Post Script to Inver pictures

Restored grave of the Rev. Henry Carre Inver July 2014

Exit Letterkenny area, off to Maghera and making our way back home.

A very pleasant Surprise

We were up early to pack the car, have breakfast and be ready for our guide who would lead us to Strabane.  We were on our way by 10:10AM and followed Martina to Strabane where we waved as we went our separate ways.  We turned on the road to Dunnamanagh and Claudy to get on the A6 to Maghera.  All was going well until we met a tractor trailer truck that hauled liquids on this very narrow twisty 2 way road.  We saw him coming at speed towards us on a section of the road where a stone wall was on one side and the oncoming very narrow lane on the other.  How we did not collide is beyond me but we just looked at one another and figured that some one was looking after us.  Following that unnerving event, the drive to Maghera was uneventful.
We again had to ask directions, so we picked on a local realty office and they were most helpful.  We followed the simple directions, parked the car and were met by a group of ladies who had gone to a great deal of effort to make a delicious lunch for us.  We were extremely surprised as I understood we were meeting only Briege (Irish for Bridget) McKinley (in the checked shirt), the secretary of the parish.  We had planned to drive to Swatragh (Parish of Killelagh) where the Rev Nathaniel Inch (3rd GGF) had served for many years from 1820 to 1843.  Briege had given us the notion that it may not be worthwhile as the church the Rev. Inch served in was in ruins as was the graveyard.  The "new"church was built in 1855 and in a new and more convenient location in Swatragh and 1855 is after the Rev.Inch died so a trip there would have been pointless.
The lunch was both delightful and informative and we really made to feel welcome.  We discussed what we knew about Rev. Inch and we received a most enlightening nugget of information from one of the ladies.  There was an old Irish custom of the mother-to-be who would return to her parents' home to produce the first grandchild.  We had always wondered why my ggf , Henry Carre had been born at Killelagh, Derry in 1833 when Rev. Henry T. was a curate at Rosnakill in northern Donegal.  The town history buff and the longest living continual resident of Swatragh were most interested to learn of what we knew about Rev. Inch's descendants.

1. Welcoming ladies and Briege McKinley (checked shirt in the rear) - Denise and Eric in the front.

2. The lady taking picture 1 is in the back row most left.

We said our goodbyes and we drove one lady home as she had neglected to bring her walker.  We headed out on the highway to find the Killunaught B&B.  All was going well until we turned off the main highway onto the Feeny road.  Suffice it to say we saw a great deal of interesting and scenic areas and roads of Ireland without finding the B&B.  We eventually stopped, and asked directions -  something we were getting used to.
After 3 tries, we finally arrived and our host Delores was very glad to see us.  She had turned on the heat to ensure we would be comfortable. That was a very nice gesture.  We were tired and feeling a little sad as, next morning, we would be starting our way back to the Donegal airport which meant our trip was almost over.  Delores served tea and the proverbial sweets and we just sat.  We had a great chat and we decided that we were not going out to dinner so Delores made each of us a roast beef sandwich for our dinner.  We offered to pay for the sandwich but she refused and told us to just enjoy, which we did.  We retired to our room about 10 ish and Denise decided to have a shower.  Alas, there was no hot water and we mean no hot water.  Dolores discovered that one of the other men staying there had left the  hot water tap on so Denise had a cold shower.  Not a high point for her.

 Starting our return travel that ends up at home

Up at 8:00 AM and had a slow easy breakfast, said goodbye to our host and started on our journey back to Carrickfinn.  Delores had strongly encouraged us to follow the sign through Derry/Londonderry and we did with great fear and trepidation.  With the directions in hand and very good signage we breezed through Derry/Londonderry and headed towards Letterkenny.  We made excellent time so we felt comfortable stopping at our Mountain View B&B to have tea with Susan.  She was very glad to see us and made us feel very welcome with the, again, tea and sweets.  She had even baked breads and sweets in hope that we could stop by.  We spent about an hour chatting and said our final goodbyes.
We headed through Churchill and through Glenveagh National Park.  The scenery was beautiful and the picturesque villages in the valleys were very similar to postcards we had seen.  We arrived at the Donegal Airport and checked with the people there as to what we needed to do the following day to ensure no glitches with our flight to Dublin tomorrow.

Monument outside the County Donegal Aiport

 Following that, we left for Limekiln B&B and said hello again to Jim and Rosemary.  This being our last evening in County Donegal, we decided to go out to dinner at Caisleain Oir Hotel.  We both ordered a pint of milk with our dinner and it came in a Guinness glass.  The look we got from the locals as the milk was delivered to us was like we had just completed a sacrilegious ceremony.  It was a very funny moment for us.
We were up early for breakfast as we were anxious about being on time for our flight to Dublin.  We should not have been concerned as everything went well.

Traffic tie up on the road to County Donegal Airport (aka a herd of cattle)

We landed and there was a very long queue because, for some reason, the authorities wanted to see everyone's passport.  We eventually got over that hurdle and proceeded to the area to get our luggage.  Got our luggage and headed to the pickup point for our Radisson Blu Hotel.  Beautiful hotel, great meal and we retired early as we had security to deal with etc with regard to our flight back to Canada.

Denise and I passed the security scrutiny with flying colours and, after a three hour wait, were "herded" on to the plane and literally squeezed into our seats.  It was a very long and boring flight back to Toronto.  We landed, went through customs and retrieved our luggage with no difficulty at all.  We felt a huge relief as we did not have any luggage issues in the 6 flights we took on our trip.  There was almost an hour to waste until our Simcoe County Air Bus would arrive to take us back to Collingwood.  
We arrived in Collingwood without any issues, where Laura was waiting to greet us with two Tim Horton's coffees.  What a wonderful welcome home!

Once Laura got us back home we did a partial unpack and were sent to bed by our daughter as we were exhausted.  I was surprised at how long it took to readjust.  So, our journey is ended.  We now have a lot of fond memories of those we met and wondrous memories of what we had seen.

A marvelous B&B, Letterkenny and the Fanad Peninsula

30 June 2014 cont'd
As we drove away from Donegal town we discussed the fact that we would love to come and visit with an eye towards spending more time enjoying the beautiful countryside of County Donegal.  We arrived at Letterkenny with the purpose of finding our B&B on R251 about 6 miles out of Letterkenny.  We got on the correct roads but just did not travel far enough.  We stopped and asked directions and about 2 miles up the road we came to the Mountain View  B& B.  At first glance, one could not ignore the beautiful gardens and the very well kept home of Susan and Tony Alexander.

Our host Susan met us, showed us our room and immediately served us "tea and sweets"  Denise did a bit of laundry and hung it out on the clothesline (aka free dryer).  We asked where we could get dinner and were directed to Larkins of New Mills.  The meal hit the spot and we dawdled over coffee and finally headed back to our B&B.  We did the mundane chore of collecting the laundry and were offered tea by our hosts that we gratefully accepted.  Retired to bed about 10:30PM

01 July 2014 Canada Day
Our plans for the day were to tour the Fanad Peninsula.  The day started off with a great breakfast with Denise in her glory with "loads of fresh fruit".  After breakfast, we headed out in late morning for the Fanad peninsula and the towns of Rossnakill, Tamney and Portsalon.  We drove through Kilmacrennan and Milford to Rossnakill.  We toured the graveyard looking for Marianne (the first wife of the Rev. Henry T Carre and the mother of his first child,Thomas.  We took an interesting photo as there were two Carre graves and right next to them was a Carr grave.  We had been told that as far as anyone knew, Carre meant Protestant while Carr meant Roman Catholic.  So, we have the question of why the Carr grave in a Church of Ireland parish graveyard?

Entrance to Rossnakill Church

Carr may be part of a mystery or a link

The three Carr(e)'s

Entrance lane way to Rossnakill Church

Sign at the entrance gate to Rossnakill Church

We left and carried on to Tamney.  We stopped and asked about William Carre as he is the parish treasurer for the three churches of Rossnakill, Portsalon and Leat Beg.  We were directed to a village about a mile up the road to the hamlet of Tamney and an ivy covered roadside residence.  We knocked on the door and met Sandra Carre who was more than a little surprised at our presence.  After a brief conversation, we had convinced her of our identity and we were welcomed into her home.  She was kind enough to loan us the keys to tour the interior of the church by ourselves as she could not leave the house due to her having an invalid relative in the home.  Just as we were leaving for the church, she mentioned an old bible at the back of the church which had a reference to Henry Carre.  We toured the church and found the bible with an inscription to Henry Carre inside.

The exterior of the bible inscribed to the Rev. Henry T Carre

The find that shows where the Rev. Henry T Carre was a curate after graduating TCD

We returned the church key to Sandra Carre and she served us tea, of course, with sandwiches and sweets.  We were told that the William Carre General Grocery closed in 2001 but the photo is still on the Fanad website.  William Carre was away working but Sandra was a most gracious host.  During the lunch she was looking at the laptop and asked me where I got the name of Ballymagahy as it relatively unknown today and refers to a town land area between Rossnakill and Portsalon.  The former parish rectory was there and this explains the mention of that name with relationship to the birth of George Edward Carre the 2nd son of the Rev. Henry T Carre and his second wife, Elizabeth Jane Inch.  We left contact information and Sandra thought that her daughter would e-mail us and follow up to determine where we fit into their family.  This mystery is still outstanding.

The roadside home of William and Sandra Carre (Eric Carre in the doorway)

We are now on our way to Portsalon which is the other side of the peninsula.  Knowing that Ballymagahy was en route, we looked for any indication but, as far as we know, there were no signs.  At least we knew we were extremely close.  We arrived in Portsalon and found the church easily.  The church is in a small plot of land and appears to be well kept.  We had a look around but being as it was late in the afternoon, we decided not to spend any more time and so headed back to our B&B (Mountain View).  We arrived back in Churchill by 6:15 and decided to return  to Larkins of New Mills for dinner.  Back at the B&B by 8:00.  We met a young Italian woman, Martina, that our hosts had been mentoring as to the nuances of life in Ireland.  She was quite chatty and along with Susan, we talked until 10:00.  Martina said she was leaving around 10:00 AM to head to Dublin and the route she was taking helped us to get part way to our destination so we requested that we tag along.  We excused ourselves at 10:00 PM as we needed to pack for our trip to Maghera.  The end of a scenic drive and, all in all, a wonderful day!!

 

 

More on Glencolmbcille and the church in Inver

We were  permitted to tour the inside of the church and items that would have been utilized by the Rev.Henry Carre were shown to us. What a gem of a lady!!  She then offered us the opportunity to visit the former rectory that is now owned privately and is in the process of being turned into "holiday lets".  The old Glencolumbcille rectory was quite close so we drove Ann to her lane way which was across the road from the old rectory.  The owner was in the yard and being as he knew Ann, was quite happy to let us wander and take photos. 

Present owner, the writer with the former Glencolumbcille rectory in the background.

The former Glencolumbcille rectory coach house

The former Glencolumbcille rectory

The walking pathway to the Glencolumbcille church is still evident

We left the old rectory and drove into the village, stopped and purchased fuel.  We left the village of Glencolumbcille for Inver where we were to meet Hazel Wilson who would show us around the church and the graveyard.  Before we went over the hill leaving the village behind we took one last look at the picturesque village.

We had expected that Inver was a village and that a sign to the church would have been very evident.  We were wrong and drove a few miles past.before stopping at a service station to ask directions.  After purchasing a map and discussing directions with a couple of people, one man stepped up and said he was going that way and would be happy to lead us.  Needless to say, that is the option we immediately took.  In a few minutes he had led us the the church and bid farewell.  We thanked him profusely and proceeded into the church graveyard and found the grave of the Rev. Henry Carre.  The grave also included Sarah Carre Obit 19 Jul 1850, aetas 9, Jane Inch Ob 22 Dec 1852 aet 78, Rev 

Henry Carre Ob 5 Apr 1870 aet 70, Charlotte Carre Ob 5 Apr 1870 aet 95, Elizabeth Jane Carre Ob 9 Nov 1886 aet 84, Mary Carre Ob 19 Jan 1893 aet 46, Charlotte Carre Ob 3 Dec 1903 aet 92, Fenwick Carre FRCSI Ob 3 Apr 1915 aet 69.  It is interesting to note here that the Rev. Fredrick Carre was made rector at Inver shortly after the Rev. Henry Carre's death.

     We were not here very long before a gentleman named William Wilson showed up (in lieu of Hazel Wilson).  He proceeded to show us around the church.  It is amazing to see this church after all the family lore about it.  We took pictures and found out that the clock in the tower was indeed made by the Rev. Henry T. Carre and is still in operating condition.  When I was going to take a picture of the clock workings, my camera battery ran out but enjoy the picture the writer was able to take.

 

The face of the clock fabricated by the Rev. Henry T. Carre and another note is that he is buried facing the clock face.

The Inver Carre gravesite

The writer and the plaque honouring the Rev. Henry T, Carre

The writer and the pulpit used by the Rev. Henry T. Carre

     After some time we talked with William Wilson and determined that this is a thriving congregation and that he would look into repairs to the Carre grave site which we discussed and let us know.  We bid farewell, thanked him for his time and trouble and departed for our B&B in the town of Donegal, namely, the Waters Edge.  

     We drove to the town and, being as it was late in the day, the town was bustling with traffic and pedestrians.  Again, we got lost and wound up asking directions of a couple tending their yard.  After a brief conversation the gentleman jumped in his truck (Company- Donegal Signs) and said, " Follow me."  We arrived at our B&B and were pleasantly surprised at the very scenic location, which is at the foot of Donegal Bay.  The B&B is right beside the ruins of Donegal Abbey (erected 1474 for the Franciscan friars by Red Hugh O'Donnell and his wife, Nuala.  It prospered for 150 years and produced important records of history called the Annals of the Four Masters.  After checking in, we went to dinner at our host's recommendation, to the Abbey Hotel in the dining room.  A marvelous meal and we could not even come close to eating it all.  Very good food!

