Castles, Rhododendrons and the Hunt for Hadrian's Wall

The day began with the tour of a castle, and ended with a wall......sort of.

We're in Northumberland, England, an area that for centuries found itself in the midst of a struggle between Scotland and England.  So, how could we resist checking out one of the oldest castles in Great Britain?  And, it certainly is THE oldest that Marty and I have set foot in.

Warkworth Castle:

In 1124, David I (son of Queen Margaret and Malcolm III), gave this castle to his son, Henry. 

The Keep is an amazing structure, with arched doorways, and extremely thick walls.

Here you can see the windows that would have held stained glass for a chapel in the Keep.

The kitchen was huge, and held two ovens in addition to a bread oven.  You can get an idea of just how large the oven is by seeing Marty standing in one of them. 

The place was filled with all sorts of interesting rooms and cubbies, but this one was probably Marty's favorite.

The view from this castle wasn't bad, either.

The tour was great,  but it was time to travel to our next destination for the day.

We headed out of the town to a place called Cragside.  This is the huge estate that belonged to Lord Armstrong, and it was the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectric power.  This place was amazing.

The house sits on the side of a crag with thousands of rhododendrons on the estate.  Lord Armstrong was a self-proclaimed inventor, and in the 1880's this house had hot and cold running water,  central heat, telephones, a Turkish bath and a hydro elevator for the serving staff to carry food from the kitchen up to the serving rooms...all designed by Lord Armstrong.

And, the most famous of all was the incandescent lights that transformed beautiful vases into lamps that still sit in the house today.

Now, I ask, how is that for clever?  A great use for something that would otherwise just collect dust.  

The house was huge and had some very unique decorating.  Here you see tiles on the hallway walls.

Loved this set of stained glass windows

The kitchen reminded me of the one in Downton Abbey

And this fireplace in the drawing room was really a bit too much.

I could go on and on.....but I won't.  Instead, I want to know just how many of you knew that a man named Thomas Crapper invented the first 1 piece pedestal flushing toilet?

Am I the ONLY one out of the loop on this one?  Marty seemed to think this should be common knowledge.  Really? 

 I'm holding out on my friend, JoAnn, hoping that she's on the same page with me regarding this one.

And, I bet that my friend Rebecca knew this.  Because she always seems to know this kind of stuff.  I'll be interested to hear the feed back on this.

Back to the Armstrongs.  They apparently loved Rhododendrons.......so much so that they planted thousands of them on the estate. 

So, you think I exaggerate?

 We drove along 6 miles of road on the estate, and everywhere we looked, we saw them in bloom.

You can even see them on the edge of the lake

Ok, so you get the point.  We were lucky to have visited Cragside when we did, because next week the rhododendrons will be bloomed out and the magnificence of the grounds will be considerably less.

It was time to head off on our quest to see Hadrian's wall, the main purpose for us venturing south into England.  We both figured that it would be an easy feat.  The wall is clearly marked on the map....running parallel to a little road.

Find the road, and we'd find the wall......right?

I didn't want to see mounds of green.  I expected to see fragments of a wall.  We stopped at an information center, and were told to drive west (the opposite direction of our B&B) and that we'd see it in its full glory.

Well, we drove for quite awhile, and spotted another info center.  Then, we realized that we might never actually view it from the road.  We would need to park the car, pay & display, then pay a fee to walk quite a bit from the road in order to actually get a first hand look at the wall.

The wall that we had seen when we first got on the highway was on a hillside next to a road where there was nowhere to pull off to view it in the fields. It seemed to be "pay and hike" or "forget it."

Well, it was getting late, we'd been driving a lot already, and we had dinner reservations near our B&B which was nearly an hour away.

So, we took this quick shot of Marty at the info center with the wall in the background.

On the way back to the car, Marty convinced me to take his picture  with a lamb in the pasture,

but the lamb got scared and bolted before I could get the shot.  (It was probably the red jacket, don't you think?)

Then Marty got the brilliant idea that I would take  photos of the wall from the car  while he was driving.  Let's just say that a LOT of the photos were rather interesting, but this one wasn't bad.

And, here he was actually able to pull into a drive, when I popped out of the car, took the shot, and jumped back in.

This was NOT the historical experience that I had anticipated.

But Marty seemed OK with just being able to say that he saw Hadrian's Wall.  

And if he's happy, then who am I to argue with that?

33 Years and Counting

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary.  The longest day of the year....and yes, we've surely heard jokes involving the two coinciding.

