Soaked in Scotland

Well, it appears that the 92% chance of rain that had been predicted for yesterday, caught up with us today, as it poured through the night and continued throughout the day.  But, a little rain never kept us from gallivanting, so we just made certain to put on our boots and don our rain gear as we headed to Stonehaven harbor.

Our intended destination was Dunnotar Castle.  Marty and I visited this awesome sight several years ago, but since we were so close, I added it to the agenda so that Amy could enjoy the views as much as we had.

I had accessed the web to find the hours of operation and noted that the preferred way to visit was via parking in the harbor and hiking along the cliffside walk.  The website stated that the lot was small, and in order to keep it in good order, we should hike in if at all possible, plus we could enjoy the beautiful view as we walked.

That sounded like an awesome plan, don't you think?   The weather had been sporadic rain off and on, but it seemed that we should be able to dodge a few raindrops.  After all, we were prepared!

We parked in the lot near the harbor

and headed towards the cliffside walk,

but the access from the town was not easily seen, and we ended up walking a bit out of the way prior to finally finding the trail to the castle.  But soon we were on course which became obvious once we passed the war memorial.

As we were walking along the cliffs, the rainy, misty drizzle began to fall heavier,  the wind picked up, and it was obvious that we weren't going to get a weather break anytime soon.

The views were pretty spectacular.

But it was becoming exceedingly difficult to get a decent photo as the rain was pelting and I was concerned about raindrops on the lens.

We managed to get relatively close, but the rain was coming down pretty heavy at this point, and we questioned whether or not it was worth actually touring the ruins in the rain, especially considering the cost was £7.00 per person.   We all decided that we should turn back. 

And, let me just note here that there were plenty of people who had decided to park in the lot near the castle to avoid getting soaked.  May we please go down on record as being Americans who actually do follow directions?  But, really, had the weather been more accommodating, the hike would have offered some outstanding views.

So, we took a quick photo of us standing in the rain with the castle in the background,

and began the trek back to the car.  I began to note that deep puddles had suddenly appeared in short time along the trail that required some leaping to get over.  Had they been there on the way out, I'm certain we would have turned back.  The timing had been just perfect.

By the time we reached the car park, my pants were so wet that it was obvious that I would need to change them or it would be like sitting in the bath with my clothes on.  Luckily, we were in transit and our suitcases were in the car.

I had thought that my elbow felt wet, but decided that it had to be my imagination, until I took off my coat and found both of the sleeves of my shirts to be soaked as well.  It appears that I had been holding my hood to keep it from blowing off my head, and the rain must have been pouring down my sleeves.  So, that required a change as well.   

All seemed in order until I decided to pull something out of my "rainproof" purse, and found it to be quite wet. In fact, my passport was warping, anything paper was limp and both my phone and my camera had water on them.  Well.....by THIS time, I was pretty annoyed.  Especially since I had gone out of my way to purchase a waterproof purse.

I voiced my disappointment out loud and my daughter said to me, "Mom, I'm pretty sure that they didn't think that you'd be wearing the purse in the shower when they said it was waterproof."  Good point.  And that was when I realized that she was absolutely correct.  We all DID look like we had just come out of the shower wearing our clothes.  Was it worth it?  I'd say yes.  Would we do it again?  Probably not in the pouring rain.  Not unless we had some way to dry our clothes easier!

At this point we headed to Edzell, to find a little tea shop that Marty and I stumbled upon two years ago when we were passing through.  At the time, we had enjoyed a delectable scone with jam and whipped cream, and I was hoping that they still made them so that Amy could finally get her scone of her dreams.

Let me mention here that I had stated that we were looking for clotted cream to go on our scones.  Well, it appears that what I would have enjoyed on my scones here in Scotland in the past was actually Scottish whipped cream, NOT clotted cream. And let me just mention that both are a far cry from a slab of butter. 

And,  American Whipped Cream fails miserably in comparison to Scottish Whipped Cream.  And, that opinion was definitely reaffirmed today, when the teahouse served us our scones with jam and whipped cream.

Just look at that smiling face!  Well, actually, we were all smiling at this point.  That scone just melted in my mouth!

Now that all was well with the world, we headed to Kirriemuir, the birthplace of J. M. Barrie.

Are my literature loving friends familiar with the name?  Does this give you a clue?

Actually, that statue really wouldn't be of much help to most people, so if you haven't figured it out, no worries. 

That is Peter Pan.  And J.M. Barrie is the man who penned the story of the little boy who never wanted to grow up.  

The cottage is the actual house where James was born in 1860, the 9th child to Scottish weavers.  It was noted in his museum that the day of his birth was cause for celebration, not only because he had come into this world, but also because it was the day that 6 horsehair chairs arrived for the family.  His mother had saved for years to buy the chairs, and it was the talk of the neighborhood, so people were popping in to see the newborn, but actually curious about the chairs.  Two of the original pieces still stand in the house.

Reading Barrie's life story in the museum was really kind of sad.  His eldest brother died from a tragic accident when James was 7 years old, and it left his mother with extreme heartbreak.  It is believed that he wrote Peter Pan to try to console his mother over the loss of his oldest brother.  She took solace in the fact that while her beloved son was gone from her, he would always remain a boy forever.  Thereby the making of the idea for the book.

I was actually surprised to see so many works written by Barrie in this museum.  It is believed that many of the subjects were based on people who lived in the village.  When I get some time, I really do hope to delve into some of his other offerings.  

Just a short walk from this museum is a Camera Obscura which supposedly offers an absolutely brilliant 360 degree view, featuring distances as far as 72 miles.  I wasn't too surprised to learn that it was closed, considering that we were lucky if we could see something through the mist just a few streets away!

The plan had been to enjoy some views and then head to the Miegle museum to look at Pictish Stones, which my husband is absolutely fascinated with.  It was only a short distance from Kirriemuir, and on our way to our next B&B, so why not?

But, with extra times suddenly on our hands, I suggested that we stop at Glamis, since we had to pass right by, and Marty thought that was an excellent suggestion.  Amy asked Marty if he had seen the stones before, and I had commented "not these Picticular ones", and with that, we decided to forego the museum and just make the most of what Glamis had to offer.

We arrived just in time for the next tour and were treated to a very entertaining young man who showed us through just a small part of this immense residence, filling is in on family lore and history. We thoroughly enjoyed it!

I'm not sure if you are familiar with Glamis, but it was the family home of the Queen Mother who was born there and lived there until she was 23.  In fact, she even spent some of her honeymoon in the castle, and there were special rooms made up for them for that special occasion.  Those bedrooms continue to maintain the same decor as when the Queen mother lived there, because it was her wish that if the house were to be opened for tours, she wanted them to remain decorated as she had lived in them.  It really was quite fascinating to see so many portraits and items that had been there for centuries. 

After the tour, we needed our Castle Selfie, of course.

before heading out to explore the gardens.

Which, as you can see, continue to show some extraordinary colorful blooms.

Just as we were leaving, we caught a glimpse of blue sky!

We stopped in St. Andrews for dinner, then headed to Crail, a harbor village on the Firth of Forth near the North Sea.

We were exuberantly greeted by Graham, our B&B host, and his wife Edna, and I can tell already that this is going to be a fabulous stay!

Graham tells me that the weather tomorrow should be dry and relatively warm, so I see another coastal walk in the near future as well as some fresh caught Lobster for dinner.

Not sure exactly what will pan out, but I'll be sure to keep you posted!