Breakfast at the Rowanbank Guesthouse B&B was completely Scottish. Everyone had coffee except for me who enjoyed black tea. There was cereal and orange juice to snack on while our hot meals were being cooked. Jeremy remembered to remind the cook that two of the plates would be vegetarian, thank goodness! [I think in my brain people naturally eat less meat so I forget that it tends to be a staple of most meals.] So in case you are unfamiliar, a traditional Scottish breakfast will mostly always include toast, baked beans, fried mushrooms, a poached egg, sausage, fried tomato, and in this case a pasty. We completely lucked out that the B&B had faux sausage! At first when they brought it out and placed our plates in front of us I thought maybe they thought pig wasn’t meat. I was prepared to eat around the sausage until the proprietor let us know it was soya. Later I told Jeremy about my “pigs are not meat in Scotland” theory and he laughed at me. I’m outta the meat world, people; I can be judgemental and clueless. It was a delicious meal!
Caerlaverock Castle was our first destination after checking out of Rowanbank. This is where we bought our Historic Scotland Explorer Passports. They are the same passes as English Heritage and allow us access into castles and sites along the way. They are the best way to travel if you want to see a lot for a lower price. The man who sold them to us was called Stanely and he was the friendliest person we’d met on our trip at that point. He joked and laughed with us and gave us information about the castle we were about to embark upon. Caerlaverock also boasts a huge trebuchet on its front grassy area. Their trebuchet was slightly more impressive than the one my two sisters and I made with our dad, Bob many years ago.
This was definitely one of my favourite castles thus far. We talked about buying this property together, fixing it up and having awesome barbeques and dance parties. The outer court walls have fallen and Heather and I decided we would keep it open like a huge patio. It would really be neat. We had lots of ideas, not the least of which was indoor plumbing, and of course, a disco ball. This castle is a triangle shape. [You can see an aerial view on google images.] It was finally built after the first castle sank into the watery ground not 700 feet away. The foundation of the first castle is still visible and we walked around that part as well. It was beautiful there. A great place to run Heather and me both agreed.
Since the castle is so close to the border if was often attacked and after only thirty years of it standing King Edward 1 attacked in 1300 with his huge English army. They were repeatedly staved off. The huge army was persistent though and finally Caerlaverock surrendered. What is most awesomely shocking about this story is that inside the castle only sixty men had been fighting and defeating the thousands of troops on the outside. Much later in 1640 a religious battle took place and the south tower and wall fell and was never repaired. It’s truly an amazing castle; even after seeing many more on this trip, it remains in my top three.
Next destination: Bothwell Castle. When we arrived we were greeted in the gift shop and the man who stamped our passports gave us a ten minute history lesson about the castle. Scottish people want to talk to you. It was a smaller castle that still had a lot to see with great views from the top. Bothwell is another 13th century castle ten miles south east of Glasgow. This caslte is known for how many times it changed ownerships with kings of Scotland and England. It was repeatedly slighted and then rebuilt by someone else. It was finally given into state care in 1935.
Coming down from one of the tall towers Heather was a few steps behind me and I passed an older gentleman through a doorway. I barely heard his soft voice ask me if I was American. I turned around to see if he had actually said something to me and when his eyes were on mine I answered him that yes, I am American. He asked me where I was from and I told him the Pacific Northwest. He asked, “California?” I said, “Just north of it.” At this point Heather had joined us outside and he told us we’d come a long way. I told him his country was really beautiful. He said, “If you stay any longer you might stay 100 years.” We laughed and Heather let him know that we would be okay with that outcome. Then the man said to us, “Well, you are most welcome here. We’re happy to have you.” We both sincerely thanked him and the moment brought tears to my eyes. I have never had a stranger welcome me so warmly to their country. It is declared: I love Scotland.
That evening we stayed at the Hillhead Farm in Sterling. When we finally found it one of the owners told us since he knew we were two couples he decided to give us two separate rooms instead of one big room for the same price. Seriously!?! Yes, this is Scotland! The four of us were thankful for the gesture. Hillhead Farm is a tiny little place that has four rooms. It is a ranch style estate which means all one level in a little garden yard. We all settled into our rooms and decided to meet soon for dinner. We found our first pub and went in for a pint. Daniel asked if they were serving food and the woman behind the bar told him they were not. We planned to finish our drinks and find something close to where we were staying. Jeremy got up to ask someone if they could recommend a good place to eat and magically a huge platter of sandwiches appeared on our table. I say it was magical because I never even saw the face of the person who set it down. I only heard him say, “On the house.” I looked up and he was gone! Jeremy came back just as stunned as the rest of us were. We dove into those sandwiches hungrily and happily.
Two older men were at the next table and struck up a conversation with us. They gave us advice on what to see while we were in the area and also where to eat that night. We spoke with them for about twenty minutes before leaving and as we moved through the door they repeated, “God bless you. God bless you.” I was stunned! I have been to seven countries outside the States and no one has ever given me a free sandwich, or said “God bless you” to me! I’m telling you, the people here are amazingly loving, and generous.
We did not have a lot of luck finding a place to have dinner and we ended up in an “Applebees” type of establishment because it was open, serving food, and it was directly across the street from the Hillhead Farm. The food was not good, but they did have beer! When we finished eating we went back to our rooms to relax. Jeremy went on a walk to find the pub we’d first stopped into. Heather took a nap, and Daniel and I both got on our computers. After a bit of writing Jeremy returned and let us know Heather was still sleeping so he brought his computer into our room and we all sat visiting, sipping on some scotch he had found, and working on our own projects. Heather needed the rest and she was in for the night so the three of us enjoyed a calm time joking around and sharing insights about our day. I read my blog aloud to them before I posted it and Jeremy laughed a lot because it was the entry where I said he is bad at directions. It was a fantastic end to a fantastic day.
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