Castles and crowds

Saturday 4th August

Seems like we've done well with our hotel pick. We are about half way between Stirling and Edinburgh, perfectly placed to visit both. Today was Edinburgh - a 5 minute drive to the station, 30 minutes on the train and we found ourselves in the centre of town. Must add that the Scottish trains are so quiet and smooth - a very pleasant trip.

We didn't realise when we got to booking the Edinburgh section of the trip that it was Military Tattoo time, and fringe festival time. There were literally thousands of people in the streets - walking anywhere was like playing dodgem cars. So many different nationalities and languages.

Sir Walter Scott monument.

This was around 10 in the morning in the street blocked off for the fringe festival
- by 5pm you could not see the ground for people.
There were so many shows advertised and quite a few we would have enjoyed
had we planned it better.

This is the forecourt of Edinburgh Castle with the stands set up for the tattoo.
They erect this and take it down every year.

Late afternoon - near the castle.

Wellies to match your kilt.

We planned to visit Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse and that was about all we could fit in. These 2 attractions are at opposite ends of the city and we used the hop on, hop off bus to get around. I enjoyed our time on the buses here as they had live guides so again we didn't just get the dry facts and history, but also got some of the amusing tales.

Edinburgh Castle - it looks pretty impreseive perched on the hill,
but what we saw inside did not really impress.
One room I might have enjoyed showing the family tree of Mary Queen of Scots
was being refurbished and all the paintings were covered. 

The one o'clock gun - and yes, they fired it at 1pm

Some of the armour and weapons in the great hall.

Palace of Holyroodhouse - this is the Queen's residence in Edinburgh.
We were able to do a tour through some of the rooms in the palace
and particularly noted the room where she knighted Sir Sean Connery.
And for Outlander fans, some of the scenes were set here. 
No photos allowed inside. 

The remains of the Abbey attached to the palace.

Squirrel in the gardens. Rob said he could imagine the royal children
playing in the gardens.

This is the Queen's local church when in Edinburgh. 

There were at least 4 Harry Potter shops in Edinburgh.
J.K.Rowling lives in Edinburgh and some of the locations in the city
feature in her books. The George Heriot school for example
is the inspiration for Hogwarts.

It was a tiring day and we did a quick stop at Aldi on the way home for microwave dinners.

Visiting the Royals

Thursday 2nd August

Just a quiet drive today along the scenic route to Aberdeen. We stopped at 2 castles along the road; Glenbuchat Castle which is a ruin and currently closed to the public, then Castle Fraser which is a National Trust property where they rip you off for parking. We decided not to tour this one as we were really looking for lunch so just did a drive by shooting.

The Cairngorm Mountains.
This is a popular holiday destination - skiing in winter, walking
and just generally enjoying the National park.

As we drove through this area the hills were
all pink and mauve - covered in heather.
It sometimes looks dirty brown but depends on how sunny it is.

Glenbuchat Castle. Built in 1590 by John Gordon for his wedding. 

Set in this beautiful location.

Castle Fraser.

No sign of Jamie or Claire. 

We found nowhere to eat before we arrived in Aberdeen around 2. We found Aberdeen confusing - we got no sense of where the actual city centre was, and finding parking was a nightmare, so we eventually just stopped at a carpark hoping there was food nearby.

Our hotel is on the outskirts of Aberdeen in an industrial area. It is a huge hotel - not our normal type but came at the right price.


Friday 3rd August

Down to Edinburgh area today but first off a visit to Balmoral Castle. Bad timing again - the castle is closed from end of July for the Queen to take her summer vacation. When we arrived there the road was closed and there were quite a number of police present. Being nosy I asked one of the policeman if the Queen was actually there, and yes, she was. He was a very friendly policeman and forthcoming with information.  He told us if we waited by the edge of the road for 5-10 minutes we would see the Royal Scottish Guard practising the 'marching in' ceremony. Apparently even though she is already there, there is an official ceremony on Monday. Damn! Too early for that. We enjoyed watching the rehearsal though - right place, right time. Sadly, no welcoming cuppa for us at this castle either.

More of the Cairngorms.

The River Dee - Balmoral Castle lies alongside the river.
We are standing on the bridge on the access road to the castle.

As close as we got to the castle - closed.

