A day by the Firth of Forth and Tantallon Castle
I'm writing this from Coach K, a quiet coach, on Virgin Trains. It's lovely, but I don't know if I want to sleep, watch a movie, or look out the window at the scenery. It's very comfortable. Zzzzz.
The weather has been much cooler than Paris and Barcelona, reminds me of Minnesota. On my last full day in Scotland we went looking for hairy coos. We were somewhat successful, although we didn't get as close as I would have liked. Next time.
Later in the morning, we headed to East Lothian, to the Firth of Forth and Tantallon (tan-TAL-lon) Castle, which was built in the mid 14th century by William Douglas. It's in a semi-ruined state, but you can still climb up into the towers and down into the dungeon. As you can imagine with a building over 600 years old, the steps can be uneven and quite steep and twisty, but there handrails, or hand ropes as the
case may be, and it's worth the climb. On this day, we had our choice of views out toward Bass Rock, the big white rock jutting out of the Firth. The dog even came along and he was quite enthusiastic about exploring. There are many castles and forts in Scotland, and I have been to a few, and so far,
they each seem to have something unique, the view, the level of intact mess; anyway, they have each been worth the visit. I would suggest wearing good shoes or hiking boots, not sandals or flip flops, like one visitor I saw. Bring a jumper/sweatshirt, maybe a woolen cap, because we went towards the end of June, and it was maybe 55 degrees, but windy. The two gentleman at the reception counter, Kevin and Philip, were very funny and entertaining, and Kevin (I think) was an extra in the "Outlander" series, and he was sharing some scenes he was in. I don't watch, so I had no idea what he was talking about. It was a beautiful, sunny day, but windy as hell. My hair was a mess. Looking out over the cliffs towards the Forth, it was blue sky and deep, dark blue water. A great day for photographs.
The weather has been much cooler than Paris and Barcelona, reminds me of Minnesota. On my last full day in Scotland we went looking for hairy coos. We were somewhat successful, although we didn't get as close as I would have liked. Next time.
Later in the morning, we headed to East Lothian, to the Firth of Forth and Tantallon (tan-TAL-lon) Castle, which was built in the mid 14th century by William Douglas. It's in a semi-ruined state, but you can still climb up into the towers and down into the dungeon. As you can imagine with a building over 600 years old, the steps can be uneven and quite steep and twisty, but there handrails, or hand ropes as the
case may be, and it's worth the climb. On this day, we had our choice of views out toward Bass Rock, the big white rock jutting out of the Firth. The dog even came along and he was quite enthusiastic about exploring. There are many castles and forts in Scotland, and I have been to a few, and so far,
they each seem to have something unique, the view, the level of intact mess; anyway, they have each been worth the visit. I would suggest wearing good shoes or hiking boots, not sandals or flip flops, like one visitor I saw. Bring a jumper/sweatshirt, maybe a woolen cap, because we went towards the end of June, and it was maybe 55 degrees, but windy. The two gentleman at the reception counter, Kevin and Philip, were very funny and entertaining, and Kevin (I think) was an extra in the "Outlander" series, and he was sharing some scenes he was in. I don't watch, so I had no idea what he was talking about. It was a beautiful, sunny day, but windy as hell. My hair was a mess. Looking out over the cliffs towards the Forth, it was blue sky and deep, dark blue water. A great day for photographs.
Scotland has been wonderful, and it was lovely to spend it with a friend from college and her family, including Oscar the family dog, who seemed to like me well enough, and I liked him because he was hypoallergenic. Many thanks to the Clan MacDougall for their hospitality.
Off to Bracknell, Reading, to see some more friends, have a good Indian meal (that's kind of been our tradition) and chat.
Beautiful pics! Love your narratives!
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