A Day Of Castles - Blog 10

May 11, 2015

Our morning began with another large traditional breakfast which included our first taste of blood pudding. Our hosts being from London, this was the English recipe. We learned that the Scottish version includes oats. This was just pure pigs blood. Not terrible, but I don't plan to google the recipe. 

Today is major castle day with our first destination being the Crathes Castle and it's amazing estate. If you were to look up the county records you would find that King Robert the Bruce granted this land to one of the royal foresters in 1323. The construction of the castle was completed in the late 1500's. What we enjoyed today was the result of their last remodel completed in 1966 after a huge fire.

The wood ceilings were brightly painted with representations of the many Scottish heroes, lists of Christian virtues, and passages from the Geneva Bible. Very impressive! It would have been great to get pictures, but like most of the historic locations we have visited, photography is not allowed.

The gardens, however, are very photogenic. They will be even more beautiful at the height of the blooming season. The estate is immaculately managed with greenhouses full of future plantings. Had we had more time, we could have joined in on a game of crochet in the shadow of the castle.

Leaving a very livable castle home we zoomed to the North Sea coastline to examine a not so livable ancient ruins. The Dunnottar Castle was at it's best in the 15th and 16th century. Today, it sits in ruins. The setting could not be more grand. We had a little bit of a walk over hill and dale to get out to high cliffs overlooking the expansive waters. It is very easy to imagine what this amazing stone castle was like at it's best. 

We still needed more castles to make this a complete day, so we returned inland to Castle Frazer. At each of the multi-storied stone masterpieces, we have walked up grand entry stairs and carefully inched our way up spiral staircases to the top of the towers. I can't imagine what it would be like to live in Castle Frazer with only one leg. We learned that one of the past owners was wounded in one of the many Scottish wars leaving one of his legs on the battlefield. Being of the royal class, however he had an artificial leg constructed. In fact he had several made, one for walking, one for hunting, and of course one for dancing! I am not sure which one it was, but one was on display. We are finding that many of these amazing mansions have been beautifully maintained and furnished. Castle Frazer is no exception.  

Today's adventures included many periods of rain and sun. As we returned home we dodged the showers to go even farther back in history to several pre-historic stone circles. The educated guess is that they are very ancient burial sites. Yes! I do love a good cemetery! 

The second stone circle we found was on a hilltop in the middle of a cattle farm. As we walked along the fences to the hilltop, the steers got very agitated and stomped around right beside us. I realized that Kathy had her bright red umbrella open! Since she is not a trained matador, I suggested she close that thing ASAP! That helped immensely to calm the four legged troops and they just watched us curiously from a distance.  

We found a small pub close to home for supper and dropped our tired selves into bed soon after returning home.

Tim and Kathy

Scone Palace - Blog 9

May 10, 2015

We have enjoyed a busy schedule this past several days and blogging has been secondary to such things as sleep! The difficulty is drawing out the feelings and memories of all the many experiences enjoyed as we have traveled.

The morning we left our lakeside retreat, we slipped out of bed early and drove a short distance to a wetlands area on Loch Leven. This area has been preserved for bird habitat complete with hidden blinds to watch the birds without being seen. The term used is "Hides". It was rather cold, in fact a little ice on the windshield, but very workable. We spied on a couple new species for Kathy, the Shelduck and a Lapwing. We were mostly on our own except for one gentleman, a regular, who was very informative. We returned to our B and B to enjoy a hot shower and a full breakfast. 

I am hot to get back behind the wheel of our diesel hot rod, so we gathered our minimal belongings and headed for the Scone Palace. We are both overwhelmed by the depth of history so well preserved in this land. To really grasp the importance of Scone Palace you must get your head around the traditions, rituals, and perceived power of the Kings and Queens. It was at Scone Palace on a square rock called the Stone of Destiny, that the Coronation of the Royal rulers has taken place since the 9th century! 

As we walked through the Palace, it was easy to image the life of the ruling families. The table was set with hand painted blue and gold porcelain with the same theme on the wallpaper, window covering, and upholstery. Very beautiful! The grounds have been maintained with the same diligence and was impressive even with a minimum of blooming flowers. 

Have any of you seen the movie "Belle"? This enchanting true story of a servant girl with royal blood lines culminates with a portrait being made of her. Through a series of events, that beautiful painting hangs on the walls of Scone Place. I would highly recommend the movie as well as a read of the book Lady MacBeth. They were both part of our preparations for the history of Scotland. Another interesting read that Kathy just finished is Royal Road to Fotheringhay about the tragic life of Mary, Queen of Scots. That lady has left her imprint nearly everywhere we go!

