In Country

Dateline: Strathpeffer, Ross & Cromarty, United Kingdom

Employee No. 2 and I have arrived safely in Scotland, surviving the Bermuda Triangle better known as Heathrow Airport.  Everything went according to plan, with all passengers and bags safely delivered to their final destination on -time.  Yet, there was a bit of strange technological drama that I'm still struggling to understand.

If you'll recall, at Shack's suggestion I purchased a four-pack of Apple's Air Tags, one of which went into each of our suitcases and golf bags.  As we departed JFK, my phone told me that each of the four bags was .1 miles from my location.  Doing some quick math, .1 mile would be 176 yards or, as I like to think of it, a proper nine-iron (OK, admittedly a nine-iron with forty yards of roll), a logical distance for bags in the cargo hold of a wide-body plane.  Upon arrival at LHR the location date was similarly consistent, and we were digging the air tag experience.

Four hours later we board our smaller plane for Inverness, and this was the readout just before we pushed back, which I made the tempting-the-gods mistake of texting to our hosts Elsie and John:

All good, victory declared.....right?

No sooner had I hit send on the text of this screen shot, but the screen updates and suddenly the two golf bags are 2 miles from our location, as the jetway disappears, and the only logical conclusion is that our bags have gone on walkabout.  I also got a message from the Find My App that we had left Theresa's golf bag behind, so the 90 minute flight was spent realizing that I would achieve a lifelong ambition of playing Royal Dornoch.... with rental clubs.

Upon landing, I immediately check the phone and the two golf bags are reported to 438 miles away, which then quickly updates to 443 miles, so it seems to have updated to that number (I had been warned that they can take time to update, and we had a moment on arrival at Heathrow where Theresa's golf bag was 3,000+ miles aware, which I showed Theresa but only while telling her that it wasn't real).  So, this seemed real, and I was processing the lost baggage claim when Theresa shows up with the two roller bags with our clubs.  Everyone loves a happy ending, but I still can't make any sense of that sequence of data, even allowing for slow updates, especially since the two suitcases were always "with us".

It's a 40 minute drive from Inverness Airport to Strathpeffer, during which I inadvertently turned into the right side of the road just the once.  We had a Hertz bus driver in Ireland years ago tell us, "keep left, look right", and that mantra has stayed with us ever since.  The driving is manageable, but the funnier bit is how at the start of each trip we both walk instinctively to the wrong side of the car, then exchange a sheepish glance over the top of the car.  It typically takes 2-3 days for us to acclimate, then we'll be fine for a week or so, when we'll suddenly revert to our old muscle memory.

At one point on the drive Theresa noted that she had forgotten how beautiful it all is here.  To which I responded, "There's a reason we go through the pain to get here."  

It's been exactly three years since we've seen Elsie and John, when they came to stay with us in St. Monans on our 2019 trip.  We met them playing at Lake Isle when John was working in New York, and, as much as we're anticipating Crail and our rental house in Pittenweem, this return visit to their beautiful home was a much-anticipated return to normalcy.

To say the welcome was warm would be quite the understatement.  As I mentioned previously, their son Ross is a member of Royal Dornoch and has arranged for us to play those hallowed grounds.  What I didn't realize was that Ross, wife Dace and 3 1/2 year-old son Sebastian were up as well, so it was a sweet reunion indeed.  John had the BBQ fired up shortly after our appearance:

As is often the case in Scotland, the late afternoon can often be the calmest part of the day, so set up outside to have cocktails and some noshes, as well as to keep Chef John company:

In 2019, Ross joined us to play Lundin Links, and Dace was sweet enough to drive down so we could all meet Seb, then 6-months old.  I posted this pic then:

This morning I looked outside and caught Seb working on his golf game:

Good call, Seb!  All the greats go left hand low....

But he's a natural at the mic drop:

A sumptuous feast ensued, capped of with Banoffee Pie:

If you told me I could either play Dornoch or have a plate of Elsie's Banoffee Pie, I'd need some time to decide.  

We had a choice of playing Dornoch either Thursday or Friday, opting for the latter because of a more favorable weather forecast.  We all (excluding John, who had a meeting to attend but provided a much-needed ride home), through beautiful countryside:

That's Castle Leod (pronounced, "loud) in the background, featured in Outlander and seat of Clan Mackenzie, in the background.

Over my many years of travel here I've had two photographic obsessions (OK, two in the non-golf category), the formerly ubiquitous red British Telecom phone booths and bales of hay.  The former are scarce on the ground these days, but the latter can still be found:

Of course, maybe it's really three obsessions, because I do loves signs of all kinds, including this from our trail today:

It wasn't nearly as bad a day was the weatherman had predicted, although we did have at least three showers while we were out there.  As I've always explained it, Scotland does have a real summer.  It's just that they're so awfully clever, that to remind us of the pleasures of summer, they mix in a bit of the other three seasons as well.

Our excursion finished at Coul House, a wonderful small inn and restaurant:

The small restaurant was packed with a birthday party, but they set us up nicely in the greeting area, and I quickly forgot that I had assured all i wasn't in the slightest bit hungry.  The bread on our smoked salmon and cucumber was beyond description, as was the small bowl of langoustine bisque:

Dornoch tomorrow then the drive to the Kingdom of Fife on Saturday.  I will for certain blog Dornoch and it's spanking new 7th hole, though I'm just not certain when. But we are safe and sound in Scotland, and we'll take you along with us as we experience it all.