The Best Castle to Date

Here you see Craigmillar Castle, a medieval castle located only about 2 miles from where we are staying on the outskirts of Edinburgh.  You know, I've visited a LOT of castles on my trips to Scotland, but I have to say that I think this is my favorite.

Because Cromwell never had an opportunity to ruin it, Craigmillar is actually a well-preserved property with a tower house, inner courtyard and a large garden area surrounded by a stone wall.

I was enchanted with it the minute that I walked through the gate.

Walking through the entrance added to my delight.

The trees growing in the courtyard just seemed so cozy.

The rain kept coming in waves while we were exploring the castle and the grounds, but there were plenty of roofed rooms that had survived all of these years.  So, Marty and I would just wait out the rain until it cleared, then head out to enjoy the views.

Look closely and you'll see Edinburgh Castle towards the left of the photo, with Arthur's seat on the right. 

Here's a lovely view of the courtyard from the top of the castle.

And a view of the chapel ruins

Mary, Queen of Scots visited Craigmillar when she wanted peace and tranquility.  It's easy to see why this castle would be a haven for her.

The only downfall  of our visit was a brush with a pair of pigeons, who, unbeknownst to us, must have been nesting in one of the rooms.  I went to walk through the doorway  when one of the birds came flying directly towards my head.  I ducked and darted off in the opposite direction.  Marty stuck his head in the room, only to be startled by another pigeon who was obviously quite unhappy with our presence. That was enough to convince us to stay out of there!

I just think that we were fortunate that we didn't choose that particular spot to run into when the rain began to fall.  Who knows what our fate would have been?

The next stop on our list was the Glenkinchie Distillery.  The place wasn't that easy to find, hidden among the farmland of Midlothian, but we eventually found the place and headed in for a delightful and informative tour of just how whiskey is made.

The tour ends with whiskey tasting, and I must admit, that the single malt lowland whiskey, aged 12 years, was the first that I've tasted that didn't burn going down.  Not that I would be considered to be a Whiskey connoisseur by any means.  In fact, I generally can't stand the stuff.  But, I could see partaking in just a "wee bit"  of this stuff on occasion.  

Our last stop of the day, and of this trip, was at Rosslyn Chapel. 

This chapel was built in 1446 by William St. Clair and took 40 years to build.  The inside is filled with ornately carved sandstone depicting many stories from the Bible.  I cannot begin to describe the detail that is presented on the walls, ceilings and columns inside this building.  The ceiling in itself is a marvel to look at.

No photography was permitted, so I am sorry that I cannot share the beauty with you.

Rosslyn chapel became quite famous when it was featured in the plot climax of The Da Vinci Code.  The chapel became inundated with thousands of people, taking them quite by surprise.

As a result of this sudden interest, the chapel proprietors found themselves making quite a profit, and they decided to invest the money in a bigger and better, "state of the art" visitor center. 

From my viewpoint,  here's what state of the art will get you:  

Square bathroom fixtures. Certainly a first in my book. How about your's?

A Puffin Surprise

 With the weather boasting a bright blue sky this morning, Marty and I decided to make a trip to the East Lothian Shore, just along the southern edge of the Firth of Forth, before it reaches the North Sea.

Our first destination was Dirleton Castle.

The castle itself dates back to the 13th century .

Climbing to the top of one of the turrets offered a spectacular view of the surrounding farmland.

But there is one feature that makes Dirleton Castle truly unique:

It has the longest herbaceous border in the world.

Not that I ever realized that such a competition even existed, but if Guinness says it's so, then who am I to argue?  I will admit, that it sure was lovely!

We were quite taken by the charm of this town

and we soon found ourselves the only patrons in a small tea room, enjoying fresh baked scones.....mine served with scrumptious cream and jam.

We were soon joined by a local woman who stopped in for a bite to eat on her way home from an art lesson that she had just finished taking.  It was quite obvious that she was very excited about pursuing her artistic talent, as her face lit up as she went on to tell us that she had been sketching a live model today. 

Being the only customers in the place, the waitress became quite interested in the conversation and curiosity got the best of her. 

She politely asked the woman if the model had been dressed.  The woman said no.  

I'm not really sure if one's eyes can pop out of one's head, but the waitress's eyes came darn close to it!  Looking quite shocked, she gulped and asked the woman,  "Do you mean  NUDE?"  The woman nodded, to which the waitress, whose jaw was nearly on the floor at this point,  responded, "The man just stands there with no clothes on while you draw?"

The woman waved her hand, chuckled, and said, "There's no way a  BLOKE would do something like THAT!  These are young women that we draw....students from the University".  The waitress seemed a bit relieved at this point, and Marty and I were trying to stay composed as we felt very much as if we were part of one of those British Comedy  sitcoms.

