August 19 - 22, 1961 - Tayport, Scotland

SUNDAY AUGUST 19, 1961 - TAYPORT, SCOTLAND

Arrived back here & stayed with the Wilkies again. We had a nice dinner, lots of talk & bed.

SUNDAY AUGUST 20, 1961 - TAYPORT, SCOTLAND

On Sunday Connie and I made the dinner while the boys loafed. Later we took a run in the car & did all the harbors. Crail is lovely, a spot for artists. Also visited a remodeled 300 year old house. Very nice, but $15,000 is far too much. No reservations came for our return trip so we’ll try again in the AM.

MONDAY AUGUST 21, 1961 - GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

Drove from Tayport to see about bookings. Dundee didn’t come up with anything. Cunard lines didn’t either, so Chas. chanced a smaller line called Donaldson & we just got in on a cancellation. We sail 9/12/61, arrive on the 20^th in Montreal. There will only be 48 passengers on board ship. This should prove cozy. Went back to Tayport & I must add here it poured most of the day. We’ll leave in the AM for the south again to see Trudy & George.

TUESDAY AUGUST 22, 1961 - TAYPORT, SCOTLAND & LONDON,ENGLAND

Left Tayport after breakfast & headed south on A1. Needless to add it rained most of the way. Rooms were hard to find but before leaving Scotland we drove to Edinburgh & got our mail. We hit the jackpot, 2 from Bill & 2 from Carole & 1 from Chuck & 0 from Val ($45.00 from Bill & $10.00 from Chuck to spend). We drove on until we hit London where we went to a hotel.  Called on George Price, he was out but came over later. Really a nice guy, we had some beer & lots of hot air, etc.

August 14 - 18, 1961 - Northern Scotland

MONDAY AUGUST 14, 1961 -TAYPORT & ELGIN,SCOTLAND

Left Tayport & headed north onto Stonehaven & Aberdeen, Banff, Elgin, Forres. Good. Here we put up for the night & hope to go to an auction in the AM. We did buy a nice piece of pewter in Aberdeen 0/15/0 (a small tappet hen or water jug & later got 2 blue plates). Aberdeen is a lovely city, clean & most interesting. We’re just one day late to see the royal family that traveled the same road yesterday that we are doing today.

TUESDAY AUGUST 15, 1961 - FORRES & ELGIN,SCOTLAND

Had a hard time finding a room, but got the last one in town I’m sure. The weather is cold & we had quite a bit of rain off & on. I’m going home before my legs are red. Had some beer at a local hotel and a cup of tea where we‘re staying & off to bed.

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 16, 1961 - ELGIN,SCOTLAND

Left Elgin about 1 PM but first got up and had a good breakfast, paid our bill & bought a brass kettle 20/ and a copper measure 10/ from our hotel owner. She has a couple more measures we‘ll try for on our way back. Went to an auction sale ¡n town. Got a teapot 10/ and a toby jug etc. 20/6 and a car rug 20/. It’s been a great experience. One must be fast. He who hesitates is lost. Can‘t beat the dealers!

THURSDAY AUGUST 17, 1961 - GOLSPIE, SCOTLAND

Spent last night at Golspie. We’ll be on our way early in the AM.  Hotel owner gave me a covered soap dish, toothbrush. Dad felt sorry for her & gave her a shilling. Stopped at Inverness, got in on an auction but didn’t buy anything. From here we went onto Forres where we bought a jellypan & 3 blue plates and from here on to Elgin where we got 2 brass milk measures, the same as Mrs. Sinclair’s who sold us the brass kettle and copper measure. Also in Elgin we bought a 3-legged brass kettle from an antique shop (Anderson‘s). Got a room in Aberdeen at Bell’s hotel. Tomorrow is market day & we hope to get more “stuff” there.

 We picked a lovely  bunch of heather in the highlands a part of which is on front of our car behind the plates. We’ve had rain off & on most of the day. In fact most of our trip to the highlands & north. In the AM we will leave for Perth & I think Tayport & so on south.

FRIDAY AUGUST 18, 1961 – ABERDEEN,SCOTLAND

Stayed at Bell Hotel, good room & good food. Went to the open market to meet our friend Violet Stockey, who was to get there early & grab any good deals. She wound up with 2 pcs. of pewter 1 ½ pr. candle holders, brass, a couple blue plates, 3 pc. silver set, she also gave me a lovely broach, all gold and porcelain & a cut glass perfume bottle. She‘s really a sweet person. Went onto Mrs. McPhearson‘s antique shop & spent another $15.00 on some good buys. Then we decided to go on to Braemar, saw Balmoral Castle, and around the Devil’s Elbow onto Blairgowrie & then on to Perth where we are putting up for the nite as we would like to raid the shoppes around town. We had dinner & decided to go to the vaudeville show in town. It was an all Keltie Scot show. Not really A-1 but good & loud. Some good talent. Guess it’s time to go home (I mean Calif.). The girls are beginning to look good to Dad.  Bought 2 pr. brass candle holders here & a small pewter teapot. Prices are too high.

