Two-Day Get Away: Day 1

 

Either Abbotsford (home of Sir Walter Scott) has a very special place in Toby's heart, or he just really, really wanted me to see it.  And it is a place of tremendous beauty and interest.  He felt we should take it in since it was "on the way."  It's quite an astonishing place, but I have to be honest, my heart kept saying, "Let's just go to Fast Castle.  Let's just go to Fast Castle."  Fast Castle, of all the things I wanted to do on this trip, was THE MOST IMPORTANT to me.  The weather was nice this morning, and weather is quite changeable in Scotland, so I was jealous of every moment we could have spent at Fast Castle in good weather.  It's on a coastal promontory sticking out into the North Sea, and the castle is completely ruined, so no shelter - not to mention it being remote even by car and then further remote due to necessary walking from the closest parking area.  I didn't take many pictures at Abbotsford because my heart just wasn't in it (not that day!).  But upon reflection, I do find myself quite taken with it, and I would like to go back some day.  In fact, though I've never really gotten into reading Scott, I think after having seen his home and getting to know more about who he was, I am sure I'll be reading one or more of his books soon.

It seemed like everything here was intentionally evocative, as if he was trying to surround himself with inspiration for his writing - from the castle-like look of his home to the eclectic collections that filled the inside: crests, horns, swords, shields, armor, skulls, you name it!

Just off the entrance above was his study, which included impressive floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on all four walls - the ceiling being a second-floor ceiling, and the shelves including a mezzanine and staircase!  Again, I didn't take many pictures, but if I had I could have shown his escape route from this room in case he saw visitors coming to interrupt him, and the small meeting room in the corner where those seeking audience with him would be too uncomfortable for too long.  Hey - he had lots of reading and writing to do!

I had thought his study contained an impressive library, which it did, but it was far surpassed by the next room we entered, which also had built-in floor-to-ceiling book shelves and was a much larger room.  (Perhaps David will see how small my library actually is in comparison!)

Here is a larger view of that room.  The large table nearest in the photo is a map table.

In another passageway was a collection of swords and guns, along with gargoyles (ok, ok, "grotesques" not "gargoyles") to watch over them!

Before continuing with the house, I want to share a picture from the visitor center.  What I want to share is the pictures of keys below, and I'll let the curator of the displays here, artist/sculptor Claire Barclay, speak to what you are seeing below: "This jumble of redundant keys was accumulated over generations by the descendants of Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford.  They Keys are estranged from the locks they once opened -- in doors, boxes, clocks, cupboards, and miscellaneous items of furniture.  They may still have the potential to be reunited with their locks, but this seems unlikely.  Instead they keys remind us of things lost to the passage of time.  They are metaphors for the secrecy and seclusion of individuals, but they also represent the lure of the past, which we try to unlock through a process of investigation."

We continued on into the dining room, which is at least twice as long as what you see below (but there were people in the way, and I was in too much of a hurry to wait for them to move so I could get a full picture!)

And then it was back through the garden and on our way!

Umm  .  .  .  I got a little worried when we seemed to drive and drive and drive, and pretty soon I saw the England/Scotland Border; note the English flag on the left, and the Scottish flag on the right.  Given that Fast Castle is almost due east from Edinburgh, I couldn't figure out why we were so far south.

Without going into too much detail, I'll just say this was a "boo-boo" and that both Toby and I were making assumptions, and that because of that it took us five and a half hours to get to Fast Castle (including the trip to Abbotsford) despite Fast Castle being only a one-hour drive from Edinburgh.  Notice that here as we return again across the border into Scotland a few hours later, the sky no longer looks like it did in the morning.  We lost five and a half hours of great weather.  To be honest, it was everything I could do to keep from crying.  In fact, it was everything I could do to keep Toby from seeing that I was absolutely crestfallen, bordering on devastated.  Have I mentioned that going to Fast Castle was THE MOST IMPORTANT thing to me on this trip?  Have I mentioned I'd spent at least 2 or 3 years working on how to get to Fast Castle?  I would have given up everything else on this trip and done ONLY that, and I was watching it slip through my fingers.  Oh, and did I mention that this trip was taking place in Friday the 13th?  It certainly seemed to be living up to its reputation!

Finally I see some familiar city names that, from all my years of research, I know are near Fast Castle: Eyemouth and Coldingham  .  .   but look at that sky.  OH NO!!

Everything in me wanted to keep heading straight for Fast Castle, but I knew that after more than 5 hours on the road we needed a snack break and a "comfort break" -- neither of which we were going to get at the remote ruins -- so we pulled off in Eyemouth, which was actually kind of cool, because I've booked accommodations in the tower to the right of the photo below twice and had to cancel twice (due to COVID).  I'd been trying to get to this town to spend a few nights and to make forays to Fast Castle from here.  I thought it would be unique and interesting to stay in my own tiny "castle."  I'd seen so many pictures of this place, but I'd never been here - totally knew where everything was, though!

Eyemouth Harbor.

And, finally, we were on our way again and, eventually, on the tiny road to Dowlaw Farm, the property on which the ruins of Fast Castle stand.

Dowlaw Farm

The owners are kind enough to allow parking and provide some direction across their land to the castle.

I have a whole post on Fast Castle at this link, but I've posted a few pictures here too just to round out this post.  I've tried to choose photos that are different from what I have up on the Fast Castle post, so as not to be too repetitive.  Notice, the weather is looking better than it had been  .  .  .  whew!!

Across these hills we walked through farmland and then heather and then bracken fern and then grassland as we made our way to the ruins.  And then the sun really shown, and the promontory which is the site of the castle really stood out, and joy flooded my heart!

We made it!!!!!  And we got in somewhere around 3 hours' worth of time here and explored every inch of this place!!!  (Thankfully in these northern climes, there are more hours of daylight during the summer months than I'm used to at home, so we did have a nice, extended time of daylight.)

Toward the end of our time there, the most beautiful, full rainbow appeared in the sky.  It was incredibly vibrant, which a picture just cannot do justice to.  It lasted longer than any rainbow I had ever seen.  We could see both ends of it too -- one here near the castle and one over Dowlaw Farm.  David made a good point when I shared with him later about this day.  He told me that if we had arrived earlier we would not have seen this rainbow.  Very true, very true.

And then it was back over the grassland, bracken fern, heather and farmland towards our car.  On the way we saw the Fast Castle Cottages which are part of Dowlaw Farm. You can stay if you want to spend time near Fast Castle.  They are pretty remote, but I wouldn't mind staying here some time (but since I'm not going to drive in the UK, I'm afraid the taxicab fare would be pretty pricey from the nearest town!  No bus service or train service is going to get you here.)

And back on the road to get to our hotel to set out for Hadrian's Wall and Vindolanda tomorrow.

I realized my hands were itching and looked down to notice that the stinging nettles had gotten me there as well as on both of my legs, but it was still totally worth it, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

We saw some lovely skies as we drove back down south to the Red Lion Inn in Newbrough, England.  Look at that moon below, over the hill, and with a little bit of pink in the clouds - just lovely.

By the time we arrived it was completely dark and had been for some time.  It had been a very long day - between our lengthy misadventure, the physical demands of hiking to and around Fast Castle, and the long late drive on narrow winding roads in the pitch dark - and so we settled into this corner of the inn and had a refreshing beverage before calling it a night!

For me, this was both the hardest/worst day of the trip and also the most wonderful/amazing day of the trip.  If you check out my post on Fast Castle, you'll see what was so amazing!