     On Sunday, the 29th of June, we had planned to attend St, John the Evangelist Church in Inver but there was no service there, but only a combined parish service in Killaghtee.  Instead, we decided to attend the Donegal Parish Church in the town of Donegal.  We introduced ourselves to the rector as we were meeting him the very next day to discuss and possibly visit the church at Killymard just 5 miles outside of Donegal town.
     After the service, we toured the business section of the town of Donegal, including a large book store called The Four Masters Bookshop and Magee's, a clothing store for both men and women.  Extremely nice shops!!!!  Late in the afternoon we stopped and had "pub grub" for dinner at the Olde Castle Bar & Restaurant.  Very filling!  Arrived back at the B&B, had tea and to bed a little early as we are off to Letterkenny tomorrow after our meeting at the Donegal Rectory.
Monday, June 30, 2014
      We had a great breakfast, met a Canadian couple from BC that has been touring for 3 weeks and had a week left along with an American woman whose long time English friend was driving her around.  They were both teachers who became friends during an exchange programme and have both retired.  I left and headed out to to a photo shop to get my camera battery charged and then Magee's to meet with a manager there to arrange for some Donegal tweed.  While I was doing that, Denise was meeting with the rector of the Donegal Parish Church, Archdeacon David Ian Huss, at the rectory .  Archdeacon Huss is in charge of Killymard, Lough Eske, Laghey as well as the Donegal Parish Church.  Denise had the opportunity to look at the records of the Killymard church looking for her Elliott ancestors.  We have recently found out that her ancestors lived in the Killymard area before emigrating to Canada.  He was the town butcher so the expectation is that he would have known the Rev. Henry T.Carre whose church at Inver is about 6 miles outside of town.  It was disappointing not to find anything so the search continues. 
The rectory was given to the church some years ago by a parishioner so thus the prime location, grounds and home.

The Rev. David Ian Huss and Eric Carre at the Donegal ParishRectory

The view of the foot of Donegal Bay from the rectory

 

 

 

 

     We left the Town of Donegal sometime after 12:30 to head to our new B&B near Letterkenny.  We both commented that we really like the Town of Donegal and were sad to leave.  It is a place I would very much like to visit again.

Saying farewell to Shetland and arriving in County Donegal

Friday, 27 June 2014
     We said farewell to Betty and Peter Black of Lerwick when our taxi picked us up at 9:15 AM.  We had a very affable driver who proceeded to tell us about the different small hamlets and villages that are between Lerwick and the airport at Sumburgh.  We arrived about 10:00 AM for our flight to Glasgow and we breezed through security for the fist time.  It was sad to leave as the likelihood of our returning is remote at best.  We met and enjoyed many marvelous people.  Having made all the standard goofs of the inexperienced travel we did learn the ropes of travel security. 
     Our Flybe flight was uneventful and landed more or less on time.  Now we waited for our Flybe flight to the County Donegal airport.  We had a lunch at Starbucks in the airport and we arrived in Carrickfin, Donegal airport, late in the afternoon.  We arranged for our car hire after a most unhelpful clerk at the car hire counter made it more difficult than necessary for us.  One of the airport workers asked where were we going and I said to Jim and Marion Boyd`s Limekiln House.  He called the Boyds and they came to lead us to their house. We could finally relax and that we did even though we had a 10:00AM appointment with the rector of Ardara and Glencolumbcille.  We enjoyed the peat fire as well as the tea and `sweets`` our hosts provided.  We retired around 10:30PM.

Arrival in County Donegal

Saturday 28th
We were up early, had a great breakfast and left for Ardara and our meeting with the Rev. John Deane, the rector of Ardara, Glencolumbcille, Glenties, Inniskeel and Lettermacaward.  After making a couple of inquiries we found the rectory nestled in trees just off the main road.  Rev. Deane had "tea and sweets" ready for us along with the register from Glencolumbcille which gave us the dates of some of  Rev. Henry T Carre's children who were born while he served there.  The original register had been "confiscated" by Public Records Ireland but the rector at that time copied all the records out by hand and this register is still in use today.  On the bottom of each copied page is the statement "Copied from and compared with original record of Births confiscated by Public Records Ireland Amendment Act 1875 38'39 Vic Chap 59 and an exact and faithful copy signed David Thompson Rector 27 August 1876".   This was an exceptional moment to hold on such an old and revered piece of history!  Also of note taped to the inside of the register is a letter dated June 1845 from the General Register Office, Queen's Inn, Dublin outlining the rules regarding marriage registration.  The fact that this original letter is "scotch" taped to the inside of the register sends archivists running for the hills screaming as the tape damages the paper.  Aside from that, we did note that the Rev. Henry T Carre performed the very first marriage in St. Columba Church, Glencolumbcille under the new rules.

Photo of Original document

Photo of the hand copied register of births complete with statement by the copying Rector

     We only had a couple of hours with Rev. Deane as he had a funeral to officiate but we left expressing our heartfelt thanks at being able to handle and view such a piece of history.

