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| Forth Bridge |
Waving Edinburgh goodbye it was a rather humdrum drive across the Forth Bridge on the M90 to the A92 and A915 into the seaside town of St Andrews, known for its many golf courses (the largest public golf complex in Europe with seven courses), as well as Scotland's first university founded in 1413. We stopped there for coffee and walked down the main street to a headland nearby to look at the ruins of St Andrews Castle and Cathedral before continuing on to Dundee across the Tay Road Bridge. The coastal route looked more scenic so, after getting lost a few times and backtracking on some very narrow country lanes, found the A92 and arrived at Dunnottar Castle, just south of the town of Stonehaven. The day had turned out crisp and sunny and the views from the cliffside were magnificent, cormorants and razorbills, rock pigeons and herring gulls soared effortlessly around the steep cliffs as we made our way down to the shore and into the castle entrance.
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| St Andrews, Scotland |
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| crossing the Tay into Dundee, Scotland |
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| Castle Haven beach, from Dunnottar Castle |
The Castle, perched atop a 160 foot rock and surrounded on three sides by the North Sea, was the home of the Earls Marischal, once one of the most powerful families in Scotland. This castle played a crucial role in Scottish history and has played host to some great historical figures including William Wallace and Mary Queen of Scots. It is also famous for its role in saving the Scottish Crown Jewels from Oliver Cromwell's army in the 1650s. There is little left of the wooden structures and roofs but the stone buildings were easy to visualize in their heyday, including the little chapel that was consecrated in 1276 and apparently burned with an English garrison inside by Bill Wallace in 1297. The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th and 16th centuries but the site is believed to have been fortified in the Early Middle Ages. It was one of the most beautiful settings we had yet seen on our tour of English Heritage and Scottish Castles and was worth the stop on our way to Aberdeen for the night. GWS
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| Dunnottar Castle chapel |
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| 78 Salisbury Place, Aberdeen, AirBnB |
