So Much For Romance

Does the title intrigue you?
Well, you'll just have to read on to discover its implication.

In the meantime, I will admit that this morning, we did NOT awake to sunny skies.   In fact, it was overcast and dreary, but we didn't let that dampen our enthusiasm.  We knew how lucky we had been to have the glorious weather for such a long streak.

We had a delightful breakfast at the Arden House where Norry and Jenny were once again gracious hosts and happy to have our business.

Then, we headed out on the road towards North Queensferry, where I had booked a room for our last night's stay.

We decided that we would stop at a few places along the way, the first being Killiecrankie.  Here stands a beautiful wooded gorge that is steeped in history.  In July 1869, the first battle of the Jacobite uprising took place here, with the English falling to the Jacobites in about 3 hours time.

This spot is known as the Soldier's Leap because an English soldier did just that: He leapt across the rapids in order to escape.

That leap took place just behind that large rock formation just about in the middle of this photo.

A huge battle may have taken place here hundreds of years ago, but today, this is all preserved woodland and a tranquil area to walk through.

A retired train trestle, built in 1865, continues to stand near the gorge.  

Here you can see it on the left in the distance:

Isn't that an awesome view?

While Marty was absorbed in the history, I was scoping out the birds at the feeders.

Here you see a Coal tit.

And just look at how beautiful this Great Tit is.

He was feasting on peanuts that have been placed behind that mesh.  I thought that was a pretty clever idea, as the birds seemed to enjoy working the nuts out.

While we were there, we just so happened to run into Red Squirrel's Scottish family.  Marty introduced himself,

And I gave this fella a great big hug.

He was happy to hear that we keep little Red busy in our backyard during the cold winter months.

Moving along, we drove into Pitlochry just as the sun decided to pop out and greet us.

We had been here a few years ago, but it was cold and rainy at the time, and I can honestly admit that the sunshine definitely makes it look much more appealing.

We walked around, briefly, then headed out once again, making a quick stop at the Blair Atholl Distillery.  

After all, we had to get our Whiskey passport stamped!

When would this opportunity come up again?  

Plus, I hear that you can't purchase this particular type of whiskey in the United States.  (Don't you just love all of these practical excuses for stopping here?) 

Once again, I agreed, with the stipulation that we NOT tour the facility.  My wish was granted.

I took a photo of the front to share with you.

Are you wondering what the structure in the front is?  Well, it is a replica of the top part of a Copper Still.  I immediately knew what it was due to the number of distillery tours that I have taken.  but it dawned on me that some of you blog readers might not have any idea of its significance since photos are strictly forbidden on any distillery tours.

Obviously, there is a lot more to the still structure, but you'll have to use your imagination for the rest. 

During our brief stop, I was a bit surprised to see that a wedding was taking place on the grounds. I'm not quite sure what I think about saying wedding vows surrounded by whiskey.   I'll let you make your own judgement on that.

Well, it was time now to head to our hotel in North Queensferry.  We had a wee bit of an issue getting to the place due to a huge diversion, as the Scots call it.  In other words, the main road was all ripped up.  But we managed to find it, check in, and drive back out to attend 5:00 Mass in Inverkeithing, where we had attended with our friends Isobel and Patrick in the past.  (Unfortunately they were away on their own holiday this trip).  

The readings all centered around marriage, which certainly tied into our reason for being here as we were finally celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary. And what a lovely trip it has been!

Now, onto the subject of this blog:  Since our friends who own the Roods were on holiday,  I chose the Queensferry hotel as our final destination simply because I envisioned a room overlooking the lovely firth.  

I figured that we would enjoy the sun setting over the Firth of Forth while relaxing on our last night here.  I took advantage of the special rate for Bed, Breakfast and Dinner.  

Well, after finally managing to maneuver the diversion, we arrived at the hotel to find a huge wedding reception taking place.  Lots of kilts and bagpipes, and Scottish dancers.  What fun!

Little boys, dressed in kilts seemed to pop up just about everywhere.  The elevator door opened, and out jumped 3 little boys.  The next trip up we decided to forego the elevator and take the stairs instead. We were on the way up and down came 3 little boys.  

It seemed that there were little boys in kilts around every corner, all with LOTS of pent up energy.   Makes me wonder what happened to the little girls?

In any event, we checked into our room, which is large and actually quite nice.

I headed to the window to take a peek at our "special' view, and here is what I saw:

Are you wondering what that is?

Well, it is the construction for the new firth bridge, which will be a suspension bridge upon completion.  They started working on this years ago, and I was under the impression that it was finished by now.  Obviously, it is not.

Marty did find it fascinating watching the men at work, but I convinced him that dinner was calling us.  We actually did have a fabulous evening meal, which we thoroughly enjoyed since we had nothing since breakfast.

And, I decided to splurge on Sticky Toffee and Date pudding for dessert.

I found it to be well worth the calories.

After dinner we headed up to our room, where we can hear that the wedding reception is still going strong.  

Music from the 70's era is blasting.  Actually, the entire crowd seems to be singing along to "I Love You Baby!" as I write this.  

I think little boys are still running around.  

And, it appears that some of the wedding guest just might be sharing this floor, as there is a lot of LOUD activity going on in the hall.

But I'm not complaining. This has been a spectacular trip and one that I'm sure Marty and I will have fond memories to hold for many years to come. 

And we'll have this Romantic view from our room to add to the collection!

That and shouts of "I love you baby" echoing in our heads!

I hope you enjoyed our adventures.  Thanks for tagging along!

Exploring the Sites of Scotland

Can you guess what we saw yesterday?

Snow?  Yes….but only on the far distance mountains.

Castles?  You betcha!

A man with a mattress?  Nope….and that was probably for the better anyway.

I have to admit that the arctic blast has definitely hit and the temps were pretty frigid.  

So, we bundled up and headed out early for a short drive  to Huntingtower Castle.  

This castle was previously known as Ruthven castle, and it has a unique history surrounding the kidnapping of James the VI of  Scotland (who became James the I of England) at the age of 16.  He was held there for 10 months prior to escaping, and he was not so kind to  the conspirators, including the owners of the castle, as a result of their successful plot.

The castle is very well maintained, and features a remarkable original painted ceiling.

But there is another story associated with the castle which I only learned while touring the castle,  that I would like to share with you bloggers.

This castle once consisted of two towers, one square and one L-shaped.  It was built in such a fashion as to have a "house" for two families, namely brothers, who had originally lived on the property.  The towers were separated about 3 meters in length.  If you look at the first photo, take note of the middle part of the castle where there are 4 windows, 2 on each floor.  That part of the castle was not yet constructed at the time of the story.

There was a young maiden named Dorothy Ruthven who lived in the castle with her family in the square tower of the castle.  One day, a young man came to visit, and Dorothy's mother gave him a room in the L-shaped wing of the castle so that he could rest there for the night. During the course of the evening, the story goes that Dorothy quietly snuck up to this young man's room.  Unfortunately, the maid spotted Dorothy as she entered the room, and immediately went running to Dorothy's mother to inform  her of Dorothy's inappropriate behavior.

Needless to say, Dorothy's mother was in a rage at the news, and went running up the steps of the wing to confront the couple.

Dorothy, however, realized the danger she would be in if they were discovered, so she darted out the window, ran to the edge of the tower, and leaped across the 3 meter length to the tower where her own bedroom was.  Dorothy would have jumped from just about where I stood to take this photo to the round tower that juts out.  Remember, the middle part was not yet built at that time.

She somehow managed the jump unscathed. In the meantime her mother, when her mother arrived at the guest's room, she found him fast asleep, or at least he appeared to be.  

Not quite satisfied, she ran back down the steps, out the door to the other tower, up the steps, only to find Dorothy blissfully sleeping in her own bed....alone. 

Dorothy's mother was relieved at the sight, and went off to bed with no worries about the young couple.

The next day, Dorothy and the young man eloped and, according to the legend,  lived happily every after.  No one ever said what happened to the maid.  And I'm not quite sure what "happily ever after" constitutes in Scotland.....particularly back in that time period.  In today's world, I'd say that the young miss would have made quite an Olympic long jump athlete, though!

