mcleanscotland  are local Scots who pride ourselves on showing you the nooks & crannies other tours companies pass on by.   We can show you those hidden gems even Scots do not know!  mcleanscotland of Perth tour company for vacations to Scotland here are our guides all Scottish for your satisfaction. Saints and Sinners tour of Scotland great fun touring Scottish places with Scots themselves by mcleanscotland of Perth tour company

"Saints & Sinners” Tour of Scotland

A “small group” tour with a maximum of 12 people, designed to appeal to those with a sense of adventure, and fun!  Leave behind the stress and panic of every day life; come and join us on this fun filled journey across Scotland's rich heritage and infamy!  One to remember, or forget as the case may be! As mentioned, this is a fun tour for adults only as we do visit many pubs in the evenings - children not being allowed inside after 8pm.  To make this tour extra fun, we can also arrange for kilts for everyone!  TOUR INCLUDES; 7 nights bed and fully cooked Scottish breakfasts, ferries to Mull and Iona, luxury mini coach with driver and guide, fully bound tour notes and all entrance fees as per itinerary. Cost per person:  from £995 per person based on 2 adults sharing twin/double room, single supplement available on request.  ADULTS ONLY. Costs vary due to seasonal changes in accommodation.

Day 1.   Arrive Glasgow airport. We set out for the Highlands, travelling along the bonnie, bonnie, banks of Loch Lomond. At Tarbet we head north west and through the mountain pass “rest and be thankful”  to Inveraray.  We stop here a wee while before continuing our journey to Kilmartin Glen, it is here you can see and touch history!   5,000 year old standing stones, burial cairns and old hilltop forts, just to mention a few. After sufficient time at the graveyard we head to a wee place we know, to get to this we need to cross over the Atlantic , yes – the ocean.  We stop for a nip or a beer at a traditional pub, before returning back to mainland Scotland and on to our hotel in Oban.  Day 2     a full day over on Mull and Iona.  We stay overnight on Mull. surprises in store today ... Day 3     today we take the ferry back to the mainland.  Glencoe (the valley of the weeping, or is it the valley of the dogs?).  It was here in 1692 the massacre of Glencoe was carried out; we will drive through the glen and take in this beautiful scenery.  Moving on, we work our way along the Great Glen to Loch Ness, stopping to visit Urquhart Castle.  Our day will end at Inverness. Day 4     today we visit a scene for both Saints and Sinners: Culloden Battlefield, Clava Cairns, Speyside, maybe a castle or two before returning to Inverness.  Day 5     We head down the only major road south from Inverness, we pass Ruthven Barracks, bringing us to Pitlochry where we make a visit to Scotland ’s smallest whisky distillery Edradour. We continue to Dunkeld, the Religious capital in the time of Macbeth.  Following the river we skirt around Perth and head for Edinburgh .  We arrive late afternoon early evening, book into our accommodation and relax. Tonight we are going out to eat at Frankenstein’s!  A themed pub. Day 6    a free day in our capital today, enjoy all the sights; we will give many suggestions for you in your tour notes.   Dinner, who knows, see how we feel on the night, so many choices so many places. Tonight we meet up again for something different.  We take you on a ghost tour, maybe a graveyard, or some haunted places.  Followed by, aye – the haunted pub! Day 7    half a day more in Edinburgh.  At noon we head off to Glasgow via Rosslyn Abbey, a place to remember, wonderful visit here before we end up in Glasgow .  Check in and relax, but tonight we have our farewell party. We escort you to a local pub or two we know where maybe we can hear traditional music, meet the locals, enjoy your last night with us, have a good laugh! Day 8    we bid you farewell, with a transfer to the airport and your journey home. This tour is ideal for groups (we can arrange larger or smaller numbers than shown) booking as one, if YOU have dates for 2008 - 2009 please let us know and we will see what we can do for you! These tours are very flexible!

SOME FURTHER READING ON THIS TOUR;  East Lothian, 832 AD

NINTH century Scotland didn't really exist as a unified nation. The Picts ruled over much of the east and north, while the Scots ruled out of the Kingdom of Dalriada (now Argyll) in the west. What is now known as the Lothians belonged to neither Scots nor Picts and was in a constant state of flux between the Angles and the "Picto-Scots". In 832AD a raiding party made up of Picts under King Angus (Ununst or Hungus) and Scots led by Eochaidh, King of Dalriada, were fleeing from a large contingent of Northumbrian Angles under the command of Athelstan. The Northumbrian force pursued the Picts to Markle, in East Lothian - now Athelstaneford. There they found their passage barred by the wide valley of the River Peffer. The Northumbrian army surrounded the Picts and King Angus realised he’d have to turn and fight. The night before the battle, as the forces mustered around him, he prayed for a miracle. According to legend, Saint Andrew came to him in a vision and not only promised that he would survive but also that he would be victorious in battle. King Angus vowed that if this came true he would adopt Saint Andrew as the patron saint of Alba. As the two armies met the next day it is said that a white cloud formation of a saltire - or X-shaped cross - formed against the blue sky. This highly effective morale-boost encouraged the Picts to fight on, and they triumphed on the battlefield, killing Athelstan and routing the Angle army. From that day on, the Saltire was adopted as the emblem of Scotland and Saint Andrew was indeed adopted as our national Saint.

