Of Glens, Kirks, Lochs and Wishcaver - SCOTLAND

7^th – 9^th Aug 2005

"Which language is that?” should be the question in you mind when you read the subject of the mail. Well, friends its the good old english but Scottish 'Highland' English. Thats where we (along with Yash, Sapna & Smita) had been to this long bank holiday weekend - The Scottish highlands and lowlands.

On friday after office we left Reading and reached Edinburgh on Saturday morning via London. Once we checked into the rooms which we had reserved beforehand, we freshened up and left for the Princes Mall. Here we plainly roamed around, had pizza and had a long walk of the Royal Mile. The Royal Mile in Edinburgh is so called because it has the Queen's official residence at one end and the street stretches exactly for a mile. The Royal mile is made up of a lot of street artistes displaying their various skills - music, throwing fire in air, standing still like a statue and drawing caricatures - and pretty little shops which sell Scottish stuff. Following the walk with a lovely dinner we retired early as "tomorrow was a long day".

Sunday early morning we left Edinburgh by the Timber bush Tours for a tour of "Inverness, Lochness, Glencoes and the Highlands". Our guide was a scot by the name of Robert, who had a very good knowledge of Scottish history. We passed through a lot of Kirks (Scottish word for Church or Wayside Chapel) and Lochs (Lakes are known as this !!). The history about the famous rivalry between the clans - MaCgregors and Campbells is absolutely riveting to hear. The Campbells supposedly invited the MaCgregors clan heads for a holiday and killed all the 40 of them during the night. This germinated hatred towards the Campbells by the MaCgregors that continues even to this day. One American student was denied a room (last year!!!) in a hotel because the hotel was run by a MaCgregor and the student was a campbell. We stopped for breakfast at a small restaurant where a Hamish (a big mountain bison) was being bred. After breakfast we moved towards Glencoe - a nice open land (Glen = Open land) among the mountains. We passed through the beautiful Stirling Castle. With the drizzling rain on the outside and music of bagpipes and drums this ride was a very memorable one. The scots, like us Indians, have a different song for different occasion. Every time Robert used to play a song he used to tell the meaning of the song and the occasion when it is sung, which made us to enjoy the song more. 

After Glencoe we moved towards the famous Loch ness - where the mysterious Nessie has been sighted many times. Enroute we passed the huge Caledonian Canel which is made up of three Loch - Loch Lochy, Loch Oich and the Loch Ness (Caledonia is the name given to Scotland by the Romans). The most astonishing part was that the water in Loch Ness is black in colour !!! We took a cruise on LochNess to the Uruqhart Castle. This castle is a total ruin but the cruise was an enjoyable one. Luckily for us the sun was beaming at us in full glory and so we were lucky to reach back the bus without dripping wet. Unluckily we were unable to see the famous Nessie though we all purchased momentos to remind us of Nessie. Taking the coach again we headed towards Fort Augustus - a small industrial town in the highlands and from there to Inverness. Inverness is the last city when we go northward from Edinburgh into the north region of Scotland. There are a lot many small towns after this but no cities. After a roundup of Inverness we headed back home via Invergarry and Perth. Enroute we had small snack stop at one of the village pubs. Here we saw both goals scored by Manchester United against Newcastle and had vegetable samosas !!! We reached back Edinburgh and felt richer with the knowledge of Scottish highlands. 

