So I don't want everyone thinking my entire summer was consumed by farm trips and exciting family visits; Brian and I did get to enjoy some quality downtime and explore new parts of Scotland together!
We recently took the train west of Edinburgh to the town of Linlithgow. Here sits Linlithgow Palace, birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots. The medieval palace has been wonderfully preserved and there are stairwells leading to dozens of different hidden rooms everywhere you look! It was a fabulous day trip!
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| Fountain in the courtyard of Linlithgow Palace |
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| Linlithgow Palace |
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| Brian looking out the old entryway over the loch |
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| In the Great Hall of Linlithgow Palace |
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| Linlithgow Palace |
Another weekend we took the short trip out along the Firth of Forth to the coastal town of North Berwick. We packed a picnic and sat on the beach enjoying the salty air and sunshine (when the clouds would disperse!) I accidentally bought the one (literally, ONE) bottle of wine from the corner store that wasn't a twist-off, and had no bottle opener with me, so I left Brian to guard our secret cove as I ran into town to buy another. Well...my mind must have been enjoying the relaxation a little too much since I then returned to the beach carrying a second non-twist-off bottle. Of course I declined my receipt in an attempt to save paper, but the nice lady had mercy on my pathetic mistake and agreed to exchange it anyway! :)
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| Going for a dip in the beach in North Berwick |
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| North Berwick |
Just south of Edinburgh is the town of Roslin. It's just outside of my school, but I never really took the bus the extra stops to see what it was all about. The town itself is exactly what I've come to expect from the tiny UK rural towns, but the real magic of it lies just off the main strip in the Roslin Glen. Here the River Esk twists its way through a jagged gorge. The ruins of Roslin Castle and the famous Roslin Chapel (which you may know as the supposed site of the Holy Grail from The Divinci Code) sit on the shores overlooking the river. One weekend Brian and I strapped on our Vibram FiveFingers, packed a backpack lunch and went off wading into the waters to get some fresh air!
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| Roslin Glen |
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| River Esk, Roslin Glen |
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| Roslin Glen |
Our final trip of the summer came just last week when we took off camping as a belated birthday trip for Brian. We ended up driving north to the eastern Highlands to a town called Braemer in Aberdeenshire on the River Dee. We brought Bao along and he was a fabulous hiking companion! We saw Black Grouse, Red Deer and a Red Squirrel. We 'wild-camped' along the River Dee and had the most wonderful views of the moon reflecting off the water at night and the sun rising up over the highlands in the morning. It was quite chilly in the morning (in fact, Bao crawled inside my sleeping bag part way through the night!) but it was worth scraping the frost off the tent to have had such a wonderful adventure! These pictures don't due it justice!! On the return trip, we stopped at the Scone Palace just north of Perth. Scone Palace was the home of the Stone of Destiny that many of the kings of Scotland, including Robert the Bruce, were crowned upon. It now is the extravagant home of the Earls of Mansfield.
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