70AD  SAINT Andrew and his brother Simon Peter were both fishermen before joining Jesus to become disciples and "fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19). After the crucifixion, St Andrew spent his life spreading the word of God through Asia Minor, Macedonia and southern Russia. It is believed that he was martyred in 70AD at Patras, Greece, by the Roman governor who ordered him to be crucified on an X-shaped cross known as a Saltire Cross. His bones were removed in the 4th century by Emperor Constantine and taken to his new capital Constantinople. Legend has it that St Rule, an Irish assistant of St Columba, was told by an angel to remove St Andrew's remains to the "end of the earth" for safekeeping. St Rule did as directed and took a tooth, an arm bone, a kneecap and some fingers from the tomb. St Rule was shipwrecked off the east coast of Scotland near a Pictish settlement at what is now St Andrews and where he took up residence. While the story is speculative, what is a matter of record is that by the mid-8th century a religious centre was founded in the area of St Andrews by either St Rule himself or the Pictish King Ungus (731–761). Another version of how the bones came to Scotland has Acca, Bishop of Hexham, a renowned collector of relics, visiting this religious community and bringing the bones with him in around 732. The bones were placed in a specially constructed chapel until 1160 when they were removed to the newly built Cathedral of St Andrews. Medieval pilgrims travelled to view the relics here and it soon became established as the religious capital of Scotland.  During the Reformation, on 14 June 1559, the interior of the cathedral and, it is thought, the relics were destroyed by a mob led by the Lords of the Congregation who - fired by the teachings of John Knox - destroyed many Roman Catholic buildings in Scotland. Scotland was to remain without relics of the saint for many years. Then in 1879 the Archbishop of Amalfi sent a small piece of St Andrew's shoulder blade to the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland. In 1969 Pope Paul VI gifted more relics of the saint to Scotland with the words "Saint Peter gives you his brother." These can be seen at St Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral in Edinburgh.

In the eighth century, Bede wrote of Whithorn as a shrine established three centuries before his time: "an episcopal see, called after S. Martin the bishop, and famous on account of the church where he rests in body, along with many other saints. The place belongs to the province of the Bernicians (Northumbrians) and is commonly called The White House. It received this name because he built the church there of stone, not a common practice among the Britons". Archaeologists have established that, in the fifth century, the early Christian settlement at Whithorn had contacts with Gaul, a sophisticated church hierarchy, and was importing fine wines and pottery to a thriving and literate community, which was in touch with a movement of Christian ideas and art coming from Europe and beyond. As such, Whithorn is quite possibly Scotland's earliest town. Later, in the middle ages, the burgh thrived as the shrine was visited by Scottish kings and queens, from Robert the Bruce to Mary Queen of Scots, and by thousands of pilgrims. Our tradition of welcome is 1500 years old: come and experience it!

St. Ninian and Early Christianity in Whithorn Historical evidence : Whithorn's real fame rests on its claim to be the location of the first Christian Church in Scotland : although overshadowed in popular imagination by Columba and his church at Iona, Whithorn's claim to be the first church in Scotland was substantiated as early as 731 AD by the Venerable Bede who wrote of Whithorn and St. Ninian or Nynia, in his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum: the Southern Picts "a long time before.. (565 AD, Columba's ministry) embraced the true faith as the fruit of the preaching of Ninian, a Briton, a deeply revered bishop and a man of great sanctity". Archaeological evidence : In the 1980's, a renewed effort was made to discover the archaeological evidence for the existence of a Christian site at Whithorn, with dramatic results. There had been excavations in the preceding century and in the post-World War II years, but most had focussed on the area round the crypts and within the bounds of the Priory, at the top of the hill. In 1984, the proposal to build sheltered housing in Whithorn just below the crest of the hill, on what is now the field open to visitors, led to an excavation which uncovered exciting evidence of many periods of occupation. From the period which we could call "Ninianic", say, from around AD 450, there was evidence of trade with countries of the Mediterranean, which recalled the traditional story of contact with Gaul; together with evidence of technological advances in metal-working and agriculture, as well as the testimony of the carved stones (housed in the Museum) this pointed to a literate, highly organised and sophisticated people settled in Whithorn in the early Christian era. The excavations also established that during a period of Northumbrian influence, Whithorn first became a pilgrimage centre, where visitors to the shrine of St Ninian sought cures ; the church from this period is now marked out on the site which you can visit. In the 9th century a fire, caused either by accident or malicious act, destroyed the church. Whithorn also came under Viking influence and from this period, archaeological evidence suggests that cats were farmed for their skins and finely decorated antler combs were manufactured. The great Whithorn School crosses with their characteristic round heads and interlace decoration were carved during this period.
 

Prehistory As a landmass easily accessible from the sea, Galloway inevitably has a long history of settlement from prehistoric times. It has significant remains from prehistory.

Barsalloch Fort - Mesolithic and Iron Age Some of the earliest evidence of human occupation in Galloway was found on the raised beaches north of Monreith. A celebrated local archaeologist, Bill Cormack, did a great deal to discover and pursue these findings, which date back to 6000BC. There is parking and access to the fort.

Drumtroddan Stones and Cup and Ring markings - Bronze Age Car parking available beside the farm Drumtroddan consists of two possibly connected features dating from the Bronze Age : a group standing stones are at about 400m from the cup and ring carved stones, and the summit of the Fell of Barhullion (surmounted by the remains of an Iron Age camp) may be the focus of this grouping. Cup and ring markings are common in Galloway, as also in Ireland, Brittany and north West Spain. They are marked on the Ordnance Survey maps, but please bear in mind that some are on farmland, where there may be no formal access agreements. You may also see cairns on various summits in the Machars, sometimes built by walkers or shepherds, but occasionally these are the remains of burial cairns, often robbed for field dykes and building materials.

Isle of Whithorn fort and promontory forts - Iron Age Even the casual walker on the grassy peninsula at the southernmost point of the Isle cannot fail to notice the features of the landscape which seem to be man-made. The lower field past the children's play area shows signs of possibly mediaeval rig-and-furrow cultivation, but as one climbs across the regularly shelving steps up to the white-painted Cairn, one is going back in time to the Iron Age, when the extremity of the peninsula was a promontory fort, along with other sites particularly along the Western coast of the Machars from Burrow Head northwards. Archaeologists working at Whithorn have hypothesised that if the Isle was already a stronghold, the church at Whithorn might have grown up within the lands and protection of a local chieftain, though no excavation as yet has taken place at the Isle fortified site. After Whithorn's development as a Christian centre, the fort might have been reused during the Dark Ages to protect the monastery's thriving trade by sea.

Rispain - an Iron Age farm steading For many years, local antiquarians supposed that the impressive earthworks at Rispain were of Roman origin, with their virtually square design. Modern understanding of the Romans' limited intervention in Scotland, and recent excavations have revealed that Rispain was in fact a fortified farm of the native British people, containing several roundhouses, and with room for a settlement of families and animals. It may be visited by parking at the farmyard and passing through the kissing-gates to the causeway leading into the site.

Mediaeval - Barhobble church: NX 310494 A lost chapel, with both Dark Age and mediaeval remains has been found at Barhobble in Mochrum parish. The remains which have been left open for visitors to see date from the 12th century and comprise a church used prior to the construction of a church building at Mochrum. The Dark Age cemetery, which surrounded the earlier church here included evidence of pagan symbols and practices, which may have continued alongside Christian practices.

Chapel Finian, Mochrum, NX 278 489 On the coast road north of Port William are the remains of an 11th century chapel, possibly used by pilgrims on their way to Whithorn. St. Finian was a major influence on Columba and there is evidence that he may have come from Galloway. A version of his name also recurs in other towns, such as Kilwinning.

The motte of Druchtag and Cruggleton - Norman / Early Mediaeval Just outside the picturesque village of Mochrum stands the motte of Druchtag, a deceptively steep earthwork, which would once have been surmounted by a wooden defensive structure, of a type brought to Galloway through the influence of Norman settlement. Druchtag was in fact the first monument to be taken into state care, thanks to the influence of Sir Herbert Maxwell of Monreith, who was the first landowner to volunteer antiquities for custodianship by what eventually became Historic Scotland. Thanks to him too, Wigtownshire was the first shire to be documented in the monumental series of Inventories of Ancient Monuments, first undertaken in 1912? The stone castle at Cruggleton too would, as we know from excavations undertaken there in the 1970's, castle, with its associated earthworks, would have replaced predecessors in wood and other materials. Presumably, the road leading from Whithorn and named "Castlehill" may refer to Cruggleton Castle, for many years at the centre of power struggles between the lords of Galloway and powerful interests, including the Bruces.

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