Here's how I look at it, Dorothy probably figured that she could die from falling and possibly break her neck, or she could risk having her neck broken by her mother if she was found out. So the jump was certainly worth the risk to her, and apparently all turned out well in the end.....according to the legend.   Great story to start the day, don't you think?

After our visit at the castle, we headed to Dunkeld, a small town on the Tay, where we were surprised to find quite a crowd of people. Apparently some type of festival was going on,and we were lucky to be able to find a parking spot so that we could check out the town.

It's a charming little town that lies along the River Tay.  The National Trust bought up a series of properties in Dunkeld, and they have been well preserved.  One of the houses still holds the "ell" on the side of the building.

The "ell" is a measure of length which was used by the scots for fabrics, etc.  The Scottish ell was standardized in 1661 at 37" long.  The ell faded into obscurity with the imposition of the metric system in 1824.

"Gie 'im an inch, and he'll tak an ell"  was a famous expression back in the day.

We walked around the town, checking out some of the sites

And Marty made a little friend:

Then, we hopped in the car and headed east to Glamis (pronounced Glams) Castle.

We were awed at the site as we drove down the lane towards the car park.

                                   

Look closely and you'll see the snow capped mountains in the distance.

This was the childhood home of Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.  Elizabeth was the daughter of an earl, and this is where she grew up.  She married George, who became King when his brother Edward abdicated the thrown in order to married a divorced woman.  If you saw the movie, the King's Speech,  know that is the story about King George.

It interesting to note that the royal family considered Elizabeth to be a commoner.  I can't imagine living in a place like this being very common.

Our tour guide, Linda, was fabulous.  There were only four of us on the tour, and she admittedly gave us much more information than would have normally been given on a tour.  In fact, the next tour, which would have begun 1/2 hour after our's, was right on our tail, and Linda had to keep asking them to wait just a wee bit longer.

Unfortunately, once again, there was no photography permitted in the castle, but take my word for it when I tell you that it was spectacular.  I couldn't help but smile when Linda pointed out two small wooden chairs next to the huge fireplace in the one room.  She mentioned that the Princesses Elizabeth (now the queen) and Margaret would often come to this house to visit the grandparents.  The "wee" little chairs were for them to sit upon.  Of course, they would have had wee little Royal cushions on them so that their wee little Royal bottoms would be comfortable.  Of course!

On the way out of the castle, we had some entertainment from this Highland Cow (pronounced Coo).

The clever guy was quite adept at turning his head and working his horns through the wires so that he could munch on the freshly cut grass on the other side of the fence, only proving that the grass was much greener on the other side.

After our delightful tour of the castle, our travels took us to Stonehaven, which is located right on the North Sea.  We had a fabulous dinner in a nearby restaurant.  The owner of the B&B had booked a table for us on the second floor, overlooking the water.

 Can't say much about the view since it was already dark, raining, and the moon was hidden behind the clouds.  

But I can tell you that dinner was Fabulous!

Another fun day in Scotland

Did you ever notice the large signs along highways that light up and flash important information as you drive along?   Usually they warn you of possible congestion or hazardous conditions.

Well, today, as we drove along the M90 on the way to Perth (remember...pronounced Pear-th), we passed two such signs lit up along the highway.  Each said Snow Report.

We waited in anticipation for more information, but the sign never changed.  Sure, the temperatures are cold as a result of the Arctic blast hitting the area, but the sun was shining and the skies were a brilliant blue, so we're not quite sure what snow the sign was reporting.  We were kind of left hanging.   At least I can tell you that we've seen nary a snowflake where we are.

But speaking of signs.....I'd say this one pretty much takes the cake, as they say:

Sure seems kind of bazaar to me.  I have the suspicion that the man with the mattress has been alerted to the fact that someone is looking for him.  

But he must be doing a great job hiding out with his mattress, because the sign was still in the alert stage several hours later as we walked back from dinner.

It's hard to come up with an equally exciting description of the day in comparison with that last sign story, but we did manage to get to Scone (pronounced Scoon) palace and tour the rooms that were opened for viewing.  No interior photos permitted, sorry to say.  The place was really grandiose and actually has the longest hall in all of Scotland.