     Rev. Deane then offered to lead us part of the way to the Glencolumbcille and that was up a very steep and curvy road.  Once at the top he pulled over and gave us all the necessary instruction to get to the church.  The view of the countryside from this elevation was just spectacular!  We arrived and parked the car.  Even though we knew this church had been there a long time, being there really brought the concept home as some graves are only marked with a headstone with no markings at all and some are very hard to read.  We were not there long before we were met by Ann King who had some photocopied material for us and a good knowledge of the church and its history.

The interview and getting ready to say farewell to Shetland!

Wednesday June 25, 2014
     We received an e-mail that Jennifer Smith could meet us around 3:50PM so bearing this in mind went back to the archives at the Lerwick museum to do a little more searching.I looked at a variety of boats including a "sixareen"  (requires 6 oarsmen) that was used for fishing.  The fishermen would be out for days at a time and I can't imagine being in that small a boat on the ocean.  The risks were unimaginable!  The sailing crafts displayed resemble one we have depicted in a painting by an artist by the name of J. J. Sinclair and with the fact that Sinclair is a very common Shetland name, we wonder.  There does not appear to be a known artist by that name so the mystery continues.
     We packed up a little early in order to meet Jennifer Smith (the daughter of Catherine (nee Bairnson, Betsy`s sister) and Andy Smith.  She proudly brought along her two sons Keegan and Connor but we could only stay for a short time as we had been invited to dinner at Elizabeth and Leslie (Gussie) Angus`s home at `half 4`and we had a distance to walk.  It was a pleasure meeting more of Denise`s family!
     We left and walked quickly to the Angus homestead which I have already said has a magnificent view of the Lerwick harbour.  We were served a chicken stew for a main course and apple crisp for dessert.  I really enjoyed the meal and the skills that Elizabeth has as a `cookery`` teacher at the Anderson high school were very evident.  We finished dinner and Gussie had to prepare for a benefit concert to help Shetland musicians with expenses so that they could attend the Scottish Tattoo in Edinburgh.  We heard him tuning up on the bagpipes along with a student of the `pipes` that he is helping.  They left and we continued to talk with Elizabeth.  She showed Denise the website `Scotland`s People``.  It shows the first marriage of Capt. William Bairnson to Margaret Harper, both of whom descended from very old Dunrossness, Shetland families.  About an hour and a half later, Gussie returned and we talked for a while but we were both getting tired so Gussie offered to drive us home.  He took the long way home so that we could see some sights which included the harbour entrance, the Clickimin Broch , the site of the new high school to be built and a vantage point where we could see all of Lerwick before us.  This was a wonderful and memorable evening!
On another note, Elizabeth informed us that the interview is a go and that we would be interviewed at 11:00 AM at the Museum.

View of the Clickimin Broch

Spotted while walking back to the B&B.  Brilliant use of very small yard - Owner advises that he sells many containers to passersby that supplements his income.

Thursday June 26, 2014
     After another great breakfast, we were moving slowly so our host, Betty drove us to the Library to drop off our books on loan - yes, Denise is now also a member of the Shetland Library- and then to the museum so that we would be on time for the interview.  The interview was postponed so Denise finished her review of the old Dunrossness Register information.  The interview took place in the afternoon outside, first with regards to the Bairnson family search, and then Andy Steven wanted my input regarding the importance of the webcams as a tool to attract tourism.  All this had to fit into a 4 minute time slot.  Finally Mary Blance, the interviewer, wanted to do a separate interview that encompassed the subject of the Shetland jewellery that had been handed down through the generations to Denise.
     We left the museum and were walking back to our B&B when we saw some Shetland gift items in a store window.  The store was named Healthcraft and we wandered in to browse.  The person that was in the store was non other than Bernard Smith, Jennifer Smith`s brother.  We had a great chat, purchased a few items and left to continue our walk.  After the interview, we had asked Mary Blance where was a good place to have dinner and after she suggested places we had been she came up with Monty`s Bistro so we had dinner there.  The building was, just let`s say, old (centuries),  but the meal was great as we both has lamb on our last night in Shetland.  It just seemed right!
    We then returned to Leeskol (B&B) and packed everything as we were on a flight to Donegal in the morning.  Lights out at midnight.

L-R Mary Blance (interviewer), Denise Carre and Eric Carre

Denise Carre and Bernard Smith

A Special Happenstance

22 June 2014
     After a very good "Scottish breakfast" we were off to attend  the nearby church.  This church, named St. Magnus, in Lerwick, just happened to be celebrating its 150th anniversary at the Sunday morning service.  As a result, all the high level church clerics were present and participated in the service conducted, for the most part, by the Incumbent, Rev. Neil Brice.  The regional bishop and the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal church, the Most Reverend David Chillingworth,   Marvelous service as well as congratulations for the huge effort that has been made to restore the church.

