Och, what a bonny place
Trip Start
Jun 19, 2009
1
28
36
Trip End
Jul 25, 2009
Auchterarder, Scotland, United Kingdom
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Stopped for a late breakfast in Kilmarnock , which is the home of Johnny Walker whiskey. All the shops had little posters saying “Keep Johnny in Killie”, obviously the distillery is planning on moving or is being forced to move. Other signs of economic recession were many shuttered shops, even in the main pedestrian shopping strips. Bit like sugar towns in north Queensland, really.
Soon we were back on the motorway and through Glasgow.
Auchterarder is another of those lovely little villages with a winding main street lined with grey stone buildings and, at this time of year, flowers in window boxes. The village's “High Street” (English for “Main shopping/business street”) winds down a gentle slope and you can see glimpses of gentle hills patchworked with fields and hedges between the buildings. In some directions the hills are bigger and balder – the foothills of the Scottish Highlands.
Jane's father's cousin's widow Dorothy now lives here, and her daughter Amanda nearby. Dorothy took us in her little car all over the district in the afternoon and evening. Afternoon tea was at Gleneagles hotel, overlooking the croquet lawn and the golf courses. Dorothy filled us in on all her family news as she drove. She was very generous with her time and her house: we were invited back to her house for a delicious supper and reminisce.
