Scotland - Day 4

After another "full Scottish breakfast", we were off in The Bubble to visit Elgin Cathedral in the nearby town of Elgin. What a truly marvelous structure! We arrived early since we weren't sure where parking was available. Since we couldn't get into the Cathedral yet, we walked into the Biblical Garden of an adjacent college (can't remember the name of the college) where we found some very strange fiberglass statutes, such as this one of Samson. We figured he was the original "jock"....big body, little brain.

We then walked around the perimeter of the Cathedral property. As we approached from the main street, we walked through Panns Port, the main gateway into the Chanonry, or the area surrounding the Cathedral, which dates from the early 1200s. There were originally 4 gates in the wall but only Panns Port survives.

As we entered Elgin Cathedral the girl working there recommended that we start at the far end rather than at the Towers since there would be a large group of children arriving for a field trip. It was truly an awe inspiring experience to stand in the center of a structure built over 600 years ago. It was first built in the early 13th century and enlarged and repaired following a fire in 1390. I loved standing in the Presbytery and imaging how beautiful it must have been with the sun shining through the stained glass windows onto the high altar while the monks/priests chanted. Along the sides of the Presbytery were the choir lofts. There was a large nave with imposing columns holding up the several-story high roof, where many statutes looked down on the worshippers. There were also walkways up near the roof. We climbed to the top of the towers nears the entrance where we could see forever! I had wanted to get some photos of the wonderful headstones in the cemetery, but the kids were doing rubbings.

After spending much of the morning at Elgin Cathedral, we made the LONG drive back to Castle Fraser since this was on Aimee's "must see" list. Fortunately, it was open this time! One thing that constantly amazed us was just how very lush, green, thick and soft the lawns are in Scotland. It is like walking on an ultraplush carpet. I think Castle Fraser was my least favorite site. It is also still lived in and it is a self-guided tour. I didn't think much of the historic castle still existed, except the Great Hall which has been restored to how it would have looked in the 1500s. Castle Fraser is reputed to be a very haunted castle but Aimee didn't feel there was anything to the stories, at least not the major stories of hauntings. We did see a couple old samplers on the walls and some beautiful old quilts but besides that we were disappointed that we had made the trip twice to Castle Fraser.

On the way back to the Old Church, we stopped at Tolquhon (Toll-Hoon) Castle, another of the Historic Scotland ruins which was out in the middle of a peaceful rural area, far from civilization. There was a small gift shop and the woman working there probably lived in the house next door, the only house around! Her wee son was there with her. Tolquhon is really more of a comfortable 16th century mansion than a castle. It's particularly noteworthy for the highly ornamented gatehouse and the unique 3-hole gunholes. It was designed more to impress visitors than deter attackers.

The first room we entered in the castle was the circular guardroom to the left in one of the entry. Aimee had a startled reaction as we entered and she said that there was the ghost of a guard in there and they had started each other. After that he kept following us around yelling to Aimee that we weren't supposed to be there. A couple things I enjoyed about this castle were the 12 slots for beehives in the outer wall of the courtyard and the dovecot in the corner. As we were leaving to find the beehives, Aimee appeared to stumble on the walkway. She asked if I saw her and I said that I thought she'd tripped on something. She said that he hadn't tripped; she was pushed! The not-so-friendly guardsman had pushed her and insisted that we leave.

We had a long drive back to the Old Church and we still had to find someplace to eat. It had been a long time since breakfast, but finding someplace that serves food after 5:30 in the Highlands is almost impossible. We thought we'd seen a couple places in Huntly but when we stopped they were all closed. So, in the end, we went back to Elgin and ate at Burger King!! No, we didn't eat the mystery meat that is beef in the UK; we had chicken. Plus, there had just been another outbreak of hoof and mouth in England. We thought we'd stick with something safer. They did have delicious ice cream though!