Interior of St. Magnus, Lerwick

During the after service "tea and sweets" we were invited to the the final 150th anniversary celebration to be held the next day at 6:30.  The wife of the Primus, Alison, and Denise had a lengthy and very animated chat as the Primus and his wife were going to be on holiday in County Donegal when we would be there.  Our locations did not coincide so we left with a business card and a request to look them up should we happen to be in the area.  The bishops had to leave as they were to officiate at a confirmation service on the island of Yell.
We left, as we had reservations at the Grand Hotel carvery (buffet dinner) for 1:30.  After a very nice and varied meal we left and went to the Shetland Museum and Archives.  Denise was in her glory as she was handling original documents with all the appropriate care that is essential.  At 5:00PM the museum closed and we returned to out B&B for "tea and sweets" still quite full from the carvery.
Note:
The Rev. Brice was happy to share the fact that one of his predecessors, Francis Fulford. left England in the 1840's for Canada and became the first bishop of Montreal (25 July 1850)

Monday, 23 June 2014

Our hosts, Peter and Betty, informed us of their friend's malady and that she may have to stay in the B&B as the issue with her back had hospitalized her.  This was a catchup day dealing with mundane chores such as laundry.  Denise took the local transit to a launderer and did most of the laundry herself with willing assistance from the staff at what is named Manson Dry Cleaners.  Because Denise had just missed the bus she walked back to the B&B. This walk was quite a distance and tired her out.
After a rest we went out to dinner and back to St. Magnus for the final 150th celebration.  The service was most upbeat and afterwards there was a reception of typical church sandwiches and "sweets".  One thing most notable was the serving of wine or sherry at this festivity as well.  Our dinner meal had been what could be politely called awful and this was a real treat for us to end the day.  Of course, we kept the Sunday and Monday bulletins as souvenirs.

Tuesday, 24 June 2014

Out hosts, Betty and Peter, were in a much better humour as their friend was better and likely to be realeased from Hospital that day.  After another great breakfast, we were off to the Shetland Family History Society's office. We supplied information on Denise's family that happened after leaving Shetland for Liverpool to assist with their Shetland ancestral file.  We had a great time and when the office closed at noon we were served tea and "sweets" including very tasty Penguin bars.

That afternoon we returned our Canada "hire car" to Bolt's Car Hire as we were walking everywhere.  We received a refund and had a great chat about the potential family ties between Denise and John Garrioch the owner.  We also arranged for a taxi for 9:15 to take us to the airport on the 27th.

Now, we headed for the Shetland Museum and Archives.  We stopped at the front desk and inquired about the office of the personnel who are responsible for the Shetland webcams that I have observed for years.  The front desk person called up and a couple of minutes later we met Andy Steven, Destination Manager.  We believe that he was very surprised about our knowledge of, not only, locations, but also, the "in service" state of the cameras to the point that he asked us to do a brief (4 min.) interview to be broadcast on 60 North FM.  Andy Steven is to set up the time and will contact us through our B&B or  the SFHS.  On the way to our B&B we stopped and admired the beautiful King George Garden in Lerwick.  The garden is one half of the area and the lawn bowling club is the other half of the area.  The caretakers/gardeners should take a bow!!

Denise went back to the archive room to view the 1755 Dunrossness register and I wandered around the museum itself.  I came back to the archive room and added some information to the Family Tree Maker database that Denise had gleaned from the register.  We were there until closing and left to walk along Commercial Street.  We had dinner in the pub at the Grand Hotel and continued to walk along Commercial Street eventually coming to the Masonic building, the home of Morton Lodge # 89 and the Royal Arch.  This building also has a social area which is not unlike a pub.  We met several gents there and I was shown the lodge room for both the Masons and Royal Arch.  It is very steeped in history!  While I was touring, Denise chatted with Willy Anderson. about family history and the SFHS.  It was a very full day and we finally headed back to our B&B.

More Shetland: Now with a parade!

June 21
It was a slow morning as we were tired from all the cold.  So far there has not been a day above 13 C and the days have been cloudy for the most part. 
It was a slow morning so did not get out and about very early. I stayed at the B&B and e-mailed while Denise went to the Lerwick library and became a member at no cost.  The SFHS did not open until 2:00PM so Denise went and researched Shetland artists as we have two paintings from a J. J. Sinclair that we know nothing about.  Met Denise at SFHS and were told of where all the action would be regarding the parade.  We left there at 4:00 PM and went back to the B&B for tea and sweets.

We went to Dinner, later, with the intention of eating in the Grand hotel dining room but it does not open until 5:30PM so in order to have dinner and get to see the parade we had to eat in the bar.  It is the same food and the same chef so we were OK with that.  We had Shepherds pie and a beef and ale stew which were bot great.  We made it in the nick of time for the parade.  The viking costumes were splendid but the photos do not do them justice.

