I may have mentioned it in other posts, but I have strong Scottish ancestry. My Dad, for instance, found after taking ancestry DNA tests that he had been 60% Scottish, which was no surprise seeing my grandfather wore kilts on special occasions in the town he lived called Aberdeen, North Carolina. One of my biggest reasons for wanting to study abroad in Scotland was to visit the lands where my ancestors once lived. The idea of it fascinated me. After living in Edinburgh for a few months, my mother did some digging into my Dad’s mother’s side. She found that she also had a strong heritage from Scotland, specifically Inveraray. I had already visited where my grandfather’s side was from, Isle of Skye, and was determined to visit Inveraray also.
I discussed it with a friend of mine, and we were all set to go. However, we learned that getting to Inveraray is a little tricky. We would have to ride a train an hour or so to a little town and then catch a bus that would take us to Inverary. Despite all of that, we were still wanting to go. So, that morning in May, we set off on our trip. Everything was going smoothly so far; the train was on time, and we found the bus stop with no problems. After waiting for a long time, I checked the time. The bus was 30 minutes late, which did not seem like an issue to us. I mean buses are late all the time for a number of reasons. Another 30 minutes went by, and we started to get nervous. My friend looked on the website to make sure we were at the right stop, and we were. Finally, we see the bus coming in the distance, filling us with relief. Then, the unimaginable happened. When I went to wave down the bus, the driver looked in my direction, acknowledging me, but kept driving.
My friend and I immediately went into panic mode, both having the what do we shock in our eyes. After about 30 seconds, I suggested we try running to the next bus stop. So off we went, running the fastest we could, desperate to beat the bus there.
Arriving at the next bus stop, we realized we had missed it. So we moved on to plan B, an alternate route. We found another bus route going to Inverary that would be stopping at a bus stop in Dumbarton. So we hopped on a bus to take us in that direction. After waiting 30 minutes at the new stop, it was clear that the bus was not coming. That was a frustrating moment, realizing the hours spent trying to get to Inveraray were all for nothing. I was hopeless, tired from all the running, and a little hungry.
We both spent the next few moments letting ourselves be frustrated about the situation. In all honesty, we were tempted to call it a day and head back to Edinburgh, but we decided to take a moment to look more into the area we were in. We found that Dumbarton has a famous castle. In fact, it was the castle Mary Queen of Scots arrived at when she was 5 to be picked up by the French to go to France. I had watched a show called Reign about Mary Queen of Scots, so I loved to see or do anything related to her.
My friend and I then headed towards the castle, stopping on the way to grab sandwiches at the local grocery store. The views from the castle were incredible. It was on top of a mountain, which did mean some uphill, steep moments, but that’s how most of Scotland is. The picture was taken on one of the rocks along the top of the castle overlooking the water.
Although I did not get to see Inveraray, I spent the day in Dumbarton. A small town home to incredible views and a beautiful castle. This day felt like a disaster at the moment, with missing two buses and being stranded. Now, it’s one of my and my friend’s favorite stories. To this day, we laugh about its craziness and reminisce about the town of Dumbarton. It’s the unplanned and unexpected adventures that you remember most; at least, that’s the case for me. So, if you are ever stranded in a small town in Scotland, do not fret because there is probably a castle to explore there. I encourage anyone reading this to be spontaneous and take advantage of the unplanned situations; they might be your favorite memories.
Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more of my adventures.
Mary Kate Burns 