Vacation to Scotland, June 2007

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1 roll of vacation photos.

photo 04830001. Dunnottar Castle, near Stonehaven. This is the West Range. Note the door in the left-most place - that was moved over from the other side when the North Range was built. All the other places in the West Range have their doors on the other side (facing the court). The noble people lived in those apartments. There used to be a second floor - that was a long hall from one end of the building to the other, for dances.
photo 04830002. Dunnottar Castle
photo 04830003. Dunnottar Castle. The seagulls were constantly wailing, and you could hear the surf on the shore below.
photo 04830004. Dunnottar Castle - the West Range from the court, and the North Range. The North Range was built later, and the door for the last apartment had to be moved to the other side of the West Range. The North Range has had some restoration done - slate roof, and the room upstairs is finished with a ceiling and even a bit of furniture. Also there are enclosed windows. The West Range has several apartments on the ground floor, each one dug into the ground a little - and each with its own fireplace. This was rich accomodation - the King's nobles lived in those apartments.
photo 04830005. Dunnottar Castle - North Range, and a bit of the East Range on the right. The King lived in the North Range - and the Queen lived in the East Range at one time. The thing behind the little black fence is a very large well or cistern. The sign says it is very deep. Under the East Range and the corner, there are storerooms including a room where over 100 Covenanters were kept for a couple of months in the summer. The King ignored them, and would have let them starve to death, but the soldiers/guards carried on a small trade with them for water and food, and could be paid to take the dead away. Grim. The queen managed to get the King to allow some of them out, eventually. The little white flowers in the grass are daisies. They are very short.
photo 04830006. Dunnottar Castle. Ken in the finished room in the North Range. The door to Ken's left is made of wood, with carved details. The inscription over the fireplace talks about the "Honours of Scotland" which were saved from Cromwell's army and kept at Dunnottar Castle for over half a year. Cromwell laid seige to the Castle, and eventually the Honours had to be smuggled out by the Queen and her assistant. They were taken to a local church (Kirk) and buried under the floor. They stayed there over a hundred years and were pretty much forgotten - They've been recovered and are now on display at Edinburgh Castle (where they were originally).
The castles in Scotland were in use for generations, and often one generation would add to, or redo some of the building. We can see some of that in this wall. The door at the left (Ken's right) goes into the dance hall. The door at the right (Ken's left) goes into a small room at the end of the dance hall which had a sea-facing balcony off of it.
photo 04830007. Dunnottar Castle - another view of the room in the North Range - what a beautiful ceiling.
photo 04830008. Dunnottar Castle
photo 04830009. Dunnottar Castle
photo 04830010. Dunnottar Castle - view towards Stonehaven from the castle. The archways on the left are a war memorial.
photo 04830011. Dunnottar Castle - near the entrance.
photo 04830012. Dunnottar Castle keep.
photo 04830013. Dunnottar Castle - from half-way down the cliff on the south side.
photo 04830014. Dunnottar Castle. I managed to avoid getting other people in my pictures of Dunnottar Castle, except for this shot. They are climbing away from the castle, on the south side.
photo 04830015. Dunnottar Castle - Ken in the wide part of the tunnel from the front of the castle to the sea.
photo 04830016. Dunnottar Castle. Ken heading back out the tunnel to the area in front of the castle (to the west of the castle).
photo 04830017. Dunnottar Castle - the front of the castle. The tunnel into the rock is where Ken is just coming out in the last picture. As far as we could tell, you can't get to the castle from inside the tunnel.
photo 04830018. field of rabbits - There are at least 15 rabbits in this picture, and there were a lot more rabbits that ran out of view before I could get the camera ready. I would say this field (and the cliffs down to the sea) are infested with these rabbits. I learned the meaning of "a warren of rabbits". And, rabbit poo everywhere.
photo 04830019. A closer-up rabbit. Pest.
photo 04830020. We walked over to Dunnottar Castle along the cliff tops by the sea. Here's the view of Stonehaven on the way back. The tide was out. The red and white boat by the pier was flying a skull and crossbones. Stonehaven is an old small town, and was there when Cromwell laid seige to Dunnottar Castle.
photo 04830021. View down a road toward the sea in Stonehaven. The sidewalk is paved with slate.
photo 04830022. View from ferry leaving Aberdeen. We're heading out to stay in the Orkney's for a few days! The ferry ride was about 6 hours. We could have taken a bus or train out to the top of Scotland and then had a shorter ferry ride, but this was easier (only one travel arrangement to make). The day was very calm, but in the section of the trip that was furthest out to sea, I was feeling a little queasy.
photo 04830023. St. Magnus Cathedral, in Kirkwall. This is a cathedral made of sandstone. There was a lot of local sandstone in the Orkney islands. I can't imagine what it must have been like to visit the cathedral for the people who lived here in little homes.
photo 04830024. St. Magnus Cathedral. The building was never owned by the Church - it was always owned by the city.
photo 04830025. St. Magnus Cathedral. The walls were lined with tombstones of notable people from the history of the area.

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All photos and text, Copyright 2007 Brenda J. Butler, except where noted.