Scotland trip comes to an end

The Scotland tour came to an end yesterday.  It is an
amazing country.
Day 11 we were in Inverness.  We stopped long enough to
do some laundry and then headed out for the Culloden
battlefield. We spent the rest of the morning and part
of the afternoon there before returning to Inverness
to continue our tour of the city.
Day 12 we departed from Inverness and headed down
Loch Ness on our way to Kingussie in the Cairngorm
Mountains.  We stopped along the way to tour a museum
and to see a castle.  The combination of the fall colors
on the surrounding mountains and the blue of the loch
were worth stopping to admire, which we did often. 
After touring the loch, we drove up into the Cairngorms,
stopping along the way to walk to a water fall.
We intentionally took the back roads and were rewarded
with more great scenery.
Day 13 we left Kingussie and dropped down out of the
Highlands to Stirling.  In Stirling, we toured the
downtown area and walked along the old city walls.
Day 14 we toured Stirling Castle in the morning and
then drove to Rosslyn Chapel (think Dan Brown) for a
tour of this incredible unfinished cathedral.  We
then drove to Selkirk.
Day 15 we left Selkirk and on our way home we toured
one of the many ruined abbeys (Melrose Abbey - built in
the 12th century) and the remains of a Roman fort on
Hadrian's Wall (2nd century).
We arrived back in Wilmslow around 1730.
Day 16 is today.  I took Michelle to the airport this
morning and she is currently winging her way back
to Atlanta. Two weeks should be the minimum stay in
Scotland to do it justice. Many places in the west
reminded me of the western US, many places
in the east reminded me of the eastern US, and some of
the landscape did not remind me of anything that I
had seen before. In many parts of the country, the
roads are not built for speed, but you will not want
to rush through these areas anyway.
The people are helpful and friendly and can even
be heard to say "y'all" from time to time.

This is the last extended trip I will take while here.
Michelle and I spent a week touring northern Wales in
February. Seven of us spent a week touring England
in June and then four of us spent the next week touring
northern Wales and the Peak District.  Michelle and
Melissa came over in August for a 10 day tour of
Ireland.  I have tried to travel every weekend that
I was not working and have largely succeeded. 
I have put a lot of miles on the rental car and tried
to support the local economies with non-stop spending. 
There are a few things that I would have done
differently, but not many.  I will now start
getting ready to come home. 
It is a little ways off, but there
are still things to do here at the flat
and at work.

I will now go to a local pub and have a
pint on y'all's behalf.
I hope this finds all well where you are.

DWR