Ever since I started reading historical romance novels in my teenage years, I dreamt of wandering through castle halls, climbing spiral stone stairs, and looking out from the parapets.
Forget that last part, as I’m afraid of heights.
Fact is, though, I had been dreaming of a castle tour of Europe for over 20 years, although I never thought it would happen. In 2018, however, I got the chance of a lifetime when a long-standing internet friend asked if anyone wanted come to Scotland and pet sit for them for two weeks.
Free lodging, in Scotland, and all I have to do is get there?? What!!
If I had to swim, I was going! Mom was so excited for me, she invited herself. Her first flight and a chance to tour the Scottish landscapes was all the invitation she needed. She spent her time excited, and I spent my time worrying over how she would get around with mobility issues. We managed.
As we were planning, one of the first things I did was look up castles in the area of their home. Located halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh, there were so many. Then I found the motherlode! For a nominal fee, you can get into all of the historic ruins, and some of the more modern castles.
Explorer Pass
Our Explorer Pass is a flexible and cost-effective way for groups and individuals to discover our staffed attractions…
www.historicenvironment.scot
It was like a dream come true! We planned to be in Scotland for two full weeks, and I planned to see, experience, and climb as many castles as we could get to by car, foot, and ferry! As you can see in the photo below, we more than made use of that entry pass.
We saw some of the most beautiful gardens still maintained by the historic society and/or descendants of the castles’ original inhabitants.
We learned about their ancient postal system by visiting very simple to truly elaborate dovecots, locations where they kept their carrier pigeons, doves, and/or ravels on the castle grounds.
We wondered at the architectural feats within both the castle ruins and cathedral ruins, often sharing the same grounds.
We marveled at the size of their weapons, both canons and trebuchets. This one was amazing to see, is it stood sentinel over Urquhart Castle overlooking Loch Ness.
I was fascinate by the fact that there was a mooring area where you could walk right out of the castle into the lake. The lake bed is covered in beautiful, smooth rocks.
No evidence of the rocks I probably wasn’t supposed to bring home.
And last, but definitely not least, I climbed stairs.
Internal stairs, spiral and otherwise…
And external stairs, sometimes to get into the castle and sometimes just to get to the castle.
In total, I climbed at least 35,000 stairs in those two weeks. Not all of the castles were explorable inside, but for everyone that was, I explored every nook and cranny. I found stairs to rooms that had fallen away leaving open air and stairs to dungeons and cold storage.
It really was a dream come true!
This trip inspired so many poems. If you’re interested in reading many of them, check out my poetry page on my site.