The McLennan Trail

Kintail Cemetary

Kintail Cemetary

Eileen Donan Castle

Poor House at Auchtertyre

Balmacara House

Plockton

Breakfast was served in a lovely sunroom and was as yummy as we had all anticipated.  As predicted it was foggy and drizzly and looked like that was the way it was going to stay for the day.  That did not deter us though on our quest today.  Today we were heading to the area where it is believed our McLennan ancestors lived in the late 1800's.  As such it meant scoping out churches and graveyards all along the way.  The boys and I decided we were in the Mystery Van looking for ghosts and solving the mystery of where's Christie and Alex McLennan.  This path took us all along Loch Ness to the west coast of Scotland.  It was a windy, narrow, busy road that was single track in some places - once again Dave did a fabulous job driving.  The scenery was spectacular and lots of photos were taken - what beautiful places to be laid to rest.  We found many McLennan's, most of whom were named Donald or Farquhard - not who we were looking for.  We stopped at Eileen Donan Castle - it is beautiful and in a striking setting.  We opted to just have a look around, taking photos and checking out the gift shop.  Stops were made at Auchtertyre - at what was the poor house that we believe Alex died at (Poppa's great, great Grandfather), Balmacara - where Christie and Alex were Married and Balmacara house where Alex's brother Rodney lived before immigrating to Canada, Eurbusaig where Christie Died and Plockton where Christie was born.  All these places were very small and scenic.  In Plockton we were told that there is a man still living in the village that would know the history and could perhaps verify the details we know about Christie.  Unfortunately he was believed to be away in Inverness for a funeral and so we left our contact information and hope to hear from him.  Strangely, by coincidence, we had parked right in front of his house.  The boys enjoyed Plockton, the tide was out and so we did some beach combing, finding shells, beach glass and even 2 jellyfish.  I got to poke around in a few more craft stores and Grannie and Poppa found the cemetary, so we were all happy.  All these places seem so remote, but there was lots of traffic and we found it very hard to find places to park any time we stopped.  In Plockton there was a Rigatta going on so that may have been why it was so busy there.  On the way back we stopped at a cafe called the Jac-o-bite and from the outside it looked a little sketchy, but turned out to be a diamond in the rough.  A gorgeous view, great service and awesome food.  The boys were getting a little silly and so I took them out to the van while Dave stayed back to pay and was serenaded with the sound of Irish Whistles and great belly laughter.  It was a fun, but long day and we all crashed when we got back.  Photos to follow, too tired to download.