Best Places to Visit in Scotland

[Kyle MacLea]

Hi all,

Spurred by a question from a student, I was wondering: What would YOUR list of the best places to visit in Scotland be?

These could be clan-related, but they could also just be fun/interesting/beautiful places to see. What do you think?

Kyle=

[Greg Livingston]

Wow, that's a hard one. Just to get it started, I suppose some of the locations would be Dumfries (a couple friends live in that area), Lismore (of course), two or more of the various whisky distillaries, as many of the old castle ruins as I can fit in, Ft. William, "the Wheel", and I might squeeze in some of the major cities if I have too. I will need to upgrade the dslr before going so that the pics could be printed as LARGE as possible and that means I'd have to bring a laptop to hold all of them.

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Kyle,

Well there are a lot of interesting and beautiful places in Scotland, but I would think if I were forced to choose I would think that a tour of Western Argyllshire with stops in Iona, Mull, Morvern, Isle of Lismore, Appin, Ballachulish, Glencoe and the islands of Colonsay and Islay would definitely be on the priority list. But there is so much amazing scenery throughout the Highlands, Isle of Skye I could go on and on and on.

regards,

Donald

[Greg Livingston]

Donald,

From the pictures I've seen of Scotland, and there have been a lot, I don't know where I would want to start or how long it would take. Couldn't do it in a typical 1 week vacation or even 2 weeks. And, yes, your list would probably be my starting point.

[Jill Richmond]

From a MacLea/Livingstone point of view Argyll is the obvious starting point, and I agree entirely with Donald and his list of places to visit. It is a magical place and I have been visiting it regularly for many years. There is a lot to see and even after a couple of weeks you would only be scratching the surface. I would recommend spending time there to soak up the atmosphere and to get a better perspective of the places you visit, rather than trying to take in too many places.

Of course, the student who asked this question, Kyle, might wish to visit other areas of Scotland; perhaps Royal Deeside
(Braemar, Balmoral - part of the castle and policies are open when the Queen is not in residence - Ballater etc). Or he might want to visit the area where I live: Robert the Bruce and Rabbie Burns country. We have had more than our fair share of cattle thieves, and smuggling was a way of life. A couple of years ago when our parish manse was being renovated, a hiding place for contraband discovered! It is said that if you stand on the Mull of Galloway on a fine day you can see five Kingdoms: the Kingdom of Scotland, the Kingdom of Ireland, the Kingdom of Man, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of God... And after all that I've only touched on some of the beautiful places there are to see in Scotland.There are many more. If you can, come and visit us. I don't think you will be disappointed.

Jill

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Greg, Jill and Kyle,

I was thinking for future issues of the "Panassus" we could include photos of some of places of historical interest and scenery of interest to Clan Maclea Livingsone as a number of our clan members have been to Western Argyllshire and to the Isle of Lismore where Baron Livingstone resides. Perhaps a future feature article could be a photo tour of the Isle of Lismore itself including a visit with the Clan Chief.

I have been working with Roger Eury of North Carolina on the idea of doing a brief history of his North Carolina Livingston family with his incredible photos of his ancestors highland style grave slab in a old North Caroliina Scottish settlers cemetery. As you know Roger was also talking recently about an interest in the highland games there in NOrth Carolinsa so we will quite likely a good chance a getting some photos at some of those event. I spent alot of time and effort working with Nova Scotia Livingston genealogy and haverecently focused more on North Carolina Livingston Genealogy. Lord Selkirk stated in the early 1800's that North Carolina had the largest settlement of highlanders outside of Scotland. Nova Scotia could not have been far behind. A number of highland Livingstons from Argyllshire settled in late 1700's and early 1800's in North Carolina.

regards,

Donald

[Kaye Saunders]

Okay, I have to say the Edinburgh is high on my list - it may be because the streets have the same names as those in Dunedin, but I just love the atmosphere there - the old castle and the old town - it is fantastic.

Couldn't believe how small St Andrew's was, and it is a place that I must visit again next year - specially as I know some staff at the uni there.

The other place I want to visit again is Culloden - now that I know more about it I would like to see it again.

A place I want to see next time I go is Plockton - I love the idea of having to drive for miles over a windy road to a small village by the sea - I suppose it has been romanticised by a tv series that was set there.

So that's my initial thoughts on places to visit.

Kaye

[Jill Richmond]

Certainly Plockton is a lovely village. It is not on the open sea, but set at the head of a small bay off Loch Carron amid stunning scenery. In fact, the whole area of Wester Ross is beautiful and well worth a visit.

I agree, Donald, that it would be a good idea to incorporate some photos of Lismore, Appin and other places in Argyll in a future edition of The Parnassus. I have a reasonable collection of photos of Lismore, Port Appin, Mull and Iona which I would be pleased to let people see and which I hope to add to this year. I let Greg have a selection of them a couple of years ago for the clan tent.

Jill

[Greg Livingston]

Once again, I very much appreciate those pictures, Jill. Just wish I would be able to visit those areas and more at some time.

[Jill Richmond]

Thank you Greg. I hope that one day you will be able to visit those places and see them for yourself.

Jill