Where are we and where have we been? (Scotland)
I tell you folks, this trip so far have been a long, eventful, beautiful, a learning experience and sometimes also a tiresome journey.
Since the last report about our visit at Boat of Garten we have played 4 more golf courses that I haven’t reported about – yet. Anyway, here is a little report about the route we have followed since September 10th when we left the area of Boat of Garten and Carrbridge.
Originally it was our idea – when we had finished the North Scotland part of our trip – to go south on the M9 and stop in the area of Aberfeldy (which is between Boat of Garten and Edinburgh).
But we found it difficult to find a vacant BnB to a decent price. We therefore decided instead to go towards Fort William and then along the west coast to Oban. See next clip from Google Earth.
The idea was to stay a couple of days and play a course (yet another James Braid design) called Clencruitten Golf Course and enjoy the incredible nature. A nature that the locals, as you can see from the next picture, calls “One of the most beautiful spots in the world”.
It is a beautiful and spectacular landscape with views to mountains, ocean, river, forest and farmland. And – unfortunately for us – also a good deal of wind and rain.
Enough for us to say no, but thank you to a round of golf. Difficult to be believe but true.
But what we discovered was that the Oban area have nearly as many whisky distilleries as they have in the Speyside area.
And here we went to our first and only (so far) whisky distillery. Oban Whisky distillery.
Enough about whisky because just about 10 miles north of Oban we saw this castle:
Fantastic; a castle or a fortress on a very little island just 400 meters from the shore. This is what we learned:
Castle Stalker have a long and very dramatic history due to a conflict between 2 clans which you can read about on this web address: https://www.wildernessscotland.com/blog/castle-stalker/.
What you can also read is that the Castle became known to the general public when the Castle made an appearance in one of Monty Python films. In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the castle was given a very interesting alternative name! On the web site you can read:
“Monty Python fans will know the name of the building as the hilariously and historically appropriately named Castle Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh!”
Also that:
“It is thought that the castle was named ‘Stalker‘ because James IV of Scotland stayed at it during his various hunting or stalking expeditions in the fifteenth century. The name Stalker just seems to have stuck for all these years.”
We have tried to get an understanding of what the term Stalker and stalking means in this context. And sure it does not have the same meaning as it has today. So digging a bit deeper we learned that in “Scottish Gaelic, the name of the castle is known as ‘Caisteal an Stalcaire‘. The word ‘Stalcaire‘ can be translated into ‘hunter’. The name of the castle can literally translate into Castle Hunter – an alternative word with the same meaning as ‘Stalker.’”
What we also could read was that in the year 1620, a bet took place between Duncan Stewart (the seventh Chief of Appin) and a Campbell of Airds while they were both under the influence of a considerable amount of alcohol. The bet resulted in the Campbells securing ownership of the castle in exchange for an eight-oared wherry (boat).
From a local we heard this amendment to the story. Bear in mind that he started by emphasizing that the story goes: The looser, Duncan Steward, the seventh Chief of Appin, took the ship and manned it with 400 men from his county of Appin and sailed to Nova Scotia and settled there.
As you can see from the next pictures, the Vikings played a dominant role in this area for hundreds of years.
telling the story of the highway of the sea kingdoms
Here we could also read the history of how the Vikings dominated the coast of Scotland and Ireland up to the end of the 1100. In that time; if you could dominate the sea along the coast you could dominate the kingdoms along the sea.
The fun coincidence or relation between the 2 stories is the fact that the Vikings gave up settlements in Greenland in the 800 AD and moved (sailed) to Nova Scotia.
So Duncan Steward might have met some of the relatives of the Vikings that his own ancestors have fought back on the shores of the Castle Stalker. You can visit this old Viking settlement in Nova Scotia today.
To end this story I can add that Nova Scotia and the viking settlement was and still is a part of our “Golf around the Globe” tour. And yes, there are some incredible golf courses around in that area too.
Now, back to our stay in Oban.
A bit tired of the rain, we had a look at the weather forecast for the more southern part of the Scottish west coast. In the deep south of the Kintyre Peninsula the weather looked a lot better. No rain and more sun.
And fortunately down there we found no less than 3 golf courses, one more spectacular than the other. One even ranked #57 in Golf Digest’s World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses 2015 list.
If you like to try it. The distance from Oban is about 100 miles and about 2 hours drive. Take your time. On your way you will find many fantastic places, views, old castles and ruins telling the history of Scotland and the west coast. More than one of the kind I have just told you.
