There is nothing like a cascade

     to calm a man’s passions

like scottish mountains

     to tame his wondering thoughts

like passing clouds

     to fill his desire

like vibrant green fields

    to hold his focus

like old trees

     to connect and root him

like large boulders

     to inspire strength

like a scots minded women

    to inspire honor, integrity, and respect

Like a Scottish whiskey

    to loosen the tongue

And like morning haggis

     to set your feet on the next journey

Inspired @ The Birks, Aberfeldy

 

Edinburgh

After much turmoil, which will be explained later, I arrived in Edinburgh.  Here is just short snapshots of the experience:

• The Edinburgh Pub Crawl with Americans from Ohio
• Scottish Breakfast after a late night (meaty with haggis and square scottish sausage)
• Visiting the National Scottish Gallery and unexpectedly weeping at Scotsmen depictions of glorious landscapes and scenes.
• Sir Walter Scots monument: a huge Gothic structure giving a breathtaking view of the city

 

• Taking an underground haunted ghost tour of the town
• Meeting a world travelers! At my hostel met a guy from Canada who worked for a year and sold everything he own to go and travel Europe.

 

Perthshire

As I wait on the four hour bus ride to the Highland town of Aberfeldy and taking in the magnificent scenery, I am filled with anticipation and curiosity for the land of my ancestors and a excited foreboding for the experiences to be had there. I arrived one hour late and missed my connecting bus to the farm of my Airbnb.  I could not text, call, or message anyone, so I thought I would start walking to the Airbnb. About 3 miles into the trek it was starting to get dark and I felt goosebumps and chills down my spine, so I started to hitch hike, at least the passing car was comforting from the silence and fading sunlight. Thoughts raced through my head of sleeping along the river Tay next to me. Then a jeep pulled over and invited me in the back seat which was full of sculptures created by his wife. As we drove I had realized I would have never arrived at my destination with out a car, the 6 miles was more like 14 miles. Andy, the forester who picked me up, knew the person I was staying with, Dreidre. He told me the story of her mother having a mini orphanage. He said he would drop me off and then pick some apples from their apple tree for some cider, which later Deirdre would remark he does every year. He also said he was playing a concert at the Castle Menzies that Friday and invited me to join. It was so serendipitous that the person who picked me up knew my host and was a musician performing at the Castle the same week I was there.

I had dinner with Dreidre and Danny and we chatted for 3 hours over some Scottish whiskey.

Waking up to this view was magnificent, in Scotland one can find enough entertainment watching the weather.

I did not have a car so Dreidre was gracious enough with me to drive me to different places. She drove me to Castle Menzies, which was closed. I walk around the back and found a man so I said hi, he happened to be the manager of the Menzies Castle. I told him my situation, he spent about 20 minutes telling how the Menzies are all over the world because they were hired as mercenaries and warriors for different armies and advised me that I could join a private tour of the castle on Friday. I sincerely and joyfully thanked him. The start of my tri[ with these spontaneous interactions and connections was inspiring

Next, I walked up the hill to St. David’s Well.

Sir (or saint) David Menzies lived from 1337-1449 and in his latter years retired as chief of the Menzies Clan to take up a religious life as a monk, passing his estate to his son John Menzies. The well is said to be a retreat for David and his devotions. There used to be a large over hanging rock that formed a cave. The town it is in is called Weem, which means cave in Gaelic and the well/ old cave is on the hill “weem wood.” This site was also the retreat and hermitage of the North England patron Saint, St. Cuthbert which the Old Weem of Kirk is attributed the name to after his visit in 650AD.

Unexpectedly I found myself next to St. David’s Well in meditation, it was not until some other hikers arrive and noticed the commemorative plaque that I realized where I was. 

Fight

This is for you

This is your inheritance

This is your glory

This is for you

This world was meant for living and seeing and just being

I can’t live like I did before

Your glory is in your character

Your glory is in your integrity

Your glory is in your honor

In regards to manliness and nature @ St. David’s Well, Weem

Being in a place like this I can see why people would want to fight for this land and the way of life on it.

Arriving back at the Airbnb, there was a family staying from Mersailles, who were very kind and we chatted in half English/ half French which was wonderful practice after not speaking french in 4 days. Then dinner with Deirdre and Danny for 3 1/2 hours laughing and exploring each others culture, politics, etc. The next day Deirdre had breakfast waiting for me and I was off for a day long hike.

Walking down to the Loch Tay I found ancient ruins of a church

 

Next I wanted to hike up the mountain, but could not find the trail so I went to the horn carvers shop to ask for direction, where some french tourists were buying some things. I found the trail and noticed a stream so I followed that. For the next several hours I hike the treacherous and steep walled-in pathway that lead to large pools of water and waterfalls, which looked like it was untouched by man. At the end of my journey was a large glorious waterfall. Looking at it the only thing I could do was yell and sing … so connecting with my primal roots I rock climbed up the side of the falls and found a moss covered ledge to sing a fitting scottish folk song.  A peat fire flame An Eriskay Love Lilt

 

Trekking back to my Airbnb, I had dinner with the Daughues for another 3 hours, trading life stories of travel, performance artists, and comedians. Also I was only planning on staying three night, however since the Castle tour was a day I planned on leaving, Deirdre let me stay an extra night for free (they are incredible human beings).

The Next day, Deirdre drives me a second time to the Castle at 1:30 and no one had arrived for the tour so David, the Castle Manager, gave me a shortened free private tour, along with free memorabilia of the Castle and afterwards let me roam the Castle by myself. I found myself in tears, not because of the beauty of the castle but because of a great connectedness to this place.

 

That night was the ceilidh at the Menzies Castle. Andy, the man who picked me up at the beginning of the week, gave me a ride with the bassist of his band.  We stopped at a pub to pick up instruments that was right next to the Ur Tree, 5,000 years old it stands as the oldest tree in Europe. Legend has it that it was visited by Pontius Pilot, because Perth-shire is the farthest that the Roman empire traveled. We arrived, I helped the band set up, then there was a group of people that travel every year for this specific ceilidh from Dundee. They were so friendly and told stories of famous Scots. They specially talked about the “Address to Haggis” Poem for Robert Burns Birthday.  It is tradition for someone to dramatically perform the poem before they cut the haggis. A women recited some for me, but was hard to understand because parts were in Gaelic. It basically rips on everyone who is not Scottish. Soon after we started dancing with the band. This ceilidh is a one for american students who study in sweden, apart of a folk traditions class. The group had drunken much before arriving so trying to teach the dances proved quite difficult. After the band break, Andy invited people to share a song or story, so I sang a Peat fire flame, with a scottish text to introduce it.  It was such a wonderful experience to sing a scottish folk song at a ceilidh at the place of my ancestors and was a perfet capstone to my experience in Scotland

The next day I was to leave. I went down for breakfast and then loaded into the car, Danny and Deirdre have four kids and three of them had swimming lessons, so they were in the backseat. Before I left I asked for a picture with them, however Deirdre refused because she was still in her bathrobe with an infant on her hip, but that she could take one with me and Danny. On the way to Aberfeldy we listened to some loud Spanish kids pop.  Then I was dropped off at the bus stop and we said goodbye.

At the exit of the Doughue’s home is a sign which read Haste Ye Back and that is the exact thought I have towards Scotland and the wonderful hospitable family that I was graced with this week. Needless to say the experience here was informatif, inspiring, and taught me so much about my heritage and culture. I will miss it very much.

A la Prochain et CHEERS et with gratitude for reading!

Duncan Clark Menzies