Moffat and Caerlaverock Castle

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Moffat

Wake up call at 8am! I had another restless night; I think I only kept the brace on for about 2 hours. My arm ached something fierce. I really wish I could get a good nights rest. We had breakfast at Burt’s Hotel again and it was good but not really filling. Apparently the trick was to order scrambled eggs, not fried. One fried egg is what I got and mom had at least 3 scrambled. We literally dragged 1 big, heavy bag each down to the car before breakfast. Then we managed all of the rest in one trip. I carried one of mom’s bags with mine. Mom hit the ATM and the post office again and we headed off to Moffat intending to stop at the Grey Mare’s Tail Waterfall on A708. The A708 looks deceptively straight on the map - when in reality it’s twisty and hilly and so narrow in a lot of places that 2 cars can barely pass without one car driving on the shoulder! Needless to say the 30 miles took over an hour to drive.

There were so many sheep and cows along the way; thousands if not more! In some places there were no fences and the sheep were wandering in the road. They (the sheep) give you a look when you try to get by them like they can't believe you expect them to move. A few were sleeping on the edge of the road and I was a little worried that their little hooves would get run over, but they seemed completely unconcerned!! We got to the parking area for the Grey Mares Tail Waterfall and took one look at how steep the trail was and didn’t even get out of the car. Not only was the trail steep, but it was narrow and winding on the exposed mountain side; you would need to be part mountain goat! However we didn't realize it at the time, but there was a observation deck not far from the car park that didn't require any climbing. Oops. So we just continued on the last 10 miles to Moffat and parked at the Woolen Mills shopping area. There was a carnival in town and there was no parking anywhere. We did go into the mill and make a couple of purchases so we didn’t feel too guilty about leaving the car there and walking around town for a bit. Mom bought whiskey for her friend although the kind she had wanted was discontinued. I picked up a couple of small MacKinnon clan items for a friend who had asked me to keep an eye out for such things. We stopped in the tourist info center on the corner to ask where we could get lunch and they mentioned a couple of places. We chose the restaurant at the Buccleach Arms Hotel. They had yummy potato leek soup - I got mine with an egg mayo sandwich (which came with tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers!) and mom got hers with a roll. The food was delicious!
There was a card on the table listing all the local places where the restaurant bought their food and one of the places was where they bought their sweets. So we got directions to Mrs. Blacklocks Toffee Shop and walked over there. They had so much candy, some homemade and some from every manufacturer imaginable! The place must be super popular as it was jam packed with people. I ended up getting some homemade ‘butter tablet’. To me it was very similar to what we call penuche in the States.

Caerlaverock Castle

We got back into the car and headed to Caerlaverock Castle (ignore the first ‘er’ when pronouncing) just 7 miles south of Dumfries. The only way to get there is to drive right through the city of Dumfries; it was very confusing and there was tons of Saturday traffic. We finally got to the castle about 2-2:30. It’s situated on a peninsula of land sticking out into the Solway Firth. The castle is a unique triangular shape and is very, very cool. Even though it’s a ruin, there is lots still left standing of the walls and the rooms. You’re able to climb up one of the turrets on a narrow spiral stair and part of the second floor is accessible as well. The moat is still full of water and is totally cool! We also walked all the way around the outside of the castle. The south east tower and most of the south curtain wall were destroyed in 1640. This gives the effect of a life-size cutaway of the castle with most of the interior visible from the far side of the moat. There’s also a full scale replica of a trebuchet (like a catapult) which is a medieval siege engine. I really like this castle and took a bunch of photos with the wide angle lens. There is also evidence of an older castle several hundred yards behind Caerlaverock and is reached by a boardwalk. There is only foundation wall left of this structure. By the time we finished here it was too late to go to Sweetheart (or New) Abbey, so we just headed to the hotel.

Trigony House Hotel

Of course we had to go back through Dumfries, but once we were through the city the hotel was only 10-15 minutes away. Trigony Country House Hotel started life as the Shooting Lodge for Closeburn Castle. It’s just gorgeous and there are only 10 rooms in total. Trigony has beautiful gardens and has won awards for its food as well. I used the internet here to check my e-mail and the weather. The computer is actually the one the hotel staff uses for business. I felt kind of weird using it as it’s in the office right off the kitchen, so I sent off a few e-mails. The weather looks rainy for the next several days unfortunately. Today it wasn’t hot or really even all that warm, but it was really humid - I was sweaty and clammy at the same time. Our room was really beautiful and the bathroom is really large too. The only bad thing is it overlooks the back of the hotel where the outbuilding and work area is, no view at all and kind of noisy.

We ate here at the hotel as there really isn’t much in the area. The villages are only a couple houses each at least from what we could see driving through. We both had penne with spicy tomato sauce. Everything else was super fancy gourmet - lots of game and fish. For dessert I got the sticky toffee pudding with caramel sauce, which has cake like consistency, is shaped like a flower and it came with clotted cream. It was super sweet and rich, but totally delicious. Mom got raspberry crème brulee which she said was yummy too. I decided to shower as soon as we got back up to the room so I could wear the brace while I write this. There are only 4 channels on the television so I think I might read for a while before I go to sleep.

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Photos

Caerlaverock Castle
Caerlaverock Castle near Dundee

Caerlaverock Castle
Caerlaverock Castle near Dundee

Caerlaverock Castle
Caerlaverock Castle near Dundee