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Published: February 1st 2007
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Cruden Bay
The lovely beach is near golfing. After the walk Thursday morning, we drove north and stopped at the former, fishing village of Collieston to take in the scenery of the jagged, rocky edges out to the North Sea. While Suzi climbed a rather steep hill, I stayed behind, worried I would have a difficult time coming back down if I attempted it. She made it down fine that why I have nicknamed her "billygoat" from previous trips. We also stopped at Cruden Bay and walked across a white, wooden bridge to the lovely beach that had a few people. The day was cool without rain. One map showed Slains Castle south of Cruden Bay while I had read it was north. Somewhere I also read that it was a dangerous area and people were not encouraged to visit here. That made me want to see it more! We found a parking lot on the right side of the road and walked a mile down a long unpaved road and after a few minutes a ruined structure came into view. It was Slain's Castle and it was literally sitting against a cliff. To me it was very dramatic and a little creepy. Besides the two of us, there
The outline of Slains Castle
This was taken from the pathway. was one woman who was jogging the area with her dog. It was roofless and floorless, made mostly of red brick. It was divided into many parts and was like a maze, including a room that was pitch dark (even in the daylight) that I refused to go into but took a picture. A sign read "These cliffs are dangerous and told how a seven yr old boy fell to his death". This place was very interesting and quickly became another favorite castle of mine.
Back on the 975 road, we found Bullers of Buchan which is a collapsed sea cave. There were hundreds of birds chirping loudly and flying around the cliffs. The sea was a blue green color and there was an archway where the water came in to form this and is about a 200 foot drop. The beauty of these places is there are NO fences or guardrails. We drove further north to the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses in Kinnaird. Another love of mine beside castles, is lighthouses so I was excited to tour this. There was a large collection of lenses and equipment, an audio visual and a Stevenson gallery, since they designed most
Slain's Castle
This was the entrance. I bet this was enchanting in its hey-day! of Scotlands lighthouses. Suzi and I got a guided tour of Kinnaird Head Lighthouse that looks like a mini castle and were able to look out from the top. Later, we found a beach with a guy that was surfing to which Suzi said "Isn't that water cold?" and he replied, "Just a little bit" in that cute Scottish accent!
Banff was our home for 2 nights at the Banff Springs Hotel and it was a busy place. Instead of going out, we stayed in the hotel bar talking to the bartender and later some groomsmen wanted us to go with them to another bar. We declined since they were a little drunk.
I finally got Haggis for breakfast Friday morning. I do like it even though it has a pepper taste and is a pressed meat. We went to Macduff to tour the Macduff Marine Aquarium that was crowded with a tour of school children. I took quite a few fish pictures. We then headed to the bank to exchange money at the rate of 1.99 from US dollars to British pounds. Not good. We drove to Turriff and did a self guided tour of Delgatie Castle.
Me in the window
The North Sea is behind me. There was a stool that Mary, Queen of Scotts used when she stayed here for 3 days.
We drove to the town of Pennan that has a single row of houses that sits at the bottom of a cliff facing the sea. Pennan and it's red telephone booth were featured in the film "Local Hero". We drove down a steep hill to get here and there was one hotel. While I was taking pictures and videotaping, I started walking & fell right into the pebbles while holding up my camcorder. I have to say, that was the "softest" fall I have ever experienced! Both of my cameras were fine. I can be such a klutz. The next town we read about was Crovie, which had a similar setting to Pennan. This hill seemed steeper and there seemed to be no place for the car, so we got our pictures taken at the top and drove to the next town over at Gardenstown. There was a footpath that led to Crovie, so ignoring the "This path is dangerous" sign we walked it anyways without trouble. This village was even closer to the sea, separated by only a few feet in
The creepy room
I'm not sure what this room was but I refused to go in it. some parts. We walked to the end and the only noise was the sea and our conversation. This sure was different from any place I've seen but I would go back.
Back at the hotel, we got ready and hung out at the hotel bar again, watching guests from the wedding reception going back and forth. There were bagpipes, men in kilts and lots of cider! Complete heaven for me! The bartender from the night before told us we could go into the reception area and that the people would not mind. I felt a little uncomfortabe doing this, but after a few ciders we did anyways. Obviously they did mind because we got kicked out! I met a handsome guy and ended up hanging out with him all night. What a cutie he was. I had a fun time!
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