Does it seem like 33 years?  Nope!  Our anniversary may fall on the longest day of the year, but I'd say that our marriage is far from dragging on.

Never did I think that we'd be in Scotland celebrating the day, but with Marty gone so much of the time in this last year, we decided that it would be great for me to come along on this trip.    

We have ventured out of Scotland into Northern England and we are not far from Hadrian's Wall.  We are in the town of Newton-on-the-Moor, which can claim a pub and a post office, but little more.  It really is a beautiful little English town.

It took a little longer that I anticipated for us to arrive due to an "urgent" call from Marty's boss that involved us sitting on the side of the road for over an hour.  

We stopped for a bathroom break, and I thought I"d have a quick snack while waiting for Marty.  I was enjoying a biscuit, looking at the fabulous view, when I looked up and saw this guy.

I took this photo from inside the car, because there was NO WAY I was going to continue to munch on a biscuit with him nearby after the meat pie story!

We finally made it to our B&B after stopping at the nearby coaching inn and getting directions.  There really are only a few houses in the town, but the owners had been outside working on the lawn, and they were right in front of the sign!

The place is lovely, and we enjoyed a delightful cup of tea while looking over the gardens.

Well, for the record, I enjoyed a cup of tea while looking over the gardens, because Marty was working in the bedroom.

Hey!  Somebody might as well be having some fun......right?

Yvonne was kind enough to take our photo prior to us leaving the Dunedin.

So, here we are.....33 years later.

Not too bad if you ask me.  So, what do you think?

The Sassy Seagull

When we were at the beach early in the month, Marty commented that it was nice to see a non-Scottish Seagull.

I asked him what in the world he was talking about.  After all, a sea gull is a sea gull......right?
Marty insisted that Scottish seagulls have an attitude, unlike American Seagulls.  I, of course, found that to be quite funny.  Now, how in the world could a bird have an attitude?

This past week has opened my eyes to the difference in Seagull personalities.

When I was in Dunfermline, I watched a sea gull go ballistic, screaming and swooping down towards a man who was walking by carrying a bag of groceries..  The gull kept dive-bombing this man until the fellow rounded the corner.  I picked up my pace, because I was very concerned that I'd be the next victim, but the gull made no attempt to come after me.

In the meantime, we've been hearing the gulls screeching and carrying on into the wee hours of the morning.  There really is no explanation for their tirade.  It sure makes it tough to sleep though.

And, just the other day, one of the B&;B patrons asked Yvonne's husband, Les, what was going on with the sea gulls at 3:30 a.m. Well, Les didn't have an answer to that question, but he went on to tell the story about how he had been out the previous afternoon and had not yet eaten lunch.  So, he went into a shop, bought a meat pie, and was enjoying it while walking down main street.  Lo and behold, a gull swept down, grabbed his meat pie AND bit his finger!

Soon after I heard the story, I was sitting at the train stop and this gull landed and began to stare at me. Luckily, I had no food or I'm sure I'd have been taken out.  You can see it in his eyes.

So, perhaps Marty is on to something.....

In the meantime, today was once again a lovely day and I wasn't going to waste the opportunity to get out and enjoy it.  So,  I  walked into Dysart, which is a lovely Coastal Trail walk, which,unlike yesterday's trail, is well marked.

Now, here's what you're supposed to see when you walk the Coastal Trail:

• Every now and then, there is a bench for your viewing pleasure.  I did NOT come across any benches yesterday.

• Posted signs showing that you are on the trail.  Now, without a sign, this "cave" would look kind of scary to attempt entering (at least to me it would), but the sign says that it is part of the trail.

Well, you can actually see the light at the other end when you enter it, so that made it much less scary as well.

Walking through this tunnel made me feel like I had stepped back in time to a little fishing village.

I went to the Harbormaster's house, and stopped in the Bistro for a scone and a latte.

Great decision on my part!

Then, I decided to go through the little museum that just opened up downstairs that told the story of the Harbormaster, as well as info regarding the Fife  Coastal Trail.  Well, it turns out that yesterday's section of the trail is considered to be one of the more difficult sections of the trail and it can be tricky to follow.  No kidding!

Do you remember how Marty had mentioned that I probably shouldn't follow anymore of Yvonne's suggestions regarding "lovely" walks? In addition to yesterday's adventure,   she had suggested that I take a bus into Elie as the walk there was" just fabulous with outstanding views".   I could walk part of the trail, then have Marty meet there for dinner.

