The train bridge over the River Forth. The bridge used to need to be painted constantly- it was so long that once the workers finished painting, they had to start over again, hence the phrase "it's like painting the Forth Bridge." I've never heard that phrase before, so it doesn't matter.
We were heading to Castle Campbell in Dollar Glen. We took a hiking trail through Dollar Glen. It was entirely uphill and took about a half an hour, thereby exposing my extreme out-of-shape-ness.
Iris at Castle Campbell
You've never seen me so happy to be at a castle. Really...except maybe in this photo:
Iris at Castle Campbell (again)
Campbell Castle was formerly known as "Castle Gloom" (situated between the River Sorrow and the River Care. I'm not kidding), until one of the Dukes of Argyll took over and had it renamed to Castle Campbell.
The view of the town of Dollar (where our hike began) from atop the castle tower
The courtyard from atop the tower
The intact tower with the crumbling main hall in the foreground
Arsty. Very.
The castle has a very small garden, much smaller than in the castle's heyday.
Castle Campbell again, on our way back to the bus.
Drummond Castle was next on our list. It features a symmetrical garden that was popular at some time in Italy.
Drummond Castle Gardens
The garden focused in the center a sun dial which supposedly tells the times of different capital cities. Really, it just looked like a bunch of protruding nails and metal shards, to me:
Drummond's "Sun Dial"
And then someone pointed out the obvious futility of having a sun dial in Scotland. Maybe a rain dial.
When the owners of Drummond Castle no longer saw a need for a fortress, they built a manorhouse right next to it:
Drummond Castle on the left, the manor house on the right.
Next we went to Loch Katrine (made popular in the poem "Lady of the Lake" by Sir William Scott), but it began raining (surprised?) pretty heavily, so there's no photos.
Out of 40-some foreigners, I was the only American- which seems to be a common trend, leading me to the hypothesis that there are no Scottish people or Americans in Edinburgh.
No comments:
Post a Comment