The Ruin

Two things about this trip to the Highlands.  First, no one other than me in our car had been to Scotland and so I was the only one who knew how truly breathtaking the Highlands are.  The wide open spaces, the very tall hills, the air so fresh that it makes you dizzy--or, that could have been the single malt ;)   Second, no one other than me in our car knew how absolutely brave and persistent my fabulous friend Beth is.  And then we visited The Ruin. 

 

This story begins just before Beth and David got married (must have been 1998) when Beth took me and some other girlfriends up to the Isle of Skye to hike before the wedding.  We joked the entire time about getting David a Scottish ruin to fix up.  We found a lot of them and the more of a mess they were, the harder we laughed.

 

So when Beth pulled up to the finally and newly purchased Ruin, what could I say?  She had a vision, and she was also absolutely in control of all of the practical matters (impossible and rude neighbors, the annual bat survey, the asbestos in the garden from the sheep dip that used to be there..).

 

 

But they have already put a run in for the dogs.. and for that day, it was for the kids.  There was even a new tire swing for Siobhan!  Fun!!

Mark my words, in a couple of years, we'll be coming up here to stay for a few weeks in really beautiful, fully equipped apartments.  Dogs welcome :)

Hadrian's wall

After the fort, we headed to the wall with our soldiers.  It's very impressive!  Really neat too to see where the watchtowers where (see the square stone base behind handsome Zeric).

We had a great time walking along the wall. Scotland is so beautiful, and it was a great day to be climbing around.

The wall itself was likely a bit taller.  Once the Roman occupation was over, many farmers took the stones to make other things.  In the case of this piece of wall below, it's likely that the builders were running out of stone, so some sections of the wall were filled with dirt.

Chesters Fort

Next stop.. the Scottish Highlands!  Thanks to Zeric and Beth, we rented a car and followed the Bell's Volkswagon bus northbound.  (Sadly, Nori the bus fell ill fairly early on and had to go home with David and the dogs. That was a huge bummer!)  The first stop of our journey north was to revisit Hadrian. We found his forts and walls! (It was also a good place to wait for Beth and Siobhan to get the bus and the boys towed home, and to arrange a rental car for them for the rest of the trip.)  What a great conversion with Jaffa and Eben, looking at the map to see how big Hadrians' empire was back in the day.

There were three amazing things about the site of the fort:
1. How well organized the space was.. they had great architects!
2. How much of it was left
3. How much of it was left given that people were allowed to climb all over it (and did)

 

I love worn stairs..

Jaffa in the hot section of the bathhouse

Once we were clean, we headed back for Roman soldier lessons.  (It's crazy all of the new skills we learned on vacation!) 

there is a grunt/command that goes with this.. I can't remember what it was

the turtle was by far our favorite formation

Edinburgh Castle

Sometime after snack and before the nice looking bagpipes, we did a tour of the castle in Edinburgh.  I love walking through buildings that are so old and have had so many historical events happen in them.  This was no exception.  We only got a snapshot of Scottish history, but enough to be curious to learn more!  (We also got a lot of great pictures for Eben's castle presentation for school.)

 

A quick visit to Edinburgh

The next day, we took a trip to Edinburgh by train.  It was the fringe festival so the streets were full.. and it was chilly.  And then it rained, and it was really chilly. 

 

Before anything else happened, we got stuck watching and American street performer for about 45 minutes.  For the last 15, Zeric and a Chinese guy named Michael got roped into playing with chains with the guy.  The kids though it was hilarious (and they thankfully didn't catch the adult humor!).

 

Next.. lots of musicians.  (Note to self: British coins are generally worth more than you think coming from Indonesia or America.)

Time for a snack!

 

Can't go to Scotland without seeing some pipes.. and these are nice ones!!

Barter's

So we put the most amazing looking Treehouse Café on the list for next time so that we could get to Barter's Books before it closed.  Back in the town of Alnwick we found ourselves in what used to be a train station. It was an amazing second-hand bookstore.. another place to spend hours and hours and hours.

 

Castle garden

The castle grounds were just fabulous.  There was a maze and fountains.. and a beautiful garden. We wished we could have spent hours there with a good book...

 

with a crazy woman and some kids playing stop/go games -- Beth is hysterical!!!