Scotland

From Haltwhistle we drove up in a North Westerly direction to Caerlaverock Castle.  There was hardly anyone there and we had the whole ruins almost to ourselves. I amused myself for a time walking around the ruins and trying to imagine what it would have been like to live here when this castle hummed with daily activity,  I tried to imagine the reality - hard work, hard men and women, dirt and grittiness rather than the romantic version but even so I am sure it was nothing like the reality.

From there we drove around the coast road to the haunting remains of Sweetheart Abbey.  It's interesting to compare the condition of this building to some of the other cathedrals of the same age - maybe because of it's location near the turbulent border lands or because it did not remain in constant use as some of the others did.

We left the car where it was and walked through the village of New Abbey to the New Abbey Corn Mill where we were in time to see a working demonstration of this strikingly original 18th Century water-powered mill.

Next we drove up through the town of Castle Douglas to visit the dark and forbidding Threave Castle, the ancestral seat of the infamous 'Black Douglas'.  Once again we had the ruins virtually to ourselves as it began to drizzle and the parking area is some distance from the actual castle.  The castle is on a small island in the River Dee and is reached by ringing a bell on a small landing among the rushes on the river bank to summon a boatman to take you across. . I am struck by the size of the huge fireplaces inside (easily 6'high and twice as wide) and once again indulge fantasies of long cold winters and the crowd that must have gathered around such a fireplace when it was roaring at full capacity.

On our way back across the boatman told us of a scenic back road northwards and we were pleased to go that way as it not only saved us time but was picturesque and quiet.

We pressed on as far as the Firth of Clyde even though we would have like to take more time but we knew we would not get to see the highlands or the far north if we did not.  We crossed on the ferry just before dusk and stayed at a tiny town called "Hunter's Quay" on the other side.