Exploring Scotland with the Marler clan

Allison Rockwell Tucker and daughter Sydney at Culloden Moor battlefield. Allison's grandmother was Peggy McDonald Rockwell. This photo was taken at the battlefield on Culloden Moor, and the Clan Donald is the Scottish clan of which Allison is a descendent.

Traveling to Scotland from East Anglia in England is not a quick drive. East Anglia may be two hours north of London, but there is a lot of England north of there before one arrives in Scotland.

There is nothing like road construction on a major M road, similar to the Interstate freeways in the United States, to lengthen one’s drive. Instead of smooth sailing on three lanes in each direction, the “alternate route” was through many small towns and uncountable roundabouts. It could make a tourist cranky except that the villages and countryside are so beautiful.

East Anglia is green and lush, and agriculturally-oriented tourists enjoy seeing wheat, barley, sugar beets, canola, potatoes, cattle, pigs and sheep thriving in the fields. The land is much flatter than the Palouse, just slightly rolling hills, with hedgerows of shrubbery between fields.

Yorkshire looks very different. Much of the land is not farmable, so it is pastured with vast flocks of sheep, and some farms pasture sheep, cattle and hogs together. Gone are the hedgerows, replaced by fieldstone walls, built laboriously over the centuries by farmers of rocks cleared from their fields. Palouse farmers feel sorry for farmers plagued by that many rocks in otherwise fine soil.

The Yorkshire Dales are particularly hilly and beautiful, with winding roads climbing and descending steep hills. Groves of trees, both coniferous and hardwoods, dot the landscape. The most prosperous looking farms feature stone or brick buildings and well-kept homes and lawns. John Deere green was the predominant color of farm equipment, although New Holland blue had a small presence.

The drive north revealed slightly wilder-looking terrain, with more rocks and evidence of even more moisture. Crossing the border area was interesting, as the road signs pointed to place names that were important because the English and Scottish warred on this territory for centuries.

“Welcome to Scotland,” and there was a presence of the Scottish flag, with white cross on a blue field. Last fall a referendum was held by Scotland to decide to stay in the United Kingdom with England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or start on a path to independence. For reasons financial, economic and political, the UK was upheld, but many Scots would like to be independent.

The American influence is everywhere alongside distinctively Scottish heritage. McDonald’s, Burger King, Papa John’s, and Starbucks are everywhere, and also Urban Outfitters. In Edinburgh, though, were Scottish cashmere and woolen shops, tea shops, and other shops unique to the UK. The doorman at the Balmoral Hotel, about six feet eight inches tall, was fully outfitted in kilt, jacket, knee-high stockings, and all of the accouterments.

The Balmoral is famous as the residence of J. K. Rowling as she wrote her last Harry Potter novel. The Elephant House cafe, a much more modest place, is where she wrote parts of the first Harry Potter to be published. The Balmoral also has a massive Scotch whiskey collection that is admired, photographed, and tasted. Before noon on a Sunday, no tasting was happening.

The Royal Mile leads from central Edinburgh to Edinburgh Castle, a massive fortress on the hill, built as it now stands between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries. It passed back and forth between the English and Scots for centuries, serving as seat of royal power, defensive fort and arsenal. Now it is the historic heart of Scotland, and the crown jewels of Scotland, the sword, the scepter, and the crown, as well as the Stone of Scone, are kept here.

There are probably more legends about the Edinburgh Castle than there are authenticated facts, but the place has long been a prison, and there are some truly nasty dungeons within. The view of the Edinburgh harbor and city are magnificent, alone worth the walk and the price of admission. It was just after the UK version of Flag Day, so flags and memoirs were present.

In the downtown, a number of bagpipers were playing on Sunday, and there were men all over downtown wearing kilts. Plaid pants of colors never seen in the United States were being worn downtown, too.

The Elephant House, which J.K. Rowling loved, was filled, so Sunday lunch was at an attractive Italian eatery downtown. The gnocci with tomato sauce and melted cheese was a hit, as was the ravioli stuffed with swordfish, topped with scallops and a flavorful tomato-based sauce. Eggs Benedict made with moist smoked salmon instead of Canadian bacon, generously topped with hollandaise sauce, was a delicious take on the classic dish.

