I also drove around a bit today trying to get my bearings and to scout some other locations nearby for the class. It was the first real rainy day and quite nice. I had lunch at an inn up by the Trossachs. Afterwards I traveled to a woolen mill for some gifts for the family.Earlier in the day I met one of Donald's PhD students, Kirsty Golding, a visiting soil scientist from China and his wife, and Clare Wilson to speak about potential research collaborations. One very interesting feature found in some of the anthropogenic soils here is a horizon of phytoliths resembling an E horizon. Clare had some thin section slides of the feature that I was able to get some images of for teaching.
Tomorrow I fly back to the United States to get ready for The NE Cooperative Soil Survey Meeting in Rhode Island next week. Bit o' travel.
Yesterday, Donald and his wife Caroline gave me a fabulous tour of the Trossachs west of Stirling. We stopped a Doune Castle where some of the Monty Python movies have been made and then drove on to visit the Woodland Trust near Callander. We next drove to Loch Katrine and had lunch along the shore. This was quite a spectacular spot. We left here and drove to David Marshall Lodge and then to Aberfoyle where I was able to meet with some of the Forestry Commission staff. Afterwards we drove to the new Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park HQ to set up a meeting for the students and were lucky enough to receive superb tour of the facility. The building is the largest timber frame structure in the UK. On the way back to Dunblane we paid a stop at the gardens of Ross Priory on the Loch. More later...
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