Background information

In preparation for my trip to Scotland, I read a book that I would like to recommend.  It's called Where's Me Plaid? A Scottish Roots Odyssey by Scott Crawford.  I was drawn to the book because Scott Crawford set out to do something similar to what I plan to do, visit mostly off-the-beaten path places of my ancestors.  The book is both amusing and informative.

Being a Crawford, Scott Crawford is connected to William Wallace on Wallace's mother's side, so he was looking for information on the Crawford family.  I am supposedly also connected to William Wallace on Wallace's Crawford side, though I don't know exactly how.  According to some internet sites William Wallace was a first cousin to Sir Roger Kirkpatrick (or as my husband refers to him, "the stabby guy"), and Robert the Brus was a third cousin of Sir Roger.  The Robert the Brus is an easier connection to see as several generations earlier Ivone Elliott de Kirkpatrick married Euphemia de Brus, whose family descended from the Viking earls of Orkney.

The visiting the ancestral stomping-grounds is part of the fun, but in addition, being a Harry Potter fan, I'm planning on getting my Harry Potter fix as well.  I'm also hoping to work in a visit to the Glamis and/or Cawdor castles from the play Macbeth.  While Macbeth was a real person and not nearly as horrible as depicted in Shakespeare's play (in fact he was well liked), neither of these castles really existed in the time period in which he lived (as Scott Crawford explains). 

My journey will start in Edinburgh, then go to Loch Ness, Oxford, Dumfries, and the Orkney Islands, with a lot of other places in between.  By the way, the castle pictured above is Caerlaverock Castle, one of the two Kirkpatrick castles I plan on visiting.  This one is in ruins (the back walls are knocked down); the other one has Kirkpatrick's from the Spanish line living in it, but they offer tours.