Our route away from Scone Palace climbed out of the lush woodlands and into the more baron moors dotted with heather. We drove through a quite well developed snow skiing area with the higher peaks still displaying snow. We soon dropped down to the River Dee with many beautiful narrow stone bridges. 

Our new home sits very near the Balmoral Castle, the vacation home of the Queen in August and September. We enjoyed a delightful visit with our B and B hosts who both worked on the Royal staff. Mark was one of the queen's guards and Janet a ladies maid. They both had many wonderful stories to tell. 

After our evening meal, we returned home where Mark and Janet provided a wee dram of Scotch Whisky. The driving laws are very strict here. It takes very little to be legally over the limit, so enjoying our scotch in the comforts of our residence was perfect. I don't think Kathy was a real fan of the strong drink, so I helped by finishing hers!

Tim and Kathy

Exploring the Coastline - Blog 8

May 7, 2015

What is really nice about having a car is being able to explore anywhere we might want to go. But, one must never head out on a journey without ample fuel. In our case that means a good breakfast. Today we both chose the traditional breakfast which means we start with cereal, yogurt, and fruit. Fresh squeezed orange juice was out when we arrived and coffee showed up as soon as we sat down. Earlier this morning the smell of fresh home made bread worked it's way up to our bedroom. Sure enough it was waiting for us when we arrived.

Normally, that is all the breakfast we might need. However next came a plate filled with bacon, sausage, cooked tomato, sautéed mushrooms, haggis, and an egg! Other than a mid afternoon apple, we were good until supper!

With bellies and fuel tanks full, we were ready to explore. We headed toward St Andrews on the coast through the Kingdom of Fife. I love that! I want to tell everyone, when asked, that I live in the Kingdom of Ashland! As we drove through hillsides covered in green and yellow foliage with stone farm houses scattered around, we knew it would be a breathtaking day.

Kathy read that there was a castle in the city of Kilmaron, so we set out to find it. We found no help in the signage but did find an unmarked road that was about in the right place. We wandered along past lush fields and curious cows. We ended up at a cluster of buildings that, in our minds, looked kinda like a castle. We were taking a few pictures and about to leave when a man pulled alongside our car to see if we needed help. I thought we were about to get booted out. He was very friendly and explained that there was indeed a castle on the property. However the current owner got fed up with the maintenance and built a new home in the 60's. The castle is now a storage area for wood products! 

Having satisfied our castle search, we moved on toward St. Andrews. This very old college town is also known for the origin of golf. Using one of our travel guide walking tours, we walked throughout the old town area.

On the shores of the North Sea and only a couple blocks from downtown is the famous St Andrews Golf Course. The official headquarters of all things golf was right on the 18th hole. There must be a major golf event coming soon, because they were erecting large bleachers everywhere. We walked out on the fairway for a quick picture and no one seemed to mind.

Back in the middle ages and later during the time of the reformation, the golf course was no where to be found. Instead, you would have seen a huge castle and a nearby cathedral. These stone walls went through many changes as the protestants reformed the people and destroyed the idolatry of the Catholic church. Tall towers, underground tunnels, stone dungeons and many graves can still be seen today as historical proof of life in another time.

The North Sea joins the Firth of Forth along this coast line. We explored the fishing villages and harbors of Crail and Anstruther in the East Neuk of Fife. All of these towns are so picturesque  with their medieval churches and stone houses.  After a must have dinner of fish and chips we gradually made out way back to our Bed and Breakfast on Loch Leven.

I became a little more accustomed to driving by the end of the day. Our only major mistake was a parking ticket in St Andrews! I guess it is good to support the local economy!

Well, Kathy has the map out and making final preparations for tomorrow and I need to get the GPS pre-programed and ready to go.

Tim and Kathy

County Fife - Blog 7

May 6, 2015

Yesterday was our day to drop in to the Scotland's Peoples Center to dig a little deeper into Kathy's heritage. Since the rains returned with a vengeance, this was a good day to be inside. We visited with the front desk people for a wee bit and found that the research Kathy has already completed is as far as we can go at this time. Our plan to hide from the rain did not work out so well! 

We wandered by the National Gallery and decided it would be a nice safe place out of the rain and admission was free!  We were surprised to find a well done art gallery with some wonderful pieces of the major artists of the Renaissance including three from my (Kathy's) favorite, Raphael.  There were some of the great Impressionists also.  Really was a delight.

