You welcomed this stranger who came to your country, helped and assisted me and showed me overwhelming courtesy, kindness, patience and generosity. Politicians in the past and the present have tried to undermine the confidence of the American people by telling you that they 'Can make America great again'. I find this totally unnecessary as America was great, is still great and will continue to be great, not due to its resources and beautiful landscape but due to its people to whom I owe a great thanks. Needless to say and to echo your General MacArthur 'I Shall Return'.
There may be readers of this blog who are interested in the statistics of my trip so here goes.
Distance travelled by rental car: 5,500 miles
Distance travelled by rail: 4,000 miles
Distance travelled by foot: Over 200 miles according to my fitness tracker. Seemed a lot longer in the hot weather.
Highest temperature encountered: 116 degrees Fahrenheit, 47 degrees Celsius (California)
Lowest temperature encountered: 68 degrees Fahrenheit, 20 degrees Celsius (California)
Number of Bed & Breakfasts and Hotels stayed in: 18
Number of friendly Americans encountered: Probably in the thousands
Number of unfriendly Americans encountered: 2 but they were being unfriendly to others, not to me
Number of photographs taken: Over 5,000
Number of Winaladder Blog cards handed out: Over 150
Number of visitors to the Blog: Over 1,000. In the rankings USA was first, followed by the United Kingdom with Canada a very low third. Come on Canada, was this because I only spent two hours in your country? I will try and spend longer next time.
Number of beautiful sites visited: Uncountable
Number of deadly rattlesnakes encountered: 1, which was one too many
Number of cute chipmunks encountered: 4. Guys, please, please try and stay away from the deadly rattlesnakes.
Number of places I will not re-visit: 1. I'm sorry Vegas, you and me just didn't hit it off. Maybe we just weren't compatible.
Amount of weight put on during trip: 4 pounds. Sorry Arby's, that weight gain is all down to you
Since you have allowed me to take so many photographs of your great country I thought you might like to see some of the photos from my area.
Forres has a long history, first mentioned by the ancient Romans in 200 AD. It became a royal burgh in 1140 AD. It has a population of over 12,000 and is around four miles from the Moray Coast and 30 miles from Inverness.
This is the Forres Tollbooth in the centre of Forres High Street. It used to be a courthouse and jail and is now a visitor's centre.
This is Sueno's Stone. A Standing Stone erected by the Picts around 800 AD. It is the largest surviving Pictish Standing Stone at 21 feet. It is said to be the site where Macbeth met the three witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth. Forres is actually mentioned in the play, so it probably was well known in Tudor times.
Below are some photos I took at the Forres Highland Games in July this year.
Two visitors to the games dressed in 18th century Highland costume. They were from Canada and are great fans of the Outlander TV series.
Members of the Elgin & District pipe band warming up before the competition. Notice the gentleman in the first image holding up a sound meter. Perhaps volume is important in winning competitions or maybe it's how you tune up bagpipes.
Member of the Glenfiddich team throwing the hammer.
This young man is throwing a weight over a bar just like the one used in the pole vault. It is similar to a kettlebell and weighs 56 pounds. I have a 17 pound kettlebell which I can just about raise above my head!
The following photos are from the Dava Way, an old railway line which used to run from Forres to Grantown-On-Spey and is now a 24 mile walking route. It's my favourite walk and every two years hosts the Ghost Train Walk where walkers set off at 10 pm and walk back to Forres in the dark. I have done it twice and the incentive to finish the walk is the cooked breakfast provided near the end.
The Dava Way in Autumn (Fall)
Dava Way in Winter
Near the Dava Way is the beautiful Loch Romach, taken here during heavy snowfall.
This is the Dallas Dhu Historic Distillery next to the Dava Way. It is now closed as a distillery and operates as a popular distillery visitor's centre. Dallas Dhu means 'Black Water Valley' in Gaelic.
This is Scurrypool Bridge next to the Dava Way.
Divie Viaduct on the Dava Way.
This interesting sculpture next to the Dava Way is to commemorate Jess the collie whose owner lived in a nearby croft (cottage). When she wanted supplies she would telephone a shop in Forres and the shopkeeper would parcel her order up with a large bow on top and give it to the train driver. When the driver got near he would slow down, sound his whistle and drop the parcel off. Jess would come running down to retrieve the shopping. Sometimes Jess had to make several runs after a big order. And you thought Amazon were first with home deliveries!
Thank you for taking the time to read this post and any other posts you have read on this blog and on my other blogs.
Goodnight.
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