Eilean Donan

Today it was 73 degrees. SEVENTY-THREE. I mean, this is Seattle, not San Diego we're talking about (which is actually probably closer to 93?). I couldn't even feel the air today when I went out. This has been the perfect fall. We've had the windows and sliding door open in our apartment for days because it's too hot in here, which I realize is a silly thing to say about October, but there you have it. It's colder at night; we have a fan in the window to blow in the chilly night air. It's just a little crisp.

This chilliness sort of reminds me of Scotland in midsummer. I think I wore shorts during three summers in England about as many times as I have just this month alone. It's sad, but that's the British summer for you and at least I wasn't wearing a scarf, is all I have to say.

On our way from Fort William to see the famous Eilean Donan Castle, we noticed a large pull-off with a lovely view. Upon closer inspection, we discovered that there were thousands of rocks stacked up in small towers along the road. We thought we'd give it a try, and I added to a tower. I've tried looking up the meaning of the cairns, but apparently, one doesn't exist. It was a bit puzzling, but we moved on and speculated along the road. (UPDATE: After talking it over with Forrest, we both definitely remember there being some sort of marker or signpost dedicating the spot to fallen soldiers or something similar with each rock representing a service member. So there you go.)

This place actually reminds me of how we used to stack up the smooth stones along the Oregon and Washington coast when we were camping or visiting there. I don't know why we did it, but it was amusing. Perhaps there is an innate longing buried deep within the human soul to not leave a stone unstacked.

So, I stacked up some rocks. And onward to Eilean Donan!

I found these baby stalactites amusing.

After realizing that this was one of the only interior shots I have of the castle, I grew puzzled until I realized that photos are indeed forbidden indoors at Eilean Donan. There are several floors that you can go up, including the main hall, a few bedrooms, and the kitchen (which had all sorts of fake food displays which were fun and interesting).

The castle was so beautiful. It's not hard to see why this is the most photographed castle in Scotland.

I sat reminiscing today about all of the adventures we had in the United Kingdom during our time there. Our one-year mark of being back in the states is coming up next month and it's hard to believe that it's been so long since I've seen the people who made up most of our life for those few years.

Forrest and I sit and talk sometimes about what we miss the most: Indian food (for him), old estates (me), and all of our friends. I know we're going back someday. It's much too important to us. 

Until then, I'll keep going through our pictures and posting them here so that I'll always be able to remember.

P.S. 

Glenfinnan House + Viaduct

The Highlands

Hadrian's Wall

Peckforton Castle

Peckforton Castle

Last June, Forrest and I decided to take a month-long vacation. During that time, we went on a cruise (which I just finished blogging about!) and decided to take a leisurely road trip to Scotland, specifically, the western coast and the Isle of Skye. This was our third (or maybe fourth?) time driving up to the highlands, and I have to tell you, it never gets old. Scotland is maybe my favorite place in the entire world. The people are so nice and the cities are so beautiful and don't even get me started on the scenery. We didn't actually visit any big cities this trip (I missed you, Edinburgh!); it was strictly a let's go see nature kind of expedition. But the scenery. I have many, many pictures of the scenery on this trip, don't worry. But, I digress.

This post isn't even really about Scotland. It's about a castle in the middle part of England.

Seeing as we lived a fairly long distance from Scotland (and trust me, we have done the drive all in one day; it is loooong), we decided to break the trip up so that we could stop earlier in the day and have time to relax and unwind. And obviously, there were things we wanted to see along the way.

Peckforton Castle is located in Cheshire and was a convenient first stop on our journey from Suffolk to the Isle of Skye. I just happened to find a deal online that included our meals + a couples massage. I was sold. They also had segways and archery and other cool and fun things. Alas, we were only in residence long enough to partake of our massages the next morning and then we were on our merry way. It was very relaxing though.

The castle was built in 1844 as a country home for the Tollemache family who lived there until 1939 when it was turned into a haven for disabled children during the war. Now the castle is a hotel (obviously) and a dandy hotel it is.

There's a peacock that roams the grounds. I was a little scared of him to be honest.

Hedwig! You're alive!

We really enjoyed the giant room key, never ending ceilings, and our adorable, tiny window seat.

It felt like we had the place to ourselves most of the time we were there. We wandered in and out of the various banquet rooms and up and down the winding staircases. 

It turns out that castles are really fun places to stay. 

The Rock of Cashel

The Rock of Cashel was our very lost stop in Ireland before we headed to the airport. It is also called St. Patrick's Rock because he supposedly converted the current King of Munster (Munster was the Kingdom which included a large part of southern Ireland) in the 5th century to Christianity. Parts of the Rock are almost 900 years old and the main cathedral was started in 1235. The entire fortress rests on a big hill overlooking the town of Cashel on one side and an Abbey on the other. In 1101, the King of Munster gave the castle to the Church.

The Rock was really impressive. It is gigantic. But I don't really have much to say about it because we stopped there expecting it to be more of an interactive experience than it was. Apparently it houses some of the best Celtic art and medieval architecture in all of Europe. And they have St. Patrick's original cross so that is bonus points.

You know how when you get to the end of a really good vacation and you're just too tired to care anymore? That's kind of how I felt about being here. I wanted to see it but I was just too exhausted to read more information about Celtic Ireland. Basically all of that information up there is from wikipedia (except I did remember St. Patrick's cross all by myself). And you are welcome.

 

 

 

This is St. Patrick's cross. It was made in the 1100's.

As we were walking back to the car, we passed a wall that was completely covered in grass. The sides were rock and the top was grass. It really made me wonder who mowed the wall because the grass wasn't that long. So. Sorry, I'm just picturing someone with a push-mower walking the length of the wall and that probably isn't funny to anyone except me.

I really wish we'd had more time to walk down to the Abbey down the hill and explore Cashel a little bit but like I said, we had a flight to catch.

And that concludes the posts about a trip I took four months ago. Finally. Does this feel a little anticlimactic to anybody else? Like maybe there should be fireworks or something?

If you missed any here they are in chronological order all linked up nice and neat.

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12

My favorites are two, four, five, and eleven!