14 | Cycling World
5. Places to visit 9. Memberships
The most popular sites for ancestral tourists are castles, historic houses,
and graveyards. Very few of us are lucky enough to have ancestors
who lived in some grand residence, but such places may have historic
connections to your surname. However, it is much more meaningful at
a personal level to find the site of a house, cottage or farm where your
ancestors lived – and even moreso, the graveyards where many of them
may be buried. Seeing your forebears recorded on a gravestone brings
a real lump to the throat. Do consider becoming a member of Historic Environment
Scotland, which has superseded what was Historic Scotland
(wwwhistoricenvironment.scot/). There is a downloadable
Upcoming Events guide at https://members.historic-scotland.gov.uk/
events. There may be discount vouchers for some of these, or for visits,
and you may find you have reciprocal membership with a similar body
in England or Wales. The same goes for the National Trust for Scotland
(www.nts.org.uk/).
Sometimes these are faded and hard to read, but here’s a hint – eroded
carvings can be easier to see in oblique light, so make another visit
at dawn or dusk and shine a flashlight on the carving at an angle and
photograph it for closer examination later. 10. What to pack
Do this respectfully and do not do anything that might damage the
stone itself. And try not to get arrested for lurking around graves in the
dark with a torch!
6. Visiting archives and libraries
If you do decide to spend a few hours looking up your ancestors and
their places in a local resource, do take along a hard-backed notebook
(no easily-lost scraps of paper, please!) and most important, a pencil –
most archives do not allow ink, for obvious reasons.
Make an appointment ahead of time, and let the people there know
what you’re looking for. Don’t forget the wonderful information locked
up in old newspapers.
7. Go to the local VisitScotland office
These are great places to get guides and information leaflets, and other
local information. There is a list of them at www.visitscotland.com/ as
well as details of upcoming events, accommodation, travel details and
What To Do ideas. You may be able to plan your tour to coincide with
a local festival, or plan a round of golf, a spot of fishing or a white-water
kayak experience.
There might be a whisky distillery or craft ale brewery on your itinerary
– well worth a visit, but not to be mingled with cycling!
8. Military links
Were any of your ancestors in a Scottish Regiment? If so, there is a
network of fabulous Regimental Museums around Scotland, all listed
at www.armymuseums.org.uk. A number of these have archives
where your military ancestor may be recorded. But again, do contact
them beforehand, and there may be a charge or the expectation of a
donation.
The basic rule in Scotland is “If you don’t like the weather, wait 20
minutes”! We can have four seasons in one day. So, even if it’s a bright,
sunny, Summer morning, go prepared for cold, rain, wind and every
other sort of weather short of a GeoStorm. Also remember, if you are
staying in tents, hostels or bothies (see www.mountainbothies.org.uk/),
you may need to wrap up warm at night, even in July.