Prepared at the vacation rental, Sunday dinner was UK salmon accompanied by a sauce made of brown sugar, butter, a dab of ginger paste, and juice of a fresh Clementine orange. Rice and a salad of spring greens tossed with Balsamic vinaigrette completed the meal. Fruit and chocolate were served for dessert.

Americans see tea as an elaborate afternoon snack served the upper (posh) classes in the afternoon, since they eat dinner later. Hotels offer formal teas with amazing, delicate sandwiches and elaborate cakes. For the middle and working classes, though, tea may be what we would call dinner or supper, served around six in the evening, with appropriate foods and perhaps not even any tea. Or, if the parents eat dinner at eight in the evening, the children have tea, with simple dinner foods, at six, calling it “tea.”

A trip north toward Inverness passes right by Dalwhinnie Distillery, famous for their single malt Scotch whiskies. A nice bottle of triple refined Scotch for eighty pounds was purchased for a family member serving on deployment. The really expensive bottle was over two thousand pounds, about thirty-two hundred US dollars.

In 1745, the second Jacobite Rising began in the hope of replacing George I, the Hanoverian king, with Charles Stuart, who also had claim to the English and Scottish thrones. The Stuart kings had been shunted aside because of their Roman Catholic faith, their staunch belief in the divine right of kings, and their weakening of Parliament.

The Highlander Scots were still Catholic and strongly supportive of the Stuarts. Prince Charles Stuart began fomenting rebellion, with the encouragement of France, which had long been at war or at least at odds with England. The Scottish Jacobites rallied to the cause and had some success at first, defeating the English at Falkirk, Prestonpans, and pressing to within one hundred twenty miles of London.

An English spy told the Scots that two English armies were behind them, which was untrue, so they headed north for the winter. By the time spring came, the Jacobite army was hungry, ill-fed and without shoes, due to ineptitude as much as anything. Charles Stuart dreamed grandly, but he had his weak points. The Scots marched all night to Culloden Moor, and the English, with large cannon, good food, and better discipline, were ready. The battle was over in about an hour.

This was the last rising, and it was many years later before Charles Stuart was called “Bonnie Prince Charlie.” He escaped to France, dressed as a woman, and the promised French help failed to arrive. Charles lived out his life in Italy, embarrassed but safe.

The Highland clans did not fare so well. Private armies, the soldiers of the clans who fought together for Prince Charles, were banned. The wearing of the kilt and clan tartans was outlawed. Those who weren’t killed in or immediately after the battle were hunted down and killed. The rest were imprisoned. After years in prison, many of the prisoners were allowed release and sent to the Colonies in America, with the taking of a loyalty oath to the king.

Crofts and manor houses were burned and destroyed, crops and animals taken, and the clans were harassed in many ways. It was decades before many of the families felt safe and could put their lives in order. It was a difficult time, and the end of striving for Scottish independence until the vote to leave the United Kingdom failed last fall.

The museum at Culloden is beautifully done, with many interactive features, and the whole moor is considered a consecrated burial site. One small croft (farm house) remains on the grounds, and the paths that crisscross the moor make it easy to walk around the property.

The menu at the cafeteria was an interesting blend of old and new. Haggis and pasties were featured, as well as lentil, tomato basil, and potato leak soups. The puddings (desserts) ranged from cookies to sticky toffee pudding with your choice of custard sauce, cream or ice cream for topping. If you ever have the opportunity to eat sticky toffee pudding, leap at the chance.

Also in the area are burial cairns ranging from one thousand to two thousand years old. In Scottish tradition, each time one visits a grave, one leaves a rock to show you have visited. These were large rocks over burial sites with some upright stones that reminds one of the stones at the mythical Craig n Dunh in The Outlander.

There is also a Highland village museum where visitors are able to see life in the area in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A local schoolhouse is preserved as it was in 1937, complete with a teacher who shows the leather strap and conducts a handwriting lesson for interested students. For those interested in teaching time, the school day was from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with forty-five minutes for opening activities and an hour for lunch. Students there enjoyed trying pens that were dipped into inkwells and practicing their handwriting, but were happy for their modern writing tools.