Old Blacksmith's Shop

Tuesday, March 08, 2016
Gretna Green, Scotland, United Kingdom
We certainly cannot complain about the breakfasts that we have been having! This morning at the hotel we had a lovely choice and of course we chose it all :) Some hot Scottish porridge with honey, a poached egg with beans, tomatoes, mushrooms and a half a piece of fried bread. Fried bread is something that I've mostly found in Scotland on the menus. Tea and coffee and toast (which we couldn't fit in) and we were more than full.

When we sorted through our packing last night to get all our bits and pieces sorted for today, we realised that we had left Graeme's dress shirt in Australia . I love formal kilts but I think they would look pretty funny without a shirt. I mildly panicked and then looked up the Gretna shop and they had shirts and opened at 9am. We were only 3 minutes from the shop so we found our way there through the cold and rain. Which was a bit disappointing after yesterday's glorious sunshine :(. The shop opened just as we arrived and we bought a shirt and a scarf for me. Our little ceremony wasn't until 10 so we had some time to wander around the shop. At about 9:30 the ladies in the shop allowed us to use their changing rooms as it was a very quiet morning. I dressed Grady in his clothes and the ladies came in to help with all the bits I didn't know about. The shoes have these really long laces and I knew they went up the leg but didn't know how to do the knots and the socks had 'flashes' that I also wasn't sure about so they fixed it all up while I went and threw on my dress. By 9:55 we were at the door of the shop and Ian our guide and master of ceremonies took us through into the forge room . Unfortunately, Skype wouldn't work because of the thick walls so we spent a few minutes setting up a video camera so we could record the blessing. After the short service of a short history of the shop, a 'handfasting' and some poems, Ian took us around to different places in the museum for a few photos and we were done. Back into the changing rooms to get into our normal clothes and we were done.

The day was still pretty cold and trying to rain but we were warm and comfy in our little i30 and headed up the road to Glasgow. We dropped the kilt back into the shop and after negotiating the Glasgow traffic we on the road north toward Loch Lomond. Just as we were leaving Glasgow, we spotted the remains of a Roman bath house on the side of the road so we called in and had a short wander around. The Romans were remarkable engineers. This bathhouse had underfloor heating and various rooms from hot to cold and wet to dry. Very ingenious!

We found our hotel at Arrochar right on a pretty loch looking out to the mountains. This room has a big bath, so I took the time to do our washing and hung it out over the wall heaters and the heated towel rails in the bathroom. We then went down to the hotel's restaurant for dinner. Graeme had his usual fish and chips and I had a mushroom and chicken crepe. Tired from the day, we are ready for sleep! Depending on the weather tomorrow we will decide whether to travel up to Inverness or just scoot across to Perth!

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Comments

Ted
2016-03-09

Yay yay! Grady looked very handsome and your dress was gorgeous.

Very cool! I'm glad you got to do that. :)

Jan
2016-03-09

You both look fantastic

Jan Chapman
2016-03-10

Best looking couple I've seen in a long time, you'll sure have to hang these photos up on the wall at home. Really enjoying your blog, almost feel like I'm there with you. So glad everything is going well, just hope you didn't hurt yourself with that fall Di.
Love
Jan

2025-02-06

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