Southward in the Rain to Glamis Castle and Crail

---

Southward in the rain

Well - the plan for today was to see the ruins of Dunottar Castle just south of Stonehaven and then Glamis Castle, St. Andrews and finishing up at Crail in the East Neuk of Fife. But it’s absolutely miserable out today, drizzle alternating with downpours and strong winds.

So - we drove out to Dunottar anyway in hopes that the rain would ease up by the time we got there - nope! Was pelting down when we got there. We pulled into the castle car park and looked at the long (at least a quarter mile) walk out to the ruins overlooking the sea and didn’t even get out of the car. I thought about jumping out and grabbing a quick photo at least, but it was raining too hard and you could hardly even see the ruins for the fog. We decided the best thing to do was to drive on to Glamis as that was an indoor tour of a furnished castle.

Glamis Castle

Glamis is where the Queen Mother grew up. The castle has been lived in continuously by the same family since 1372. The castle was originally an L shaped tower and has been added onto many times. There are only guided tours of the castle and our guide was really good. She told stories about the house and different family members and other visitors. She made the tour really interesting. The house was completely occupied and ransacked during the mid 1500’s and all items of value were stolen. The king of the time considered Glamis forfeit because of the family’s connections to the Douglas’s who the king despised. After King James V died the imprisoned Lord Glamis was released from prison and his estates were reinstated, but he was broke and all the furnishings were gone.

We really enjoyed this castle - loads of history and beautiful rooms and furnishings. After the tour the rain let up a bit so we decided to walk over to see the highland cows in the pasture. They weren’t in the pasture right next to the walking path, but in the pasture across a farm lane. I climbed over the fence along the walkway and crossed the farm lane to get closer to the pasture where the ‘heilan coos’ were. Mom kept telling me I should do it, but I figured the worst that would happen is I would get yelled at and told to get back on the path, but at least I would have the photos I wanted!! I climbed back over just before a tractor came by so I never found out! I did get some really good photos (in my opinion anyway!) so it was worth the risk. This estate is over 14,000 acres!

We didn’t even look at the gardens as it started to rain again while we were over by the cows. We thought about eating in the castle restaurant, but it was packed with people from the tour buses, so we decided to just hold off.

Glamis Castle has a fascinating and exciting history. It has been the family home of the Earls of Strathmore since 1372, when King Robert II (the first of the Stuart Kings) of Scotland gave the castle to Sir John Lyon. Legends and myths have grown around the castle. King Malcolm II was said to have been murdered here in the 11th century. Lady Janet Douglas, widow of Lord Glamis, was burned at the stake as a witch in 1540 by James V. There is said to be a secret room where a nobleman played cards with the devil himself.

Glamis today looks more like a French Chateau than a medieval fortress, because it was extensively restored in the 17th and 18th centuries. The original tower house remains at the centre of the castle today. It has, of course, close connections with the present Royal Family, being the childhood home of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (she being the youngest daughter of the 14th Earl), and Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret was born here in 1930. It is the setting for Shakespeare's Macbeth and is referred to specifically :- "Glamis thou art" "and yet woulds't wrongly win: thou'dst have great Glamis" It is popularly believed that Duncan was murdered here by Macbeth. From: Glamis Castle page

St Andrews

We drove down to St Andrews Castle and it was still bucketing down rain. I thought I could still get a few decent shots of the castle if I held the umbrella over the camera, so I parked the car (mom waited in the car). As I stepped out of the car and put up the umbrella, the wind turned the umbrella inside out!! Well!! I grabbed a couple of quick shots through the wrought iron fence and jumped back in the car and I was already soaked! Well at this point we gave up and decided to call the day a wash out as far as any sightseeing in St. Andrews.

Crail in the East Neuk of Fife

We drove on to Crail and Caiplee House which is the only bed and breakfast we are staying at on this trip. Crail is only about 8 miles south east of St. Andrews and we found Caiplee House with no problem. However it looked dark inside! We were able to park on the street in front of the B&B and we got out and went in the outside door. The inside door was locked and it had a note to call someone about checking in. Just as I was digging out the phone, the owner, Finlay Kerr heard us in the vestibule and opened the door to let us in.

We have the family suite on the 3rd floor. Mom is letting me have the room with the double bed and she took the room with the 2 twin beds, a futon couch and a TV/VCR combo. It was really cold in the rooms, but Finlay turned the heat on and said it should be warm by morning!! Eep! But there’s a space heater to take the chill off and the bathroom light has a heater in it too. The shower is just a stall and it has a weird contraption on the wall of it that has to be turned on before you can use the shower. Hope we can figure it out! My room overlooked High Street and I had a lovely view over the rooftops toward the harbor. Too bad it was so rainy.

We asked where to eat and Finlay sent us down High Street to the Golf Hotel. It was okay. I had a ham, cheese and onion Panini and mom got a tuna sandwich that she hated and couldn’t eat. She said it was really fishy tasting. She ended up with a baked potato. We had made dinner reservations when we came in, but in the end decided not to eat there again. On the walk back to the hotel, we stopped in a little bakery and got a piece of pound cake to have for a snack later.

We ended up getting pizza from a couple doors down from the hotel. It was okay I thought and was less than £10 at least. I also ordered a side of onion rings and was surprised to find that they charged for ketchup sachets (we call them packets)! I had paid for the food when I ordered and didn’t bring any money when I went back to pick it up so they ended up just giving me 2 sachets for free anyway.

There is only reception of 2 TV channels and they both come in pretty snowy. So mom and I watched the Jim Carrey version of the Grinch on VHS. It was basically the best choice of the VHS tapes in the room.

Just as I was about to go in the shower the lights went out! The ladies in the room across the hall from us were freezing and apparently their space heater tripped a fuse. Oddly enough the TV stayed on and mom’s bedside lamp. The ladies across the hall went down and called the lady who lives behind the B& B who is on duty tonight. The owner has an apartment on the first floor but must be away. Finally I was able to take my shower and the shower contraption worked just fine. Not really sure what it is - maybe a water heater or pump or something.

---

Photos

Highland Cow
At Glamis Castle

Highland Cow
At Glamis Castle

Highland Cow
At Glamis Castle

St Andrews
In the pouring rain!

Crail
Rainy view from our room

St Andrews
In the pouring rain!

St Andrews
In the pouring rain!