Category Archives: Kelso

#SEWES2016 ~ Sept 22 Kelso to Broughty Ferry

#SEWES2016

Sept 22 – Kelso to Broughty Ferry

Castle and a Cold War Bunker, too

 

Jeff, our host at Duncan House, and his black lab joined the group of folks in the dining room. He apologized profusely for not remembering me (actually, putting the name with the face). With the number of people who stay in his wonderful Georgian B&B, I’m not surprised, nor was I offended.

After a hearty breakfast, including porridge, we set out. Shortly before we left home for Scotland, we received an email telling us that Craigmillar Castle would be closed until Sept 20th. The picture of the property included in the Historic Scotland email intrigued me and it being after the 20th, and the castle being close to (if not in the ‘burbs of Edinburgh) so en route to Broughty Ferry, the satnav was programmed to take us there.

I ended up driving Monty further into the city than I wanted thanks to roadworks (as in a humungous hole) in Craigmillar Castle Road. So I had to drive by that end of the road, follow the diversion signs … AND ignore Satnav Sally.

Two school buses (not like our North American ones) parked back to back on opposite sides of the car park. No way on earth Monty would fit between their snouts.

I parked sort of on the edge of the road and we strode to the ticket office/gift shop. “One concession (aka senior), one adult and toilets,” was the buzz phrase of the day. He stamped our “zero charge” receipt with the combination we needed to gain access to the facilities and off we went.

Sept 22
Craigmillar Castle
The entrance to Craigmillar Castle
The entrance to Craigmillar Castle inside the outer curtain wall
Sept 22
Don standing by the yew tree inside the inner curtain wall of Craigmillar Castle
Sept 22
Me standing by the yew tree inside the inner curtain wall at Craigmillar Castle
Sept 22
Stairway to … at Craigmillar Castle
Sept 22
Sign indicating the direction of the wine cellar

My favourite place! I’ll even do the spiral stairs to get there… 😉

Sept 22
Spiral staircase leading to the wine cellar
Sept 22
Sign describing the room. Note the windows on both sides of the fireplace and the stonework on the mantle

Years later, the windows have been filled in but the fireplace remains.

Sept 22
As the room looks now
Sept 22
One of the massive fireplaces
Sept 22
Me standing inside the fireplace

The school children were amazed that in two different towers of the castle there were bathrooms. One group called over to the other, “we’ve got a loo!” and the other replied “So do we! We have a loo, too!”

Sept 22
View from the castle ramparts
Sept 22
Craigmillar Castle from the highest level you can access

The view from the castle ramparts is amazing. The clear weather made it easy to see and recognize North Berwick Law (we’d seen it last year on our way to Dunbar and on the train to Edinburgh).

Sept 22
View from the castle rampart – the visible hump in the center of the background is North Berwick Law
Sept 22
Salisbury Crags
Sept 22
Busted taking a photo
But so was someone else
But so was someone else…

Driving towards Craigmillar Castle, we had spectacular views of Edinburgh Castle and Arthur’s Seat but no place to pull over for a photo op. I was chuffed to bits to get this view from Craigmillar’s ramparts.

Sept 22
Edinburgh Castle on the left and Arthur’s Seat on the right

As we approached the Forth Road Bridge, the first of many signs for Scotland’s Secret Bunker popped up. It had been a possibility on previous trips and we happened to have the time, so decided to make it a reality this trip. Canada has the Diefenbunker (which we’ve visited) so we needed to compare the two locations.

Imagine a Cold War Shelter capable of running the country from under an innocuous farm house? Now that the cold war threat is over (or is it) things aren’t so secret anymore.

Unfortunately, the roads leading to it aren’t so smooth, so again the buzz phrase when we bought our tickets was “One concession, one adult and toilets” but this time I added “and not necessarily in that order”.

Sept 22
The cottage that the bunker “hides” under
Sept 22
Page from The Courier
Sept 22
Inside the bunker
Sept 22
Barracks room inside the bunker
Sept 22
Bulletin board with related photos and articles
Another bulletin board
Another bulletin board
Sept 22
The chapel
Sept 22
The switchboard
Sept 22
A place to take selfies… or of each other
Sept 22
A place to take selfies… or of each other
Sept 22
A “rat” on the conduit
Sept 22
Military vehicles outside

Finally, we reached our destination for the night. When I booked, I thought we’d get the same room as last year but this time we got one on the ground floor at the front of the hotel (corner of Queen Street and Claypotts/Westfield Road). Finally, a place where we didn’t have to lug everything up at least one flight of stairs!

Sept 22
Our room at the Hotel Broughty Ferry
Sept 22
Our room at the Hotel Broughty Ferry and our champagne waiting for our arrival
Sept 22
In the bar at the Hotel Broughty Ferry where we had our evening meal

Tomorrow morning, we’re catching the train in Dundee to Edinburgh where we’ll spend the day with our good friend (fellow author and crime writer), Chris Longmuir.

 

#SEWES2016 ~ Sept 21 – Temple Sowerby to Kelso

#SEWES2016

Sept 21 – Temple Sowerby to Kelso

We decided that when we left Temple Sowerby this morning, we would attempt to visit  The Devils Porridge Museum in Eastriggs one more time. We weren’t far away and had plenty of time before we needed to arrive at Duncan House in Kelso.

My computer scared me bad. I mean scared me real BAD. When I shut down my laptop this morning, Windows 10 decided it needed to download and install updates. You can prevent it from happening, but I didn’t know how at the time. I chose install and restart. Except it didn’t restart. It went through the motions and it looked like the days of DOS or a Linux system starting up. We’re talking command line code happening… until it froze.

I froze in panic! The computer had to be turned off at some point for travelling, so pressed the power button until it shut down. I turned it back on and the same thing happened all over again. Visions of taking it in to the store I bought it from when I got home flashed through my mind. No computer until then? Whatever would I do? Sure I had my iPad and hubby had his laptop but still, you develop a relationship with your own computer. You know its quirks and idiosyncrasies (at least I thought I did).

After checking out of The Kings Arms Hotel and leaving some of my books’ postcards at the hotel – gal checking me out of the hotel asked if I knew the author – I said yes, it’s me. Well, that prolonged the process because we had to talk about writing and reading and what not. She told me there’s a book club in Temple Sowerby. So maybe one of these days, they’ll read one (and maybe all) of mine.

On to Eastriggs and the museum. We arrived there about 10:15 to a reasonably empty car park. Yay!

Robbie Brodie (I think that’s his name), gave us an overview of the original munitions plant that occupied the land between Eastriggs and Gretna.

Sept 21
map of the HM Factory Gretna
Setpt 21
#s 1-5 from the above map
Sept 21
#s 6-10 from the above map
Sept 21
uniform worn by the munitions girls
Sept 21
one of the nitrating pans

Another event depicted here at the museum is the Quintinshill Rail Disaster.

Sept 21
petition to the King asking for the signalmen charged in the disaster to be pardoned

On the upper level of the museum, they have an area set aside for research, and another for “selfies”. Here, clothing from the era is available to try on and take your picture in – including an army helmet!

Sept 21
Don modelling a helmet
Sept 21
Me wearing a hat

I rather like my chapeau even if I don’t look best pleased in the photo. Note to self… try to find something similar when I get home.

Before leaving the museum, I did namedrop. As in my crime writer friend’s name – Chris Longmuir and her historical novel, Devil’s Porridge, set at the actual munitions factory here.

I wanted to visit Hermitage Castle, one of the many properties under the care of Historic Scotland. It happened to be on our route to Kelso (more or less).

Sept 21
Hermitage Castle
Sept 21
Hermitage Castle
Sept 21
within the walls of Hermitage Castle
Sept 21
The chapel grounds at Hermitage Castle

After leaving the castle, I got my fill once again of narrow roads with passing places – and cattle grids. I really don’t mind these roads although they’re much better when the visibility is better. You don’t want to end up having to back up to a passing place if you don’t have to. I drove and put hubby to work taking pictures out the windscreen.

Sept 21
driving on one of the single track roads…
Sept 21
in a passing place on a single track road
Sept 21
Hope nothing is coming from the other direction…
Sept 21
Waiting in a passing place for the oncoming vehicle

The Waverly Route Heritage Association has preserved a section of track and we spotted this passenger carriage on our right. Despite passing place etiquette not allowing for such things as photo ops, the traffic was so light, I couldn’t resist.

Passenger carriage
Passenger carriage on the Waverly Route
Sept 21
Viaduct on the Waverly Route
Sept 21
Approaching a cattle grid
Sept 21
Tree canopy created by the lorries
Sept 21
Civilization! A road with centre markings
Sept 21
At the intersection of the B6357 and the A68
Sept 21
Approaching Jedburgh Abbey

Once through Jedburgh, it didn’t take long before we found ourselves at Duncan House in Kelso. This is the third time we’ve stayed there and since the first time, have said ‘next time we’ll stay for more than one night’. So far it hasn’t happened.

Call it premonition, but the night before I looked up an email from our host (from the previous year) to check the combination for the lock box.  If I hadn’t, we might not have been able to get in, although I carried printed confirmations of all of our accommodations and other pre-booked events with me.

The first thing I did when I got up to our room (same room we’ve had each time, too) was pull out the laptop and its power supply. Plugged in, I powered up. A huge wave of relief washed over me when the lock screen came up. Not sure what crawled up the computer’s butt in the morning but at least now I could say ,”It’s alive!”

Sept 21
River Tweed and Floors Castle from our room at Duncan House

Knowing the computer survived, we walked down to Kelso Abbey. On the way, a woman outside one of the shops approached us with bags to collect gently used clothes. I had something else in mind for them. After accepting them, we continued on to the abbey, poked around the ruins there and through the cemetery on the other side of the street.

Sept 21
Kelso Abbey

This cute gallery in the shape of a boat stands on Abbey Row across the street from the graveyard.

Sept 21
Huggins Haig Gallery

After a wander around the town, we made our way to The Waggon Inn where we had a delicious meal.

Sept 21
The Waggon Inn

Paused for a selfie on the way back to Duncan House after our meal.

Sept 21
After a delicious meal at the Waggon Inn

Tomorrow we head north to Broughty Ferry and back to the same hotel we stayed in last year.

 

#Scotland 2015 Day 14 – Dunbar to Kelso

#Scotland 2015 – Sept 24, 2015

This morning we were off to Kelso but we had some unfinished business in this area. We had said after visiting Tantallon Castle in the rain if it was nice the day we were headed south, we would go there first since we had plenty of time to get to our final destination.

Everything looks better in the sunshine. We got rid of the rain but it was still blustery up at the castle.

Kelso
approaching Tantallon Castle
Kelso
Tantallon Castle
Kelso
Staircase inside Tantallon Castle
Kelso
Bass Rock from Tantallon Castle
Kelso
Dovecot at Tantallon Castle and North Berwick Law in the background

I’m really glad we did go back to Tantallon because had we not, we would have missed the opportunity to see Hailes Castle. It was signposted as straight ahead where we turned right to go to Tantallon.

After our repeat visit here, hubby found Hailes Castle the Historic Scotland satnav maps that he downloaded to our Garmin before we left home and off we went.

Kelso
Hailes Castle
Kelso
Hailes Castle

There’s a face in this wall – intentionally or otherwise – the way the stones are strategically missing. Two eyes, a nose and a lopsided mouth.

Kelso
Hailes Castle

After our visit to Hailes Castle, we set out for the village of Gordon and Greenknowe Tower.

Kelso
Greenknowe Tower
Kelso
Yett (iron gate) at Greenknowe Tower
Kelso
One of the fireplaces in Greenknowe Tower
Kelso
Me showing the massive size of the fireplace at Greenknowe Tower
Kelso
At the top of Greenknowe Tower

We weren’t far from Dryburgh Abbey so headed there (another bathroom break was needed). On the way, we passed Scott’s View and made an out loud mental note that we would stop there on our way back.

While in the shop at the abbey, I bought a guidebook for Smailholm Tower because I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get one when we got there. Chatting with the man who was working, he asked where we were from. He went on to say that there were two girls there at the moment who were also from Ontario. They came back in before we went on out into the grounds so had a chance to say hi to fellow Canadians.

Kelso
Sir Walter Scott’s grave at Dryburgh Abbey

During our time at the abbey, the light had changed significantly and the Eildon Hills weren’t lit as they had been when we passed by the first time. Still, it was a dramatic view and easy to see why Sir Walter Scott was so enchanted with it.

Kelso
Scott’s View

If I said getting to Smailholm Tower was an adventure, it would be an understatement. The single track roads were okay. I don’t mind driving on them. But you come to a farm and have to drive through the farmyard and out onto a gravel track to go the rest of the way to the carpark at the bottom of the hill. At least, there was a sign on the fence post guiding us beyond the barns and other outbuildings.

After you navigate through the farm to the car park, you still have to hike up a hill to get to this castle. The sign at the bottom indicated two paths – the easy one and the more difficult one. We took what was labelled as the easy one. It wasn’t as steep as the hill to Dunideer which we’ve done in the past, but with the wind, it might as well have been. We thought it was blustery at Tantallon in the morning… it was nothing compared to here!

The entrance to the castle is on the side opposite the gravel track. When we got to this point, there were a few gusts of wind that almost blew me off my feet.

Kelso
Me at the gate at Smailholm Tower
Kelso
Smailholm Tower

We toured the three floors of displays, a lot related to Sir Walter Scott, and despite the high winds, it wasn’t considered windy enough to not allow access to the ramparts on either side of the earth roof. It did, however, make it difficult to open or close the door depending on what side you were standing on.

Kelso
View from one of the ramparts at Smailholm Tower
Kelso
View from one of the ramparts at Smailholm Tower (our car in the middle of the carpark below)
Kelso
Earth roof from one of the ramparts at Smailholm Tower

When we left, we chose the ‘difficult’ path to return to the car. It was far easier to traverse than the one we ascended.

The rest of the drive to Kelso was uneventful. We came in a slightly different way than we did in 2013 but once I got close to the square, I didn’t need the satnav anymore. I knew exactly where I was going.

This is the same room we stayed in before at Duncan House. The only difference was the bed now had a wooden headboard and footboard and the wall colour changed.

Kelso
Our room at Duncan House
Kelso
Our room at Duncan House
Kelso
Our room at Duncan House

On our way to abbey it started to rain and of course, we left our umbrellas back at our room. We were sorely disappointed that The Empress of India had closed since our last visit to Kelso so, not knowing the area well, were at a loss as to where to go for supper.

I approached a woman in front of Glendale Paints and asked if she could recommend a good place for a meal. I mean who better to ask than a local? She ushered us into the store out of the rain and suggested if we wanted a good meal at a good price we go to The Waggon Inn and told us how to get there from where we were at that moment.

We thanked her and continued to the abbey which was closed when we were here in 2013 (arrived too late). This time we were able to get inside the gate and get some good photos from there despite the rain.

Kelso
Kelso Abbey
Kelso
Kelso Abbey

By the time we got to The Waggon Inn for our meal, the rain had stopped.

Kelso
The Waggon Inn where we had our supper

It’s hard to see from this angle looking up the driveway, but our room was the first dormer at the closest end of the house and our en-suite bathroom was the middle dormer.

Kelso
Duncan House

From this angle you can see the middle dormer much better and barely see the one at the far end of the house.

Kelso
Duncan House

We’ve been to Kelso twice but have never managed to get any closer to Floors Castle than Duncan House. We’ll have to rectify that.

Kelso
Floors Castle from our room at Duncan House
Kelso
Floors Castle illuminated at dusk from our room at Duncan House

The next time we come to Kelso and stay at Duncan House, we’ll spend more than one night and get to Floors Castle and visit/re-visit some of the Historic Scotland properties that are nearby.

Tomorrow… shh… don’t tell anyone, we’re heading south of the border to Barnsley. Long story, but for now I’ll just say it’s for research for another novel I’m working on.