Day 6 - Tuesday, May 18

Today marked the beginning of the second half of the trip.  Up to this point we had toured cities in England using public transportation.  From this point out, we would travel mostly by car to more rural destinations in Scotland.  We had really exhausted ourselves in London and Yorkt.  We looked forward to the relative ease of touring by car.  We checked out of our B&B and headed north.  The little bit of driving I had done on Monday helped prepare me for my first whole day of driving.

I had researched our route very thoroughly using our AA Road Atlas so I had a good idea where I was going.  I had also done some research on driving in Britain via the Internet.  In particular, it is important to know how to handle the roundabouts.  If you know the rules, the big roundabouts are fairly straightforward.  I found the mini roundabouts in cities to be more difficult to deal with, but since everyone is going very slow, making a mistake is more embarrassing than dangerous.  Probably the hardest part for me was figuring out where other cars were going to be.  Turing right was the worst, as I am used to just looking left and going if it is clear.  We had a couple of close calls because I forgot about the cars coming from the left.

We planned on taking the scenic route to Scotland via the Yorkshire Dales.  Like most Americans, we were introduced to the Dales by the writings of Alf Wight (AKA James Herriot) and the TV series based on his books.  We drove north from York to Thirsk so we could see the site of Dr. Wight's veterinary practice (which is now run by Dr. Wight, Alf's son).  Also at this location there is a new "World of James Herriot" museum, but we didn't have the time to tour it.  From Thirsk we headed west toward Marsham, and then up Swaledale to Kirkby Stephens.  The drive though Swaledale was beautiful and exciting.  There were sheep everywhere and the road gradually became narrower and narrower, until I didn't have to worry about driving on the left anymore since the road was barely one car wide.  As you climb out of the dale, you have to watch out for sheep, which are free to roam over the road.
 

A view of Swaledale I found it hard to photograph the Yorkshire dales.  This photo doesn't really capture the essence of the countryside.

We came down out of the Dales into Kirkby Stephen, a very old, historic, and attractive town.  Susan had learned that her Musgrave ancestors were buried in the town church so we parked the car in the market square and walked into the church yard.  There we met the church custodian/tour guide.  He was on his way to lunch, yet he took quite a bit of time to show us around the church.  He showed us the Musgrave Chapel and other displays of historic artifacts.  It was obvious that he was very proud of his church and very much enjoyed showing it off.  We stopped at a pastry shop to get some lunch to eat on the road.  The potato-leek-cheese roll was fabulous, although a bit messy to eat while driving.

Here is a special page with pictures of the Church at Kirkby Stephen and information on the Musgraves buried there.

We had hoped to have enough time for a short detour through the Lake District, but we wanted to be sure to have enough time to do some library work in Scotland, so we headed north on the motorway.  We crossed into Scotland at Gretna Green and turned west toward Dumfries.  There, we visited the local Family History Society and Susan got some useful information about researching her Jonhnstone ancestors.  It seems that Johnstones came from two different parts of Scotland (Annandale and Aberdeenshire) and it isn't clear where her Johnstones came from.  We then went to the public library to search their local family history materials.  While Susan was researching, I looked into arranging a B&B for the night.  Fortunately the Library had plenty of information about B&B's and a pay phone.  The first place I called had no vacancies.  The second one did.  We told the host that we were planning to make one more stop before supper so we would arrive about 7:00 PM.

After a couple of hours of library work in Dumfries, we headed to Threve Castle near Castle Douglas.  Scotland is littered with castles or various sizes, ages, and conditions (from stately homes to ruins).  We picked out castles to visit based on their historic connection to Susan's genealogy research which made the visits much more meaningful.  Threve Castle is the former home of the
Black Douglas.  It is now an impressive ruin.  Getting to the castle is an adventure in itself.  From the main road you drive down a narrow lane that dead ends at a small parking lot at a pig farm.  From there you have to walk about a half a mile through the farmer's fields to get to the castle.  The trail ends at a boat dock at the edge of a small lake.  Then you ring a bell to call the superintendent who brings a boat to ferry you to the island that holds the castle.

By the time we got there, we only had about a half and hour before the superintendent went home for the night.  He assured us that if we weren't back on time, we would have to spend the night in the castle.  The man who worked in the small ticket booth/gift shop said that he was probably kidding.  The thought of staying overnight was not altogether unattractive.  The setting was so serene after the bustle of London and York.  There are wildlife, hills, and wetlands all around.  The castle was very interesting.  You can climb nearly to the top.  It was an interesting contrast to places like Windsor and the Tower of London, which have been extensively modified though out the years.  Even though Threve is a ruin, it gives a better impression of what these castles must have originally looked like.  We also thought back to our earlier conversation when we speculated that Scotland would not have the crowds of London.  Indeed, we had the castle all to ourselves, which made the visit all the more special.
 

	Threve Castle It looks very foreboding from the outside.  Climbing up the inside is very interesting.
	The view from Threve  The countryside around the castle is very beautiful.  The castle sits on an island in the river.  We could hear lots of pheasants in the area.

I'm glad to report that we did make it back to the boat on time.  From the castle, we drove a few miles into the town of Castle Douglas to find something to eat.  In contrast to the problems we had the previous night, we found a great place to eat right away.  We stopped at The Scottish Cafe (I think that's the name).  It's on the right side of the main street if you're coming from the direction of Dumfies.  This is a very casual, comfortable, home-style restaurant, which we also had all to ourselves.  The couple that operated it (I presume they are a couple), were very friendly.  I had a wonderful scotch broth soup and pot roast with vegetables and gravy.  While we were eating, the cook brought out his guest book for us to sign.  He showed us some of the more interesting entries.  People from all over the world have come to his little restaurant.  If you go, look for our entry on May 18, 1999.

After dinner we drove to our farmhouse B&B between Castle Douglas and Dumfries.  Like the castle, the country setting was a peaceful contrast to the cites of London and York (but alas, no pub for miles).  While we were having tea in the lounge, our host came in to ask us about where we had been and to give us advice on what to see in the area.  One thing was becoming clear.  Either we were very lucky, or the people of Dumfries are exceptionally friendly.  Everyone we met that afternoon and evening (the Family History center, the Library, the Castle, the restaurant, the B&B) went out of their way to talk to us and help us.
 

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