Leon Turnbull Photography

Blackhill Falls, Isle of Skye, Scotland.

Carbost Burn Waterfall, Isle of Skye, Scotland. 80 ft. I thought this would be very difficult to get down to, but in fact was very easy. It is a very pretty falls, it would be stunning at higher flows.

No waterfalls on this day, but it was the best day in Scotland and the best day of the entire trip. The photo is the upper waterfall of the Fairy Pools from Day 2.

I met my wife and kids at the airport in Edinburgh the previous night. They went over separately from me because they were doing a tour of various places with another group. They saw quite a few places in England and France, but that was not something I had any desire to do. They were in Paris just a couple days after Notre Dame burned. It is sad they did not get to see it (except from the outside). But I want to see waterfalls, not museums.

However, there is one thing I really did want to see that is not waterfall related, and that is my family heritage. Turnbull is Scottish, and there were quite a few things to see from the Turnbull history. My wife also wanted to see her Dunbar heritage (my wife’s maiden name).

From Edinburgh, we drove down to Hawick in the Scottish Borders. There is a statue here of a man turning a bull. The legend goes that William of Rule saved the king of Scots Robert the Bruce from a bull attack, by turning the bull’s head around the year 1313. The king changed his name to Turnbull, and thus our heritage was begun. The king also granted land to the Turnbulls on the Borders. The Turnbulls were famous fighters, and this area was frequently attacked by the English. There is a castle here called Fatlips Castle which we hiked up to and had lunch. It was built and owned by the Turnbulls for around 200 years, serving as a lookout against invading English. It sits on top of a hill with a stunning view of the Borders area. We also visited a church yard in Bedrule where there is a cairn dedicated to the Turnbull Reivers (fighters) and many old tombstones of Turnbulls. Some of these are so old you cannot read them any more.

His arms robust the hardy hunter flung
Around his bending horns and upward wrung
With writhing force his neck retorted round
And rolled the panting monster on the ground
Crushed with enormous strength his bony skull
And courtiers hailed the man who turned the bull.
John Leyden

We then drove to the town of Dunbar. Here there are ruins of the old Dunbar castle. Not much is left of the castle, but it is very interesting to visit. I was also thrilled to visit the birthplace and museum of John Muir, who was born in Dunbar. We arrived at the museum 20 minutes before closing, just enough time to walk around it. It is a fantastic little museum, and I’m so glad I got to see it.

In Dunbar, we watched some Scottish boys jumping into the harbor (in the ocean). No wet suits. No towels to dry off afterwards. You have got to be kidding me. That water must have been freezing. I would think they would get hypothermia in minutes, yet they continued to jump in multiple times. Scottish boys are NUTS.

I arrived at the House of Bruars around noon. This is a strange place. It is a big fancy high-end mall out in the middle of nowhere. There are no big towns around anywhere close, and yet it is a very busy place. How odd!

There is an easy hike here to a couple of waterfalls. It was around noon, and sunny by now when I started this hike, but God really blessed me by providing clouds as I got up to the waterfalls. This allowed me to take some good photos of these falls. Thank you Lord! Maybe it is just Scotland/Ireland. I don’t think this could have happened in California (well, it has happened in CA, but not very often).

The upper falls is very hidden with no good view of it from the trail. I scrambled down off trail to try to find a closer viewpoint. This was the first off trail scrambling I did in Scotland. I found a much better viewpoint, though it was still somewhat obscured. Getting to the creek level would have been great, but it was out of the question. Unless you are a canyoneer. I saw some people rappelling down this waterfall when I got down to my spot (not shown in the photo – obviously). Anyhow, it was still a better view than from the trail.

I ate lunch at the fish n chips place at the mall afterwards. It was a little bit embarrassing when I went to pay because I could not figure out the weird Scottish change and how much I needed. The Scottish restaurant owner with a very strong accent had to pick the change out of my hand, laughing at me. Oh well.

Also weird here was that I could not figure out where the restrooms were. I did not see any sign for “toilets” (as is elsewhere in Scotland). I asked someone and he said it was just inside the store. So I went into the store, looked around, and I could not see the restrooms or any sign for them anywhere. I walked around and around and finally found them, and there was this sign: CLOAKROOM. That’s it! Oh my goodness! I have never seen that word used for restroom before. I guess this is what rich people call restrooms? Ahh!

Easter Sunday. It was a rainy morning but the rain did not last long as I drove back from Isle of Skye to Edinburgh. I had to pick up my  family at the airport in the evening. The rest of the vacation we would all be together. Along the way back to Edinburgh, I would see more waterfalls (of course!).
There were two waterfalls in Scotland I really wanted to see but did not get a chance to: The Falls of Glomach. This is a 12 mile hike, and I just did not have time to do an all day hike. There is a shorter version of the hike I was hoping to do, but the road to this other trailhead was closed. Strike one. Plodda Falls was also high on my list, but this was just way too far out of my way. Strike two. Instead of these, I went to the Falls of Foyers at Loch Ness. I did not see any monsters at Loch Ness except for the sheep grazing at the end of the lake. The small ones are especially scary. They look cute but they are deadly. Kidding!

It is a long drive to the Falls of Foyers, but it was worth it. It is a very beautiful falls, and monster high at 203 ft. tall. It is a short and easy hike if you do it correctly. However, I did not see the sign (which said “to the falls”), and I went the wrong way. Doh. I ended up going most of the way down the mountain towards the lower falls (which is just a very small one), and then had to climb all the way back up the mountain to the big waterfall. I had my Easter Sunday service at the viewpoint of the waterfall, reading the resurrection passage from my Bible. It was a wonderful morning. Day 3 Part 2 coming soon.