Gallivanting Geismom: Following the Robert the Bruce Trail

Here we are, in Southern Scotland, and what an excellent opportunity to pursue the travels of the Scottish hero, Robert the Bruce. If you recall, his name is memorialized around the tower of Dunfermline Abbey: Robert Bruce The King, for all to see for quite a distance.

Once we returned on the ferry, we headed to then nearest information center and picked up the brochure that outlined the travels of this famous man along the southern coast of Scotland.

When we embarked from Larne, skies were pouring, and the mountain that we had traveled down to the harbor was covered in snow. Luckily, we were cozy at the Harbour Inn before it accumulated.

We made the ride across the Irish Sea once again without incident, but it did pour the entire trip. And, it didn't look much more promising on the Scotland side, but we didn't let that keep us from exploring.

I'll bet that you're not too surprised by that revelation.

Before we actually began the Robert the Bruce Trail, we decided to stop at Castle Kennedy to see the snowdrops, a delicate white flower that covers many of the gardens, but only blooms in February and March.

The castle is ruins, but stands on 750 acres brimming with all kinds of plants, and quite a number of different species of birds.

We weren't too surprised to see quail in the fields.

But I didn't expect to count as many as a dozen strutting along one of the fields. They are really beautiful animals, but they do make quite a racket in search of their friends.

And, of course, Scottish castle grounds wouldn't be complete without their sheep, although this one had some pretty fierce-looking creatures.

Can you believe those horns?

The walk was certainly not disappointing, as we spotted lots of the snow white petals along the trail.

The views along the walk were quite lovely.

But there was much more than just snowdrops to admire. I can't even imagine how beautiful these rhododendrons must look in full bloom.

I took the picture with Marty standing next to them so that you could see how huge they were.

There are apparently 300 different varieties of snow drops, but we were told that you couldn't really tell the difference unless you got down on the ground and looked up at the petals.

Marty took the easier approach (especially since the ground was extremely muddy), and we checked out two of the flowers in different spots of the walk.

So, we can attest for their being at least two different types of snow drops. And, considering that we noticed that some of the clusters had darker leaves, I'd say that we saw a few varieties, but 300? Hmmmm..... I'll just have to take their word for that.

We managed to finish the walk just before the rain began pouring again....perfect timing!

So, it was time to follow the trail......only backwards, since we were traveling in the opposite direction.

First stop Glenluce Abbey.

This abbey stands in the midst of a farm, surrounded by a stone wall and sheep grazing in the fields.

It was founded around 1192 by Cistercian monks. Robert the Bruce had rested at this place on his final journey through this area.

Marty got the sheep a bit riled up when he stopped the car to snap a quick photo of this cutie by the road.

I can tell you for certain that the mama was not happy with him, and I heard her bleat, "get BAAAACK!" as the wee ones went scurrying back to mama.

We traveled along the coast line, admiring the beauty, and stopped at Carsluith Castle for a peek, as it literally stood right next to the road.

The castle was still open, so we climbed to the top to admire the snowy view.

And the view out over the water. This is the very southern part of Scotland, so what you see in the distance is England.

The weather was turning even colder, so we didn't stay too long before hopping in the car to continue along the way.

We finally drove into Kirkcudbright, the site of Maclellan castle. It was actually built in 1264 by Alexander III.

The castle stands a stone's throw from the bay, and it was invaded in 1300 by King Edward I of England. He arrived with a fleet of 60 ships,and 6000 men, the biggest fleet ever seen in Scotland.

The scenery in the town was quite lovely, with the crocuses just beginning to bloom.

And, as usual, there were some interesting sights along the road.

It was getting late, so we opted to take the quickest route to our B&B to assure that we could find it while it was still light.

I was a bit concerned about what awaited me, because I had only booked the place in the morning. I spent many hours into the night trying to find a place that had a vacancy (that looked decent but not too pricey), and finally went to bed after no success with the internet continuing to frustrate me.

It was obvious that this place was pretty remote, and it only had 2 tripadvisor reviews, but they looked good....I was desperate, and I figured that as long as we had a warm bed, we'd be fine.

The little village never showed up on Marty's GPS, but we have an atlas that we use for traveling to help us out. We drove by one little village (of about 3 houses) after another....past lots of sheep.

I never saw a pub or a store for that matter, and was wondering just what we would be having for dinner. We hadn't eaten since breakfast and we were hungry!

We made a right according to the instructions that we had found online, and our GPS told us that we had reached our destination right in the middle of sheep grazing. I joked to Marty that it looked like lamb would be on the dinner menu, and we continued until we could go no further as the bay was directly in front of us.

We turned right, drove about 50 yds, and found the sign for the B&B along a row of white houses.

We were greeted by the most delightful woman named Susan, and she showed me upstairs to our wonderful room that looks right over the bay. Everything is pristine, and she and her husband welcomed us enthusiastically. Now......how lucky was that?

And, to our delight....there was a pub about 2 minutes walk up the road. You just can't beat that!

The place was packed, and I can see why, since there isn't anything around for miles.

I can't tell you how relieved I was, and Marty was as happy as a clam. Off course, their were several beers on tap to choose from.

Fish on the wall.