Monday morning was comparatively cooler than sunday, in the sense we had to leave at 09:45. The tour we were going was "The Rosalyn Chapel, Da Vinci Code, Myths & Mysteries". Our guide was Calon, a staunch supporter of the Templar Knights. To begin with we went to the famous Rosalyn Chapel where the Holy Grail is supposedly present. To understand the mystery of the chapel it is essential to know the history of the Holy Grail. Most of the history is mentioned in Dan Brown's famous novel "Da Vinci Code". The Templar Knights were the warriors who started off with helping people moving from one place to another and protecting them from robbers. In due course of time they became very very rich - infact, richer than the king. The Sinclair Clan was one of the templar knights and it was the Sinclair clan who built the Rossalyn Chapel. For years together this chapel was a private place of worship for the Sinclair clan. Before the chapel was built the Holy Grail was supposed to have moved from King Solomon Caves to the Rossalyn Chapel. The Holy Grail is not a cup (as many still presume) but the holy lineage of Jesus Christ. According to the Templars the Holy Grail is the body of James (supposedly the son of Jesus). Calon says that the chapel was built with a purpose and the purpose is to maintain the lineage (in other words - The Holy Grail) intact. There is a big vault under the chapel where the Grail is supposed to be currently present. No one is allowed to enter the vault because though everyone knows about it - no one has found it. The bible (I havent read it but this is what he said) talks about the second coming and the change of the world's order after the second coming. According to the Templars the "second coming" has been mis-interpreted by many. The second coming is the re-birth of the lineage and the Templar Knights are ensuring this by patronising the Rosalin Institute which is just 2 miles away from the chapel. This institute was in the news in recent times - The institute where Dr.Wilmut successfully cloned Dolly, the sheep. The Templar Knights are waiting for the day when Human will be successfully cloned after which the grail will be used to continue the lineage of Jesus Christ and the Second Coming to be achieved!!!! Most of the part of Da Vinci Code is repeated but the ending. After the mysterious Chapel of Rossalyn we went around the town of Rosalin and then headed to a lowland town of Pebbles. A town which can be called as the Quintessential English Town, we had our lunch here and then headed onto a Wishcavaer distillery. Wishcavaer is the Scottish term for Malt Whisky. We went to the Glenkinchie distillery - a lowland malt distillery. We took a tour of the facility, saw how fresh barley is converted into alcohol of aroudn 80% and also took a taste of the famous scotch whisky of Scotland. Returning back to our rooms by around 2000, we checked out and left Edinburgh for Reading by the 2200 coach, exhausted to the core but enriched by the rich history of the Scottish Highlands and enthralled by the mystery of the lowlands.

LONDON and CAMBRIDGE

25^th – 26^th June 2005

The weekend of June 25/26 was a very very tired one but enjoyable and memorable. On 24th evening I reached London from Reading and went directly to Alperton. Meera was supposed to leave for India on 25th and so we had all (Samir, Asmita, Aarti, Meera and yours truly) planned to go out for dinner. Went to the nearby Saraswathy Bhavan where we had good (well, fairly) Indian food. Then left for Rayner's Lane to Rax's (Rakesh, a friend since 8th standard) house. We were up till around 2:00 AM talking about good old times !!!

    25th early morning was up by 05:15(ugh!!!) as I had to go to Heathrow to see Meera off. Well, at Heathrow, everything that could possibly go wrong at an airport during departure went wrong. Meera had lost her tickets, there was a lot of excess check-in luggage, excess cabin luggage etc etc. Finally she was able to go in at around 10:10 for her 10:50 departure flight. Returned back to Rax's place and then we both left for the tour of Lord's Cricket Ground. 2 of the 6 major underground lines in London were out of service due to engineering work and so we took longer time than it usually takes to reach Maryleborne. Then we took a tour of Lords seeing the prudential cup, into the Natwest Gallery, into the long room et all. Then, after having pizza we headed towards the Tower Bridge. As we approached the tower bridge, we notice there is quite a considerable traffic congestion at the bridge. To our pleasant surprise, we saw that the bridge is opening up to allow a big steamer to pass through Thames. Rax has been in London now for 3 yrs but its the first time that he saw it !!! So I considered myself pretty lucky ;-) After the London Bridge we went to Picadilly Circus and loafed around for a while and then returned home - tired but contended. 

    26th morning bade Rax goodbye as he had to report to work and left for Liverpool station where I met Yash, Sapna and Smita (my pals from Reading). We then took the one railway to the University town of Cambridge. As soon as we reached we hopped on to a hop-on-hop-off bus which takes a tour of the city. First stop we got off near the Scudamore Punting Company in order to try our hand at punting. A punt is a square-ended boat which has a flat bottom with no keel and is usually propelled using a long pole. The method of propelling the boat forward like this is known as Punting. We took a self-hire boat and set off. Initially it was pretty difficult to steer but ultimately we managed to steer it albeit for a short distance !!! We passed through two bridges - a normal one and another one known as Mathematical Bridge. This bridge was built in 1749 by James Essex the Younger (1722-1784) to the design of William Etheridge (1707-1776). It has subsequently been rebuilt to the same design in 1866 and 1905. The guides do say a story that 'Isaac Newton built this bridge without nuts and bolts but the students and fellows of  Cambridge unfastened it and could not put it back again. Hence the version now contains nuts and bolts !!!'. This seems to be baseless as Isaac Newton died in 1727 and therefore cannot possibly have had anything to do with this Bridge, much before this bridge was first built. Well, after the punting expedition we headed to the American Cemetery. Graves all around gives me a real eerie feeling but then I always wanted to visit a war grave. Then had a submarine at a Subway and went around seeing some colleges. Most of the colleges at Cambridge and at Oxford have same names - Kings College, Queens College, St Johns College, Magadelene College, Trinity College. Once through with all the colleges, had a look at the souvenirs shop and the senate hall before calling it a day. The journey back to Reading from Cambridge was long - around 3.5 Hrs but then once in UK a visit to Cambridge is a must and of course - Everyone should try punting at least once in their life !!! Any Cambridge student will vouch for that ...

