an incredible evening. I made a lot of lovely friends that day who I still keep up with  - from Scotland, England and of course the USA.

Tomorrow is the Hangover Tour with Scott which was an incredible day - see you then!

Sadly the fling was cancelled this year, but please check out this video Scott put together as it really catches the essence of the experience!