Tag: #Scotland

Last Days in Scotland

This was the day that we walked the most. Leaving Kilbryde Castle where we were staying, we headed to Doune Castle in Doune, Scotland. We left around 9 am to give ourselves enough time to get to the castle by our 11:00 ticket time. We made the four miles with 30 minutes to spare.

As we entered the castle they gave us devices that recited the information at each stage of the castle. It was fun learning about the history, seeing where the food was prepared, where they slept, and entertained.

The hole in the corner of this area was for smoke. It was a spit for cooking large animals and hanging large pots to cook.

This was a doorway out of the kitchen area in to the prep area.

This was the hole for a toilet. The grate is over it to keep people from tossing trash. They did say that when a prisoner of war was held in the castle, he escaped by going out toilet hole.

This was the basket that held the wood to keep the guests warm during a banquet. It sits in the middle of the banquet hall.

The banquet hall. I can’t remember how many people they said it could accommodate. but it was large.

Looking out one of the windows toward the courtyard. It was pretty and a large area.

This was the fireplace in the family’s main room above the banquet hall.

This was where the Lord would hear grievances and proclaim laws.

gingerbread cake

It was a fun tour. Afterwards, we found the business district of the town and a quaint cafe called Buttercup. We had a wonderful lunch. I had creamed mushroom, sweet potato, tarragonsoup with loaded fries (which we all ate). Even though I was full, I couldn’t pass up the gingerbread cake. It was delicious!

With overflowing stomachs, we headed back to where we were staying. On the way, we passed by a playground and Angie decided to take a ride on a small zip line.

We walked slowly back to Kilbryde Castle, enjoying the sunshine and pretty scenes. When we arrived, I looked at my Fitbit and we had walked 9 miles.

The next day, we stayed at the castle being lazy. Midday, Angie and I took a stroll around the paths in the gardens and down by the river. I took a lot of photos of flowers still in bloom and the changing leaves. In the afternoon, we played cards and I packed for the next leg of our vacation.

Old rock steps down to the river.

view from the Ferry

We woke at 5 am, and the taxi arrived at 6 to take us to the bus station in Sterling. We had less than an hour bus ride to Glasgow and then a two-hour bus ride to Cairnryan to walk onto the Ferry. The Ferry ride took about two hours. We purchased a chicken wrap, ate the rest of the chips we brought with us, and then found a room with bench seats and the movie Super Mario Bros playing.

When we landed in Belfast, Ireland, we discovered the hotel we’d reserved was 30 minutes away. The taxi driver was full of good information. We spent the evening changing up some of our sightseeing due to the places the taxi driver told us. Then we watched some TV and went to bed.

The next post will be about Ireland.

Scotland – Kilbryde Castle and Dunblane

We started our trip to Scotland with a nice stroll to the train station. The ride took us to Paddington Station in London. We hailed a cab to get us to King’s Cross Station for our leg of the trip to Stirling, Scotland. With only 30 minutes to get to the next train, we thought the cab would be faster than us trying to find our way around the tube station.

Traffic was horrible!

Those people you see running through train stations and airports…that was us. We arrived at the train station with 8 minutes before our train left. And the trains don’t wait. They pull up only minutes before they leave.  At the ticket turntable, Angie’s ticket wasn’t working, however, the attendant buzzed her through. It was my turn. I was fumbling trying to find the right ticket. He buzzed me through. Rietta hurried behind me, and he buzzed her through.  Angie took off running toward the platform. I was running behind her with a backpack and my rolling suitcase. I know I had to look like a lumbering ox, but I kept my legs pumping even when they didn’t want to. I kept her in sight, and right as she boarded the train, Rietta darted around me. She hopped on the train, reached down and grabbed my bag, then grabbed my arm and helped me and my tired legs get up the steps onto the train.

After we found our seats and calmed down, we enjoyed the 5-hour ride to Stirling. We read, played cards, and watched the scenery.

At Stirling, we hopped in a cab and gave him the name of the place where we were staying.  Kilbryde Castle, Dunblane. What I hadn’t realized was how isolated the castle was. The information said it was a short walk to places of interest.

Kilbryde Castle

Once the cab left, we realized it wasn’t. And our phones wouldn’t work to order takeout. I managed to get hold of the Airbnb host. She brought us bread, cheese, butter, eggs, and spaghetti. That was enough to get us through the night and breakfast. We were staying in the servants’ quarters.

The next day we started off walking around the Kilbryde Castle garden.

After seeing all the varieties of flowers and the wonderful trails, we set off for the town of Dunblane on foot.

Our phone said it was about 3 miles. At the halfway point, we discovered a lovely coffee stand. We stopped for hot chocolate and chai lattes.

After watching the people with dogs walking out toward the road, we followed them and found the trail to Dublane that ran alongside the highway.

In town, we encountered many large stately homes before crossing a bridge and coming to the town center. We found Leighton Library first. Angie stuck her head around a little door in the side of a building and discovered information about an expansion program for the oldest purpose-built private library in Scotland. It was built with money from Robert Leighton, Bishop of Dunblane 1661-1670, with money he requested to be used to build something to house his collection of books. There are around 4500 books printed in 15 languages in the library. He wanted the books to be housed in Dunblane and used by the clergy.

The feel of the leather covers, the multitude of sizes, and the variety of pages is something to behold for any lover of books. The woman at the library was full of wonderful information and said she would take out any book we wanted to look at, but I was so in awe of the sight that I didn’t want to bother the books. I couldn’t believe she said we could come back and get one to take with us to read and bring back before we left. It astounded me that they were so willing to share such a treasure.

From the library we toured Dunblane Cathedral. It was small but beautiful with carved pews and woodwork and modest stained glass windows. At the cathedral we were told the museum was a good place to learn the history of the town and took a turn through the rooms.

After the museum, we walked into a couple of stores and ended up getting lunch at the Riverside Cafe. I had a tasty sandwich of baked chicken thigh, tomato, mozzarella cheese, a nice sauce, fries, and a salad. We were all stuffed when we finished eating. And to our surprise, the cafe allowed dogs to come in with the owners. The dogs were on leashes and sat at the feet of their owners while they dined. Although Rietta said she spotted a lab, trying to snare a fry from a neighboring table when its master wasn’t looking.

This was written on the wall of the cafe.

Our next stop was to try and find a bus to see if it would take us back to the castle. We couldn’t find one and went to the grocery store instead for provisions for our stay at the castle. After seeing our groceries were taking all three bags we’d brought with us and being tired from all our trekking, we decided to call a taxi to take us to the castle. Again, my phone wouldn’t work even though I’d purchased the extra coverage. I asked the information desk at the store if they could call a taxi for us. We were told it would be about 10 minutes and where to wait. A taxi pulled into the parking lot, and we all walked toward him when he parked. He told us he wasn’t there to pick us up, that someone else was coming. So we went back and waited.

A taxi pulled up to the bus stop and waved us over. On our way to the castle, the driver told us about a walk similar to what we’d taken that day that would deliver us to the Doune Castle. We decided to see it the next day. We also set up for the taxi to pick us up at 6 am on the day we left to get us to the bus station in Stirling to catch our ride to Caryn and the ferry across to Ireland for the last leg of our trip.

…next post Doune Castle