Three weeks to go!

It's June 21, the longest day of the year. To celebrate I loaded up my backpack with about half of my stuff and went for a short walk with Mark. I figured if I keep increasing the distance and the weight of my pack I will be more prepared to leave for Scotland July 12.

Most of you know I injured my right arm a month ago, tearing a tendon in my shoulder by overzealous weeding of thistles. It's kind of ironic as thistles are the national flower of Scotland. Strange as it may seem thistles have warned many a sleeping clan that enemies were attacking when the strangers stepped barefoot on the thistles and yelped in pain. Well, I did my own yelping in pain but after a steriod injection to reduce the inflammation and plenty of massage, physical therapy and herbs, I am feeling better and mostly pain free.

The injury has changed my plans a bit but it won't stop me from going. I'll be flying from Portland to Newark and then overnight to Edinburgh. I'll arrive at 7:45 am their time and take a taxi to the B&B where I will stay for 4 nights. I found the spot through a guidebook. If you'd like to check it out, www.sixmarysplace.co.uk.

I'm planning to walk around the city, tour museums, visit the castle, and do some family research, especially on my Grandmothers side, the MacLennan's. I hope to hear some good music, yes, bagpipes, but fiddles and mandolins and drums too. In case you are wondering about the title of my Blog, here's the story. In March I was in Austin, Texas with my son John. We were walking around during the South by Southwest music festival when I heard bagpipes. We hastened along the street trying to figure out which way they went when John said, "Hey, we're chasing bagpipes."  We found them and enjoyed the music for awhile and the words stuck with me. A large part of my reason for going to Scotland, and staying for 6 weeks, is to work on a novel I have started. Since catchy titles seem to sell books these days, I may try Chasing Bagpipes as a title.

I will be writing in this blog as often as I can, depending on internet access availablility. Although people reply to reservation requests via email, they may use a phone line, or charge a lot of money for a few minutes.

On July 17th, or 17 July in Scotland, I'll hop a train for Helmsdale, past Inverness, on the north east coast. Helmsdale is a small village at the mouth of the river valley where my novel takes place. I'll be at the hostel in Helmsdale for 4 days which should give me time to explore the area and walk up into the hills every day. Helmsdale has a museum, Timespan, which has displays of how folks used to live, which is just what I need to find out.

By 22 July at 16:00, aka 4pm, I will be meeting a bunch of Gunn's from around the world to catch a ferry from John O'Groats to Orkney Island. We'll be staying for 3 days, touring the historic and neolithic sights, including some major standing stones, the Ring of Brodgar, and the remains of a village occupied in 2,500 B.C., Skara Brae. Orkney and the other nearby islands were occupied by the Vikings until 1468. The Gunn's are descended from one of the Viking dudes who married a Scottish lass in the 13th century.

Well, this was starting to be a brief outline of my schedule, I'll just add that I have a week of unplanned time after Orkney during which I hope to see my cousin Lorna who lives north of Helmsdale in Latheron. I'll do some exploring and day hikes and end up at Findhorn Community on August 4th. www.findhorn.org.

You can post comments on this blog spot or send me an email at my gmail address. Love, Ellie