September 20, 2013: A Day in Carlisle, Scotland
	September 18, 2013: Crathes Castle and Aberdeen, Scotland
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This morning, we are checking out of the Craighaar Hotel for our drive down to Carlisle, Scotland. Ron wants to stop in downtown Aberdeen to see if he can find the cigar store that was recommended, and after that we will head off south for Carlisle.

Leaving Aberdeen

On a rainy, cool morning we left the Craighaar and headed downtown to try to find the store Ron wanted to visit. We did find it, and a couple of antique stores to boot, so we spent an hour wandering around before getting back into the van and starting south.

While we were walking around, I happened to walk down the street a bit and found an interesting church-like building, so I took a picture from across the street (see picture at left). I have tried to identify it, but can't seem to. As we headed out of Aberdeen via Union Street, I took some pictures from the van. You can use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at some of them:

Street Views in Aberdeen, Scotland

We were going to aim for a place I'd seen online last night- Dunnottir Castle near Stonehaven.

Dunnottir Castle

From downtown Aberdeen, I directed Ron out to the A90 highway, and we took that south along the coast towards Stonehaven. Just past Stonehaven, we found the turnoff to the east for Dunnottir Castle. It was about two miles east of the highway, and we found the parking area for the castle without much problem.

It was raining, and so a bad day to try to get out to the castle itself, so we just walked down close to it to see what we could see.

Dunnottar Castle (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Fhoithear, "fort on the shelving slope") is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-east coast of Scotland, about 1.9 mi south of Stonehaven, and we arrived there about an hour after leaving Aberdeen.

Dunnottir Castle

The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th and 16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been fortified in the Early Middle Ages. Dunnottar has played a prominent role in the history of Scotland through to the 18th-century Jacobite risings because of its strategic location and the strength of its situation. Dunnottar is best known as the place where the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish crown jewels, were hidden from Oliver Cromwell's invading army in the 17th century.

The property of the Keiths since the 14th century, and the seat of the Earl Marischal, Dunnottar declined after the last Earl forfeited his titles by taking part in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. The castle and headland were purchased by Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, in 1925, after which his wife embarked on a program of repairs. Since that time the castle has remained in the family, and has been open to the public, attracting some 50,000 visitors a year.

When we got out of the van at the top of the path that leads down to the viewpoint overlooking the castle, it was raining lightly. This made it difficult to take pictures, since we had to hold umbrellas most of the time as well. But we made our way down the path to the overlook.

The ruins of the castle are spread over 3.5 acres, surrounded by steep cliffs that drop to the North Sea, 160 ft. below. A narrow strip of land joins the headland to the mainland, along which a steep path leads up to the gatehouse. The various buildings within the castle include the 14th-century tower house as well as the 16th-century palace. Dunnottar Castle is now a Scottish National Monument, and twelve of its structures are on the Scottish Register of Historic Places.

A small creek flows into the North Sea just south of the castle; this creek flows alongside the pedestrian pathway that leads from the visitor center to the walkway that crosses to the castle; at one point, another creek joins it in a pretty waterfall.

Overlooking Dunnottir Castle

We stood on the overlook for quite some time, holding our umbrellas and admiring the views. We could see the actual path to the castle ahead of us, and we thought about going out to the promontory, but the weather was just too raw for that to be pleasant, although Karl and I did go a ways down the path to gauge whether it would be a good idea to try.

But we decided against going out there, and just took pictures from the overlook. Below are clickable thumbnails you can use to see a few of the best pictures that Fred took from here at the overlook:

Views of Dunnottir Castle, near Stonehaven, Scotland

I could only have wished that the weather had been better, for a trip out to the actual castle would have been a great thing to do, but it wasn't, and not going out there is probably the biggest regret of our entire trip.

Loading the player... Dunnottir Castle near Stonehaven, Scotland

I made one movie from the promontory, panning across the view out to the North Sea from northeast to southeast, and you can watch that movie with the player at left.

Guy and I also took a few good pictures on this dismal day from the promontory overlooking the castle, and I have put some clickable thumbnails below that you can use to see some of these:

Views of Dunnottir Castle, near Stonehaven, Scotland

When we were done looking at the castle, we made our way back up the very wet path and were happy to get back into the van. As I said, I think it was a shame we didn't have better weather, and to show you what I mean, I want to include here two stock shots of Dunnottir Castle, taken on days when the weather was a heck of a lot better:

Dunnottir Castle Overlooking the North Sea

The Buildings at Dunnottir Castle

Driving to Carlisle

From Dunnottir Castle, we headed off towards Carlisle.