The castle is signficant since it once held the Stone of Scone (Interesting analysis here:  This is pronounced the Stone of Scoon....not the Stoon of Scoon).  This stone was famous because it was used for the coronation of the Kings of Scotland through 1296.  That's when Edward I stole it and had it placed in Westminster Abbey.   He, obviously, is not favored here in Scotland.

The stone has since been removed to Edinburgh Castle.  Whenever a coronation will take place, the stone will be pulled out and moved to England for the ceremony in order for the tradition to continue.

Here you see a photo of Marty on the replica of the Stone of Destiny, as it is sometimes referred to.

I know......, it's not as exciting as the man with the mattress sign...

So, here's a photo of Marty in Perth:

OOps...I promised him that I would't post that one.  Here's another photo of Marty in Perth:

Sorry, but I don't know the significance of the bird on the fish.  But it looked entertaining standing next to the river Tay.  (pronounced Tee....remember the story about Fay?)

And, here we are, together, using Marty's uncanny ability to take self photos:

Aahhh.  What talent that man has!

Off to enjoy another frigid, but beautiful, day in Perthshire!

Chillin' Castles

Don't you just love the panoramic setting on my little sony camera?  Kind of makes you feel like  you are standing right there, doesn't it?

This is Loch Leven Castle, one of several castle where Mary, Queen of Scots, was held captive, and in this particular castle, she was forced to sign a paper of abdication.  

Mary's captors went to great lengths to keep her isolated, and this particular castle is located in the middle of a loch (lake as we know it) and is only accessible by boat.  

As we loaded into the boat for transport to the castle grounds, snowflakes started to fall, so you can only imagine how frigid we felt motoring the 10 minutes from start to finish.  

The palace looks so serene as you approach it from the water.

The grounds are nature at its best.  Swans were floating on the lake.  A kingfisher swooped by and this pheasant was having a great conversation with his friend who was hiding somewhere nearby.

And the lake is apparently filled with some kind of unique brown trout, but that was of way more interest to Marty than to me. 

Knowing some of the history of Mary, Queen of Scots, this castle just didn't seem large enough to hold the entourage that accompanied her during her captivity, as well as the family that lived in the house.  And it's hard to believe that she even managed to escape across the loch from captivity here, although she was soon captured afterwards.  Being rowed across that loch must have seemed an eternity to her.

From the photo, you may be deceived into thinking that the weather suddenly changed and that we were lucky enough to warm up a bit. No such luck!  The weather changed from cold and sunny to frigid and snowy several times while we visited the island. 

And, I love the fact that my cohorts for the day were prepared for the weather.

With our teeth chattering, we were eager to make the trip back to the mainland and warm up somewhere.  My original plan was for us to hike "Mary's Gate Trail" along the Loch, but the weather was way too frigid for enjoyment so we decided to drive to Dollar Glen and check out another castle, this one located way up on the top of a cliff.

The entrance to the castle was not easy to find, so we stopped to asked directions.  I no sooner rolled down the window when the man who was washing his car looked at me and said, "Castle Campbell?"  I nodded to which he said, "Not to worry...I have someone ask me nearly every day."  He directed us back down the hill to a very narrow road that was bordered by 6 ft. high stone walls.  

We found ourselves climbing this narrow road for quite awhile until we came to a car park where we parked and began the hike to the castle grounds.

I have to admit, it was pretty spectacular.  High up on a cliff, it made one wonder how anyone actually managed to visit.  Once again, we were told that Mary, Queen of Scots was a guest at a wedding at this castle.  She certainly got around, considering her limited mode of transportation in the 1500's.

We toured the interior then hiked along the ground taking advantage of sunny moment opportunities to capture photos such as this panorama.  

Once again, snowflakes began to fall as we walked the castle grounds.  Typical Scottish weather.

We certainly enjoyed finding ourselves engrossed in some fascinating Scottish History.  And the guide at the castle was extremely friendly, giving us a personal talk on the history of the castle  and directing us to some significant features.

The drive back to our hotel was surreal, passing flocks of sheep grazing on the hills and watching the frolicking of tiny lambs enjoying the day.  We couldn't help but smile.

And then we passed this:

Giant Iris along the road near Glenrothes.  I'll bet you weren't expecting to see that. 

And that's why I took the photo.  Hope you found it entertaining.