Culloden

Going there in July, thanks!

Hi, JG,

Did you know that broadcast of season one of Outlander was withheld in Britain until after the 2014 referendum for Scottish independence? Apparently the powers that be felt that season one showed the English in such a bad light, that they worried the program might affect the vote.

Mike (auchterless)

Dear Mike: I find your many postings quite entertaining and informative. Please forgive Rick since he is from my home town. We who live on the Salish Sea are used to Visitors murdering all our local aboriginal place names, too. I have some ancestors who came from Kirkudbright... how is it correctly pronounced? I'm sorry that Culloden is such a mess now... I have people on both sides remembered there. Sorry my Husband is a Campbell...but I understand some were on both sides. As for BPC how many would have wanted to be ruled by a Medici anyway?

Hi, Kathleen,

Yes, I've often thought about what might have happened if BPC had continued to march down to London, and defeated the army of the Wee German Lairdie. Would Scotland have then become a majority Catholic country like Ireland? It's a lot to think about. It's one of those "What would have happened if..." situations, like, "What would have happened if the South had won the Civil War?"

Kirkcudbright is pronounced Kir-COO-bree. Accent on the second syllable. I've been to the Pacific Northwest a few times. I can appreciate how much your visitors could butcher local place names. Some of them look downright unpronounceable!

Glad to hear that someone's enjoying my postings. I just discovered this website about a month ago, after having read the RS guide to Scotland. I can see why the people on Skye are so frustrated about tourism. On the one hand, it's great for the local economy. On the other hand, however, there's not enough accommodation for everyone who comes to Skye, and there aren't enough public toilet facilities to handle all the visitors. It's not just in summertime anymore, either. Skye has become a 12 month destination. Fortunately, there are several hostels around the island, but not every visitor is willing to sleep in a bunk in a dormitory.

I've been traveling to Scotland on a fairly regular basis for 45 years. It used to be that you never needed to reserve lodging ahead of time. You could just drive in to a town or village and find a B&B or guest house within minutes. Now you have to reserve six months ahead of time in certain areas if you want guaranteed accommodation. Despite that, though, I'll still keep going to Scotland. Wild midges couldn't keep me away!

Mike (auchterless)

Hi, Andrew.reis,

You're absolutely correct. Despite all the songs that were written well after the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion, almost deifying him, he was a fool who led many valiant clansmen to slaughter, and was fairly much singly responsible for the destruction of the clan system and the subsequent depopulation of the Highlands.

History has served him well, and has only strengthened the romantic myth. Scottish singer Brian McNeill summed it up best in four lines in his song "No Gods and Precious Few Heroes":

"And tell me, will we never hear the end
Of poor bloody Charlie and Culloden yet again,
Though he ran like a rabbit down the glen,
Leavin' better folk than him to be butchered"

Mike (auchterless)

Hi, Emma and Andrew,

Can we call a truce here? This a travel forum, not a forum for airing past grievances.

To quote Ian Richardson (not the late actor) in his song ("Scotland Will Flourish") made popular by The Corries,

"Forget the old battles, those days are over.
Hatred corrupts and friendship refines."

As far as "Outlander" goes, I really think that it's more popular in the U.S. than in Britain. I have several friends who are absolutely besotted with the programme, and have read all eight novels. Personally, I enjoy the programme for the scenes filmed in Scotland, but basically, because it's science fiction (time-travel), I don't take it too seriously.

What I do like, however, is Gabaldon's debunking of the Charles Edward Stuart myth. And introducing us to facts like bolts of cloth being soaked in urine to tighten the weave and make it colorfast. I've been telling people about that for years, and no one believed me.

To quote the late Rodney King, "I just want to say - you know - Can we all get along?

Mike (auchterless)

p.s.: I'm looking forward to seeing Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth. I really liked her in "Broadchurch."

My family clan in Macintosh. We have 3 gravestones on the battlefield. Hallowed ground is absolutely what it is. I just cried the entire time thinking of what those men must have been through and then to know it was my family, tore my guts out... The only other places I have been that is like that is Omaha Beach and Gettysburg.