We chose to head north rather than south with our days off. First stop was highly recommended by team member Sandra’s 10 year old nephew, Zach. He was right…St. Abb’s Head.

We spent a great day taking in the beauty at St. Abb’s then went back to New Battle Abbey College where we had lodging for the night. After a cafeteria breakfast with a gaggle of Brazilain students we set off for Roslyn Chapel.

Roslyn Chapel is another “thin place” (yes, they’re everywhere around here) but this one is a little different. As I stepped across the threshold, I had the familiar sensation of the weight of Christian history settling on to my shoulders like a well fitted pack. I looked up at the ornate ceiling, the exquisite beams and the multitude of carvings and I felt the tears well up. Such devotion. Such commitment and effort. So much treasure, time and talent. Yes, of course, it’s not a simple story of earnest Jesus people cooperating in perfect harmony to construct a symbol of their love of God. Right. Like that’s EVER happened. But the fact remains, this building and others like it were not built in honor of a pagan god. They were not built for love of a woman or a political ideal. For all the complexities, corruptions and greed…it was still a cross that hung above the altar. These old places of worship just get me.

But in Roslyn, you’ll find amongst the the carvings over 100 examples of the “Green Man”. A controversial image to be sure, likely having origins in pagan ideas of fertility and rebirth, but also a symbol of resurrection. As early as the second century images like this become associated with the Christian faith. I’m no expert on the topic, but based on what I have learned, I believe that the presence of the green men is a beautiful, elegant adoption of the truth of the Christian faith by my pagan ancestors. They heard about Jesus, about his death and resurrection and kind of said, “Oh! So that’s the part of the story we’ve been missing. Cool!”…or something like that.

From there, we traveled an hour west to Stirling Castle. Steeped in history, it’s not as well known or perhaps as…epic as Edinburgh…but it’s deeply significant in Scottish history.

I could regale you with many more pictures, but a Google search will return all you need and better than I took. We made a stop at Bannockburn Battlefield on the way back, then take-away fish and chips and turned in.

Got the rental car returned today with only a little drama: I have become relatively confident navigating “The Benz” around country lanes and “B” roads, but the busy, multi-laned oblong-abouts surrounding Edinburgh and in the city are a bit much. Got honked at a few times but only wound up going the wrong way down a one-way street once. Funny how people felt the need to stop their own cars and explain to me…IN DETAIL…how I had erred, preventing me from doing a U turn and correcting my mistake.

Managed to see a few sights around Edinburgh we haven’t seen before. I’ll try to share a few pics later. It’s late and my bruised ego is in need of a rest.