Scotland 2015 - Kilchurn Castle

While researching our September trip, either Dana or I came across a reference for Kilchurn (pronounced "kill kern" with the accent on kill) Castle, an "ancient Campbell stronghold." It's visible on Google Maps on the A85 highway between Oban and Tyndrum on the shore of Loch Awe, and since we were planning to go that way we thought we'd stop and take a look.

The castle is shown on the maps at one end of Loch Awe, which we drove along for quite a while on the way - narrow, dark water with beautiful tall hills on either side of the valley. We reached the point where the map showed it should be and expected to see a sign, but must have missed it. We went back and looked more carefully - nope, no sign. Hmm.  There was a side road just ahead and we took it, thinking maybe the access was that way.

Umm, nope, no access or sign here either. But we reached a point where we could see through the trees and there it was, a kilometer away, across fields and water and fences. There was a small pull-off, and there was a stair built over the fence. I was pretty sure this must be the way to access the place, but we couldn't tell how to get there, even though we had clear line of sight to the castle. Dana was pretty sure this couldn't be it, so we got back in the car and went back the way we came.

 

Back on the main road and going slowly now that we knew where this place was, I spotted just a small gravel road in about the right place and said, let's try this.We pulled off onto a very rough lane, full of deep ruts, but after a few hundred meters we came to a car park with half a dozen cars and a small bus. This must be the place! At the end of the parking area was a simple sign that said, essentially, enjoy the sights, clean up after yourself, close the gates behind you, and stay off the train tracks! (I love Scotland!) That was all the invitation we needed and headed down the path.

Of course, I'm not a flower guy so I have no idea what these are, but it was a beautiful path through this wooded area and these lovely flowering bushes. Here's a closeup if someone can identify this flora.

Another hundred meters through the trees and we came out next to a stream leading into the loch, with a train bridge going over it. Since we weren’t supposed to go over the track, we went under the bridge and I saw a nice spot for a photo. It was a totally overcast day, some might call it gloomy, but I think I imaged pretty well what I saw.

 

On past the tracks and through a gate built to keep the sheep in, not the people out, and we saw the castle ahead across a pasture. We later learned that the castle used to be on a small island, but a decade ago they lowered the water level on the loch so now it is accessible by foot.  All in all I think it was about 1.5 km hike in from the car park – an easy stroll on a lovely cool day. This was not like Castle Campbell, which was restored 60 some years ago – this place has stood alone for centuries and the wear was immediately apparent.

 

Still, we could see people high on the walls so we hoped for a good view and trekked on. Despite the age, the lower walls are in good shape even though the upper floors have suffered. Yes, this was at least 3 stories tall, gauging from the windows high off the ground and the indents in the inside walls meant to hold beams to support the upper floors. These structures were some seriously engineered places, meant to withstand the test of time, or a determined enemy. The lintel stone over the doorway attests to the durability.

 

This 15th century castle was home to Campbells of Glenorchy, and was a magnificent structure at its height. Surrounded by water on a rocky outcrop it would have been a safe and secure location. Time has taken its toll, though. Still, it was a magical place to visit. Like Castle Campbell, you can climb all the way to the top of Kilchurn for stunning views, but here they have built wooden stairs and platforms to accommodate visitors - the original stairs and upper floors are long gone.

Here are two views from the top, the first to the east down the length of  Loch Awe, then to the west to the end of the loch and the path we walked in on. This would have been the Laird's view to survey his property.

As you can see, the cloudy day worked out great for us! The interior spaces of Kilchurn are open, and most of the original walls are gone. But you can get an idea from the shots below of the towering building it once was, with two spiral staircases built into the walls to reach the upper levels.

    

Funny story about the right hand image above, with the large round object.  When we arrived there was a Scottish guide with a group of German tourists, and I can only imagine how much trouble they must have had interpreting his heavy brogue accent. But they were in this courtyard as we entered and we heard him share the tale that some 300 years ago came the biggest, worst thunderstorm anyone could remember, and in the middle of the night lighting struck the tower, which at the time was topped by the round stone structure. This was blown clear off the tower and thrown 15 meters away into the courtyard, where it remains to this day. The guide reported that in the morning the Laird came out, saw this laying here, and said that the Lord must now want us to live here anymore. They packed everything and left and never returned!

One chamber with intact, curved walls still overlooks the loch to the north. It's not a big space but would have made a great lookout.

Below is a panoramic view of Loch Awe and the eastern most castle wall.

As we wrapped up the visit to this family heritage site, it started a gentle rain - no worries. We had jackets and an umbrella, so we just tucked our cameras under our wraps and walked hand in hand back to the car. This was a great location and we had a lot of fun climbing all over this castle. Here's one more shot on the way out.

And yes, I'm still in Saudi Arabia, but will be heading home for the holidays in a week! I can't wait to see Dana, and our daughters and son-in-law will be there too, so it should be a wonderful visit. Fall/winter has finally arrived here. Late last week the lows were in the upper 30s F (4C) with highs in the 60s (15C). It's warmed up a bit since then, but will be right back to that by the weekend and will stay this way and a little cooler through January. This is the lovely time of the year!

Best to all, more soon! Mark

Addendum: Dana sent me this link about Kilchurn - good stuff if you're interested:
http://www.scottish-tourist.com/kilchurn-castle/

All images copyright 2015 by Stone Ridge Photographers, USA.
 #ScotlandCastle, #KilchurnCastle, #ClanCampbell, #whatanadventure  #HistoricScotland

Castle Campbell

After a few days in Glasgow to be together and get acquainted to being in Scotland, Dana and I set out to the west toward the town of Oban.  But first we had to go northeast to the village of Dollar, and Castle Campbell.  We’d rented a car but refused to almost double the cost by renting a GPS from Avis. Our first purchase was in the airport – a Scotland road map. We’ve been driving with maps for decades now and we figured we could manage. Well, as it turns out, yes and no.