Weekend among blue waters - ISLE OF WIGHT

11^th – 12^th June 2005

The air shines with a mild magnificence…

Leaves, voices, glitterings… And there is also water

Winding in easy ways among much green expanse,

Or lying flat, in small floods, on the grass;

Water which in its widespread crystal holds the whole soft song

Of this swift tremulous instant of rebirth and peace.

Tremulous - yet beneath, how deep its root!

Timelessness of an afternoon! Air’s gems, the walls’ bland grey,

Slim spires, hope-coloured fields: these belong to no date.

                                                                               A Spring Day © David Gascoyne 1941

David G could not have been more correct about the Isle of Wight(IoW) when he wrote this poem in 1941. Even to this day it holds very true - "these belong to no date" !!!  Saturday the 11th June we (Smitha, Sapna, Ritu, Shrikant, Yash, Kunal and me) started off early in the morning at around 07:00 from Reading towards Isle of Wight. The journey to this island was partially by train and partially by ferry. Had to changeover a train at Guildford to reach Portsmouth Harbour at about 10:00. From Portsmouth took the Wightlink ferry to reach Ryde - the entrance of the Isle of Wight. On the train to Portsmouth we also met our friends from London - Meera and Aarti. The day was sunny and right from the entrance to Ryde the beach was along with us. Losing no time, we went off to the beach at Ryde. After a round of photographs and splashing of water we headed KFC for a lunch(Roaming around is quite an appetizer - u see ). Immediately after lunch took the bus to Newport. Newport is the biggest town of IoW. 

    The bus journey to Newport was rather quite as most of us were sleeping (Getting up at around 0600 Hrs on a Saturday had to take its toll!!!) Our accommodation was at a place known as Brighstone (www.brighstone-holidays.co.uk) which is further away from Newport. From Newport we took another bus to a place known as Brighstone Three Bishops. This place - Three Bishops - is a very very small place where there is a church and a small shop apart from a couple of houses. The holiday centre was around 20 mins walk from here through green fields and the church. The resort is absolutely fabulous and situated right on the beach. Checked in and immediately left for Sandown. Sandown is another beach town in IoW and so it was beach time again. On a shack on the beach we had fish & chips, splashed around on the beach and just plain freaked out with the Frisbee. At around 1830 we returned back to Newport from Sandown where we just lazily walked around for some time. The last bus to Three Bishops from Newport was at around 2230 and we had decided to take that bus back home. Had a lovely dinner comprising of Pizzas at Pizza Hut and then caught the bus to Three Bishops. Enroute suddenly one of us remembered that the walk to our holiday centre is not going to be easy as there were no street lights !!! Unfortunately I too remembered seeing a graveyard around the church through which we were to pass. The drive from Newport to Three Bishops was probably the quietest time of our entire trip where each one of us had the same thoughts - How were we going to cover the distance in pitch darkness among the forest and the graveyard !!! Each of our face was worth seeing in anticipation of the task ahead of us. But then all our fears were unfound - by some stroke of luck our bus driver offered to drop us off at the resort as we were the last commuters of the bus. We thanked him endlessly and said a small prayer of thanks as we zoomed past the church and the graveyard. The relief on our faces made for a happy picture but I still feel that had we taken that walk, it would have been a night to remember for each and every one of us.

