Issued Quarterly by the
California Division of the U.S. Branch

Gordons in Scotland 2005

Some of you have heard the buzz about a repeat of our successful Gordon 2000 tour of Scotland and it's true-we are working toward another trip together next summer, August 2005. Many have already expressed interest and we hope many more will want to join our happy band after hearing what we have planned. The timing is somewhat dictated because we would like to attend the House of Gordon Scotland annual meeting and the Aboyne Highland Games near the Chief's castle in the village of Aboyne. These occur over the first weekend in August. Here is a list of things we would like to accomplish and things we'd like to see. It is by no means complete or cast in stone. Actually, it may contain more than we can possible cover in the eleven or twelve day tour. In that case, we recommend that you come a few days early or stay some extra days to see your personal favorites.

Our buses (luxury coaches) will meet us at Glasgow Airport as they did in 2000 and whisk us off to a whirlwind tour of Historic Glasgow and beautiful nearby Paisley. You will be ready for an early evening and the Normandy Hotel in Renfrew can accommodate a good dinner, a proper pint in the pub and a welcoming bed. The next morning, we head east through historic Dunfermline, home of Robert the Bruce and Andrew Carnegie, on our way up the coast to Stonehaven and nearby Dunnottar Castle. Onward to tour Aberdeen and visit our own beautiful Gordon Highlanders Museum. High tea at Haddo House is hoped for and to settle into our Huntly hotel home for a couple of days. A day trip from Huntly includes the Speyside Cooperage (barrel makers to the whisky industry), the beautiful Glenlivet Distillery and Baxter's for our afternoon meal.

Elgin Cathedral has many Gordons as permanent residents worth visiting, Fort George (where Bydand Forever billets) and Brodie Castle make for another full day trip. No trip to the Highlands would be complete without a visit to Inverness and the ruins of Urquhart Castle overlooking misty Loch Ness. Fort William beckons us with shops and fine views of Loch Linnhe and Loch Eil. Oban has so much to see in a day's layover before we wrap up our travels with some very special days in Edinburgh. A great trip to the Borders and Berwickshire, historic home of the Gordons, and to mysterious Melrose Abbey will occupy one of our last days plus, for those readers of The DaVinci Code, a stopover at eerie Rosslyn Chapel. All interspersed with enough free time to shop, eat and sightsee 'til your heart's content-topped off, naturally, with a performance of the famous Edinburgh Tattoo ! Interested ? Good. Drop an e-mail to JEmmettLowry@aol.com or call 818-886-4968 or your local Convener and we will put you on the list to receive further updates.