Castles and Beaches... and a day at sea. (Bottle Update Portencross)
Yesterday we docked at Greenock, Scotland.
[Note: Since we had a very full day yesterday (and today is a day at sea) I decided last night to get some much needed sleep and blog about our special excursion today].
YESTERDAY
After a quick breakfast, and a few photos, and met up with our tour guide Lesley Kennedy, from the company Tours By Locals.
Our goal for the day was to see four different castles and still be back before the ship left at 5:00 pm... Lesley had her work cut out for her.
There was only one little hiccup, we went to the wrong Barr Castle. When we first came into the town I saw a building in the distance and said to Lesley "Barr castle looks similar to that building." to which she replied "That is Barr Castle" and sure enough that is what the sign said. Evidently there are too Barr Castles very close together.
My Barr castle is in the middle of a field, not in a town (I've been looking at this photo of it for years I know it very well).
Lesley quickly corrected course and we were soon arriving at the Barr Castle in Lochwinnoch (built by the Glens of Barr in the 1500s). The castle is "not open to the public" so I had emailed the current owner of the castle (prior to the trip) and asked for permission to go onto the property to take photographs but had not gotten a reply. Disappointed, I had assumed that I would have to be satisfied with photos from the road. I was certain that the tour company would frown on me trespassing onto private property...
but when I told Lesley the situation she told me not to worry and climbed over the barbed wire fence with her camera in hand and headed across the field to the castle. Scotland has no trespassing laws, so everyone has free passage as long as you are respectful to the property.
If she was going over the fence then so was I. After a brief snag half way over the fence (I have the holes in my jeans to prove it) I was soon heading after her across the sheep field. It was wonderful to be where my ancesters had walked. To be able to touch the stone and look out at the land around it.
There were even sheep sleeping under a nearby tree. Lesley and I walked all around the castle taking photographs. I also picked up a small stone from the grounds before we left.
Next we went to Dean Castle. Dean Castle is where they filmed some of the scenes for Outlander. Kerry is related to the Deans. Dean Castle is very large and the grounds are very beautiful.
After Dean castle we went to Dundonald Castle the home of the Stewarts and the Bruces. Castle Dundonald is a ruin but it is open to the public to explore. DunDonald is high on a hill so we not only got photos of the castle we also got some great photographs of the Scottish countryside. Kerry is related to the Stewarts.
After Dudonald we had lunch at a nice local restaurant named The Auchans. My Cheeseburger was so huge that I could only eat half of it. We hid our second bottle here.
Our next stop was a beach off the Ayrshire coast to collect some sand to take home for my mom (and myself). The beach in Scotland was a lot like our beaches in Washington but the sand was tan instead of gray.
Our final stop was Portencross Castle which was the home of the Boyds (Kerry's relatives).
It was here that we had a toast to "Good friends old and new" with some lovely whiskey that Lesley brought for us to drink and we chased the whiskey down with some excellent short bread.
The Scottish whiskey was definately better than my Irish fisherman friend's Black Bush 1608. It was less sweet and very smooth. I am sending a bottle to my house.
Portencross Castle was located near a beach so once we were done taking photos of the castle we collected some rocks and played on the beach.
We met a nice local man whose dog was taking a swim. He was a very gentle giant. (Newfoundland hound)
There were a lot of jelly fish on the beach.
[Note: We had forgotten to put bottles in Dean and Dundonald Castles so we put the last two bottles for Today out at our final stop one on a wall by the road and one on large stone above the beach].
Then we headed back to Greenock, said good bye to Lesley, and boarded the ship. Leslie was a wonderful guide and we had a wonderful day ashore.
We were played out of port by a Traditional Scottish band one of which waved his kilt at us.
but I did see a beautiful sunset over Scotland.
==============================
Today at Sea.
This morning we slept until 11:00 am, enjoyed a leisurly breakfast, and I settled in at a table with a lovely view and began to blog.
[Note: By late afternoon I had migrated inside where it was warmer. Since I am Tea'd out and Diet Coke costs $2 a can (Mochas/Lattes cost even more) I am learning to like regular coffee (with cream and sweetner) because it is free.
Tonight was our second fancy dinner. I had salmon and lobster and this beautiful dessert called "The Love Boat Princess."
Kerry had Beef Wellington and this beautiful dessert called "Chocolate Journey."
It is only 9:30 PM Hooray to not blogging in the dark before going to bed before the wee hours of the morning!
Tomorrow we go to the Orkney Islands, Kirkwall.
Bottle Update
As I was signing out of my computer for the night I checked our mailbox and found the following reply to one of the bottles we left at Portencross Yesterday:
Hi there folks!
Just a short email to say your message in a bottle you left was found by myself at Portencross Castle near West Kilbride, Scotland. I have attached a few photos I have taken of the castle (you may well spot your glass jar in some of the photos on top of the cannon) I placed your pat back at the castle doorway in the hope that others may well find it also!
I stay relatively local and went out for a summers walk on the 3rd of September only then to discover the small jar with a note in it, so I absolutely had to reply!
I hope you have enjoyed your visit to our small but beautiful country, I have always loved the thought of one day getting to visit the United States :)
Anyway, as mentioned before, there should be photos of Portencross attached to this email so let me know if there is not. Can send many more of different places in Scotland as I am a keen amateur photographer in my spare time.
