Aberdeen, Stonehaven and sleeper train
Trip Start
Apr 29, 2009
1
16
Trip End
May 24, 2009
Stonehaven, United Kingdom
Thursday, May 14, 2009
After going to tourist information for a map and some information we caught a bus to Stonehaven. We walked down to the beach and walked to the harbour where we were told we would find the trail to Dunnottar Castle. The coastal walk was very nice - up on the cliffs looking down at the sea. We walked around a bend in the trail and saw Dunnottar off in the distance - a awesome sight.
The tide was just starting to come in when we got to the castle ever so we went out on the beach to explore. It's a bit of a treacherous walk on rocks and seaweed out to the waters edge. L stopped halfway but I went to the water. Just as I got to the water it seemed the tide was coming in incredibly fast. I quickly retreated - getting caught out there looked like it might be dangerous with the sharp rocks. It's amazing how different the shore looks between high and low tides.
The castle ruins were amazing. A huge place - took several hours for us to explore it all. There was a huge fireplace/oven, the size of some small rooms. It would throw off so much heat that chefs would die early deaths from heat exhaustion. The countess' room was above the oven, so she was always warm in her suite above - nice for her. There are beautiful lawns between the buildings where we had a picnic. Some people were taken prisoners (for religious reasons, but I can't remember exactly) and held in a vault of the castle. They had a beautiful view of the sea, but must have been horribly cold in the winter. Many of them died either trying to escape or from the horrendous living conditions.
On the coastal walk there is a war memorial that was erected by the people of Stonehaven to honour those who lost their lives in World War 1. It's at the top of a small hill and sort of looks like roman type ruins. It was purposely left half finished - I believe to signify the lives that were cut short.
We walked back into town and shared some fish and chips from a place that had been recommended to me. We had planned to eat them out by the sea wall but it was windy so we figured they'd be cold before we finished so we ate it in the square. Very good.
We've been searching for some crisp flavours to try that someone had told us about. We found them so boought 1 of each - chili and chocolate; hoison duck, cajun squirrel and onion bhaji. I liked the chili and chocolate. The onion bhaji was okay. I didn't really care for the other 2. We had worcester sauce flavored last week and they were good.
Went shopping in Aberdeen when we got back. L needed a pair of pants to wear to Oliver! tomorrow night. We went to a store called Primark that was great. Got a nice pair of linen pants for 7 pounds something. Before leaving Scotland we wanted some scotch for our wonderful dog babysitters. I had no idea scotch was soo expensive! Good thing I never developed a taste for it.
Went back to the pub where we stayed last night for a pint and a bite to eat (and to get our luggage). Ale was good, curry was mediocre. I wanted a 2nd pint but L thought me developing a taste for dark ale was a bad idea.
Off to catch the night train to London. We somehow lucked into being assigned the disabled berth. The compartment is much bigger than the regular ones. Unfortunately the electric door to the compartment wouldn't close so the lady moved us to another compartment. It was absolutely tiny in comparison - not really enough room to even turn around. I'm claustrophobic and I didn't like it. I would have survived but the lady came to the door after we got underway and sad she'd found us another disabled berth. The disabled compartments also come with first class little bags of goodies - I don't know why I enjoy those little packages of toothpaste and stuff but I highly enjoy them.
Back to England.
My observations about Scotland and the Scottish people.
It is a beautiful place
It has a huge variety of scenery packed into a small area (coastal, mountains, woodland, rocky)
The scottish people are very proud of their heritage and history
They speak very fast - hard to believe sometimes that it was english
I never knew how many different types of sheep there is
I also never knew how cute lambs were - almost a shame to eat them, and if I think about this any longer I'll have to become a vegetarian
I forgot to put in before - on the islands the main source of heat seems to be burning peat. They cut it from the bogs, dry it by laying it out, and then burn it. The smell is a distinct but pleasant smell - a very common scent on the islands. It is apparently illegal (according to our useless guide) to sell in Scotland, but free to cut and harvest for your own use. They also heat with coal - we saw it sold at the local stores.
