Riding...

This is another threefer . It was late when I got to the room, and I was tired. So, I'll combine the days into one post. Today is Saturday , June 8th . It's our last day of riding their wonderful roads.

I'll try to describe some of the highlights without saying which day it happened.

Words Say it All

Gary and Linda and I rode together alone during these days. One interesting sight started with passing a wagon with a teenaged-looking girl walking the wagon and holding the reins.

Irish Travellers

Within a mile, we spotted a connestoga type wagon being pulled by two horses. The wagon was about 3/4 as large as a Conestoga wagon and was very ornate. It was obvious that it was set up to live in. Then we went by more and more of them, some on the road and moving, but many more stopped on the side of the road, camping. The horses were tethered on the side of the road, feeding on the lush grass. There were hundreds of them.

Later, we asked Rob about them, and he told us that they were Irish Travellers and were having a get together, and that there would be maybe 10 thousand of them. Sounds like a big party brewing...

We also stopped at a Birds of Prey center along he way. They do daily feedings and allow the visitors to view and participate. Owls, hawks, eagles, and other varieties were there. I'd guess maybe 30 birds. They feed them bits of raw meat, mostly venison. The two handlers

Gary and Owl

would stand a few yards apart and the birds would fly back and forth to eat the meat scraps. They also let the viewers participate by wearing the heavy leather glove and letting the bird fly to your hand. Pretty neat. The bird I fed was a large owl that actually weighed almost nothing. The main handler narrated as it was happening, telling the small crowd about the birds. One interesting fact--they buy all the birds because it is not legal to breed them. It was a good stop.

Along the way, we stopped for bathroom stops and lunch. Most of the time we'd stop at a tavern and have local fare, usually very good. The food on this trip has been very good with only a couple exceptions. Much better than my earlier tour. I will have to work on my weight gain when I get home. It has been very good.

Think I'll stop for now but try to add more when I have more time.

Linda and Gretchen Showing their Ass

These tours, the way we do them, allow very little down time. It's a blur of getting out of bed, getting cleaned up, going to breakfast, packing up our mess, riding, lunch, riding, stopping for the night, checking into the hotel, rushing down for a beer before dinner, eating, and then trying to blog if it's not too late. Very busy..

Not Much Room to Spare...

Check in later for more meat as I have time.

Most of this time period was spent in Scotland. It didn't seem to be much different from England, but the brough in their accents. I couldn't understand them most of the time. Linda served well as our interpreter.

We went to Carmichael home of Gary's ancestors, for a brief stop. It was neat to be in a place where his family had roots. We're going back during the car tour later.