   The next day began early enough with Meera, Aarti, Yash, Kunal and me going for an early morning coastal walk. It was absolutely refreshing and we were looking forward for a busy day at some of the most beautiful places in IoW. We had a heavy breakfast of fried eggs, hash browns, vegetarian sausages and orange juice and left for the needles point at Alum Bay. It was a very short drive to the Alum Bay. We took the chair lift from here to reach the base of the bay from where we had to take a ferry to the needles and the light house. This ferry, unlike our previous one, was an open ferry and the ride was absolutely exhilarating with splashes of water on our faces and cameras. Had a good look of the needles which are pretty blunt now (pun intended ;-) ) due to the force of the water beating against it. Then did some shopping and then left for Ryde. Reached Ryde at around 1400 and all of us were pretty much hungry. Saw a Chinese restaurant where we had sumptuous fried rice. After catering to our gastronomic juices, we explore Ryde a bit. As the sun set on the horizon beyond the huge expanse of water, we walked down the bridge back to Ryde Esplanade railway station to catch the train back home tired but satisfied, taking in the view that nature has offered.

Over to the land of ghosts, ghouls & bagpipers - SCOTLAND

May 28^th – 30^th 2005

The weekend of 28th, 29th and 30th of May 2005 was a bank holiday weekend and no one here stays at home on a long weekend. We people were also no exception and planned for a trip to the northern part of United Kingdom, the place of highlands, the place of haunted vaults and the place of bagpipers – Scotland. A very huge group – 15 in all !!! My friends from Pune – Meera , Aarti and their friends along with we people from Reading made up for the huge numbers. Shrikant had done a lot of research and found an accommodation in Edinburgh. So there we were all set to go to the land of Bagpipers.

We left Reading on Friday evening to London Paddington. Got the 2104 fast to London Paddington and from Paddington took the circle line on the tube (the underground metro in London is called Tube) to Victoria. We were planning to meet the other people in the Victoria station and just as we came out they too were there. I was meeting Aarti after a period of around 5 yrs !!! Well time flies …. And we gotta fly along with it I presume !! Once introductions were through we walked over to the Victoria Coach station from where we had booked the bus to Glasgow. The bus was at 2355 and we reached the place in good time to catch the bus. It was a double decker bus and it started off exactly at the time promised. Drudging along through the scenic beauty ( which came to light only post 06:00 AM ) we reached the city of Glasgow at 0900 on Saturday. As we came out of the Buchanan Bus Station, it started drizzling. The drizzle was too light to dampen our spirits and we marched along. After ‘saying CHEESE’ near the Glasgow Concert Hall (we could not go inside as the hall was booked by the University for its Graduation Day Ceremony) we walked down to the Glasgow Cathedral. Enroute we stopped at the Glasgow city chambers and again clicked a few snaps at the St.George square. The Glasgow Cathedral is a huge cathedral with a scenic beauty around it and this cathedral holds many a secret of yesteryears. The rose windows of the cathedral, the chapel and the aisles are worth seeing. The cathedral took a pretty long time and by the time we came out we were famished. Walking down to the city centre we located a pizzeria where we had a sumptuous lunch of hand made pizzas with coke. Then we went back to the bus station from where we were to catch the bus to Edinburgh.

            When we reached Edinburgh at around 1630 Hrs, the sun was shining down at us in full gleam (Talk about the unpredictable English weather!!)  The flat which Shrikant had found was bang in the centre of the city – had around 5 bedrooms, 2 kitchens and 2 bathrooms apart from a big hall. Soon we all got freshened up and were on our feet again towards the majestic Edinburgh Castle. The castle was closed for the day (People here don’t work after 5:00 no matter what!! Sometimes I wonder even beggars close shop at 5:00 and don’t accept pennies later!!!!) so we just walked through the Princes Street – the main shopping are of Edinburgh. Luckily for us some of the souvenir shops were open. Did some amount of shopping, had a look at the Princes Mall (From outside…it was also closed.)  When we returned home it was almost 2130 Hrs and the wind was blowing like one possessed !!! Being a hilly country, Scotland is very very windy and it increases as one goes up north – towards the highlands. Once we reached home, we cooked dinner and had it. Then we were up till around 01:30 AM playing cards, dancing to the music and having fun.