Not the real deal - a photo of a jigsaw. Best we could do.

The Royal Scottish Guard rehearsing the official arrival of The Queen.

The Shetland pony, named Cruachan, is the official mascot
of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
The lady is the stunt double for the Queen.

Inspecting the guard.

We couldn't even get a photo of the castle from the road as it was surrounded by huge trees. I did get a brief glimpse of a turret with flagpole flying the flag. We consoled ourselves with the next castle along the road - Braemar Castle.

Braemar Castle. The castle was built in 1628 when the Earl of Mar
built it as his Highland hunting lodge.

We continued along the scenic route via the village of Braemar (nice village) and then through the Cairngorm Mountains towards Perth. More beautiful views. Once we hit Perth it was motorways to our hotel for the next 5 nights. Reminds us of our Premiere Classe hotels in France, but this one has a kitchen so we can self cater. There is also a pub next door with reasonably priced meals.

Found a souvenir I want.

Tuesday 31st July

We are staying in a bunkhouse for 3 nights so no pressure to pack and move on. At least we can save a little money here as we can cook our own meals. We have discovered microwave meals at the supermarket and they are very cheap and quite good so they are the go for the next couple of days.

Today was a visit to Culloden Battlefield - scene of the Jacobite uprising in April 1746. The battle only lasted one hour and resulted in the death of 1500 of the Jacobite forces. I imagine it would have been pretty cold and bleak in April, as the wind whistled across the field. Not many tour buses there as we were nice and early.

Culloden Battlefield 

They have erected 2 lines of flags representing each side.
The red flags were the British and blue flags the Jacobites.
You can't see them in the photo but they weren't very far apart.  

These memorial stones were erected in 1881 and are scattered around
with the clan names on them.
We didn't see the clan Fraser one so not sure that Jamie is here.

This cairn was also erected in 1881.

On to Elgin for lunch and to visit the cathedral. Built in 1200s and mostly destroyed in the 1700s during the Jacobite wars. What is left was pretty impressive - how majestic this would have been as a whole.

Looking into the cathedral from the top of one of the towers.

Spynie Palace was nearby and was the home of the bishops. Another ruin but to imagine it in its hey-day it would also have been magnificent.

Spynie Palace

That was enough history for one day and it was dinner time by the time we wound our way through Inverness peak hour traffic.

Wednesday 1st August

We planned a quiet day today starting with dolphin spotting in Moray Firth - we could stand on the point and look for them. The Scots don't miss an opportunity to make money - it costs £2 to park for the 30 or so minutes that the dolphins are around. The parking that gets to me though is when you arrive at a tourist attraction that you have to pay to visit and they also charge you £3 to park.

This border collie was also dolphin watching.
Cold and windy on the point. The days start out looking ok
so we put on short pants, but they don't stay that way.
Jeans tomorrow - I'm giving up on the idea it is a warm summer's day.

We then visited the city of Inverness which was really quite lovely. It had a pedestrian centre where there was a busker singing opera - he was very good. And of course being in Scotland there was the obligatory bag piper. We had lunch at a pub in the main street - fish and chips and little peas. The peas tasted great - why do they go and ruin a flavoursome pea by mashing it?

This used to be the local market
but they have turned it in to speciality shops.

Unicorn statue in the main square in Inverness -
unicorns have some significance but I'm not sure what it is. 

A quick visit to Fort George, an attempted drive by shooting of Cawdor Castle (they hide the castles behind huge trees - the only huge trees we've seen in Scotland),  and then we visited a farm to see working sheepdogs. Highlight of the day. He had about 10 dogs of different ages and all very friendly. Amazing to see them work the sheep - quiet and steady. I wanted to buy a souvenir puppy to bring home - so cute and cuddly. There was one Trafalgar tour bus at our show and as we were leaving 3 tour buses arrived for a show at 5pm.

Entrance to Fort George - built after the battle of Culloden
as a secure base for the army of George II.

Thought this was pretty clever.

Shearing demo with hand shears. 

 

I'll just slip her inside my jacket.

Or maybe we'll take this one.

The Cairngorm mountains we could see from the farm -
yes the weather was getting worse,
in fact it rained as we drove home.

Tomorrow we leave here for Aberdeen but hope to first visit the local show.