Scotland Day 7

Day 24 - Scotland - Day 7 (September 22)

Sunshine!! According to the weather report, we should have temperatures in the high 60’s with the possibility of high winds. It’s 7:30 AM and we are downstairs having breakfast and chatting with our hostess. Today I’m having fruit and cereal, a lighter breakfast than normal for this trip - heh, heh!

After breakfast we take our bags out to the car and get ready for another day of exploring. Our rout takes us out of Montrose and up A92 towards Stonehaven. Our first stop is the small seaside village of Johnshaven just up the coast from Montrose. This is still a fishing village where the primary catch is lobster.
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/johnshaven/johnshaven/index.html
We parked right next to the harbor and got out to walk around. With the tide out, the boats in the basin are high and dry. We made it down to the beach and walked along the shore then cut back through the town before returning to the car. On our way out we drove through several narrow streets before heading up a one way lane back to A92.

Reaching the highway, we turned north once again. Our next stop was the castle of Dunnottar, perched high on a craig above the sea. The site on which the
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/stonehaven/dunnottarcastle/
Castle sits has been inhabited since Pictish times (5000 BC to 700 AD) although an exact date is not known. The name Dunnottar stems from the Pictish word "Dun" which means hill fort or place of strength. For more on the Picts go to:
http://www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/origin1.html .

Dunnottar Castle was home to one of the most powerful families in Scotland, the Earls Marischal, from the 14th century when Sir William Keith, the 1st Earl Marischal, built his Tower House, also known as the Keep. The Earl Marischal was an office bestowed on the Keiths by James II. The role was one of the three great offices of State, along with the Constable and the Steward. The Earl Marischal had specific responsibility for ceremonial events, the Honours (Crown, Scepter and Sword) of Scotland and for the safety of the King's person within parliament. William Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots, the Marquis of Montrose and the future King Charles II, all graced the Castle with their presence. Most famously though, it was at Dunnottar Castle that a small garrison held out against the might of Cromwell’s army for eight months and saved the Scottish Crown Jewels, the ‘Honours of Scotland’, from destruction. Crown, scepter and sword now take pride of place in Edinburgh Castle.

The walk to the castle is strenuous, descending from the parking lot along a narrow lane to a series of winding steps leading down the crest of a hill to the base of the rock which the castle stands on. Then the steps wind up to the castle entrance. Lots of nooks and cranny’s, towers with spiral staircases, hidden rooms and absolutely meticulously kept grounds. We spent almost two hours wandering around taking pictures, oohhing and aahhing over the setting, the play of sunlight on water and fields. With few people around we could take our time.

We slowly made our way back up to the other side where we went out on a broad grassy plain across a massive gulch from the castle to take a few pictures without the sun being in our face. Then it was back to the car for the journey into “Stonehaven. We reached the back entrance to Stonehaven, high on a cliff above the harbor http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/stonehaven/stonehaven/index.html.
After a brief stop for pictures, we continued down the one way road to the town center and the visitor information center. After booking a room for the night in Dundee, we got information about a great little restaurant out on the end of the pier. So we walked down to the beach where we met several interesting people with their dogs, then walked along the beach and boardwalk to the “Boat Yard” café. The sun was warm so we decided to sit outside on the patio to eat lunch. We each had a Panini and homemade soup - simply delicious. After lunch we walked through town back to the car where we got out the map and our activity list to find out where we were going next. Turns out we had another castle on our list, Edzel Castle http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/edzell/edzellcastle/.

Leaving Stonehaven, we headed inland and got on A90, a four lane divided highway and headed south towards the town of Brechin about 25 miles away. It was a nice easy drive with very little traffic and we got to the Brechin turn off twenty minutes later. Crossing over the A90 we headed for a small town called Edzell where the ruins are located. The castle was more of a Baronial home than a massive walled fortification.

This is a remarkable and very beautiful complex, with a late-medieval tower house incorporated into a 16th century courtyard mansion, and a walled garden with a bathhouse and summer house laid out in 1604. The original four story tower house was completed in the mid 1500’s, with a huge expansion following the outer wall making an “L” shape. Late in the 1500’s several other structures were added to make room for the larger staff necessary to support a growing family. The formal garden was planned and built by Sir David Lindsay, Lord Edzell, about 1604 and was recreated in the 1930s. The formal garden and carved wall decorations is unique in Britain. The carvings depict the Planetary Deities, Liberal Arts and Cardinal Virtues.
Once again we were the only visitors so we were able to wander around without feeling pressured to move along. We really enjoyed our time there - very peaceful, but it was time to find our way to our lodging, Balgowan House B&B, a four star lodging.

We got back to A90 and drove into Dundee to the city center. Due to construction we got totally lost and eventually ended up high on the hill above the city. We continued driving around, working our way back towards where we thought we should be when I pulled over so Tina could ask directions. Once again our lucky star was shining. Turns out the young man we were talking to was going to the same road our lodging was on, so we gave him a lift and he gave us directions. After dropping him off it was only about a half mile down the road.
http://guide.visitscotland.com/vs/guide/5,en,SCH1/objectId,ACC82560Svs,curr,GBP,season,at1,selectedEntry,home/home.html
Pulling into the parking area we met our host David, a semi-pro soccer player with Dundee United http://www.dundeeunitedfc.co.uk/ which has been in existence for over 100 years. He showed us around his lovely home then took us up to our room. Once we got settled in, we walked down the street to the Invercarse Hotel http://www.bw-invercarsehotel.co.uk/ for dinner. It was a very nice dinner in a lovely setting, but nothing to write home about.

After coffee we walked back to our lodging, went up to our room and settled in for the night, me to work on photos and the blog, Tina to relax and watch a little TV.

To see all our photos go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski