NC500, 35years, and 365 Steps

Viv & Rob Kleinjan
Nov 6
12 min read

Updated: Nov 10

August ended on a high with Edinburgh Fringe with Monique and CJ, they left on Sunday 24th. Less than a week later Jack arrived. He came on Friday end of August. Rob gave him a little tour through his new office. Of course he needed to get a little beer from the draft!

Noa arrived Saturday afternoon and Hugo and Anna a little bit after Noa arrived.

Unfortunately, Robin and Armin and Ailsa couldn’t make it. We drove with a minivan 1700 km through Scotland, the NC 500, to be precise. What a stunning country we live in. I’ll sum up a few wonderful things we’ve seen.

We started on Sunday August 31^st. We stopped at St Andrews where Jack studied, he did his first master’s in economics here. We had a stroll over the famous golf courts, and then the beach. From there we went into town, and it was small. We had lunch at a pub, forgot the name, and sat at their courtyard in the sun; it was gorgeous weather. It was packed inside as football was on and that’s something you watch together in a pub.

Jack also showed where he used to work. He worked at a tourist shop and made-up great stories to the customers.

We slept in Aberdeen, had a great Korean Barbecue, Hugo and Anna did not stop eating! The next morning, we drove up north, the biggest drive of all the days. We stopped in Inverness. We saw Dunnottar Castle, we could unfortunately not get in there, it was only closed on that day. But we could climb all the stairs and go down to the sea. Dunnotar Castle’s history spans over 1000 years, evolving from 5^thcentury Pictish fortress and early Christian site to a medieval stronghold. It played a key role in Scottish history, famously hiding the Honours of Scotland from Oliver Cromwell in the 17^th century, but was eventually dismantled after its owners supported the Jacobite rebellion. Today, it is a preserved ruin and a popular heritage site.

Second castle was a real castle not a ruin. We paid a visit at Dunrobin Castle. The family Sutherland is still living there in a private part of the castle. Dunrobin Castle is the most northerly of Scotland’s great houses and the largest in the Northern Highlands with 189 rooms. Dunrobin Castle is also one of Britain’s oldest continuously inhabited houses dating back to the early 1300s, home to the Earls and later the Dukes of Sutherland.

The castle, which resembles a French château with its towering conical spires, has been the architectural influences of Sir Charles Barry, who designed London’s Houses of Parlement, and Scotland’s own Sir Robert Lorimer. The castle was used as a naval hospital during the first World War and as a boys’ boarding School from 1965 to 1972.

After we saw everything in and around the castle we drove to our next stop, the funny house near John O’Groats, that Noa found for us.

Any idea where this name John O’Groats comes from? It’s a funny story; John O’Groats comes from “Jan de Groot “ a Dutchman who operated a ferry from the Scottish mainland to the Orkney Islands in the late 15^th century. He charged a fare of one groat, this is a small silver coin worth about 2 pence, for each crossing, and his name evolved over time into the John O’Groat we know today. This day was our actual wedding day, 35 years ago, Rob and I said YES to each other. The children made a game. If you know the game Hitster, guessing music, the band or singers, and year and put it in the right order from low to high. Noa and Robin made Picster. The photos were laminated, Noa was the referee, Rob played with Hugo, and Jack and I were a team. Anna just had to watch it and enjoy these old photos. We often think in countries, with 9 countries (Rob and I) behind our name, you try to figure out the year. It looked easier than it was. Jack and I won, but it was close. These kinds of gifts are priceless!

We stayed there two days and explored the area from this lovely cottage with sea view, and with 8 single beds behind little doors. We went to the Whaligoe Steps or Haven, which was amazing. It

Is one of the most remarkable harbours to be found in Scotland-surrounded on three sides by 250 feet high cliffs, and is reached by the Whaligoe Steps which zig-zag down the cliffside. The natural harbour at the foot of the steps has been a long standing landing point for herring, salmon, whitefish and shellfish

It has about 365 steps to go down to the harbour and in the old days, 18^th century, the fisherwomen were carrying baskets of fish up the 365 man-made steps every day during the booming 1800’s.

The weather was amazing; we were really lucky this week. In the afternoon we did a whiskey tour at Wolfburn, an independent whiskey distillery in Thurso. I was the designated driver and drove five drunken people home. We had a premium tour; I think we were more than 2 hours at the distillery. I can say that this was my families favourite outing, concerning or not?!

Our tour guide was an ex-police officer, he was calm, knew everything about all the different processes of brewing this spirit, he was fun.

After the northeast coast we drove along the coast to Durness, far west at the north coast, there we did zip-lining. Anna had never done it, was a bit hesitant, but she did it! Rob drove the car to the other side and waited with Ayo for us and took a few photos. I still have two painful fingers, this happened during the landing, it was a bit rough, bumped my head and hurt my fingers, but everything in between was fun!

We stopped at a beautiful waterfall, had to climb over stones and rocks, it took only about 20 minutes before we saw it, it was beautiful! This was a nice quick stop on our way to Ullapool. This road trip, especially this part of Scotland, was breathtaking and stunning!

We arrived in Ullapool at our hotel early in the evening. We hoped to participate in a Ceilidh, a Scottish dance evening, but there wasn’t any that evening, we were two days too early.

The hotel, there weren’t many, was basic. The beds were made for people of my size or even smaller. We had three rooms, but one room had three single beds, so I decided to give Rob all the space in this tiny double bed, and I slept with Jack and Noa. The next morning, we decided to have breakfast at the harbour, like a little picknick.

It was the first chilly morning, so we had to wear coats and sweaters. We drove to Glennfinnan, to the most beautiful house of our week in the Highlands. It was near a lake, Loch Shiel, in the evening Noa and I spotted several deer. It was a petty that it was slightly too dark to take photos. We were a walking distance from Glennfinnan viaduct where we could see the Jacobite Steam Train, this train was used for filming the Hogwarts Express scenes in the Harry Potter films.

Friday night, Noa was not well, she had a running nose, sore throat and headache. Saturday morning, she stayed in bed instead of joining us to watch the Harry Potter train.

After the train we drove back to Edinburgh. First, we wanted to drive a scenic route, the route that was used for one of the last James Bond films, but that would have taken more time, so with Noa sleeping on the last row in the car, we drove the shortest way home, which still took us 3 hours. Once we were home I quickly made some snacks before Rob brought Jack and Noa to the airport and returned the car at the car rental. Jack flew early in the evening, Noa very early next morning, so she already had booked her at the Hilton next to the airport. She went straight to bed, hoping she would feel bit better in the morning. Anna Hugo Rob and I went out for tapas at a place called Tapa in Leith. This area was new for us, and it was great. It’s a harbour, in Edinburgh, 30 minutes’ walk from our house. Food was great, and we explored a bit the area. We will be back!

Sunday morning Anna and Hugo left back to Brussels. We will visit them in October.

The weekend of half September we flew to Bristol on Friday September 12^th. And slept there in a Hilton Hotel. The next morning, we took the opportunity to explore Bristol. It’s a city surrounded by water, the river Avon flows here. We saw nice indoor markets with all kinds of vendors. We can recommend beautiful Bristol, worth a visit! Shelley our dear friend from Munich years was celebrating her 60^th birthday. It was a surprise party and other friends from Munich years were joining us. I thought it was going to be a big party, and so we booked a hotel in Plymouth, near Saltash where they live. Long story short, Shelley knew we were coming, so no surprise after all and every time I had her on the phone I did so my best not to tell anything. We were with the 6 of us. In Plymouth we did a pub crawl, had a few drinks here and there. In one place were Zoë and George who just had a baby this summer, Arthur a little boy. It was wonderful seeing them.

After this pub we went to another pub before we ended up in a Turkish restaurant. It was great, it looked like we were eating in the attic of a small house, really cute, and delicious food.

After dinner we walked half an hour to go to a pub and see Shelley and Gary’s favourite band playing, a punk rock band. It was in the basement of the pub, not a big place, the music was loud of course, I decided to take off my hearing aids and Paula tried them on!

The next morning, we had breakfast in Saltash before we drove back to Bristol to hand in the car at the car rental and fly back to Edinburgh. A few big hugs to everyone and off we went again, the weather had changed, it rained cats and dogs. It took us almost 3 hours to get to the airport.

The rest of September was relatively quiet. We played golf in the weekend and during the week I played with Heather from the club. I wanted to join the ladies to play together, the only possibility was to have a handicap. She was so kind to help me to get a handicap. She’s on the board of the club and responsible for the handicap. I had to play three times 18 holes. We spread it out over 3 weeks in September. The first time I was nervous and it didn’t go so well, 120 was my score, 119 the second time and 108 the last time, which made my handicap score of 29,8, which was pretty amazing. I’m now playing winter league competition, we play Stableford and I regret that I have a “low” handicap, because someone I was playing with handicap 40, she got more points with same strokes and my game has good days and many bad days, this was very frustrating. I’m still learning, find the game absolutely frustrating at times, but enjoy it at the same time. Prestonfield Golf Club won the award of best golf club of 2025.

It’s so beautiful and is located in the heart of Edinbrugh, 10 minutes’ drive from our house.

In October we went to see three shows, two at the Play House; “River Dance” and “Miss Saigon” and we saw “War Horse” at the ……. Three wonderful shows. Only River Dance was interesting, music, show and dance were exact the same as 30 years ago, but only with younger people, it was still great to see.

A few autumn photos of the park behind our house.

