I have walked both above and below Salisbury Crag so many times, and I adore it! But I had always wondered what it might be like to be a resident and driving the roads around this place on a regular basis. I finally got my chance at that. (The first four pictures on this post are from previous visits; the 1st and 4th are from 2019 and taken from the base, and the 2nd and 3rd are from 2016, looking down on Salisbury Crag from near Arthur's Seat, with views of the castle and the city skyline).
What a view - a view from a mountain within a town!!!
During this trip I finally got to be less of a tourist and more of "just" another resident, driving along the road surrounding Holyrood Park. What I have below is not a great picture, but it was taken through the windshield as we were driving.
We had actually hoped to swing to the right at this intersection in order to see Duddingston Village, with its ancient church and the Sheep's Heid Inn (purported to be the oldest pub in Scotland and also where the Queen sometimes goes go enjoy a meal -- which she did quite recently, actually!) Sadly, the road to Duddingston was closed, for some unknown reason, so we just continued along path to the left and around Holyrood Park, which was also awesome!
As we continued, we saw the back of Holyrood Palace along with Holyrood Park (above and below), and going a bit further (below) we could also see Calton Hill with Nelson's Monument and the National Monument peeking out above and to the left of the palace.
And on we go through Holyrood Park, around the Arthur's Seat area.
Coming around the south side and getting a view of the skyline again. This is a new angle on things for me. I do love Edinburgh from every angle!
Once we did our drive around Holyrood Park, we headed out through North Berwick to Tantallon Castle, which is right on the coast. Toby wanted to have me take a look at this one, thinking it would give me a good idea of a coastal castle, as Fast Castle was before becoming completely ruined -- except that Fast Castle was much more isolated and was high up on a nearly inaccessible promontory. I was very glad to see this, though, as it is something I'd had in mind for a number of years now.
We did have to book and get tickets for this site, but the admission was free as we could not get into the castle itself but rather just the grounds. Many castles are being evaluated right now for necessary repairs (which makes sense, given that numbers are down due to COVID).
Off shore you can see Bass Rock, which is an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest). It is home to the largest gannet colony in Europe.
We headed back into North Berwick to grab some lunch before continuing on our quite full day. Here too, there were flowers everywhere. From my brief observation it seemed that North Berwick was as much of a golfing town as St. Andrews is! I hear a lot of people from Edinburgh retire here in order to golf.
A restaurant called the Herringbone looked good.
I'm such a picky eater that I can usually only find one thing on a menu that looks like it will be "OK." I figured I couldn't go wrong with a chicken sandwich. There ended up being an awful lot of green stuff and sauce on it, but it was quite good anyway. I think "normal people" would find this to be an EXCELLENT place to come in and get lunch. Toby was certainly very happy, and the service was great -- and the fries were very good and also plentiful.
Next stop was Dirleton Castle, which I was interested in because Napier's friend/nemesis Robert Logan has a connection here. As with so many other castles, it was closed, but the grounds/gardens were supposed to have been open -- and yet they weren't either. There were no views of the castle from the car park or the main road, so we headed down a lane through an arch that had obviously been part of the original castle complex. I had noticed the signs that said "private garden" and "not a castle entrance." I was reluctant go go in, but Toby is a bit more "brave" (?) than I am. This gained us a glance at the castle but also a bit of a tongue-lashing from the property owner! (And I don't blame her!) Toby's take on, just between him and me, was, "Well, what do you expect when you live next to a castle?" I learned about our personalities that he is more of an "It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission" kind of a guy, whereas I am an "I'd prefer to ask permission and avoid trouble" kind of a gal. But it worked out, and following his lead opened a lot of doors for me!!
Above is the private lane we walked down through the arch, and below is a view of the castle gardens (through a small opening).
We were able to see the castle dovecote or "doocot" (pronounced ducat) as the Scottish call it.
I've titled this day "4 Castles and 2 Towns." I should have titled it "4 castles, 2 towns, and 1 Mill," as Preston Mill was our next stop. This also ties into my work, as when Napier lived in Gartness he often went down to the mill to ask the operator to stop operations because the clacking of the mill was distracting his thinking process. There has been a mill on this site since the 16th century, but the current one is from the 18th century, which is a little late for my needs, but still a wonderful visit. Those of you who watch the Outlander series might be familiar with this mill.
Though the time frame isn't exactly right for me, it was helpful to see how a mill works -- the gates, the mill pond, etc. Here's a sense of the action:
After Preston Mill we were off to Hailes Castle. Our purpose here (not that travel needs a purpose, but I didn't cram this trip in during COVID and just before the semester started in order to have a relaxing experience, that's for sure! It was absolutely about learning!) -- anyway, our purpose here was to see what Gartness Castle (Napier's home for most of his life) might have been like. At this point not one single stone stands upon another at Gartness, so this was the best I could do to get a sense of that -- a castle that wasn't so much about defense as about administering the agricultural activity in the vicinity. Well, anyway, before arriving, here's a bit of the drive down this lovely 2-lane Scottish road.
Above is the first view of the Hailes Castle (for this one no entry fee or visitor center -- just open to all, seems to me to have been on someone's farmland). Below is the "dovecote" (aka "doocot") and the pit prison, of which I am glad to be on this side of the grating and not the other. Scottish Protestant Reformer, George Wishart, was held here in 1546 and was burned at the stake later that year in St. Andrews.
In the picture above, I'm looking out from the kitchen, and in the pictures below I'm exploring the river side of the castle, Gartness too having been directly next to a river (the Endrick Water). Instead of adding more words beyond this sentence, I'll let the beauty of the last 3 photos speak for itself.
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