We left the place still chuckling, and headed out along the coast towards yet another castle:  Tantallon, located just east of North Berwick.

This castle stands on a bluff that jets out as a peninsula  in the spot where the Firth of Forth meets the North Sea.

The views from this place were outstanding:

 Directly out from the castle, one can easily view Bass island:

Can you guess why that rock looks so white?  There are over 150,000 pairs of white birds nesting on it.  

But, what we found to be very exciting was the spotting of a pair of Puffins on the rocks below the castle. 

Ok, so I'll admit that they aren't that easy to see here. This is the best that my camera would let me zoom in.  But Marty and I watched them for quite some time, excited by the fact that we finally were able to see Puffins after not spotting one on Inchcolm island.

Before heading back to our B&B, we ventured half way up North Berwick Law, which offered spectacular views of the Firth over to Edinburgh in the distance in one direction, and of Tantallon Castle in the other. Here you can see the castle in the distance.

We didn't make it to the top, as the terrain became too steep for my foot to be happy.  So, I'll leave you with a road view of the top, which features the bone of a whale jaw.

I haven't a clue why that is up at the top of this "Law".  

But, one thing is for sure.  It sure is easy to spot while one is driving around.  It's just too bad that it isn't as easy to reach!

But despite failing to reach the destination, we found ourselves with a nearly picture perfect day. 

Could we ask for anything more?  I think not.

The Search for the Antonine Wall

After a leisurely breakfast at our B&B, we bid fond farewell to our lovely host, Laura, and headed towards the town of Bo'ness to visit Kinneil Estate.

The beginning of the Antonine Wall is located on the property behind the estate.  It was built after Hadrian's wall, by the Romans, in an attempt to lay claim to even more land.

Having seen photos of Amy walking Hadrian's Wall, I expected to find something similar, but this wall has not been preserved, probably because it never really held the property line between Scots and Romans for a very long time.

Our hunt led us to this:

I'll admit....it's not very impressive.  Luckily, the wall was not the only exciting feature of Kinneil.

A castle once stood on the grounds, belonging to James Hamilton, the man who actually ran the country as regent while Mary, Queen of Scots was just a baby.  The entire building was scheduled to be demolished in 1930 when someone found beautiful painted ceilings behind the plaster.  The ceilings were identical to the ones that are in Sterling Castle.

It turns out that James V visited here, often, with his daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots.  He loved the ceilings so much, that he had them duplicated at the palace.

The rooms are kept without lighting.  Only the light that enters through the room is available for viewing them, because light will destroy them.  So, unfortunately, I have no photos to share, but you can take my word for it when I tell you that they were very impressive.

Oh, and let me mention here, that a man named Roebuck brought James Watt to Kinneil Estate to improve the steam engine that was used to pump the water out of the coal mines.  Oh, and while I am sharing exciting historical facts...a man named Black discovered Carbon Dioxide in the area as well as Sulfuric Acid, which was used to dye fabrics.  

Come to think of it, we did pass Dow Chemicals just a mile or two from this place.  Perhaps there is a connection...

We traveled on to Falkirk where Callendar house stands.  The Antonine Wall runs through this property as well, although I had difficulty managing to see it myself. 

The house is filled with history and there were some lovely rooms, but most of the house is set up like a museum with a history of the town of Falkirk.

We decided to head to our B&B, since Stacey had a very early flight out of Edinburgh on  Monday morning.  I must say, that we couldn't beat the view from the room.

In the background, you can see Arthur's Seat in Holyrood Park.  With the weather finally breaking, we decided to head out to the park and take the hike around the upper level of the mountain.

We walked along the ridge just above those yellow flowers.

We could see the castle in the distance.

How lucky were we, considering that it had rained nearly everyday up to this point?

And, how lucky is Stacey, that she is headed home, after cold, windy, rainy weather in Edinburgh to a forecast of 8 inches of snow?

But, it's a lovely day outside today, so Marty and I are going to enjoy it!

Day out in Stirling

Yesterday morning, we hiked up the hill behind our B&B which leads to a path that runs along the back wall of the castle through the woods.  It pops out just at the bottom of Stirling Castle, making it well worth the added effort of climbing upwards to get to our destination. 

Although the castle stands with  the original walls and structures, the inside has undergone a major refurbishing  with the National Trust making every effort to duplicate what the interior would have looked like in the time of King James IV.  While walking through the grandiose rooms, ladies-in-waiting and pages greet the visitor, and give one an idea of life in that time period.  

We were admiring tapestries in the King's Greeting Room that were on the wall, when the guide mentioned that they were copies, and that two more were being made to complete the collection, so that the room would stand as it had been when James IV would have been greeting important officials.

I inquired about the original tapestries and was quite surprised to hear that they are displayed in New York City's Metropolitan Museum. Once purchased by the Rockefeller family, they were donated to that museum.

