Greetings from Scotland!

We're just a little past the middle of our time here.

20 September 2024
The Isle of Arran, Scotland

Greetings from the Isle of Arran! Trina and I have just passed the midpoint of our Scottish adventure, and I thought this would be a good time to give you a quick update on our progress.

So far, we’ve stayed in Johnshaven, on Aberdeenshire’s East Coast; in Portsoy, on the north coast; in Pitlochry, at the edge of the Cairngorms; and now Lamlash, on Arran.  After being picked up by our new friends, Bruce and Rexie, in Edinburgh, we made a beeline for the tiny village of Johnshaven.  Johnshaven turned out to be indeed a haven with a small market and a lobster shop and not much else other than a bus stop.  Like all of our stays, it was a perfect base camp for exploration, which included castles, lime kilns and coastal walks.  

After Johnshaven, we met our next new friend, Faye, in Portsoy.  Portsoy is a somewhat bigger town with even more character.  In fact, it has two harbors–the Old Harbour, which was built in 1692, and the New Harbour, which was built in 1825.  (“New” is a slippery term here.)  Exploring took us to–yes–more castles, more coastal walks and also one of the very first eco-villages, Findhorn.  While here we renewed our friendship with artist Marion Boddy-Evans, who, as you might recall, we met on our last Scottish adventure, on the Isle of Skye.

Next up was Pitlochry.  For this leg, we hired a guide.  Chris picked us up in Portsoy and took us to Pitlochry via Ballendollach Castle, where in the walled garden we met the parents of the current laird of the castle.  Yes, we met peerage!  They were quite chatty and even asked us to help ourselves to some of the apples and plums, which they said needed to be picked that afternoon. Afterward, we rode through the round mountains of the Cairngorms to Pitlochry.  I personally found it to be too much of a tourist town, but we found some interesting walks nearby, plus Chinese takeaway.

Finally, the Isle of Arran.  After a wonderful, late-evening ferry ride with beautiful light on the water, we arrived at Brodick and were picked up by our next new friend, Connie.  We settled easily into our lodging in Lamlash with stunning views of a private island, Holy Isle.  Arran is said to be “Scotland in miniature,” and we are finding this to be true.  Today we explored stone circles and standing stones. Saturday, I will be giving a demonstration and a short workshop to a group of local artists.

Next on our list after Arran is Kirkcudbright, then Berwick-upon-Tweed (now in Northumberland, but sometimes claimed by Scotland) and finally Edinburgh to fly out.  Once home, I will give you a full report.  By the way, I am sketching a LOT.

I want to thank again those of you who so graciously supported me in this trip!  It has truly helped.  If you haven’t yet decided to support, you can still do so, and receive either a 6x8 oil painting or the new book (or both!)  Go to this link for details.

That’s all for now.  I’ve included a couple of images here, but you can see many more on my Instagram feed. 

Cheers!