Scotland the Brave was excited about getting to see Scotland because that is the country he is named after. But after looking about London, his Guardians got on a bus and set off the wrong way! They set off west to Stonehenge and then onward to Bath in Somerset and Exeter in Devon.
SEA-DOGS of Devon: Next day, they drove even further the wrong way to Plymouth in Devon. Scotty looked about in hopes of spotting a sea going dog. In the days of Queen Elizabeth I, privateers* or ‘Sea Dogs’ set out from Plymouth to the Spanish Main* where they captured vessels, stole treasure and infuriated the King of Spain.
One such sea-dog ( or possibly a sea-duck) was Sir Francis Drake. He was the second sea captain, or duck, to sail around the globe.* Also, Sir Walter Raleigh, who looked for El Dorado but returned, to the world’s great misfortune, with tobacco instead; Martin Frobisher sought the North West Passage around North America.; and Sir Richard Grenville took the first English colonists to North America in 1585. All these Sea-Dogs fought a giant Spanish Armadillo. Scotty wondered where the King of Spain found an armadillo that could float. And why would anyone want to fight one?
PLYMOUTH HARBOUR: Our travellers boarded a boat. Scotty wondered if they were going to sail over the Atlantic Ocean bound for the New World like the Mayflower had, long ago. Or, maybe they would prowl the Spanish Main. But it turned out to be a quiet cruise on the harbour. The day was sunny, the wind gentle, the clouds mere wisps in a blue sky. Scotty settled back to enjoy the sights. There were big, long buildings looking out over the water. Apparently, they were built in the ‘Wedding Cake’ style. Scotty wondered whether the Wedding Cake style was edible.
Plymouth has a long military history and there are several forts. The big one is in the photo above, to the right. This one is still in use by the army. There were naval warships in dockyards and alongside berths (Pic below) . Oddly, here were no few cranes or unsightly stacks of containers visible and so, for a port, it was a pleasant place to see.
CORNWALL and Scones. After the cruise, they drove EVEN FURTHER west across the Tamar River to Cornwall. They drove alongside the original bridge designed by Mr Brunel who was a famous maker of bridges and ships.
Polperro in CORNWALL: Eventually, they arrived at a tiny place called Polperro. This old village is built on the steep sides of a small inlet from the ocean. This was the sort of inlet or cove favoured by smugglers in the 1700’s. They smuggled brandy, silks, brandy, tea, brandy and more brandy. Scotty kept a close eye on the little boats. Could smugglers be lurking in them? Could a stash of brandy be hidden there awaiting discovery by an inquisitive small bear?
SCONES: But most of the people sat in the tiny shops and ate scones with cream and jam or, in some cases, scones with jam and cream. Scotty’s solution to the age old question of whether the cream goes first and then the jam OR the jam first and then the cream is as follows: eat, in any order, all the cream, all the jam, all the scones.
Polperro is a very pretty place and nestled among green hills with lots of trees. Scotty was most impressed by the number of trees all over England.
Guardian Mark would have liked to go to further west, deep into the old fabled Arthurian kingdom ruled by King Mark from Tintagel Castle. To Scotty’s great relief, didn’t. Instead, they headed back through the gentle contours of the countryside to the Tamar River and crossed back into Devon.
BUCKFAST ABBEY: Here they visited Buckfast Abbey in Buckfastleigh. Abbeys are thin on the ground in the Australian landscape. Scotty was soon to see Abbey after Abbey in olde England. Some were in ruins, like Glastonbury, and others were magnificent. Scotty felt that Buckfast was a very fine Abbey.
It was a peaceful place too. After the usual wandering about and exploring and taking of ‘selfies’ (and ‘scotties”, in Scotty’s case) and finding of coffees, most of the group from the tour bus* settled down to relax and simply enjoy being in the garden.
In the next episode, Scotty visits the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey.
- The privateers provided their own capital in the form of ships and men in return for official permission to wreak havoc on the Spanish Main. When confronted about this ‘permission’ by Spanish ambassadors, Good Queen Bess would deny all knowledge. Then she would pop down to the harbour to knight a dog or two and take a huge slice of the plunder.
- Spanish Main: Spanish Florida and New Spain (modern-day Texas, Mexico, all of Central America, to Colombia and Venezuela on the north coast of South America.)
- The first sea captain to circumnavigate the globe was, of course, Juan Sebastián Elcano (Not Magellan, who died on the way but yet in death mysteriously takes the credit.)
- Scotty and the Guardians were on a Trafalgar Tours bus.
BOOKS with Scotland in them (our Scotty, that is)
Scotty is the star of a very special book called When A Brave Bear Fights Cancer: A Get Well Soon Gift by Carola Schmidt. In the book, Scotty a little bear who gets a bad sickness called cancer. He’s worried and often scared because cancer is scary. But the doctors and nurses and other patients help him. The book is to help kids feel much more brave when they are getting treatment. It’s available in paperback and Kindle. Look for the brave little bear wearing trews on the cover.
Scotty in books by Mawson
You can also see Scotty in all the books by Mawson. One is called It’s A Bright World To Feel Lost In (in that one he delivers the post) and another is She Ran Away From Love (he delivers the post again.) In Dreamy Days and Random Naps you can see him being a king and also a superb guitarist. Don’t miss that one! This is what the books look like:
Mawson’s Guardian says: You can find Mawson’s books on this Link here, and on his Writer-Bear Page on Amazon.
You have wandered into Mawson Bear’s web-den. Mawson is a Ponderer of Baffling Things (between naps) and the Writer-Bear of It’s A Bright World To Feel Lost In and She Ran Away From Love.
‘This little story made me well up. A lovely, poignant story with delightful illustrations.’ Jackie Law, Amazon Top 500 reviewer, about It’s A Bright World To Feel Lost in.
The book brings back such nostalagic memories that it made it comforting, like a old security blanket.’ FNM Book reviews about Bright World.
Mawson Bear 