Well, let me show you what she had suggested:

Guess what?  I probably will NEVER have enough of the horizontal, thank you!  Rocks, chains, and worrying about the tide do not bide well with my psyche.  

That would definitely fall under the "don't do anything crazy" category.

Since I wasn't so concerned about being lost in the wilderness today, I did manage to get some beautiful photos of the landscape:

Near the beginning of the Coastal Trail just north of Kirkcaldy:

Ravenshead Castle in the distance

Dysart Harbor

And the view from Ravenshead Castle

As you can see, it was quite a lovely day.

As far as sleeping is concerned, I spotted these two on the way back from dinner

They were already warming up their vocal cords.  Here's hoping that they decide to perform in a different neighborhood tonight!

Spring in Fife

Yesterday could be described as a typical Spring Day.....one that we rarely seem to experience nowadays.  Just a bit cool.  Fresh air.  Bright sun.  Blue sky.  Really, an overall perfect day.

Days like this are made for being outside, which worked out quite well for my plans, as I had walking North Queensferry on my list of items not yet accomplished here in Scotland.

So, I headed to the train station and bought a round trip ticket to Queensferry from the teller in the Kirkcaldy, who seemed to feel that he needed to make a comment about my credit card being a pain in the neck.  How nice was that?

You see, Europeans have a chip in their cards.  They place it in a card reader and put in a pin.  Marty was sure to have his corporate card replaced with a chip, simply because people here become quite annoyed at having to swipe American cards.

Some have no idea how to even swipe a card.  And, with Marty around, that is always an adventure, because he goes into his "let me teach you how to do this correctly" mode.
Then, he goes through the step by step directions of using the swiper on the machine.

• hold the card in the right direction and swipe quickly (at which point he reaches over the machine and swipes it himself, not even giving the teller the opportunity to do so.)
• wait for the communication to go through the line
• punch in the last 4 digits on the card (there is generally a pop up screen that expects this)
• wait for the paper to print (at this point, the teller is generally quite excited because the procedure has worked. And, Marty loves to share in the enthusiasm.)
• sign the paper (Marty uses the pen to sign his name)
• then he instructs the teller to compare the signature with the one on the card

Now, this last step is always amusing, because the teller generally hands the card back to Marty after punching in the numbers.  Marty  puts it in his pocket, signs the paper, then says "Now you have to compare my signature with the one on the card" and he pulls back out the card and lays it next to the slip, then asks the teller if it looks the same. 

So far, all the tellers have said "yes". So far, all have been quite amused by Marty's explanation.  One of these days I fear that we will stumble upon a not-so-friendly teller who doesn't appreciate Marty's instructions.  But, until we do, Marty sure is having a lot of fun with this.

When I arrived at Queensferry, the weather was fabulous.  There's quite a bit of history worth investigating in one little area of this town.

This is North Queensferry.  Across the forth there is South Queensferry.  The towns are named such because Queen Margaret initiated the first ferry across the firth so that pilgrims could travel from Edinburgh to St. Andrews, which held relics of that saint.  This was the narrowest part of the firth and Queen Margaret herself traveled quite frequently between Edinburgh castle and Dunfermline via ferry.

On the pier stands a light beacon that was built 1n 1817 by Robert Stevenson, grandfather of Robert Louis the author.

This is actually the smallest "lighthouse" in Scotland, but it was designed to illuminate the area so that people disembarking from the ferry could see where they were going on land.  The flame was originally sourced by whale oil, but rapeseed oil is now used when the beacon is lit.

The building was open, and I was encouraged to go inside and take a peek, so I did.

I took a shot of the "beacon's eye" view

Walking down the pier, I was able to see the signal house that continues to stand today.

The forth Railroad Bridge looms nearby, and I thought that the owner of this house was quite clever to feature an entrance gate that resembled the construction of the bridge.

I decided to take a quick walk up the coastal trail, just to see some views out over the firth.  I was not disappointed.

On the way back to the train station, I spotted St. James chapel, bequeathed by Robert the Bruce in 1320.

In later years, it was converted into a graveyard for sailors.

Since it was such an awesome day, I decided to take Yvonne's advice, and walk the coastal trail from Dalgety Bay to Aberdour.  I had my handy GPS loaded up on my phone, so I was ready for the task.

I boarded the train to Dalgety Bay and pulled out the phone at the station.  I was able to find my way down to the harbor, by using the nifty map that had loaded on my phone.  This is Great Stuff!  My roaming and cellular data are turned off, but this system works by using the Satellite signal.

