Mind the rabbit holes

“Don’t fall off the cliff… it’s my day off today and I drink on my day off!” exclaimed the coast guard. This chance meeting with one of Scotland’s finest began our first venture outside of Aberdeen. The destination: Dunnottar Castle. The journey was not to be taken lightly… and certainly after the warning from our friend the coast guard had us wondering what we were getting ourselves into. But I am getting ahead of myself.

The town of Stonehaven is a 15 minute train ride out of Aberdeen. A small fishing community with a quaint harbour, it is the gateway to the ruins of Dunnottar Castle. This castle, like many others I’m sure, has a storied past including a siege, and it was once home to the Scottish crown jewels. So certainly, its proximity to Aberdeen suggested it as a good first taste of Scottish history. So that is the background. Now back to our adventure.

There are two ways to reach the castle: the easy, boring, no-view-to-speak-of main road, and the sketchy, walk-along-a-muddy-path-on-the-edge-of-a-cliff-for-an-hour way. We chose the latter. The views were breathtaking. The sun was out, and the water was sparkling as it crashed violently into the cliffs 300 feet below us. It was typical post-card, picture-don’t-do-it-justice type of thing. As we trekked on ahead, the path became somewhat sketchier, often venturing rather (too) close to the edge of the cliff. With no railing, improper shoes and a muddy path, you can imagine that vertigo was an integral part of it.

An hour and a half later, we arrived at the base of Dunnottar Castle. Perched atop a cliff, even in its ruined stated it presents an imposing and beautiful scene. Reaching the castle by a never-ending flight of stairs, we were treated to the ability to walk freely among the ruins as we pleased (after paying a ‘nominal’ 4 pounds each entry fee of course!), entering various portions of the castle, climbing stairs, walking into what were once certainly massive halls where battle strategies were debated as a fire roared in the large fireplaces. It was an amateur photographers’ delight; the photos took themselves.

Thoroughly happy with our experience but physically exhausted, we decided that the boring route back would be an ok way to go. All and all a fantastic day, and the best part? The coast guard got to enjoy his day off 

For an idea of what we saw, check out the photos contained in this blog from the day! Please note that there were a lot of pictures and I tried to put up as many as possible, so there are TWO PAGES of pictures. You will have to click next or page 2 to see the rest of them near the bottom of the first page of the blog. OR you can click on any one of the pictures and it will open a separate window where you can easily navigate from one picture to the next --- this is a better option because the pictures show larger and are therefore easier to see the beautiful details.


Thanks and enjoy!!!

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