Scottish holidays
By Oskar Mayer
Saturday March 26th 2010. The flight started in Vienna at 7 o’clock. We flew via
Amsterdam to Glasgow and then we drove by car to Garlieston which is situated in
the Wigtown-Bay in the southwest of Scotland. On the way we stopped at Loch Doon
because we wanted to see the Loch Doon Castle.
Then we drove through the Galloway forest Park to Garlieston. Our house has the
name Park Cottage and stands directly at the sea.
On Sunday I got up very early in the morning to go for a walk along the sea shore
with my father. It was very interresting because we could see the tide coming in.
After the breakfast my parents and I went for a long walk around the coast to the
ruin of castle Cruggleton. The only thing that was standing there was a big arch. It
was very interresting because on the way to the ruin there was high-tide and at the
way back to Park Cottage the tide was ebbing. When we came back, we had lunch
and then we drove to Whithorn to see the harbour. Then we drove to Isle of
Whithorn to see this harbour and St.Ninian’s chapel. Then we drove back to
Garlieston.
On Monday I had to get up very early in the morning because Cornelia, Alexander
and I drove in the north to visit the famous castle Drumranlig. It was very
interresting because it was the first castle I saw in Scottland that was not a ruin.
Then we visited the bicycle-museum and it was quiet interresting too. Then it started
to rain, but my parents insisted on a little walk through the town Dumfries, which
was not very funny because I got very wet.
On Tuesday we visited Castle Kennedy. The castle itself was only a ruin but there
was a very marvellous garden around it. The only problem was that the earth was
quiet wet.
After a walk through the garden we ate lunch at the tearoom. Then we drove to
Wigtown. There are lots of old bookshops and we went to the Old Bank Bookshop.
There were lots of interresting books and I decided to buy a book about the history
of cavalry. After that we drove back home to Park Cottage in Garlieston.
Wednesday. Today I could sleep very long. When I woke up, I heard that we had no
electricity because of a storm in the night. For lunch Cornelia, Alexander and I drove
to a pretty nice town, called Kirkcudbright. There was a nice Fish-and-Chips
restaurant in which we had lunch and then we walked around the town.
After that we drove to Gatehouse of Fleet in which we visited an old mill in which we
found a big bookshop. There I bought a book about the battle of Trafalgar. Then we
drove home to Garlieston.
On Thursday I had to get up very early in the morning. We drove to Ruthwell where
we visited a small church. In the church there stood an old celtic cross from the 7th
century. It was quiet interresting because of the pictures that were on the cross.
After that we visited a museum about the first saving bank in the whole world. The
bank was found by the same man who had built the church around the celtic cross,
Mr. Duncan. Then we drove to Caerlaverock Castle which was a beautiful ruin. After
we watched it we had lunch at the tearoom and then we drove back to Garlieston.
On the way we stopped at a tower, which was standing in the middle of some sheep.
The tower was called Orchardton Tower and it was pretty nice because we could go
on the top of his roof.
Our last stop was at Dundrennan Abbey. It was a quiet nice ruin.
Friday. The day started very well because I could sleep very long. Then We drove tot
he whisky-distillery in Bladnoch.
After a tour through it we drove to the Galloway Smokehouse and then we had lunch
in a pub in the village Gatehouse of fleet. After a short stop at the bookshop there
we drove to lake Trool and to Bruce’s stone for a little walk and then the day was
over.
Oskar Mayer is a 14-years old pupil from Vienna. He visited Scotland with his parents
in the Spring of 2010.