I find it kind of crazy that  the National Trust is paying to duplicate tapestries to showcase Stirling Castle in its original grandeur while the originals are sitting in an American Museum.

I'll leave you with some photos that I took while walking through Stirling:

Above, the Wallace Monument stands in the distance.

And, we managed to get in some fun photos when Stacey wasn't looking.

Stacey would say that we were being ridiculous.  But, hey, we should be able to have some fun, don't you think?

The Beauty of Fife

We bid farewell to Kirkcaldy this morning headed to the destination of Kellie Castle.  With atlas in hand, google directions in my lap, and Marty behind the wheel, we managed to find the place, back a long drive, off a very narrow road deep in the countryside of Fife.

We walked to the entrance, only to find that the castle didn't open until 12:30.  We decided to take the little nature walk around the castle, and head to the tea room, which opened at 10:30.

Along the walk, we discovered this very clever idea of a "Bird Hide".

Inside that ivy covered structure is a long bench and on the opposite side of this photo is a window, only partially covered with ivy, where one can peer out and catch a glimpse of the birds fluttering to and fro.

Stacey was very excited about this, and she was able to take several photos of various birds as they came to the feeders.

All of these were taken through the little openings in the window of the hide.  Is this a clever idea, or what?  Of course, it helps that there were just the three of us and no one else traipsing through the woods to scare the birds away.  So, we were actually quite lucky to show up so early.

Well, come to think of it, this place is pretty remote, so I'd find it difficult to believe that throngs of people would show up there.

After admiring birds for about 20 minutes, we decided to head to the tea room, where we were greeted by an extremely friendly woman who was so excited to meet someone from America!  She just thought our accents were so lovely!  Once we spotted the fresh, home made scones, Stacey and I had no doubt what we would be partaking. We placed the order for the scones with butter, jam and cream, and ordered a pot of tea.  

The woman went to the table where the scones had been fresh baked, and we watched her picking through the stack on the plate.  Finally she says, "I'm tryin' ta find the biggest ones for ya".  After she picked the perfect scones, she said that she would take them back and fix them up for us.

That photo doesn't do the scone justice.  Stacey and I called it the King of Scones.  It was filled with butter, jam, and a very thick layer of whipped cream.  All on a freshly baked fruit scone, which was so tender that it melted in your mouth.  I should stop before you start drooling onto your computer.  

By this time, the castle was open, and we could tour through the house, whose last owners were the Sir Robert Lorimer  family.  Two of the sons were quite famous, one of them, Hugh, being an architect, and the other, Robert, a rather famous painter.

The castle was filled with all kinds of interesting items, and it even included a small chapel that the Sir Robert  had installed in the one turret, after they converted to  Catholicism.  No photos are permitted of the inside, so, unfortunately, I cannot share the beauty that we were able to admire.

 The gardens were spectacular, and besides being ornamental, we spotted many plants that were growing to be harvested in the summer. I must have counted half a dozen varieties of rhubarb alone.  I had no idea that there were so many types.

Our destination for the day was Stirling, but I had planned one more stop for the day, which was kind of on the way.

Once again, we found ourselves traveling along small country roads, admiring the spectacular beauty of the Kingdom of Fife.

Marty stopped by the side of the road, so that Stacey could get a couple of shots of sheep.  There had been two cute little lambs, munching the grass by sticking their heads through the fence, but once Mama spotted us, she gave out a large BAAA which obviously meant "Get over here , NOW!", since the little lambs frolicked away before she could get a photo.  

Thank goodness for the National Trust of Scotland Brown Signs, or we would never have found this gem among the hills of Fife.

It's called the Hill of Tarvit, although I can't say that I know the history of the name.  This beautiful manor home was built in 1906 by a man named Schwartz who had made his fortune in Dundee in the Jute Industry.

He had a huge collection of antiques, and he wanted a place to showcase them.  So, this lovely house was constructed  with each room built to reflect the time period applicable to the antiques in the room.

It was designed by Hugh Lorimore, and many of the inside features reflected the interior details of Kellie Castle.  

This house stands out in the lovely countryside of Fife.  We walked down the road to admire the beauty of Ceres in the distance.

And, as if this isn't stunning enough, add to it sheep grazing in the field with the view of the town in the background, 

and you just can't help but be overwhelmed with the beauty of it all.

It was time for us to journey to Stirling.  With the rain falling rather heavily, it took us much longer than expected to reach the destination of our B&B.

We were warmly greeted by Laura, the owner, who brought us tea and tasty treats upon arrival, even though it was after 6:00 p.m.

What you see is Stirling Castle illuminated at night.  I took this photo while walking back from dinner to our B&B, which, by the way, stands at the foot of the hill of the castle.  So, while I am writing this, I can look straight up and see the back of the castle.

Now, if that isn't "cool", I don't know what is!