Better Life In Fife - Glenrothes - Kirkcaldy - Dunfermline - Leven - Cupar - St Andrews

Once again, it was my wife's idea that we should head west and visit Carnasserie. In truth I had never even heard of the place before but it was where one of her ancestors had left a surviving impression long after his lifetime and it was kind like a family tradition to visit this place.

It's located in a part of Scotland I had never visited so it seemed like a good idea. A few days later, we were making miserable progress down a twenty-mile long single track road beside a beautiful loch and during the holiday weekend; dropping into passing places and making way for caravans and vehicles every few hundred yards. On subsequent visits to this region, we found it easier to head for Perth then Oban before driving south on the twisting coastal road towards Kilmartin.

McCaig's Tower in Oban, or folly depending on your viewpoint, makes Oban a unique place and where some theatrical productions are performed within the Romanesque structure in mid-summer.

Our goal was about twenty-five miles south and located in a wide glen with a large mound in the centre with Carnasserie on top. On the south side of the mound, we enter into a spacious car park and contribute to its upkeep via the honesty box. The last part of the journey is on foot, a task easily undertaken by our dog albeit on a leash because cattle and sheep are nearby. Within a half-hour, we are there and standing in the ruins of what used to be the home of John Carswell, Bishop to the Isles between 1565 and upon his death in 1572. It is here, within this building, that teachings of John Knox and the Book of Common Prayer was painstakingly translated into Gaelic and became one of the first printed works in Goidelic language.

This is just one of the places where roots of a new religious understanding began and where the differences between an emerging Scottish Protestant Nation contrasted sharply with English acceptance of Catholic viewpoints surviving the collapse of the Roman Empire in Europe.

John Carswell was a tall man in a society where most were short in stature. Upon his death, he was buried at nearby Kilmartin and where there is now a museum describing many interesting facts about the region. In the 19th century, his grave was opened and the skeleton was more than seven feet long. My late wife was also tall in stature, perhaps a heritary trait, and shared many views that John Carswell would have understood. I'm glad we made these journeys!