By this point, I was pretty pleased with myself, so I turned off the phone and put it back in my purse, and started out on the "Coastal" Trail.  What soon became obvious is that this trail wanders away from the coast, as I  found myself walking through the woods.  At one point, the trail split into 2, so I took the one that would lead to the coast.

Well, it was in the right direction, but this was what I came to at the end of the path.

There was obviously no trail to follow, and that is a fenced in field loaded with sheep, so I wasn't willing to make any attempt to walk through that!

Back up the hill, and I chose the other direction.  Much to my surprise, I came upon the ruins of a church on the trail.

 St. Brigit's Church was built in 1170.

I certainly hadn't expected to stumble upon that.

Walking along, I came to an even wider path, on the edge of a wooded area, and, once again, found myself at a split in the road.  Once again, I decided to go right, since that would lead to the coast.  I passed all sorts of concrete structures that had been strategically placed in these woods during World War II.  They are all abandoned at this point. 

Soon the path began to narrow, and I found myself heading toward the coast, but down a very narrow, rocky path.  I followed it down to the shore, but it sort of teetered out into nothing.  I'll admit that I was a bit annoyed by this point, because when one claims to have a Coastal Path, it really should be marked better.  I spotted a couple with four dogs on the pier, so I presumed that they had come from the left, as they departed to the right.

So, I found myself trudging along the rocks on the edge of the sand of the firth, concerned by the fact that if the tide had been up, there would be no path where I was walking.  Within short time, I spotted a trodden down path, about two shoe-widths wide, with grass on either side up to my hips.  I decided to take it, but was very nervous, as it wove in and out around the cliffs over the shoreline.  I had hiked other sections similar to this, but they were more defined.

Soon the path led me back up to the woods, which was quite a challenge, as the pitch was extremely steep.  I'll admit that I was really concerned about being in what seemed to me to be such a remote area.  Finally, after making my way through the woods attempting to ascertain just where the path was, it began to widen and I felt confident that I was on the right trail.

I came to yet another split in the road, but I remembered Yvonne telling me that I would be walking through a marked path in a field. Sure enough.....I found that.

So, I knew from what Yvonne had mentioned, that I had to be on the trail, but let's face it.....that's a bit crazy, don't you think?

But the view from this pass was pretty spectacular.  Sheep with the Forth Railroad Bridge on the horizon.

Soon I was walking through those woods at the end of the field and I once again came to a split in the road.  Luckily for me, someone was riding a bike, and I asked which way to Aberdour, and I was told to go right.  (which is what I had done all along the trail so far....I had thought about trying left this time....good thing I asked.)

By this time, as you can imagine, I was exhausted...partly by the intense walking up and down steep hills, and party from the past worry of being lost in the woods.  All was well now, but I was anxious to get to the end of this trail.  It was supposed to be a scenic coastal walk.  I hadn't seen much of the water on this walk.

As I headed towards Aberdour, I spotted the couple with the four dogs that I had seen on the pier.  Do you remember how they had gone to the right, and I had gone to the left? 

Well they were walking much slower than me, and were pretty far ahead.  Obviously, they knew a short cut that I did not.  I caught up with the one little dog, who was struggling to keep up with his owners.  He was a beagle,  panting, obviously struggling with every step, and when he looked up at me with those big brown eyes, as if to say "help", I told him that I understood exactly how he felt. 

When I saw the golf course, I knew I was close to the end of my day's journey.

I took the train back to Kirkcaldy and although I was pretty tired from my adventure, I decided that it would be great to go to a restaurant that overlooked the firth.

So, Marty and I walked to the train, departed in Kinghorn, and walked along the road until we came to the Bay Hotel, which did offer a spectacular view.

If I look tired....it's because I WAS!

We had a lovely dinner, then walked back to the train station, where we had to wait 40  minutes for the next train. But, it was a beautiful evening, and we thoroughly enjoyed the view.

That photo was taken at 9:30 p.m.  Pretty amazing that it is so light, don't you think?

What's up for today?  Well, I decided it was time to take it easy!  As lovely as our hostess, Yvonne, is, Marty and I both decided that I would refrain from future trip tips on her part.  I know that she means well, but yesterday's adventure was a bit too over the top for me.

I think I'll stay on solid ground today.  But the weather sure does look enticing out there!

Perhaps I'll just go take a walk.