Advertisement
Published: January 30th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Drum Castle
Our 1st stop in Scotland. I have loved Scotland since my first overseas, 2 weeks trip in 1999 which was an escorted tour. This time was a lot different due to the fact we would be driving and doing everything on our own for one month (April15-May 16) in the Highlands. My friend & I were both able to get the time off work and so were very excited about this. Our B&B's and hotels were already booked since we would be in a different location practically every night with a few exceptions. The weather was cold and rainy the first week. Over 500 pictures were taken between the two of us, so I will only highlight the places we saw and blog a few days worth on each journal.
We arrived mid-afternoon on Friday in Aberdeen from London, got our green rental car and off we went to our first stop in Banchory for a guided tour of Drum Castle. We were able to climb to the top of the old tower for surrounding views. There was a BAT warning sign on the way up. That was a little scary to see. We found our 1st B&B in Stonehaven, had dinner at the Old Ship
Inside Dunnottar Castle
This was inside one of the living quarters. Inn and were in bed by 10:30pm since we had been up for about 36 hours.
Saturday I was very excited upon going to my favorite Scottish Castle at Dunnottar. I love the dramatic setting on a clifftop surrounded by the North Sea on 3 sides reachable by a long pathway from the parking lot. It started out raining and misty but then cleared up later. There was much to explore, even though it is ruined, as there were different sections, including different ranges of the castle itself, stables, chapel, main tower and the Great Hall which remains intact with an ornate ceiling. We explored the area for a couple of hours until heading to Glen Isla to view Reekie Lin Waterfall. There was a long footpath that followed the river and there was only a handful of people here. A pretty little waterfall it was. We found the Glen Isla Hotel without difficulty but then felt weird upon hearing that we were the only guests staying here, but felt more at ease seeing the hotel bar crowded later in the evening. We made friends with 3 of the workers & hung out with them until the wee hours
Dunnottar Castle
This is the entrance. of the morning. The door to get back to the hotel was locked so they had to get a different key for us to get back in. That was different but fun nonetheless.
We were a little tired on Sunday, from the night before, but headed out early to finish the drive though the Glen Isla Mountains and drove to the town of Braemar to tour Braemar Castle. It had many turrets and a wall surrounding the bottom. Many daffodils were in bloom in the front lawn. From here we visited the Highland Heritage Center and toured the estate of Balmoral Castle, home to the Royal Family in the summer months. The queen was not here but Prince Charles and Camilla, who were married the week before, were. They were in a lodge somewhere on the estate but we saw neither them or the lodge. But we believe we did see Prince William leaving the estate driving a car. I was rather excited about that! This estate was beautiful with different areas to explore, among them the garden, and walking paths through the forest to the River Dee. It also helped that we rented the headphones for an audio
Another view of Dunnottar
This is the view from the pathway. tour. Rental money is given back upon returning the headphones. The castle itself is not open to the public except for the ballroom that has many pictures hanging. We stayed the night in Ballater and went out for a couple hours since it was Suzi's birthday but there were only a few teenagers playing pool and about 4 other people so we left and had an early night.
Monday, we went to the TIC that was housed in the Royal Train Station and was like a mini museum. Heading towards the Grampians, we stopped on top of Brown Cow Hill. When I attempted to get out of the car, I was met with very strong, cold winds and could barely stand up. The car was shaking with every gust and while it started to rain, the weather was eerie. We then drove to Corgarff Castle which stood on a steep hill. I was afraid of falling since the path was very muddy. This was used as an army barracks and we laid on the beds and read graffitti that soldiers wrote on the ceilings. We walked part of the miitary road while it was still rainy and windy but
Reekie Lin Waterfall
There was a little trek to got to here that was half the fun of it. I had this hot pink umbrella and a car went by laughing and pointing at me, probably thinking "stupid tourist". Glenbuchat Castle was our next stop as we were te only humans here along with a few sheep. This one was ruined but actually had many rooms to explore. It was roofless but the walls were intact. Kildrummy Castle, another ruin, was our last stop. There wasn't much left of it, but you could still tell it was once large. The burnt walls were very visable and high.
Across the way we stayed at Kildrummy Castle Hotel and had an excellent view of the back of the ruins and a lovely sitting area. Our room was magnificent; decorated in soft pink and blue, and was large to boot. The 4 course dinner here was just as good. This place was worth splurging for. We explored the gardens the next morning and saw a beautiful arched area with a pond. There was also a building that had a display of excavations done around the area. There was only a sprinkle of rain then it ended up being a clear day.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.166s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 6; qc: 47; dbt: 0.0907s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb