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Leaving Pitbee Mill after a quick run through the dew to photograph the reflections in the millpond and the metal pumpkin ornaments, we drove through the rolling hillsides on our way to visit more old friends of Nicky and Pauls - Caroline and Paddy. We had 3 sets of directions, and our trusty road atlas, and still managed to get lost - even when following a friendly local who was showing us the way!
Eventually we arrived at our destination, and found Paddy and Caroline in their potting shed hard at work planting 20 000 chestnuts for sale as hedging plants. Their granddaughter, maybe 8, was standing on a wooden box doing a great job of pushing the nuts into the potting mix. Her 10 year old brother was predicably unfindable. Caroline took us on a tour of their property, and showed us the renovations underway for one of the old outbuildings. The staircase to the mezzanine bedroom made from local oak was truly a work of art.
Sadly we had to leave, as we had a long journey ahead of us. We made our way uneventfully through the now bright and warm sunshine to Stonehaven. This little town on the east coast is sheltered by a large sea wall, seeming to cradle the harbour in its arms. A quick walk down the foreshore and an icecream was followed by the obligatory fish and chip lunch - well, if life is unpredictable, why not eat dessert first, hey?
Then off to the dramatic ruins of Dunnator Castle. If you wanted to describe the perfect coastal site for a castle, this would be it. Sitting high on a cliff top, surrounded on three sides by ocean crashing onto both sharply jagged and submerged rocks, tall sea stacks alive with seabirds galore; and on the fourth side the peninsula only attached by a narrow neck of steeply sloping land. A gurgling stream runs down to the sea on one side, tumbling from the heights of the surrounding plain over slippery rocks. Good luck to any who wished to invade! William Wallace is said to have done so successfully, but only by digging a tunnel into the cliff and up into the castle via a drain………..
We really enjoyed exploring this site, the many twisting stairs, large stately rooms and the castle kitchen providing much interest, along with the ruined chapel and deciphering the drainage and stone guttering systems in use. Apparently a lion, given to the Earl, was chained to a rock with a small cave as shelter, but its sad captivity was short lived as its roaring kept the ladies of the castle awake… A sobering visit to the 60m2 dungeon where in 1685, something like 200 prisoners, (men women and children) were kept for months in virtual darkness, with no sanitation facilities and having to buy their food and water from the guards. Their crime? Refusing to sign a document agreeing that the King of England was also the leader of the Church….
Voting this castle our new favourite, and with the sun miraculously still shining brightly, we travelled to nearby Crawton, were Nicky and Paul spent many happy months living in a converted railway carriage with Ruth and Andy as their landlords. More stories of fun exploits and minor disasters were told as we walked the cliff path to the waterfall which falls dramatically into the sea, almost opposite the houses.
Then we took to the road with intent, passing vast fields of daffodils glowing golden in the still bright sunshine, strawberries in huge poly tunnels with their ends open to let the breeze in. A long and tiring near 3 hour journey past Dundee and through Perth, back to Aberfoyle and familiar faces.
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