The Ultimate Scottish Vacation: Day Five

Forres/Darnaway Forrest: If you follow your ancestory you may find a few surprises. Day Five took us to the places where our family originated. We walked the streets of Forres, a very nice and quiet town. We found bowling greens and a ruin, Sueno's Stone.

Click the picture of Sueno's Stone to go to website that details the stone.



We enjoyed the sunny day in Forres. We then traveled just a few miles south to Darnaway Forest. It is there that one of our ancestors, Alistair Cumming was made legendary by jumping a chasm to escape an ambush of the Randolph family. The place is called Randolph's Leap instead of Alastair's Leap because Robert the Bruce hated our clan so much. The Comyn family were rivals to the throne and Bruce killed the clan chief, Red Comyn, in a church in Dumfries. It led to an escalation of genocide that involved taking our family land and killing our clan members.



Playing pipes at Randolph's Leap

Here's me piping at Randolph's Leap last year. Since the trip in 2003, I learned to play the bagpipes. I was determined to return to Randolph's Leap and play the pipes for Alastair. "Courage" our clan motto is clearly testified by Alastair and his legendary escape.
Click the picture of the castle to see all the sights from the castle site.


Dunphail Castle is the castle of our clan. Alastair was trying in vain to get to the castle when he was trapped in a cave. The rest of the family were burned out of the castle and everything ended badly for the Cumming Clan.

The Castle is on private property and difficult to get to. But I'm sure if you contact the family you may not have a problem. You can find the castle on a map but it will be labeled a ruin.


Here's a link to the story of Dunphail castle and other ghost stories.


Click on the video below and see our first try at getting to Dunphail castle and day five of the Utimate Scottish Vacation.