This is the equinox so there is a parade in Lerwick to celebrate "Simmer Dim" and get people to actually throw money at the floats in aid of the Shetland athletes competing in the Commonwealth.  My safety training saw this as a potential safety issue (shudder) but never the less that is what happened. 

The following photo has been taken at 11:30 at night so one has an idea of how light it is in Shetland.

Apologies for the lack of additional posts

I have found while travelling that the days are full of many wondrous things and at the end of each day I am more than tired.  The next day involves more wondrous things and so on.
Now I will try to pick up where I left off to give a flavour of our journey.
June 19th:  We drove to the post office in Walls and mailed home the Shetland blanket that we purchased at Jamieson's in Sandnick.  Then we drove to Betsy's home (Troulligarth) and Rose Murchison was there, a friend of Betsy's, also the mother in law of Christine Leask (travel contact at Leask Travel for our ill fated travel of 2010).  We left and went for a tour through what is called "the Alps of Aith".  It bears repeating that the roads are narrow so when travelling on the precarious roads to Aith the imaginary brake pedal on the passenger side got a good workout.  We toured Aith and saw where Betsy's daughter, Helena, went to school.  Then we carried on to Voe where there is a very old stone building pub.  We were getting hungry and pub grub appealed to us.  Here we met Clive Mouat. and he advised that the grill had been shut down until the supper hours. During our conversation, he told us he was the former owner of the pub and gave us a bit of history of the building.  This reminded me of all the classic pub scenes in movies as there were three gents there all having "a pint".  As we were hungry we continued on to Brae and grabbed a lunch at Frankie's Fish and Chips.  Hmm, I wonder what was had for the (very late) lunch that became dinner??  The scenery was not only unique from anything I had ever seen but also beautiful.  We both noted the number of abandoned and decaying croft buildings.  As this was our last day at the chalet, we could not help but reflect on the sights seen, the large number of abandoned crofts, the cool temperatures and the very hard life even modern day farmers have on their crofts.
We were home by 8:00 PM and packed for out move to Lerwick

View of Arthur Leask's boats from da Chalet.

South view of the countryside and road to Burrastow House from da Chalet

June 20th we packed the car and were ready for our landlord's (Harriett Leith) arrival.  Harriett arrived and after a brief conversation about our activities for the second week in Shetland, drove to Betsy's who was to lead the way to Lerwick.  We Had a cuppa and left for Walls where we stopped for lunch at the local Methodist church that was serving lunch, which they do every Friday during the "high season"..  Very busy with local people and we were glad to see them doing so well.
We arrived at Leeskol and met our hosts and were told that Elizabeth Angus (secretary of the Shetland Family History Society - SFHS) had been around to see if we were there yet.  We unloaded and headed round the corner for the SFHS office and after the usual introductions we had a look at the records that were available both on computer and in reference material.  The office is well set up and organized!  The are in the middle of a large project to honour those who served in WW 1 that hailed from Shetland.  Elizabeth Angus invited us over for a visit after dinner that night.  We left the office of SFHS at about 4 and returned to the B&B, unpacked, and went out to a marvelous lamb dinner at the Queens hotel.  We left there and headed, on foot, to Elizabeth's home.  The Angus home has a beautiful view of the harbour!!  We had a fine time catching up on all the questions that have evolved over the 7 years of e-mailing.  We even took pictures of me (see below) in part of the viking costume belonging to her husband Gussie as the viking heritage is a big part of the island heritage.and island celebrations.  There is great care and copious amount of labour and money spent on these costumes. 

And another day or so gone.

On the 18th it was foggy!!!!!  We were at Betsy's by 10AM.  We then headed to the south mainland to visit Andy Bairnson and Betsy's two sisters.  The first thing I was dropped off with Andy to discuss "stuff" wink, wink, nod, nod.  Betsy and Denise toured the museum croft house which had been a Bairnson dwelling.  It was a home until the early 60's by Betsy's grandparents.  We all had lunch at Andy's home.  His home is 200+ years old but has been completely rebuilt by Andy to a modern standard.
After lunch we drove to Jarlshof an archeological site dating back some 5000 years.  The tour lasted about an hour using a device that looks like your TV remote that tells a person about the settlements and their progression through the years.  We left to visit Betsy's two sisters Robina (Ina) and Catherine. Their homes were also extremely old as the writer had to keep his head down. Catherine is the family historian so Denise garnered as much as she could in the way of information.  Left there and went to Quendale mill and I toured the mill while Denise read the various submissions of family trees .  Quelle surprise.
We left when the mill closed and headed for Lerwick to get "take away" from a place called the "Happy Haddock".  We headed back to Walls and were dropped off at our car to head back to the chalet.  Most tired!

And so on

Monday, the 16th:  We had a minor computer situation as the adapter I was sold in Collingwood did not fit the 240V plugs here.  While I was able to communicate for a while the battery reading 20% was unnerving.  So we drove into Walls and caught the municipal bus into Lerwick (29 miles).  We found a computer store on Commercial street and just purchased a 240 volt power cord as the charging transformer is capable of handling 240 or 110.  So the minor issue is resolved!  We walked around .downtown and found the Tourist information centre that I had viewed via internet webcams for years.  More on that in another post, as they are presently not working. 

We stopped and took a picture.  
We visited the Shetland Family History Society (SFHS) and the volunteers.were marvelous.  It is a well organized office!.  Denise had smoked Haddock for dinner while I had something other than fish.  :-) Surprise!
Caught the return bus to Walls and drove home.  The single lane roads and the driving on the other side of the road is unnerving!.  We did stop and take a picture of the Weisdale Voe.  To use a sentence worthy of Yoda; scenic beauty it is.

Tuesday, we toured around Mid Walls (north of Walls), Betsy's husband Arthur's homestead, and to Sandness where we visited & toured the Jamieson Woolen Mill.  We saw a vast variety of Shetland wool products and have mailed one home for the rocking chair. We toured a nearby church graveyard with a WW 1 military memorial.  The location looked over a very large body of water. (the Sound of Papa)  Lovely setting!  We then went to Turriefield Farms where I toured the farm.  The noteworthy thing about this farm is they are trying to grow produce, in an environmental and sustainable way, that is not very successful is Shetland (cucumbers, squash etc) due to the weather but under plastic greenhouses they grow.  The framework for the greenhouses is discarded piping from the fish farms. There is good soil but like most of Shetland there are a lot of ground knots. (rocks).  It is obviously very hard work!!  I do admire the Robertsons for their efforts.  On the return to Betsy's home we met Christine Murchison (nee Leask) that was working at the travel agency I was using for Shetland & Hamefarin in 2010.  We had a wee chat right in the middle of the road.  Back to Betsy's for "tatties and mince".  Betsy did all the driving as this wrong side of the road has proved to be very hard to adjust to  but then again she knows the sites to see and the best routes to get there.  Her school bus driving experience does show!!

Saturday was a busy day

After feeding the "babies" and the ponies we decided to leave and wound up stopping at the Bonhoga Gallery and Cafe.  The water mill building is beautifully converted and the water that drove it is no longer dammed up.  We had cheese, tea and scones and just enjoyed the scenery.  We left and decided to do a very quick tour of Lerwick, the capital.  We briefly stopped at the museum and archives but being as it was the weekend a lot of what Denise wanted to see was not available.  .We toured the harbour, Commercial Street and Market .  The traffic being chaotic, we decided to leave as Denise and I needed provisions.  The chalet is in the middle of the beyond so food was essential for breakfaat.  We wound up in Scalloway to do our shopping.  The shop had food on the first floor and dry good on the second.  We got the essentials, toured the site of the fisheries college and laboratory (where Betsy's dughter Helena works) and finally off to Troulligarth (this is the name of the Leask croft).  We had dinner and called it a day.  Very excited about seeing all the new things but also exhausted.  One needs to appreciate the temperature differential here as the day's high as around 12/13 and our home for the week was cold!  Another coin in the electric meter and cranked up the heat.

Sunday we arrived at Betsy's around noon and had tea and sweets.  We left and after fuelling up in Bixter, we headed for Brae and later the Braewick Cafe and caravan park.  Incredible view of layered cliffs that show the ages as well as stacks in the ocean itself.  We are up quite high overlooking but the photos do not do the view justice.

Cousin Betsy our Guide Extraordinaire

Denise's cousin, Betsy Leask had stated in an e-mail  in early June, that she was quite prepared to chauffeur us around.  Well, I had no idea that she would be driving us literally everywhere as you will see in later posts.  After guiding us to the chalet, she left us to unpack and get some rest.  We followed her suggestion but first we had to put a coin in the electric box to ensure we had some heat overnight.  The temp. was about 9-10 C so heat was required.

Now, one must realize that it does not get dark at night only what is referred as "simmer dim" thus the bright daylight comes very early and our bodies were still on Ontario.time.  You have probably surmised that our bodies are still primarily on Ontario time so we were up early.  Betsy came over mid morning Saturday and had us follow her to their "croft".  We had a cuppa, talked about what we wanted to see.  In the middle of this discussion, Betsy says she has to feed the lambs.  We watched the orphan lambs being fed from a bottle.  These "babies" were having to be bottle fed either because their mother would not suckle them or the mother died.  There are no other words other than cute for them.

Betsy is in the foreground

There I am helping feed the "Babies"

Following the baby feeding the neighbour's Shetland ponies decided to make their presence felt demanding biscuits.  So we were happy to oblige!