Scotland Highlands: Dunvegan Castle

Before I show off my pictures, I have to mention that they were all accidentally deleted from my camera, and had to be recovered, so their quality is to be desired, but I'm so relieved that they were saved, nonetheless. Also, my camera's battery died while at the castle, so there aren't many, oh, and pictures inside the castle were prohibited, so basically, today's photo blog doesn't have a lot going on for it. Okay, on with the photos!

MacLeod Tables

Our first day on the Isle of Skye was spent touring Dunvegan Castle and its gardens. Alex had to grovel with the people with the keys to the castle, as it's closed for the season. He used it to his advantage that his line of ancestry was once apart of the Clan MacLeod, inhabitants of Dunvegan Castle. Dunvegan is the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland, home to the Clan MacLeod for 800 years. It sits on top of a rocky point, on the shores of Loch Dunvegan. Across the lake are the MacLeod Tables, two prominent hills that look like something cut their tops clean off, so now they resemble tables. Seals frolic in the the sea below, and across the bay, sheep graze on the grassy knolls. 

The path to Dunvegan

Upon arrival, we gathered at the gates of the castle, along with a dozen other people waiting to get in. A man with all of the castle's keys made himself known, and then asked, "Who is Alex Horner?" Alex raised his hand, and the man gestured to Alex and said, "It is because of this man that you all get to visit the castle today," which was then met with applause. We then followed a path that made its way down to the entrance of Dunvegan. Everyone immediately began snapping pictures - we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful, sunny day to visit a castle. The castle was worth the much anticipated trip to the Isle of Skye. It was more than any of us were expecting. It was massive, ostentatious, and considerably warm (I arrived with the assumption that castles and dungeon's sustained similar damp, drafty conditions). Speaking of dungeons, this castle included one of its own, which sent shivers down my spine. It was basically a well hidden away is some dark closet where they would throw prisoners down 30 feet or so, and leave them to die/starve to death. There was no way out. To add to the creepy effect, they had a mannequin sitting on the floor of the dungeon, so when you peered down the well, you saw a haggard dude on his last legs. But other than that, the castle could have easily been mistaken for a palace.

To me, what were far more impressive than the castle were it's exquisite gardens. Unfortunately, my camera's battery had died before I made it out to the gardens, so sadly, I have no documentation of the most beautiful gardens I have ever been in. It was truly enchanting - waterfalls, wood bridges, large plants, dainty flowers, an aroma that made me stop in my tracks and take an even deeper breath - it was an oasis. 

MacLeod Tables and Loch Dunvegan in the back yard

It was a terrific day, aside from the moment that Jasper stood on a hill, just over Oliver, and announced "Rock Slide!" before throwing a rock at his brother's head. Things quickly went downhill from there, but not for long. We returned home, took naps, then embarked our second adventure for the day to Coral Beach. We never actually made it to this white sandy beach, Scotland's only, because we had seriously miscalculated the distance from the car to the beach (a mile long hike which we started at sunset). But the hike along the coast and grassy rolling hills was stunning while it lasted. 

Scotland Highlands: Eilean Donan Castle

We were on the road by 10AM, on our way to the Isle of Skye for our castle adventures. It's typically a 5 hour trip because you're driving from the SE of Scotland, the very bitter end of Scotland's NW coast. We were planning on it taking about 6-9 hours because we're traveling with little ones. In reality, it took us a solid 12 hours before we arrived at our cottage. It was a long but spectacular drive through Scotland. We made it to one of Scotland's most famous castles/monuments, Eilean Donan, before the sun set (featured in several movies). We spent close to an hour exploring, playing, running, and snapping pictures of the castle.

We drove and drove and drove in the dark night, long after the children had fallen asleep, and watched as the road continued to narrow, and more sheep occupied the winding road to our cottage. When we finally arrived, we all had a good laugh at where I'd be sleeping (a closet), and flopped into bed.

My hide away to the left

Where I stayed for 2 nights

the boys's room

Our cottage

view from our cottage

Scotland: The town of Peebles

Peebles, Scotland is a great little town where we stayed on Sally & Roy's farm for a few days. One day we went into town and participated in the annual community event, Tweed Valley's Forest Festival (Scotland is really into preserving their forests, especially now that Donald Trump has weaseled his way in to build more golf courses). So we learned how to carve Dutch chairs, the boys flew around on their hand made broom sticks, watched an artist widdle an impressive bunny rabbit from a tree trunk with just a chainsaw and a blow torch, and ambled through the wood market to admire wooden products for sale. It was Tree-mendous.

Jasper asked for a chainsaw for his birthday because of this man

Witches broom making station

Claire was the first to volunteer to carve chair legs

Then she volunteered me to go next! Alex is behind me getting a lesson on how to refine the chair's legs, making them smooth

It was very satisfying :)

The man was very enthusiastic to have Alex help out, and seemed to want to keep him there all day

Meanwhile, a man makes the boys 4 broom sticks

The man gave Alex a special hat

Ben to Jasper: "I'm Harry Potter & you're Ron Weasely."

We went for a horse ride through the hills!

Yeeha!

View from Sally and Roy's room upstairs

Scotland: Giants in the Forests

For time's sake, how about I upload pictures now, and spend time describing the INCREDIBLE journey through Scotland later? Suffice to say, it was amazing, nay, SPECTACULAR! I loved it, everything but how cold it was (I wore 5 layers and long johns every day, but that's just me). 

http://www.giantsintheforest.com/about/

While I didn't bring my camera along for the Giants in the Forest walk at night, it was one of the coolest things that we've done since arriving in Europe. Unfortunately, that's just my strong opinion; the boys were absolutely terrified. In an effort to encourage more people to visit forests, Giants in the Forest is a project in Scotland, Wales, and England that combines art, technology, and the natural environment - basically, a group installed a large, interactive art exhibit along a mountain bike trail, to be enjoyed at night. Giant heads, made from sticks and moss, were hung from trees throughout the forest, enhanced by lighting. Other artistic creations were featured throughout the forest's trail.

It was awesome. After arriving at the head of a mountain bike trail, we were shuttled further into the woods with a small group of people, where we gathered around an old storyteller. Before leading us through the woods, with just her torch lamp to illuminate the trail, she introduced us to the story of how giants and man were once friends and helped each other build things. But then man began inventing things and using machines, science, and technology as their means to an end, and no longer relied on the help of the giants. Man even spreading rumors about the giants that they were scary, terribly abusive creatures, so the giants retreated to hiding in the woods. Or so this particular legend goes.

So then the storyteller cast a spell on us so that we could be invisible (as not to scare away the giants) and guided us through the woods, taking the rare opportunity to see some magic. We saw lighting that made the trees different colors, candles illuminated the path, which took us over bridges and along ponds, and really cool giant's faces hanging from the trees. As we walked, we were accompanied by creepy music box music, fog machines that engulfed us in a foggy haze, amazing paper lanterns that seemed to float among us, and the grand finale of a giant translucent swan gliding across the pond to represent the shape-shifter giants taking the shae of a swan and leaving this world, done only by crossing a body of water. I know that none of this probably makes sense or even sounds worth while, but I loved it and would rank it among my favorite things done while in Europe. It was really too bad that it scared the living daylights out of Jasper, who sobbed right from the very beginning, and a quarter of the way through, he left the exhibit with Alex and Roy. Oliver, who is younger, was a bit scared, but was a champ once I hoisted him up on my back and gave him a piggy back ride through the whole thing.

If this was a permanent installation in every woods nearby, I'd definitely would spend more time in the dark forest at night.