            On Sunday, one by one we got up lazily, freshened up and then headed towards the Edinburgh castle. This castle, situated on a hillock just off the princes street is a huge one and has got 3 war museums. On the top of the castle is a cannon which shoots off at 1 PM everyday. There is a very interesting story behind this cannon firing – In the earlier days when people used to use sundials for checking out the time, it was very difficult to synchronize the timing between Glasgow and Edinburgh as the sundials used to give a 6 minutes difference.  Hence it was decided to fire the gun everyday at 1300 Hrs in Edinburgh in order to announce the exact time to the people. Nice way eh??? By the time we had a look at the entire castle it was around 1400 Hrs. We grabbed a quick bite at Subway and headed towards the Scottish Parliament. Enroute again saw some objects of interest and purchased it. Enroute we saw that there are some guided tours of Haunted Vaults. Scotland, from centuries, is known for its ghosts, ghouls, black magic and occult. So we thought that it would be a good idea to have a first hand experience of these things. The tour of the “Unexplained Haunted Vaults” was supposed to start at 1800 Hrs and we had some time to kill. Decided that we will dump all the shopping that we did at our room and then head to see ghosts. After a cup of tea we reached our pick up point where our tour guide Mr.Roger was waiting for us. After some story-telling about Edinburgh and the existence of the haunted vaults we were led to the 3 most haunted and active vaults.  Fortunately or unfortunately, we were unable to either see or feel any sort of unexplained phenomenon. So in all we just heard stories of Mr.Boots (he was supposed to be a cobbler of yesterday and to this day tries to feel around the ankles of people who don’t wear leather shoes) , the kid (who tries to hold hand of any kid in the group and pull him to play) and the lady who always attacks other ladies due to reason best known to herself. After the rather quiet tour we saw the Scottish parliament house and then after a long walk came back home. Again played games and gossiped till around 12:00 PM before retiring.

            Monday was a day of journey. Early morning at around 05:30 left Edinburgh to reach Glasgow at around 08:00 . At 08:30 had the bus from Glasgow to London back. The bus journey was rather quiet with all of us just soaking in the countryside scenic beauties on the way and reflecting on how the past 2 days just flew off. Also, we all made a quiet resolution that one more weekend is a must in Scotland – this time to the highlands comprising of Lochness & Inverness.

A rainy saturday in OXFORD

21^th May 2005

Saturday morning it was pouring cats and dogs and in spite of the weather we decided to see the University town of Oxford. Left Reading Central at around 10:00 by the First Great Western (That's the name of the railway). Reached Oxford in a jiffy!!! The very next station after Reading is Oxford. From the station itself we took the sight seeing hop off hop on tour of the city. This was a double decker bus with an open top but due to the incessant rains we never bothered to go up. We got down at the first point - Christchurch College. The best part about Oxford is that there is no university campus. In all 39 colleges make up the University of Oxford. Christchurch is the beautiful college which comes into your mind when Oxford is mentioned. It is in this college that the Harry Potter movie is shot. The beautiful aisles down to the gallery, the huge cathedral and the stupendous dining hall ... all are a real treat to the eyes. We never knew how time flied across and by the time we came out it was lunch time!!! Went to Pizza Hut and had a good vegetarian pizza and orange juice. 

 Post lunch we went to the Carfax Tower on High Street. This tower was originally a part of  St.Martin's Church. Due to the road widening programme some years this church was razed down but the tower was maintained for historical purposes. Making the way to the top we had a bird eye's view of Oxford. Then again continued with the bus tour and saw the different colleges of Oxford. The Trinity college lawns is way damn beautiful. Then passed through the walls of the richest college in Oxford : St.John's. The legend goes to say that a student could have walked from Oxford to Cambridge without ever setting his foot off St.John's land!!! So that gives an indication as to the amount of richness. By this time it was pouring hailstones. Luckily by the time we reached Ashmolean Museum the rains stopped and we were able to walk to the museum from the bus stop. This museum has all the equipments which great scientists like Albert Einstein worked on while they were in Oxford. I didn’t understand the equipments much but it made good viewing. Then we went to the Bridge of Sighs. This bridge is the replica of the original one in Venice and it looks pretty much the same except the canal part. In front of the Bridge of Sighs was a college (I could not get the name of the same) where it was examination time. In the Oxford University there is a strange custom that the students should be dressed in a graduation gown (white shirt, Black robe and the black hat like stuff) if they have to be eligible to appear for the exams !!! So found a lot of students in that attire. Having seen these we walked down to the High street where did a bit of shopping for myself. Some memoirs and souvenirs to remind me of Oxford always. Took the bus to the station from where we reached Reading pretty comfortably - exhausted but thrilled at having a chance to see the famous university town of Oxford.