It was a pretty dismal day, so I guess it is good that it coincided with a day where most of what we were doing was driving. We decided that we would make one stop along the way, in the city of Dundee, Scotland, where we hoped to find an antique shop or art gallery that we could explore. You can see how gloomy the day actually was if you use the clickable thumbnails below to look at just a few of Fred's pictures taken as we drove from Stonehaven to Dundee:

The Scenery On the Way to Dundee

When we got to Dundee, we got off the A90 and drove down into town, parking as close as we could get to the center of town. Fred took pictures on the way into town, and you can use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at some of them:

Scenes in Dundee, Scotland

When we parked, we were right next to a new downtown shopping mall, so we headed in there to see if we could find out about more picturesque local shops. Not getting much information there, I volunteered to go out into the downtown area to ask some local shopkeepers where we might find antique shops or art galleries. I was quite unsuccessful in locating any establishment that Nancy or Prudence would especially want to see, so I returned to the group and we decided just to head on to Carlisle. Before we left the mall, Fred took a few good pictures that I have included below:

So we did reclaim the car, and were on our way again down to Carlisle. Almost all the way down to Carlisle, the weather remained rainy and foggy, giving a ghostly aspect to the scenery as we drove, although it did begin to clear as we approached Carlisle.

Coming down through Perth, Scotland, we eventually got onto one of the motorways- the M6. We got off at the A69, and headed west into Carlisle. The road turned into Warwick Road, and we eventually came to Howard Place. The Langleigh is located a block off Warwick on Howard Place.

The Langleigh Guest House in Carlisle

The Langleigh Guest House, a red-brick three-story house near the corner of Howard Place and Warwick, turned out to be a charming place to stay- and quite reasonable. It is located in a residential area about half a mile from the center of Carlisle, which made it convenient for our walk around town tomorrow.

The Langleigh Guest House

When we arrived, we easily found a parking space on the street right in front of the Langleigh. Before we got all our stuff out, we just went up to the door where we were met by Yvette, our hostess.

As we came up to the front of the house and went inside to register, Fred took a number of pictures of the outside of the house, and I have put five clickable thumbnails for the best of these pictures below.

The Langleigh House is quite charming, and it has a nice corner location, and being three stories, all the rooms have views. Though we didn't need to use it, it has its own car park. Yvette and Norman, our hosts, actually run two homes; the other is two doors down Howard Place.

Just inside the front door there is a cozy foyer, and the doors off that foyer lead to the living room, the private part of the residence, and the breakfast room and kitchen. There is also a charming staircase that leads to the guest rooms on the second and third floors. I went up on the staircase to get that previous picture looking down into the foyer, and a little later on in our stay got another picture of Ron Ruckman on the stairway.

I made a movie here at the guest house, beginning in the foyer and going up both flights of stairs to our room on the third floor. You will be able to see most of the guest house by using the player below, right, to watch this movie.

Loading the player... A Tour Through the Langleigh Guest House

We also took quite a few pictures in the Langleigh during our one-night stay, and you can use the clickable thumbnails below to see some of them:

Inside the Langleigh Guest House

Our stay at the Langleigh was quite pleasant. The only oddity was that this was the only hotel, B&B or guest house we stayed at that did not supply washcloths (those little one-foot-square thingys). When asked, Yvette went and got us some from a stash she must have had, but she pointed out that her guests never ask for them. I just wonder how many sopping wet hand towels she has to launder.

Dinner in Carlisle

After relaxing a while at the Langleigh House, we followed a recommendation from Yvette and headed a few blocks away to Cianni's Italian Restaurant.

In Cianni's Italian Restaurant

The walk to the restaurant was just a short one but worthwhile, because the meal was quite good. We were seated on the top floor of the three-story restaurant, and had the room pretty much to ourselves.

On the way over, we did take a few pictures, and you can have a look at them by clicking on the titles below:

After dinner, we went back to the Guest House to prepare for our day in Carlisle tomorrow.

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	September 20, 2013: A Day in Carlisle, Scotland
	September 18, 2013: Crathes Castle and Aberdeen, Scotland
	Return to the Ruckman Haus Photo Gallery Page