August 10 - 13, 1961 - Tayport, Scotland

THURSDAY AUGUST 10, 1961 - TAYPORT, SCOTLAND

Went into Tayport. Chas. got the car washed & talked with some of the old Worthies. Went to the P.O. & mailed some letters etc.   Met Mr. Wilkie, they invited us to dinner & to spend a few days with them, so in we went. Had dinner at the Crosskeys in St. Andrews, a good dinner too. Later at their home, a lovely eve., and a wonderful warm home & bed. Smashing. Mrs Wilkie (Connie) is really a good egg, not a bit British. 

FRIDAY AUGUST 11, 1961 - TAYPORT, SCOTLAND

Visited more of Chas. friends. Pete Ferguson‘s wife died, a lovely person too. Also visited Mrs. Hanlin. Her husband “Eckie” is also dead. Visited Harry Ferguson & the sawmill. 

More “Worthies” here. Stayed with the Wilkie’s again, had dinner at home. Sent Judy Manclark a wedding gift, a plaid car robe from Tayport. Had lunch at Newport!  Mr. Wilkie (Anson) is past Provost of Tayport etc. Also owner of 3 stores, 2 in Tayport & 1 in Newport. 

SATURDAY AUGUST 12, 1961 - TAYPORT & DUNDEE,SCOTLAND

Took Connie to work in Newport & took ferry to Dundee, leaving our car in Newport. We went shopping in the old marketplace for some antiques. Not much luck, only a few blue plates. Mrs. Hanlin came along, had lunch in Dundee & did some shopping. Later went on a treasure hunt with the Wilkies. Lots of fun, but didn‘t win anything. Earlier in the day we went to the Fete, had tea & won a bottle of whiskey & other stuff. Gave Anson the whiskey & candy for Connie.

SUNDAY AUGUST 13, 1961 -TAYPORT, SCOTLAND

Went to church in the AM with Connie. Later tea out on the lawn, a lovely day. Then a lovely ride into the country, Perth, Pitlochry,  Queens View, etc. 

 The Wilkies came along & had tea in a hilltop hotel where every whisper sounded loud. Saw the salmonladders, Queens View, etc. Later dinner in a nice countryside hotel. Home, lots of talk, beer, tea, bed. Sure tired. Tomorrow we leave for the

north. 

August 7 - 9, 1961 - Edinburgh, Scotland

MONDAY AUGUST 7, 1961 – EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND

Got here just at 1 PM. The cannon at the castle fires at 1 PM each day. The ride up the coast was very beautiful, lovely countryside, but the “dual carriage” way stopped as soon as we left England. Chas. is out looking for a hotel. We shouldn’t have any troubles since it’s much earlier than usual.  Checked into the Waverly Hotel, not bad, but not good, just old. Meals are very good. Got 3 letters today, 1 from Carole & 2 from Bill & $30.00. After dinner we decided to go to the theatre & see “Greyfriers Bobby”, A Walt Disney movie & being shown here in town since the story concerns Edinburgh. It was a cute story & well filmed.

It is raining like mad. We got back to the hotel & discovered they sold no liquor here at all “Temperance” as big as day on the door & we never saw it. We remembered that we had a quart of beer in the car so went and got & it saved the day.  French beer it was too!

TUESDAY AUGUST 8, 1961 - EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND

Got up early & got my hair & nails done. Dad went to the American Express to put a tracer on our mail. Here’s hoping. Visited Aunt Jess & had lunch with her. We didn‘t stay late, we went shopping & bought some kilts & sweaters for the kids. Later we had dinner & returned to Rattray’s to see Charlie. Spent a pleasant eve here & retired about midnight. Still raining like H_ & it’s cold too.

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 9, 1961 - EDINBURGH,SCOTLAND

Left Edinburgh this AM after very good breakfast & headed for Queens Ferry, where we crossed the Firth ofForth on a ferry & headed in the general direction of Tayport. About noon we stopped to have our car serviced at Kirkcaldy. We had lunch & wandered around town. The stores were closed (1/2 day a week). Now we‘re on the road again & guess we‘ll get a room. The weather is wet & more coming down. Stayed at St. Michaels’ Inn, nice room but very noisy. Good breakfast, new owners here.