On Thursday October 16^th we flew to Amsterdam, to stay one night in Zoeterwoude with Jack and Ailsa. The next day we took the train in the afternoon to Brussels, finally we were paying a visit to Anna and Hugo. We saw them Friday at the train station near Hilton hotel where we were staying. We then quickly went to see Sandy and Pieter-Henk. Our friends from Vienna years and colleague of Hugo now. Pieter Henk is a great cook, it was wonderful to catch up again.The next morning we went to see Anna and Hugo’s apartment near a beautiful park. After a coffee and tea, we went into the city and walked and walked. The interesting thing is that we lived 3 years in Belgium, near Brussels, but to be honest we don’t know Brussels so well. We were busy with 4 young children who all had busy sport programs during the weekend. Our life was in and around Waterloo. The boys only played hockey in Uccle, this is the south of Brussels. Sometimes Rob and I went to the market in Leuven on a Saturday morning, but no Brussels was not much in the picture. This Saturday with the children was great to explore and learn from them. In the evening Hugo treated us with a nice dinner at Amadeo, a spare rib restaurant, all you can eat! It was big and fully booked, had a great atmosphere and a simple menu card. After we filled our tummies with lots of ribs we walked home, good for digestion.

The next morning Hugo and Anna came to our hotel and brought us to the train station. We had all the time so we thought, because we were opposite the station, so we thought, but it turned out we had to be in Brussels Midi. We jumped on a train and just managed to get on the right direct train to Schiphol airport, with one stop only in Rotterdam.

We came home in Edinburgh in the evening and had to empty the suitcase and fill it again for the next trip, this time to Turkey for a reunion with Lagos friends. Rob flew Monday morning, I flew Tuesday afternoon and on Wednesday we flew from Gatwick to Antalya. We stayed at a Hilton hotel near the airport. The next morning we took a taxi to Side, where our hotel was. Nastyja and Patrick arrived half an hour before us. It was so wonderful seeing them again after such a long time. We waited to get our key from our room and then we chilled at the pool. When we looked around we only saw wheelchairs, walkers and walking sticks and big bellies!! We’d checked in in an eldery home…….

We were joking that they probably had bingo nights….and yes that evening everyone gathered for bingo night! The waiters and people working at the hotel were super friendly. We’d told them that there were 4 more friends arriving and so they organised a table for 8 for us. Rob and I started with a great massage in the afternoon, then we had that in the pocket! The next day I did a facial, and Rob had another massage for his back. Sil, Dana, Thil and Dennis arrived after 1am, the next morning we saw them, the group was complete! We went to the beach, managed to get 8 sunbeds together, although it was crowded, they people working there were helpful. Thursday was a cloudy day, Friday was sunny. On Saturday the 3 of the 4 men wanted to have a haircut. Pat and Nastyja had their hammam treatment. We went into town, found a barber, looked at some shops before we decided to wait nearby at a restaurant and ordered some cocktails. It was so nice to see them again and to catch up!

Nastyja had to leave in the middle of the night, around 3am her taxi came. Then Patrick left around 8:30am and Rob and I around noon. The four Dutchies left on Monday. It was a short get-to-gether but so worth!

Here you see Rob with three signs in his backpack. We have this Nigerian tree in our house, with our cities we'd lived in or the children had studied in. We didn't have London, Edinburgh and Don Papa yet. But we have Patrick who's still living in Lagos who can organsie anything you want. The guy who made it for us in 2021 wasn't answering his calls, so he looked for another artist. There was only a bit of a misunderstanding when it had to be delivered. With a lot of #%&*@#$%&*# from Patrick, he received it just in time, and it was a big surprise for us. Luckily without a problem we got it on the plane.

On Thursday evening end of October Kirsty came from Starnberg (near Munich). It was great to see her. Friday she joined me to the golf. Afterwards we had lunch at Gordon Ramsay below Rob's office. I went back home, and Kirsty and her sister Caroline went to see her other sister Audrey. In the evening we went out with the six of us, Jack her oldest son and his girlfriend Hannah. Caroline, Kirsty, Rob and I went to see Miss Saigon at the Play House. It was wonderful, but the seats were really tight. Rob could hardly sit. The show was great though.

When we were in Turkey I received a message from a friend from Geraldine. Geraldine is one of my oldest friends. She’s getting married on the 4^th of November with her partner Gerrit. I didn’t know, this is all a bit last moment decision and so two of her friends thought to organize something for Gé. The reason is that they’ve just learned that he has metastases in his spine and won’t get better anymore. They are 5 years together and are extremely happy together. I spoke to Rob if I could go. He checked the flight, and, in an hour, I messaged Pascal that I booked my flight. Saturday November 1^st first flight to Amsterdam and Sunday the next day back. The plan was to surprise her at her work. Her “boss” was the other friend who was organizing as well.

Geraldine thought she had to work, but then with the 6 of us we came in. She was flabbergasted, had no idea what was going on. Mission accomplished! After cake and drinks we did something real fun, we went to a car cemetery, and we demolished a car! With big sledgehammers we could do whatever we wanted, in orange prisoner uniforms we did a great job. We had two injured ladies. Liena and Geraldine were bleeding, then you go to the lady in charge and get a coke to ice it and a band aid. In the evening, we had dinner, 4 more friends joined. We laughed and cried, it was good to see her and hold her in my arms when she was in tears. It’s a lot to digest. Future is uncertain. I was glad that I could go!