Thurs August 9 - Markinch to Hadrian's Wall

Slept not to bad.  Nice and quiet the place we stayed at.  The host was very nice.  He used to be an postman and the residence was an old postal depot that he bought upon retirement and converted.  They've only been doing the Airbnb thing for about 3 months.  It was a nice place and we would without hesitation recommend.  Once again we got on the road relatively early - we had to be to Langley Castle by dinner as we had reservations.  Another beautiful day for a drive.

All over the UK are wind turbines - it is quite windy here

Our first stop for the day was the last castle we would visit in Scotland - Caerlaverock Castle.  Originally an old Roman fort, the Maxwells first built a castle in 1220 on that old site some 800m away from where the current ruins are.  It proved to be too small and the site prone to flooding so they only lived there for 50 years.  You can still walk over to the original site but there isn't much there.  Around 1270 the Maxwells built the current castle you can visit today.  They lived here until 1640.  Triangular in shape with 3 tall towers built integrally with the curtain wall one at each point of the triangle.  From the road above the castle, you can see Solway Firth lying between Scotland and England.  In the middle ages this proximity to England brought the castle into frequent conflict.

Side note: the contemporary account of Edward I of England's siege of Caerlaverock in 1300 is one of the most fascinating recorded for any castle in Britian.

By far this was probably our favorite castle.  The stonework pictured below and still remarkably in tack is beautiful and it made it easy to see how they lived.

This castle is the only we visited that still had water in the moat.

The inner courtyard looking through to the draw bridge.

This facade still stands at full height and shows hints of the grandeur in the stone carvings. 

Birds nesting in the arched doorways - the doorsways were so short you could touch the nests. 

Baby birds in the nest

Directly across is the bread oven and main hearth.  To the left is the well - inside the kitchen.  Unusual in castles.

Lord's hall.

Each of those doors were floors entering into apartments.

Note the outcroppings of stone - this is where the floors would have been.

This is Murdoch's tower - Duke of Albany, cousin to James I - recorded as being confined here in 1425 shortly before his execution.  The bottom of the tower was a pit cell and the floors above were guards chambers.

To the left is the door - it was very narrow and stooped

Murdoch's tower

Castle from the rear

From Caerlaverock we headed over the boarder and to Lanercost Priory.  A 12 century priory standing close to Hadrian's wall.  the mortally sick King Edward I rested here for 5 months in 1306-07 shortly before his death on his final campaign.  Some of the buildings were constructed in part with stones from Hadrian's wall, including a number of roman inscriptions built into the fabric.

Pear tr

Building to the left was where the monks lived.

Leaving Lanercost we followed the country road only to round a corner and see the following castle.  It had a sign that said it was not open to the public and there was nothing stating what the castle name was.

From there we heading along Hadrian's Wall to Vindolanda - a Roman auxiliary fort that was occupied from roughly 85 AD to 370 AD.  It is the largest open excavation site on Hadrian's Wall and they are still making incredible discoveries - just last summer they found under a layer of non-oxygenated earth more rooms and inside were short spears, toy swords and the bones of a child.  The site has a large museum displaying some of the artifacts they have found.

Spear heads

Sling stones

Vindolanda has the largest collection of preserved leather found in any Roman archaeological site. Above is a re-creation of what they used on their horses with the artifact below.

Boxing gloves

Keys and locks

Silver denarii

An unopened created of  fancy serving ware - the crate denoted that this particular set came fro Pompeii dating around 79 AD

A section of Hadrian's Wall

Partial view of the ruins

Re-creation of a fort tower

This was a grainery 

This was a tavern

This was the Garrison commander's main building.  Note that he had his own well.

The loo.  It was big enough for 14-18 people to be sitting next to one another.

Open excavation site working away.

The Romans had a very involved system of trenches to carry waste and water around the fort.

Fort baths.  There was still water in some parts.

The aqueduct from the well.

On our way back to the car there was a large sheep field.

From Vindolanda we made our way to our lodgings and one splurge for the whole trip - a night stay in a castle!  We found Langley Castle and checked in.  They told us to leave our luggage and the bell boys would bring them up - we were staying the Tower room so it was several flights of stairs.  There was apparently a very tiny service elevator we later learned but it frequently broke down and it did not go right to the top.  I give props to those bell boys bringing luggage up for guests.

Looking down from our "floor".  We were the only room on it.  There was entry to the roof and a small chapel we later learne

We had reservations for 630 for dinner.  We were told to go to the Drawing room for drinks before dinner and we ordered our dinner from there.  Now this was how you are suppose to enjoy an evening!

First G&T!

This "weapon" is a steak knife lol

Lamb with mashed potatos and au jus

Pistachio ice cream with candied almonds and apricots - best ice cream ever!!

 It was such an amazing treat to experience what it might have been like staying in a castle.  The bed was SOOOOOOOOO comfortable and while the wifi was shotty at best we did have a nice relaxing evening - watched a little UK tv for once.

Up tomorrow - pub crawl and Manchester!