So now in the south of the peninsula we found 3 very excellent and spectacular links kind of golf courses. One though more esteemed than the two others.
The most esteemed of them was founded in 1876 as the Kintyre Golf Club. The course had ten holes before the club officially existed, and was quickly expanded to 12. And then, ladies and gentlemen, in 1879, the old Tom Morris was brought in to redesign and expand the course to the full 18 holes. Then in 1914 the other famous architect J.H. Taylor made some modifications.
So here we are. Something to look forward to . . . . . Though I know what to look forward to, because I already played it twice, but report will come later. Here it is more about our trip.
At the eastern end of the peninsula – also named Southend (the western tip that gives you the shortest line to North Ireland is called Mull of Kintyre) we found one of the other but not so known golf courses. Even though that course and club was founded back in 1889.
Also this area was affected by the conflict between the aforementioned warring Clans.
A conflict that culminated in 1647 in the surrender and subsequent massacre of a 300-strong Royalist garrison. And the local castle, Dunaverty Castle, was subsequently destroyed and very little remains. We tried to find it, but you need a lot of imagination to see remains as a big castle.
But the nature is fantastic.
We met the owner of the cottage house while he was cleaning it making it ready for the next group of guests. A very friendly person who was raised in the area and – apparently – with family history many generations back.
We asked him about a huge white building that we had only seen from the golf course. See next picture.
If you don’t ask you will not get an answer. We did ask and got the answer.
At least part of it. He – himself – owns the white building. Build in the 1920 by a farmer as a hotel for his daughters to run. Not so successfully, but then during the second world war the hotel was converted into a hospital. When he bought it in the 1990’s it was basically a ruin with no roof. Since then he have worked on renovating the whole building.
Later we learned (from our BnB hostess, who played badminton with his sister) that the hotel was built by his family.
Funny enough, he was not very clear in his answer to my question as what purpose the building should serve when the renovation was finished. I have suspicions that a great deal of his motivation for putting money and time into the renovation is a kind of family proudness. At the same time, he started the renovation in the beginning of 2000 and now in 2020 only the roof have been made.
Enough of stories for now.
Tomorrow we will leave Glasgow (after 2 rounds at Erskine golf course) and head for Royal Liverpool at Hoylake.
Comments, questions and recommendations are well come!
Hi Eza and Finn,
some months ago we had an exchange of thoughts concerning golf play in space.
Now you are talking about whiskey and distilleries. My experience is that a lot of good whiskey will bring you to upper space, and the bad ones to down space. And my question is: do you think that there are any distilleries in outer space? And how about heaven? Curious to hear your thoughts.
Funny enough!
One day in a little town in the Spyside area – a area where some of the best Scottish whisky is made – at least in accordance to the locals themselves, we were sitting outside a pub and had a talk with some of the regulars.
During the talk, I made the comment and implicitly the question: We have been in many small as well as bigger towns and villages. What surprises me is that there are so many Churches. But then also that many churches seem to be abandoned?
The short answer I got, goes like this: Life in this rural area have never been easy, so the people put their hope in God and went to the churches to pray for a better life. When it didn’t improve their conditions of life, they deserted the church and turned to whisky. The pubs now is our churches where we are now celebrating the water of life.
What that have to do with whisky and golf, I don’t know, but they gave me this story.
“A man walks into a bar and orders a whiskey.
When the barman serves it up, he takes it out to the bench in front of the bar to drink it.
As he’s enjoying his drink, a nun walks by, and glares at him sourly. “How can you pollute your soul with the Devil’s drink like that?” she asks.
The man shrugs. “It’s not the Devil, it’s just whiskey.”
“But it’s sinful and wicked!”
“How do you know it’s so bad, then? Have you ever tasted whiskey?”
“Of course not! My sisters and mother superior told me how evil drink is.”
“But how do they know? Have they ever had a drink?”
They go back and forth like this for a while, before at last, the nun relents. “Well, I suppose that if I were to try a sip of whiskey, I would better understand how it corrupts the soul. But it wouldn’t do for any of my sisters to come by here and see me drinking. Could you order me one in a teacup?”
The man agrees this is fair, and walks inside to the barman.
“Two whiskeys, but put one in a teacup, please.”
The barman slams his hand down on the bar and shouts, “Is that damn nun here again!?””