August 5 - 6, 1961 - England

SATURDAY AUGUST 5, 1961 - YPRES,BELGIUM to DOVER,ENGLAND

Got up this AM (Ypres) and got breakfast. Paid our bill, walked across the street and bought some cards. I addressed them & Chas. mailed them. George walked along with Chas. Went up & got packed, put the stuff in the car & came back to the hotel to bid the owners goodbye, Mr.  & Mrs. & son. They surprised us with a special treat, a good-bye drink, champagne no less. They joined us in a drink along with George & we sat and talked for a while longer. We were surprised & honored since no one else was treated like this. George said this was his first taste of champagne. Saying good-bye to George was not easy, a little old man of 65, that has neverhad any Jim until just now. He almost broke Dad‘s hand saving good-bye & to me he said “Goodbye my lady” & kissed my hand. Made me feel like a duchess. I gave him one of Dad‘s ties for a memento. We headed for Oostende & boat for Dover, England. Lucky as usual, we were the last car on & the first off (cost $33.00 for car & us). We arrived in Dover about 5:30 PM & headed for London, but got tired of driving & stopped at a small hotel just about 10 miles outside. We had beer & ham sandwiches & meat pies for our dinner & headed for bed. Dad‘s cold is somewhat better but he’s quite tired. If all goes well we should be in Scotland in the later eve tomorrow. We’ll do England on our way back to the boat, nite-nite.

SUNDAY AUGUST 6, 1961- FARNINGHAM, KENT, ENGLAND

Left our hotel about 10 AM at Farningham Kent & headed north, first through London onto 1A. the great northern route. What a tremendous improvement on the hwy. almost all the way it’s “dual hwy”, now real great driving. Since it was Sun. & everyone was going the other way to the beach, we hit very light traffic. We went north through Doucaster, Darlington, Newcastle. Morpath & now we are’ looking for a room in a very busy town. Hope our luck holds out. Chas. is tired & shouldn’t  drive so long, but he’s “dour” & wouldn’t stop sooner. Some real nice fellows gave us a AA handbook which can’t  be bought, you must be a member. All 3 were English, the fellow, that is. We had dinner along the road & it was quite expensive but on the highways they do hook you. A Swiss restaurant.  Found a room at Morpath, a small inn but pleasant. We went down to the bar for beer & it was full to the hilt. Beer drinking time is from 7-10 on Sunday. Decided we wanted a ham sandwich with our beer & they were fresh out, so a fellow in the bar offered to run down the street & pick up a couple for us. Really friendly, sandwiches were really good. Made many friends here & before the night was over they were buying beer for us. We stayed up to 11 PM, being a resident here we were allowed extra time. One of the men gave me a rose corsage. He raises flowers, very nice too. Another Scot helped us locate the proper tartan for the Manclarks. Gave us several to choose from on the side of Mann & Clark??

August 3 - 4, 1961 - Belgium

THURSDAY AUGUST 3, 1961 - YPRES,BELGIUM

Dozingham (Cemetery) -Poperinge - Decided to visit the grave of Chas. dad at Dozingham (Cemetery) -Poperinge. George Morgan, our old friend from So. Wales joined us, as he is still looking for all his “buddies” of World War I (Welsh 16th regiment). He found 4 here. Planted a flower on Grandpa’s grave. Later we visited Hill 60, a large battlefield of WWI, many of the trenches are still here. George relived his whole life here, had a picnic, like a kid playing hooky. He met some Welsh people & is going back in the AM to meet a bus full from Wales. He kept saving this was the happiest day in his life. We met a nice couple here from Holland (the Haag). They promised to meet us at our hotel at 9 PM & go together to the Menin Gate for the evening ceremony of “Taps”. This we did & later they joined us for drinks at the hotel, George too (Mr. & Mrs. Raphael).

While at the cemetery we planted a small bush by Grandpa‘s grave given to us by the caretaker. We visited a friend here who showed us around in 1958 but they were out. Later they called on us on the phone & we will visit them again in the AM.

FRIDAY AUGUST 4, 1961 - YPRES,BELGIUM

Took George & dropped him off at Hill 60.  6 buses full of people arrived as we were leaving. Hope George found some of his countrymen. We drove to Proven where we had luncheon with our 1958 friends. They grow hops & seem quite well off (Poperinge). Charles has a cold. I stuck him into bed with a couple of antihistamines. We must hit the road in AM & I want him in shape. It‘s raining again, so a good day for him to rest, until beer time anyway. Almost time for dinner.  It’s time to do some packing for the AM.  When it gets cold & rainy it‘s time to move on. I hiked around town in hopes of finding some antiques, but found none. Will try again before we leave, by car this time. We found George in a nearby cemetery & brought him back to the hotel.  We had dinner & later some beer & a walk & then bed. Want to get an early start for England in the AM.

