Scotland - Day 3

Day 20 - Scotland - Day 3 (September 18)

We woke up this morning to a chilly, cloudy day but at least it wasn’t raining. I had a quick shower and put on a pair of jeans, tee shirt and long sleeve shirt letting Tina get up a little later. Downstairs for breakfast and coffee, I met two other couples - one was with a group of thirty friends doing a Rally motor trip in a beautiful 1968 MGB GT Fastback Coupe The other couple, well I really only met the wife, were in town for a golf tourney, he was caddying for a friend and she was going to watch. About thirty minutes later Tina came down and we visited with everyone while she ate and I drank coffee.

After breakfast we took care of some errands, arranged to do a load of laundry then headed out for Dumbarton and the Dumbarton Castle. Dumbarton was the centre of the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde from the 5th century until 1018. The castle and fortifications are impressively situated on a volcanic rock overlooking the Firth of Clyde, providing an important royal refuge. It was only a twenty minute drive and we did fine getting into Dumbarton, but once there I made the mistake of turning onto what I thought was Victoria Street and turned out to be a grocery store. Eventually we found our way out and got back on the correct route ending up at the foot of the castle about a quarter mile away.
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/dumbarton/dumbartoncastle/index.html

The castle is mostly in ruins today but there are several remaining structures including the Governors House, French Prison and Magazine building, ramparts, gun emplacements and stone walls. Dumbarton Castle guards the point where the River Leven joins the River Clyde. Its recorded history reaches back 1,500 years. At that time the place was known as Alt Clut, ‘Rock of the Clyde’. Later it became known by the Gaelic name Dun Breatann, ‘Fortress of the Britons’, from which the name Dumbarton is derived. In the Middle Ages, Dumbarton Rock became an important royal castle. When it was first built in the 1220s, the Norwegian frontier lay just 10 miles (16km) downriver, and Dumbarton served as a Border stronghold. The Battle of Largs in 1263 effectively removed the threat from Norway, but it was soon replaced by an even greater menace from England. Dumbarton Rock is everything one imagines a mighty Dark-Age stronghold to have been. A volcanic plug, the rock rises up almost sheer from the murky waters that swirl around its base, and from its twin peaks – White Tower Crag and the Beak – you can see for miles.

The medieval castle was built by Alexander II of Scotland around 1220 as a bulwark against the threat from Norway, whose kings ruled the Hebrides and the islands in the Clyde. The castle’s geographical position, distanced from the political heartland of the country, reduced its importance somewhat, but it also made it a good postern, or back gate, through which her rulers could come and go with comparative ease. David II (in 1333–4) and Mary Queen of Scots (in 1548) both sheltered here until ships could take them to France and safety. In later centuries, the rock became a formidable garrison fortress, its defenses bristling with guns. It last saw military action as recently as the Second World War.

We entered through the Governors House and began our very long climb up under the guard house and through the Portcullis Arch on the way up to the French Prison, the Duke of Argyll’s Battery and Magazine building, all situated on the “Beak”. After retracing our steps back down towards the Portcullis we started up another series of very steep stone steps to the top of “White Tower Craig” overlooking the Firth of Clyde, with a stunning vista out across the Firth and overlooking Dumbarton and the surrounding countryside. After returning to the lower bastions, our last short hike was along the lower ramparts and gun battery’s fortifying the western side of White Tower Craig. All in all it was a very impressive fortification with immaculately kept grounds.

Returning to the car we had our picnic lunch before returning to Alexandria for a visit with my cousin David, his daughter Claire and Granddaughter Kayla. We had a nice visit staying for around three hours before leaving to pick up Aunt Elsa to go to dinner. We went to an Italian Restaurant in Balloch and had a very nice dinner then returned to Elsa’s for a visit. We had the NetBook with us so we were able to show her some of our photos from the River Cruise. By 6:00 PM it was getting dark so we took our leave and returned to our lodgings to plan our next outing, a train trip to Edinburgh via Glasgow.

Just a note, we have very slow internet service so photos from the last five days haven’t been up loaded yet. I’ll post a note as soon as we’re able to put them up on the Picasa web site.