After thoughts of my trip.

One of the lovely Ladies from the trip has sent me the link to her PhotoBucket site and I have put some of the photos here, they were taken by Pauline, and a link to her Blog is in my Links list titled Too many hobbies. The Fraser insignia is important to the trip, as it is the crest of the main character, Jamie Fraser, of the Diana Gabaldon books that the tour was based on. Je suis prest means "I am ready". The books start after the second world war and Claire and her husband are having a second honeymoon in Scotland, where they married. Whilst out picking flowers and herbs, claire comes to a group of standing stones (the photo of all of us at the standing stones at Clava Cairns are similar to those in the book), she 'falls' through the stones and finds her self in 1743 in the lead up to the battle of Culloden (the photo in costume is outside Culloden House where we stayed for two nights). She ends up having to marry a young Jacobite called Jamie Fraser, and the romance starts as love blossoms, the series of books follows these two characters to and beyond Culloden (picture of drawing of the battle is above), and the most recent book sees them in America in the lead up to the Civil War with their grown daughter Brianna. There is so much to these books and I would recommend them to everyone, you will be hooked! The books are: Crosstitch (or Outlander in U.S), Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross and A Breath of Snow and Ashes. I am waiting avidly for the next book to come out, but sadly I think it will be the last in the series.
Looking back through all the photos I took and that Pauline took has set me on memory ride, and I so wish I was still in Scotland on the tour, surrounded by all the fab people you can see in the photos. I have some of my best memories of that trip, and the people I met I will always remember, and cherish, each in different ways. We all had a common bond in the books as to why we were on the tour, and the fact that we actually liked each other was such a bonus. Judy who runs the tours is a fabulous Lady, and such fun, full of knowledge and with a great love of Scotland. Kris, our Driver, well we couldn't have asked for better. He was so friendly to all of us, and so easy to talk to, he was the cherry on the cake that was the trip! And I wish love and luck to Bonnie and Sybil, Pauline, Ruth and Lynette, and Jack, who all made this trip so special by just being there and being themselves.