Scotland - Kilmarnock - only 9 days behind now!

Our Air bnb host Barry had booked a taxi for us & we were pleased to get to the ferry terminal so easily. Worth the 12 pounds! Ferry trip 2 hrs, 20 mins.
6 years ago we got off the ferry, onto a bus & all the way to Glasgow.
This time we got the bus to Ayr railway station. Local station -  we had to get to another platform - NO LIFTS! There was a young American couple with a little 3 year old boy. Afterhecarriedhim & ALL their bags over & down on the nextplarform, he came back & got our HEAVY bags & took them too!  What a lovely man!!!
It was raining - 3 stops on the train to Kilmarnock, our next stay. We got a taxi & finally our next host, Morton arrived & showed us around.
On Saturday Morton took us to pick up our sporty little RED Aygo Toyota & it is my turn to be the driver!!
We spent to revisiting MONTGOMERY sites around the coast of Ayrshire (they say 'Air-sh'.
First off was Kilwinning  - ancient Abbey ruins from year dot 1700s church they still use. Some ladies showed us inside. The MONTGOMERYS had their own entrance so they didn't have to walk past the common folk on their way up to theirbalcony!!!!
Kilwinning gorgeous OLD TOWN - walk through mall type main street.




& Eglington Castle ruins.
We continued on around the coast to Irvine, Ardrossan & Large. Lots of ferries service the nearby islands from here.
Weather showery & cool. We had one of the special ice creams recommended to us. Not as good as home but Warren impressed with his rum & raison with lots of REAL RUM!!!!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Riverside Farm Enniskillen

When we were here 6 years ago we stayed in the self-contained cottage on Riversidd Farm, 2 miles out of Enniskillen the main town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. I had been told about it by Vi Wiggins the very active lady on the Fermanagh Gold (genealogy) Interest List I belonged to. Molly & son Mark Fawcett who own the farm, B&B, caravan park, marina & are the most wonderfully warm & welcoming people. We stayed for 2 months on the farm in 2015 so coming back was like coming home! MOST of my Irish families lived within 15 miles of Enniskillen. We arrived on a Saturday afternoon just before my 'newly found' American (Boston) family! Carol is my 2nd cousin. She & husband Arthur & 3 adult children Paul, Cheryl & David were spending a week in Ireland seeing all they could! Carol's great-grandfather Patrick was my g-g-grandfather, Robert Collum's younger brother. When 8 of Robert's siblings went to America they changed their name to...
Read more

The other Collums

When I started researching my g-greatfather Robert Collum, I found another Robert S. Collum who was the Honorary Consul for Portugal who lived in various Sydney (posh!) addresses - all called 'Enniskillen' where my Collum's came from! He ended up living on a poultry farm in Herring Road Marsfield/Eastwood where I grew up! He married Emily Suttor, daughter of the Bathurst MP & there is a photograph on them in Freeman's Journal in the Mitchell Library. His father was Dr Robert Collum, born in 1814 in Enniskillen, who married Flora Nightingale  SANDEMAN from Scotland. The Sandeman's were a very (wealthy) influential family whose descendants were huge 'multi companies' of importers & exporters throughout the world eg tea plantations in (Ceylon) Sri Lanka, wine in Europe, spices Far East. Dr Robert & Flora had 15 children who all had SANDEMAN as their middle name (according to Scottish tradition). Dr Robert was in the British Army then Physician fo...
Read more

Last day in England

Image
A last day to get everything 7before the cruise & see some more of the places nearby. Over the weekend we'd looked up Podiatrists so Warren could get histoenails cut!!! Wondered about how to get there, appointments & the like. So we set off at 8.45 & walked to the end of our block. Across the road was the Royal Nail Salon with a youngish Chinese guy standing outside. Warren said to him 'do you cut toenails?'   Yes.  Can you cut mine? Now?  Yes! In we go - & out 5mins later with cut & filed nails - £5!!! Bargain! We walked the easy mile walk into the town centre. HUGE Maison Dieu grey stone building that takes up a whole block. Now Town Hall & Creative Arts Centre. It was founded by St Augustus in 9oos as a Monastery & Hospice. At Clarke's shoe shop Warren bought  pair of sandals. I got more lozenges, eye drops & Panadol for my 2nd cold of the trip! We then bought a Day Tripper bus ticket. First we went to Canterbury (34 m...
Read more