Kind regards and thanks for leaving the message to be found, awesome idea!
We have replied to him and are hoping he will send us more photos of Scotland. :)
[Note: Since we had a very full day yesterday (and today is a day at sea) I decided last night to get some much needed sleep and blog about our special excursion today].
YESTERDAY
After a quick breakfast, and a few photos, and met up with our tour guide Lesley Kennedy, from the company Tours By Locals.
Our goal for the day was to see four different castles and still be back before the ship left at 5:00 pm... Lesley had her work cut out for her.
There was only one little hiccup, we went to the wrong Barr Castle. When we first came into the town I saw a building in the distance and said to Lesley "Barr castle looks similar to that building." to which she replied "That is Barr Castle" and sure enough that is what the sign said. Evidently there are too Barr Castles very close together.
Lesley quickly corrected course and we were soon arriving at the Barr Castle in Lochwinnoch (built by the Glens of Barr in the 1500s). The castle is "not open to the public" so I had emailed the current owner of the castle (prior to the trip) and asked for permission to go onto the property to take photographs but had not gotten a reply. Disappointed, I had assumed that I would have to be satisfied with photos from the road. I was certain that the tour company would frown on me trespassing onto private property...
but when I told Lesley the situation she told me not to worry and climbed over the barbed wire fence with her camera in hand and headed across the field to the castle. Scotland has no trespassing laws, so everyone has free passage as long as you are respectful to the property.
If she was going over the fence then so was I. After a brief snag half way over the fence (I have the holes in my jeans to prove it) I was soon heading after her across the sheep field. It was wonderful to be where my ancesters had walked. To be able to touch the stone and look out at the land around it.
We found a less prickly way off the property since we had already tempted tetanus once we decided not to push our luck. Before getting back into the car we hid a message-bottle on a small wall by the road.
After Dean castle we went to Dundonald Castle the home of the Stewarts and the Bruces. Castle Dundonald is a ruin but it is open to the public to explore. DunDonald is high on a hill so we not only got photos of the castle we also got some great photographs of the Scottish countryside. Kerry is related to the Stewarts.
After Dudonald we had lunch at a nice local restaurant named The Auchans. My Cheeseburger was so huge that I could only eat half of it. We hid our second bottle here.
Our next stop was a beach off the Ayrshire coast to collect some sand to take home for my mom (and myself). The beach in Scotland was a lot like our beaches in Washington but the sand was tan instead of gray.
Our final stop was Portencross Castle which was the home of the Boyds (Kerry's relatives).
The Scottish whiskey was definately better than my Irish fisherman friend's Black Bush 1608. It was less sweet and very smooth. I am sending a bottle to my house.
Portencross Castle was located near a beach so once we were done taking photos of the castle we collected some rocks and played on the beach.
We met a nice local man whose dog was taking a swim. He was a very gentle giant. (Newfoundland hound)
There were a lot of jelly fish on the beach.
[Note: We had forgotten to put bottles in Dean and Dundonald Castles so we put the last two bottles for Today out at our final stop one on a wall by the road and one on large stone above the beach].
Then we headed back to Greenock, said good bye to Lesley, and boarded the ship. Leslie was a wonderful guide and we had a wonderful day ashore.
We were played out of port by a Traditional Scottish band one of which waved his kilt at us.
Once again I was denied a photo of the pilot boat when it went to the port side...
but I did see a beautiful sunset over Scotland.
==============================
Today at Sea.
This morning we slept until 11:00 am, enjoyed a leisurly breakfast, and I settled in at a table with a lovely view and began to blog.
Lesley was kind enough to send us all of her photos taken of our journey (via a 750 MB zip file - 175 photos) so it took me most of the day to sort through all of the photos and reduce them in size for the blog.
Tonight was our second fancy dinner. I had salmon and lobster and this beautiful dessert called "The Love Boat Princess."
Kerry had Beef Wellington and this beautiful dessert called "Chocolate Journey."
It is only 9:30 PM Hooray to not blogging in the dark before going to bed before the wee hours of the morning!
Tomorrow we go to the Orkney Islands, Kirkwall.
Bottle Update
As I was signing out of my computer for the night I checked our mailbox and found the following reply to one of the bottles we left at Portencross Yesterday:
Hi there folks!
Just a short email to say your message in a bottle you left was found by myself at Portencross Castle near West Kilbride, Scotland. I have attached a few photos I have taken of the castle (you may well spot your glass jar in some of the photos on top of the cannon) I placed your pat back at the castle doorway in the hope that others may well find it also!
I stay relatively local and went out for a summers walk on the 3rd of September only then to discover the small jar with a note in it, so I absolutely had to reply!
I hope you have enjoyed your visit to our small but beautiful country, I have always loved the thought of one day getting to visit the United States :)
Anyway, as mentioned before, there should be photos of Portencross attached to this email so let me know if there is not. Can send many more of different places in Scotland as I am a keen amateur photographer in my spare time.
Kind regards and thanks for leaving the message to be found, awesome idea!
We have replied to him and are hoping he will send us more photos of Scotland. :)
WOW! Sounds like you had a full day and then some. Love the photos. Interesting about the two Barr castles. It's fun to hear about your latest bottle finder.
ReplyDeleteLove you, Mom (and Dad too.)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete