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Our Year of Adventure
We drove into Galashiels (the "big city" close by) to have a little walk around the centre and to buy some groceries for the dinner. After lunch David's dad had planned a nice Tiki Tour for us around some of the sights in the Borders. The first stop was Scott's View - apparently Sir Walter Scott always stopped here to admire the view of the rolling hills (the Eildons) and the River Tweed below. The legend also says that at his funeral his horse stopped at the very same place to admire the view before he agreed to continue on. From there our journey continued on to Dryburgh and Jedburgh Abbeys.
As we walked through the streets of Jedburgh we noticed that all the shop windows were boarded up and couldn't understand why. We turned the corner and saw what could only be described as the start of a huge brawl with loads of people looking on. It turns out it is traditional game called Hand Ba' (handball) played annually by the town locals. With an apparent lack of rules, the objective is for the Uppies and Doonies (people from the top end of town and the bottom end of town) to get the ball to their opponents end of the town. The ball is recent modification to the game...it was originally an Englishman's head that was used!!
After all the excitement it was time for some afternoon tea and sweet Scottish treats at Teviot Smokery. We drove back through Kelso also with an abbey and beautiful old town centre. Through the car windows we saw the huge Floors Castle - home of the Duke of Roxburgh. The drive continued back to Melrose through St Boswells and Bowdenmoor where David finally got to see his beloved Belted Galloways (black and white hairy cows) from the Lowood Farm.
To give David's parents a little taste of Lapland we cooked reindeer stew with mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam for dinner, washed down with some Spanish temperanillo red wine. As dessert we had "rahka" - fresh berries with whipped and sour cream flavored with vanilla.
As we walked through the streets of Jedburgh we noticed that all the shop windows were boarded up and couldn't understand why. We turned the corner and saw what could only be described as the start of a huge brawl with loads of people looking on. It turns out it is traditional game called Hand Ba' (handball) played annually by the town locals. With an apparent lack of rules, the objective is for the Uppies and Doonies (people from the top end of town and the bottom end of town) to get the ball to their opponents end of the town. The ball is recent modification to the game...it was originally an Englishman's head that was used!!
After all the excitement it was time for some afternoon tea and sweet Scottish treats at Teviot Smokery. We drove back through Kelso also with an abbey and beautiful old town centre. Through the car windows we saw the huge Floors Castle - home of the Duke of Roxburgh. The drive continued back to Melrose through St Boswells and Bowdenmoor where David finally got to see his beloved Belted Galloways (black and white hairy cows) from the Lowood Farm.
To give David's parents a little taste of Lapland we cooked reindeer stew with mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam for dinner, washed down with some Spanish temperanillo red wine. As dessert we had "rahka" - fresh berries with whipped and sour cream flavored with vanilla.
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