THE ASHES TOUR

My brother and I went to Ireland and Scotland in May of 2016 to visit some family members we hadn’t seen for 30 years. It was so special to see all of their faces again. We decided to bring my Mom and Grandma’s ashes back home, seeing as they were both born in Scotland we thought it would be appropriate. We kept the whole trip light as my Mom’s humor wouldn’t have it any other way.  Although there were lots of moments of emotional release and heart opening connections which was exactly what we needed for a sense of closure and moving on to the next chapter.

After our adventure through Ireland for 4 days we came back to spend another night with our cousins in Glasgow and shared our stories with them. Then headed out on our journey to set Mom and Nanny (our Grandma) back into the earth. We had no solid plan to where, a few spots came to mind but we mostly allowed an open path, open heart and open mind with the guide of the universe and the spirit of our Mom and Grandmother to lead the way.

Below is a break down of the spots we picked for the ceremonies. The dates go in chronological order and were written by my wonderful brother Jay Moritz.

Day 1

 - The first leg/day1 of this tour takes us on a 350km (5 hour) drive from Glasgow to Portree (on the Isle of Skye)

 This drive however, was broken up over two days with our first day ending in Inverness.

A not so direct route to Portree, but a direct path to our past and subtle memories of our trip here 30 years ago.

 - Glasgow to Inverness took us 3 hours/ 275km.

- B&B in Inverness

- Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness

 Day 2

 With another brilliant day of weather, we set out to our destination of Portree, which took us through Glen Coe

 - Inverness to Portree is a 2.5hour/181km drive.

 On the way to the Isle of Skye, we came upon Eilean Donan Castle (in Dornie, built in the 13th century)

A nice surprise along the way, as it brought back clear memories for me from being inside of it 30 years prior.

Nice to see and hear a bagpiper as we took it in.

 The last time we were on the Isle of Skye it was a ferry ride to get across, whereas this time, it was a drive over the 'Skye Bridge'

 - Skye Bridge opened Oct.16, 1995

- Crosses from Kyle of Lochalsh on the mainland to Kyleakin on the island.

 We made it to Portree in good time and stopped for a quick lunch before heading north to the Trotternish Peninsula and a steep rocky hill called The Storr (elev. 674m)

- Portree to The Storr (15min/13km drive)

 We parked on the highway (A855) and hiked for close to an hour up into these steep rocky hills that overlook the Sound of Raasay.

The area around the sharp cliffs is known as the Sanctuary, fitting given the reason for being there at all. This is where we found a great spot for our first 'Ashes Ceremony' 

With no affordable accommodations in Portree and area, we set our destination for Fort William and proceeded back to the mainland.

Once again, we came back through Glen Coe and felt it was a place that was calling out to us for another 'Ashes Ceremony'

Another one hour hike up into the corrie of Bidean nam Bian at the Three Sisters of Glen Coe on the south side of Glen Coe

lead us to a waterfall where we performed another 'Ashes Ceremony'. On our way down we heard the bagpipes through the valley (coe). 

A long and emotional day came to an end in Fort William at a very nice B&B

Day 3

Fort William to Glasgow with a stop at Loch Lomond was the plan for the day.

- Fort William to Loch Lomond (4.5hrs/310km)

Our 3rd 'Ashes Ceremony' had us stopped along the shoreline near Duck Bay of Loch Lomond. This of course was a favourite spot of Nanny's when she was younger, and a place that Mum was always very fond of.

From Loch Lomond, we carried on driving for another hour in to Glasgow and back for a few nights visiting with family before leaving Scotland.

Day 4

This final ceremony of the ashes tour takes us on a walk from our Great Aunt Chrissie's home in Glasgow to Riddrie Park Cemetery to the gravesite of our great grandparents Buchanan and Thomas Boyes.

We each (Chrissie, her daughter Anne, Aly and myself) took a handful of the remaining ashes and spread them before the grave marker.  

This was a fitting close to the 'Ashes Tour'

 Homeward bound with a sense of peace in my heart.

To conclude to Jay’s sharing of this, I wanted to say that the whole trip was moments of synchronicity.

A couple days before flying out we had a grand tour of Glasgow that our cousins Linda and John took us on. We walked everywhere, checked out the old buildings, street art, pubs, some good local beer and cathedrals. The part that stood out the most was our special moment on the Clyde river where Linda felt she hadn’t yet had a closure. She found 4 white feathers on the ground as we were walking and we each took a feather and said a prayer and peace to the life of Ann Moritz and Margie Moritz as we dropped the feathers into the Clyde. My Mom collected white feathers as a good luck symbol and kept them in a little jar. This moment was very special for all of us to experience together. Speaking of synchronicity, prior to this event we got lost driving into Glasgow on our way back from the ceremonies and as we were driving over the Clyde river the passenger song came on "Feather on the Clyde" the beginning goes like this, "there's a river that runs through Glasgow...." where we got lost and ended up was the old house my Grandma (Nanny) grew up in and my Mom was almost born before rushing off to the hospital. Such a remarkable moment, as Jay and I released some tears and hugged each other.

What a beautiful way to end the journey to Scotland.