Scottish highlights and more

A poem by Nathan, inspired by Loch Lomond.

Loch Lomond
Lady of lakes
With bush tumbling, falling into water’s edge
And shores punctuated by slithers of gold
Humans have erected monuments on your shores
But they are swamped by your beauty
With moody clouds reflected on your dark, sapphire blue face
You also reflect your Creator’s glory
Loch Lomond
Lady of lakes


This is Edinburgh Castle, possibly our favourite castle so far. The Edinburgh Military Tattoo had been held the weekend before just in front of here. We saw it on TV a few days ago and especially enjoyed the NZ Army Band’s performance. Have you ever seen a uniformed French horn player tiptoeing around to the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and then joining a haka?!! The castle itself had lots of nooks and crannies filled with history and it is still used as a military base for at least one regiment of soldiers.


Hadrian’s Wall once stretched 80 miles across the countryside to mark the border between “Britannia” (occupied by the Romans) and the “Barbarians” who lived in what is now mostly Scotland. It stood 6m high and 3m deep, with a small castle every mile (a mile castle) and lookout towers at various intervals in between. We walked about four miles alongside the wall (of which, about a third of the distance had visible remains of the wall) and visited a Roman Army museum and Birdoswald Fort. The latter had a very impressive presentation by a ‘Roman legionnaire’ who explained what dress, armour, weapons and general life was like during the 400-odd years of Roman occupation.