An early start with Niven's car arriving to pick Berrie and me up at 08.30. What a help that was. Quick stop at The Paragon, where everyone was getting ready to put all our luggage on the coach too and then off to the Lords to be there to greet everyone and organise the guides.
The coaches were a little late because of the traffic but suddenly they were all there together and Niven appeared out of nowhere and began handing out the Sinclair baseball hats. The guides sorted people into groups and soon the tour of Parliament began. I roved between groups and pointed out the mosaic in Central Lobby of Queen Margaret holding the Holy Rood and the family connection. With that over, which everyone seemed to enjoy, we got on the coaches in high spirits to head North.
Niven, Rory, Berrie and I all took a coach and I just hoped we had not left anyone behind. A slow journey out of London because of the traffic but the motorway was clear. A ten-minute pit stop at a service station followed by a longer stop at Leicester for a late lunch. We started showing them the videos - "Sinclair Castles", which Niven and I had put together, and Andrew Sinclair's "The Secret Scroll". (This turned out to be a three-minute trailer for the main film and was a slight anticlimax but got a laugh and some interest as to what the full film would show).
Some dozed, some talked and some just thought about what they had already seen and wondered how the Gathering would continue after such a start. Time dragged a little but it is a long journey. A further stop for an early supper at the last service station that could accommodate us all in reasonable time.
We took the Carter Bar road and soon the scenery and the nearness of Scotland began to perk people up. We stopped at Carter Bar (the border) for five minutes for air and to admire the view.
What was that noise? Yes, the pipes were out already and there was David Sinclair Bouschor (Ex President USA) with his Sinclair tartan bag closely followed by Rory (Secretary Canada) playing us "home". The mood changed and we were all back on a high. The first of the tears started, a few hugs - made all the more poignant by looking across land that once had been part of the Sinclair "empire".
We were tired but happy when we arrived late in Edinburgh. The two coaches that were meant to go to the Capital Moat House got there and the two for the Mount Royal also made it with all the right people aboard. We had transferred to the Mount Royal at short notice as the Apex had been flooded and our rooms were unusable. All the luggage finally reached the right rooms.
There was no food available at the Mount Royal so some just collapsed while others went out in search of liquid and solid refreshment. A small party of us found an underground bar with a "live group" and the conversation ranged from "how much do they get paid for this" to "they must do it for free" to "they must pay to be allowed to perform". All good fun and so far no disasters.