Carly's Ramblings Blog - Style

Travels of a wee Plastic Duckling

Blogging Birthday Bastion 2024

Prompt 4. Sept 4.
Photo prompts. (Choose 1,2,3 or 4 and write fiction or non-fiction) >> click on the name

Photo prompt 1


I am torn between 1 and 2, but 1 has a story so I will go with that.

In August of 2017 I took a seniors tour as a companion with my mother and my aunt to Scotland. The first night we stayed in Edinburgh as a hotel that prided itself in leaving little ducks in the bathtub area. They were meant to be taken and our little duck friend came with us for the rest of the journey.

That trip was fabulous, but terribly quick. We only had a day and a half in which to explore. There is only so much ground you can cover in that little amount of time - especially which tours and dinners. Before our first dinner I walked out and crossed the bridge over to the other side of the tracks. We were very close to the main rail station which was crazy to look down on.

After dinner mom, auntie Kay and I went off to a wee pub for some spirits. Not being a huge drinker I sampled a Cider... or what we in North America call hard cider. It was pretty good. The pub was nothing special, but it was nice to get out.

The next day we had a tour of Edinburgh Castle, but before we got there we got a wee tour of the city. We drove right by the place where the International Book Festival was being held.... and so after the tour I walked my way back. And bought oodles of books which I had to lug around the whole of Scotland. I was lucky they didn't weigh my backpack on the flight home or I would have been paying way more than 80 Pounds to get my bags home.

I managed to enjoy a good two hours there before walking back to the hotel for dinner. On the way back I passed the Oxford pub where Ian Rankin spent time writing his mystery series. I popped in, but only to the front section of the place. I was nervous to go in alone - I can do cafes no problem, but pubs make me a little uncomfortable. I wish I had gone in to the back and sat down for a cider and maybe done a little scribbling of my own... but alas, I needed to get back to the hotel for dinner.

When we packed up to go that wee duckie got in my bag and off we went. The tour took us up through the Fourth of Fife and Inverness. We went all that way around the 500 miles taking a wee detour to the Oakley Islands.

It was a marvelous trip. I got to see so much of the place. Though one day I would love to return and take more time exploring. Glasgow and Edinburgh alone could have a week. The literary aspects of both of those places inspired me. Each so different in personality and Scottish brogue and only about an hour apart.

I also enjoyed the wilds of the Highlands. Being of Scottish descent I got to experience my roots on the ground level and that was deeply rewarding.

Somewhere in my house that wee duckling sits... so long as my mother has not thrown him out. Either way he's had quite the travels.

Word Count = 553.