So what do we do now? Well, how about shopping and a coffee. A major high end shopping experience can be found at Jenners. We wondered around for a while then settled into a nice coffee shop with internet. The rain let up a little, so we explored the streets on the New Town of Edinburgh. We really did not accomplish much, but got our exercise and enjoyed exploring. 

Today began our transition from public transport to our own car. After an easy bus ride to the airport we found our rental car company and we were on our way. I gotta tell ya, it really feels wrong to sit on the right side and drive on the left. I never realized how much I drive with a certain amount of autopilot. I can't trust my mind to make the right instant decisions. STAY LEFT! Between us both we have conquered the challenge and made it through our first day with wheels! 

Our route today took us across the Firth of Forth and to our first stop in the delightful little city of Culross. We looked around a classic stone church built in 1217 with evidence of a Christian community back to the 5th century. The ruins of the abbey had their own beauty. We also found the palace and gardens, and a great little lunch spot.

Staying mostly on the left side of the road, we showed up in Kinglassie where some of Kathy's family is from. There really was not to much to this little village and nobody seemed to notice that Kathy is part of the clan. We found the old parish church...maybe my great-grandfather, George Williams was baptized there. We could see a very tall stone tower on the hill above town so getting to it was a goal. For the life of us, we could not find a way to get to it. After many left handed u-turns, we gave up and headed out to our next B & B in Kinross. Our second floor room looks out over the beautiful Loch Leven.  We can also see the Loch Leven Castle on an island in the Loch where Mary Queen of Scots spent a year imprisoned in 1567. Very Nice and a wonderful quiet place to relax and recover from the stress of driving!

Tim and Kathy

Edinburgh - Day 6

May 4, 2015

Yesterday's walking companion, rain, gave way to my dear friend, sun! With such a delightful partner at our side, we headed to the hills. Actually a small, by Oregon standards, rocky outcrop left by an ancient volcano. Great views of the city, ocean, and hillsides dotted with bright yellow scotch broom.The elevated position also gave a nice perspective on our upcoming visit to the Royal Palace and attached Abbey ruins.

The queen must have know we were coming, since she stayed away! But like someone once said, "When the Queens away, the tourists will play"! And we did spend the balance of the morning playing and exploring in the Royal Palace. First up was a leisurely walk with a very informative guide around the Royal Gardens. Since it was just Kathy and I with the guide, we enjoyed a relaxed walk, informative conversations, and lots of picture taking.

The end of the Royal Garden Stroll placed us at the doors of the Palace of Holyrood House. We were allowed to walk through all the public rooms, many of which are used today for Royal events. This home to kings and queens goes back to the 14th century with the Abbey extending back to the 12th century. And I was thinking our house in Oregon is old! Mary, Queen of Scots was here and her faithful secretary was stabbed 50 times in one of the rooms on the order of her very jealous husband! We left the carnage behind and ended our time at the palace with a quick look at the crown jewels and a glance at many items made of gold.

A quick ice cream gave us the energy to walk deeper into town and walk around the neo-gothic memorial to the renowned Scottish novelist, Sir Walter Scott. He is considered to be the father of the romantic historical novel. From the looks of this tower, I would have assumed he wrote evil, dark, underworld novels with lots of ghosts and goblins in the character list. But that is just my opinion, of course!

I really needed a change in the architectural diet, so we headed straight away to the St. Giles Cathedral. It is also considered a neo-gothic design, but much more to my liking. These stone walls have witnessed several major changes. The Catholic fathers originally erected this beautiful building, only to be stripped of it's grandeur by the protestant reformation lead by the fiery preacher, John Knox. He removed the stained glass and whitewashed the walls to remove worldly idolatry. Later in the story, walls were built to chop up the interior into four different congregations. What we see today is a restored beauty with stained glass windows and a very impressive pipe organ. One of the stained glass masterpieces was created as a tribute to the poet, Robert Burns. This cathedral is considered to be Scotland's most important church. It is viewed as the Westminster Abby of Scotland.

OK! We're ready for a break!! How about afternoon high tea? Great idea! We wondered down a tight walkway and discovered Forsyth's Tea Room. It was quiet, the tea hot, and the scones delicious. This little gem has been run by this family for 20 years, with most of the work being managed by a most dear lady that must have been 75 years old or more.  

The last stop of the day was a visit to the assumed home of Preacher John Knox. Well done presentation with a chance to feel the quill in hand and read the scriptures in the light of the sun streaming in the windows. Yes this picture is really Tim at the writing table. I (Tim) hardly recognized the picture. I thought it was just some old man Kathy had taken a picture of!

Tim and Kathy