Our trip to Inverness

 Thursday August 24 was going to be a busy day with lots of different sights we wanted to see. We left about 9 this morning from our hotel because we were back tracking just a little bit to get back to the Dunnotar castle that didn't open until 10. It was just to foggy to see much last night. Bummer!

While Kory was driving. I was snapping away at all the different road signs we'd come across. Here's just a few.

We saw lots and lots of sheep. 

We decided this one meant that the road had a sudden bend.

Road construction.

This is saying the current 2 lane hwy is going to end and become a 1 lane hwy. 

Wow! Free towing?? We were told that if your car broke down during road construction they would tow you to a safe place away from the road construction. This would allow traffic to keep the flow a little better.

Here's a pict of the castle last night vrs that morning. 

Beautiful old in ruin castle on a hill. It seems like quite a few castles were built high and on the waters edge. It would make since that it was a great strategically placed place to build. You could see for miles and miles around. This castle was so high up it would be incredibly difficult if not impossible to climb up the sides to attack the castle. And the path to the castle was not a short distance! It went up and down and up and down.

Enjoy my first and last selfie. Hehehe

A waterfall along the way. 

Once you finally reached the castle there were of course more steps up!

The first building of the castle is pretty intact compared to the other buildings on the premisis.

These pictures show the 3 different levels that once was here. 

These parts were pretty dark and moist but the moss sure didn't mind. 

This was the kitchen. You can see the built in ovens.  

We were lucky to find a room with a door on it. 

Leading us to another room. Look at the rock floors. To think those were all laid by hand. 

In most of the rooms there were stone fireplaces (on the L). The R was a closet, very small and very short. Many of the windows had built in window seats. Kind of fun to see and compare to how we live today. 

At one time A pet lion lived here.  

Once we walked through the first part of the castle it really opens up to the rest of the buildings on the premise. It is always so green and beautiful!

We found what once was the chapel.  

Behind the fence is the water supply for the castle. 

The castle depth says it was 7.6 meters deep which is 24.9 ft. deep!

 This huge room was used as a prison. 

It held both Presbyterians and Catholic's. During the reign of Henry VIII the people had it really, really hard to practice their faith. Those closest to the King at any given time would be either Presbyterians or Catholics. If the King was given enough favors and promises by the Presbyterians then they would be "safe". The Catholics then would fear for their lives and have to practice their faith in hiding. But then a Presbyterian could irritate the King and the Catholics could step up and become the favorites. Then the tables turn. The Catholics would be able to come out and worship while the Presbyterians would be persecuted. This went back and forth many times during his reign. When King Henry VIII died and his daughter Mary became Queen, Queen Mary or otherwise knows as Bloody Mary things got really bad. Her mom was a Roman Catholic, her parents were married by a Roman Catholic Bishop and Mary grew up that way. Most of her young life she was persecuted for her religion. It was the "other" religion that talked her father into believing he could divorce her mother to marry his mistress, Ann Boelyn who was Presbyterian. The Roman Catholics never did approve the Kings decision and many of the Bishops were beheaded because they wouldn't side with the King during his reign. And so Queen Mary I sought to make England into a thoroughly Roman Catholic Nation. 

Another Bakery

It is said that there is a ghost that can be seen looking for her children here in the bakery. Although we looked, we never did see her. 

Looking through the windows out to sea! 

This fireplace was in the great room of one of the buildings. 

It has a clock too! 

Another pebbled walkway...

This room had a door still intact!

This room was adjacent to that great room. It is believed to have been lived in by someone really important to the king! Another fireplace and a chair that was found intact!

What an amazing castle!

On our hike back to the car this young man was playing his music!

Isn't that just a beautiful site!

After leaving Dunnotar Castle we had us a little bit of a drive, about 4 hours. 

Ended up taking us a little longer when we got caught in some road construction. 

Traveled a bit through farm country!

At lunch time we decided to stop in Huntly. 

While there we decided to see the Huntly Castle of course. 

We followed the parking signs for Huntly Castle and ended up parking a mile away. But it was a pretty mile away. 

At the end of the road was the Castle!

The front.

 The back.

The castle went through 2 different major remodels in it's life. Going through a remodel in our own home right now I can't even imagine how hard that must have been. 

It never ceases to amaze me the art work that we continually see. And that some of the detail has lasted as long as it has.

At the very top was a door. Unfortunately there wasn't much left to the other side. 

Another fireplace.

The castle had several different stories at one time.  

The main castle is in the back ground. 

These remains in the front were building used as a barn, bakery, etc. 

Inside some of these smaller remains.  

This is a road in Huntly. It is suppose to be a 2 way street. The cars you see are parked on the side of the road. Now it's become a one way street. It's crazy!!

Thought this sign was cute! 

At lunch I ordered a lemonade. What did I get? Something very similar to Sprite or maybe even Squirt. I drink soda so rarely I'm not sure what it was but it was definitely carbonated. Hahaha. Kory and I also ordered "dessert". It's called a tablet. The waitress told us it was like caramel. I love caramel! It didn't taste like our caramel. It wasn't gooey and smooth inside. You could taste or feel the sugar crystals on your tongue. It almost tasted like the sugar was a little burnt. It was easy to break and a bit crumbly too. It wasn't crunchy but wasn't chewy either. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't my favorite. 

In our first few days of travels we have learned that there is just no way for us to see all that was on our list. Most of these places, even though they are in ruins don't open until 10am and close at 5pm. You would think those 7 hours would be plenty. But it seems we spend 1-2 hours at each place and then we have 2-4 hour drive to the next.  Our goal was to visit 3 different places a day. However, not wanting to be rushed we've decided to scale back a bit and focus on 2 a day. 

That night we stayed at the Alban and Abbey House in Inverness. 

It was a very small room but it was clean. 

The shower was super small. I felt a bit claustrophobic in there. 

But we slept good!