Arthur’s Seat, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Arthur’s Seat sits in the middle of Edinburgh. Most impressive.
Scott Monument, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Scottish monument to Sir Walter Scott in the Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, Scotland. Pretty impressive structure actually. All gothic and sort of menacing. Very cool.
Princes Park, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Princes Park, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Edinburgh, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
From Lindisfarne we made it over the border into Scotland and Edinburgh (pronounced Edinbroo). It was evening when we got into the city so we checked into our apartment, grabbed some snacks from a nearby store, and settled in for the evening. The next morning we walked around the city a bit. Martin and Mary had both been there before and were excellent tour guides. This is Edinburgh Castle up on the hill taken from Princes Park.
Cross at Lindisfarne, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Great history on the Holy Island.
Priory, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
The sun was shining right behind the priory as we approached. I took several photos, but many of them had the glowing hazy look because of it. This one I took as we walked away from it. It didn’t turn out too bad. At least you can see it.
Lindisfarne Priory, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
The the ruins of the priory at Lindisfarne.
Looking Up At Lindisfarne, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
King of the Mountain, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Karen took this one and it’s so great. The sheep were wandering all around the castle. Pretty much as you might imagine it would be like.
On The Holy Island, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Karen, taking photos on the Holy Island. We had a great walk, with the dogs, sort of coming around the back of the castle. Really great sky in this one.
Lindisfarne, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Our last stop before actually getting into Scotland last Wednesday was Lindisfarne Castle and the Holy Island. This place is cool. You can actually see it from Bamburgh and Bamburgh from Lindisfarne. The Holy Island is actually an island, sort of. It sticks out into the sea. You can’t access it at high tide as the causeway connecting it to the mainland is under water during that time. Luckily for us Martin had it all worked out, being the fine navigator he is, so we were able to get out there, see it, and get off the island without incident.
The island was originally, indicated by it’s name, inhabited by monks and held a monastary and priory. The priory site on the island dates back 1300 years. Pretty awesome.
The weather that day, as we traveled north, was so typical of what we experienced during our time in the North and Scotland. Nice one minute, raining the next. We never did end up with terrible weather though. The clouds always seemed to part when it was time to get out of the car. Mary, the driving rock star that she is, had to drive in some nasty weather during certain periods, but when it was time to walk, it was good. Beautiful in fact when we were on the holy island.
The sheep… they are everywhere in England, and Scotland actually.
Looking, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Just Karen and I being silly. Turned out kinda cool though. Me, reflected in Karen’s sunglasses, taking a photo of the reflection of Bamburgh.
Approaching The Castle, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Bamburgh, through the sea grass.
Bamburgh, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Very impressive piece of architecture and structure. Apparently the great tower in the center of this photo was built by Henry II in 1160. There were many building phases for the castle, so it’s history isn’t totally clear. You can find out a little more about the castles of Britain by going to Castles of Britain dot com.
Mo, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Ziggy is frequently called Mo. There’s a story behind this, which I won’t go into. Needless to say, these two pups are loved. Oh, and if you’re wondering about Ziggy’s breed. He’s a West Highland Terrier and Pug mix which makes him a Pesty. And… he’s all man. He is one macho little dude. Very sturdy, very strong, and surprisingly, very athletic. This little guy is fast.
Sir Wickersham, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
This is, to his friends and family, Wicket. He is more formally known as Sir Wickersham or, if you really know him, Wiggles. He’s a schnoodle. Same as our pups. He is the elder statesman, being all of 4 now. He’s particular, stubborn, and very sheepy looking. Don’t let his cuteness fool you though… he’s a very good catcher of the ball.
Bambrugh Castle, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Our next stop last Wednesday, further up the east coast, and still in England, was Bamburgh Castle (and here begins the lesson on pronunciation… Bamburgh is pronouced Bambroo – as Martin says, like book without the k. The broo part of it is not what you emphasize. That part sort of just falls away. There will be more of this later when we get to Edinburgh). Bamburgh is on the Northumberland Coast. This place, though not nearly as famous as Alnwick, was, to me anyway, much cooler. The setting, right there on the water, beach on one side, overlooking the sea. Just fantastic. Very impressive structure on a very impressive site.
We, as with Alnwick, didn’t pay to go in. We just parked the car and headed down to the beach. We took a stroll and took photos of both the castle, from various angles, and the dogs running and playing on the beach. An excellent time was had by all.
The Harry Potter Castle, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
One last shot of the castle. You can probably see it most in this shot, the Harry Potter-ishness of the whole thing. It was beautiful last Wednesday. Perfect sky for taking photos, perfect weather for sneaking onto the grounds of a famous castle.
Alnwick Castle, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
Here it is, full view. Not sure what the green thing was (the trailerish thing) in front, but oh well. Still pretty impressive looking.
Alnwick, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.
We set off on our journey to Scotland last Wednesday… first stop, Alnwick (pronounced Annick) Castle on the North East Coast of England. This is the castle Hogwarts is based on in the Harry Potter films. They filmed parts of the place and CGI’d the rest. Kind of cool in person. The castle and grounds are a major tourist stop and were fairly packed. There was also a fee just to walk on the grounds, not to mention the other fee to go inside the castle. We decided to try and get to a spot where we could take photos without actually paying to go onto the grounds. We weren’t staying long anyway, so paying the fee seemed kind of ridiculous, especially given that it was kind of steep.
We paid to park, decided to have a little picnic there in a very nice area where the dogs could be with us. Another rub of entering the grounds at Alnwick is that dogs were strictly not allowed. In fact, the guy at the pay booth for the parking specifically told us no dogs allowed. Bummer. After our nice picnic lunch Martin and I set off in search of the perfect spot for photos. We actually ended up going around toward where the pay booths were, but then veered off onto what, to us, looked like any other path. We followed this path and ended up on the grounds, near the castle. Who knew. I think it was a gardener’s path and we weren’t supposed to use it or be there, but what the heck. We both felt like someone was going to stop us at any moment and tell us to go, but we ventured forth anyway, just so I could get some shots. Which I did. This is one of them. You can actually recognize, from the films, the center part of the castle. It looked familiar to me.
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