July 28 - August 2, 1961 - France

FRIDAY JULY 28, 1961 - LABOUHEYRE, FRANCE

France sure is out to skin the Americans. A room & 1/2 dz. beer & 2 cheese sandwiches $5.00. Met 3 G.I.‘s here & boy do they hate the French. After last night I could see why. The hotel owner asked them to pay their bill before going to bed but did not ask anyone else.   Truck & car accident ahead, quite a big tie up, car smashed to bus. truck is in the ditch. Everyone hurt don‘t know the cause. Spent the eve with G.I.‘s. Had a nice time.  Drove most of the day through France. Left Bordeaux, Nantes, Chateaubriant, Vitré, Caen. We slept at Vitré, good bed and meals, old hotel. However it was clean. Picked up hitchhiker at Nantes & he stayed with us until Vitré, English lad. I was quite sick all day. Lots of gas & stomach pain. Felt better toward evening. Had a good dinner. Bought fruit for the road.

SATURDAY JULY 29, 1961 - NORMANDY, FRANCE

Here we are at Normandy & Avranches where the Normand invasion took place on June 4th, 1944. Some of the barges, cannons etc. are still here plus the Mulberry Harbor. “D” Day 6-4-1944. We are spending the night here. My camera fell and won’t focus anymore so we took it to Bayeux, a small town 5 miles inland. It will be ready tomorrow. Hope it‘s something they can repair. There’s also a museum here, which gives the history of the whole invasion, mostly with movies.

While in town with the camera we met an English man who runs the camera shop. He invited us into his back room for a beer or what have you??  We had... beer (E.W. Gunton). Our room here (F850), dinner wasn‘t bad, meat a bit tough, the rest OK. Tried to buy some antiques in a small town. She wanted a bit too much. Stayed at a small hotel on the beach, not bad, fair food, nice people.

SUNDAY JULY 30, 1961 - BAYEAUX to PARIS,FRANCE

Dropped my camera so I took it to a camera shop for repairs. My lens was broken & they couldn‘t replace them. So the man without asking loaned me one. He didn‘t even ask our name but we gave it to him. I don ‘t know what good it would do if we once left the country. But he trusted us, so we’ll return it along with a bag of corn for popping. We visited Amalia beachhead also. The American cemetery here is kept very beautifully (Omaha Beach). Thousands of our boys lie here. There’s a lovely small chapel, a memorial etc. All crosses that mark the graves are of white marble. Took some shots & picked up 2 boys, one from Texas  & one from Sweden & dropped them off at Avranches. Now we‘re heading for Paris & Papa is resting by the roadside. We checked into the Palace hotel on the Left Bank. Not bad.

MONDAY JULY 31, 1961- PARIS, FRANCE

Got a room, got cleaned up & walked for a while. Later had dinner, not so hot. stopped into a beer garden & had some beer. Went for mail & as usual there was none. Guess no one loves me. Met some people at American Express from Newport Beach. Had a nice chat & got a client for Dr. Bill.   11:00 PM went to Les Halles but didn‘t get the thrill that the book writes about. Got 2 qt. beer & went to our room, then beddie.

TUESDAY AUGUST 1, 1961 - PARIS, FRANCE

Decided to go to the Arch deTriumph & again it was closed so we didn‘t get to the top of it. However we did take a few shots then went to the American Embassy about our car & they sent us to the German Embassy. The fellow there said he’d take care of the car papers but we had to go to the hotel & get our car so that he could see it, this we did & here we sit in front of the Embassy waiting for the fellow to come down & look at our car. I can‘t understand why at the American Embassy they employ French people which makes it hard to talk to but at the German Embassy we deal with Germans, how come?? Well anyway our papers were taken care of here & we won‘t need to go back into Germany.  While driving to the embassy we decided to drive past the Eiffel Tower, it has a new coat of paint. Also drove past the Statue of Libertyon the Seine, the twin sister to our statue inthe NY harbor. Later Chas. decided he’d like some “Mussels” for dinner, so we took the Metro to Les Halles & found a French restaurant that had them, so in we went & had a bucketful of mussels, then steak & “pomme fris” & a beer each - good? Talked to a couple of students while here from Koln here on vacation. Both boy & girl are medieval students. After dinner we wandered around Montmartre, then the theatre district & Pigalle etc., the Metro back to the hotel & 3 qts of beer & beddie. Boy I’m tired.

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 2, 1961 - PARIS, FRANCE to YPRES,BELGIUM

A visit to American Express and a letter from ole faithful Carole. I’m almost cracked up to think no one else wrote so far. Only one short note from D.J. Guess if no one misses me. I’ll stay away. Back to the hotel. We paid our bill & checked out, heading for Belgium border & Ypres. Bought fruit on the way & looked at some antiques, too expensive. Came through the Belgium border & didn ‘t even know it. No one even stopped us. Arrived here & checked into an English hotel.  All very nice, clean too. Had a fabulous dinner, in fact we couldn ‘t eat it all. Later at 9 PM walked to the Menin Gate & was present for the “Taps” honoring the dead, a very impressive ceremony. It started to rain so headed for the hotel. Talked to 2 men from London & one from So. Wales, had a few beers & decided to go to bed. Chas. had a head cold.