Kicking it off in Glasgow - Day One

Karin on the Plane.
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After a long and tedious plane ride (One delayed flight, one missed one, and no record of Christy even having tickets) we arrive in Glasgow, Scotland. Because of all the mishap, we arrive late in the evening on April 1st, and are wisked away to our friend Meaghan's castle fifteen minutes outside of Glasgow in the town of Dumbarton. It's a beautiful little property gated and full of open space, trees, and a lot of birds. Adam, Meaghan's husband, prepared us a fabulous dinner with spinach salad (ala Angelinas style - strawberries and goat cheese) and pasta. Not exactly a traditional Scottish meal, but from what we'd heard, Scottish food is pretty much anything dead. We slept in the specially prepared tower, which has 360 degree views. The presence of the birds is especially noted in the morning, at 5am they woke us up with awesome surround sound.

Meaghan's Castle.
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The morning was spent climbing up to Dumbarton Castle with Meaghan, Adam, and Meaghan's sister Helena. We were lucky as usually the weather here is simply described as "grey". Today, however, it's a beautifuly sunny day with a cool breeze. After dishing over 18£ for all our admission, and labouring over about 400 stairs, we arrive at the top to discover that there really is no castle. Just grass, rocks, crumbled walls, and a little building with stacked barrels. But the view is great. We climbed back down (which Karin points out means we climbed almost 1000 stairs - the number is getting bigger everytime she talks about it) and headed off for lunch, where Karin did get around to having "bangers and mash" which we're told is Scottish.

Stairs going down from our Bedroom in the tower
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We missed going to the distillery, so instead walked the dogs around the park and headed back home. Later tonight Meaghan is taking us over to compete with the elderly from Dumbarton at the Bingo Hall. We're trying to book flights to Amsterdam currently, but it's proving to be a bit of a hassle. Hopefully we can find something cheap soon!

Miss you all,

Christy & Karin