While we were in Glasgow we worked out some tricks to use our iPad and Google Maps to map out where we wanted to go before we left the flat. This amazing little tool became a “kind of” GPS, because once we saved the route and kept the app open, it kept track of where we were with astounding accuracy! We made good use of this until we were ready to head out of town, and for backup we got a data package for Dana’s iPhone, then we could get active instructions when we needed the help, or if we changed plans. Still, we used the map every leg of our journey.

My mother’s family name is Campbell, and is linked to Clan Campbell. I’ll not try to give the clan history here – too much over too long a time with too much conflict to try and sort out. Depending on where we were, I was either welcomed or cautioned not to claim Campbell too loudly. But on this day we would go see a heritage site of my family, and we didn’t know what to expect. We stopped at the Dollar Museum and saw exhibits of the valley, the village history, the castle, and the Campbells.

We turned left from the museum, went about 10 yards, and turned left again. Of course, in Scotland, once you turn off any main road you are in a lane, which in most of the US would barely qualify as a bike lane. This lane twisted and turned and wound its way up the hill until we reached a car park. The road went further after a sign that cautioned that it would be narrow in places, and we decided to risk it. I’m glad we did because this was a steep uphill stretch, and at the top was another car park and a gate. We parked the car and walked up and down a path for about a kilometer to reach the castle site.

The place is so shrouded in trees there was only one spot on the drive uphill that we could glimpse the structure, and we didn’t have too many other glimpses until we turned a final corner and the tower was in clear sight.  What a sight!

This castle was started in the 15^th century, and was likely built on a previous fortification. Defensively, it is in a very powerful position, and these structures were built for defense in an age when an army could literally come marching into your valley any time. I have dozens of images of this castle, far too many to share here, but let me show you a few things of interest.

The Tower House – this is the oldest part of the structure, and it isn’t known who built it. It has very thick walls for strength, fortification, and to contain staircases and small closets. The original staircase was located within the nearest corner in this image, but it was replaced in about 1600 by a larger stair.

The Hall – this was the first floor above the basement, which was for storage. The hall was the most public room of the tower, with a vaulted roof and fireplace at one end. There is a pit prison at the far end of the room – not a happy place to be from the looks of it.

This window in the hall (above) faces west to get the afternoon sun. Note the wall – this is about 5 feet thick!

The First Chamber – the next floor up, which may have been the “living room” for the Laird and his family. The wooden beams support the floor for the second chamber above, most likely the owner’s bedchamber.

Staircase – I know, this is not your normal view. This is the new and improved stair that was added in the 1600s. It certainly is broader than the original, but is still not quite up to modern code. This bottom-side view shows amazing craftsmanship that goes into carving out the stones to make steps for this spiral. Wow.

The Roof – this was rebuilt in 1948, and is in great shape still. I’m sure the slate panels will last decades longer. This offers a spectacular view on all sides of the tower. 

(the Great Hall from above)

(the great hall from below)

 

 The Great Hall – this large space was added around 1500, with two floors, kitchens, chambers, and a spiral stair at each end. This is what remains after it was burned in a family dispute.

We were fortunate to visit the castle on a cool sunny day – a hot sunny day might have done us in! But we climbed from bottom to top and back down, and all over the grounds, and then had to hike back out. So if you go, remember to pack in some water and snacks (which I didn’t) so you aren’t parched and empty by the time you leave. 

We romanticize the age of the castles, and I suppose it was a good life if you were the Laird or part of the immediate family. Otherwise, I think it was a harsh, brutal, short life. I’m thrilled for the opportunity to have seen my family’s ancestral home now, but I’m really glad I wasn’t here then!  

We finished our visit dry and hungry in the middle of the afternoon.  Back in the Dollar there were two restaurants, and of course we chose the best, the Bridge Street Kitchen, for lunch. Oh, it was a good choice! BTW, we didn't eat at a single fast food anything on this trip, and the food was fantastic!  After a great lunch we headed for Oban, on the west coast, for the night - here's one shot from the harbor at twilight.

Best to all, More soon, Mark

All images copyright 2015 by Stone Ridge Photographers

#ClanCampbell, #CastleCampbell, #BridgeStreetKitchen, #Oban, #DollarScotland, #Scotland

A few days in Glasgow

In September Dana and I took advantage of an opportunity to spend some serious time in Scotland – something we’ve always wanted to do.  Coming at the end of a long, hot summer in Saudi Arabia, I was ready for Scottish weather, which we expected to be cold, cloudy, and wet. I was looking forward to playing in the rain!

Just to be clear, since a few people have asked me about this, yes, when we’ve taken trips we take a good one. We aren’t extravagant, but we don’t scrimp and penny-pinch either. If we see an opportunity to do something fun, interesting, or just because, we very well may do it. When we only get to see each other a few weeks a year, we’re interested in making every bit of the time count.

We met at Heathrow airport in London after overnight flights, which was nice because then we traveled together to Edinburgh airport. Dana hates to fly, but she’s been a real trooper about flying to Europe to meet up with me, and I appreciate her effort!  We arrived in Edinburgh around 2 p.m. and picked up a rental car – more detail on this coming soon – and drove to Glasgow.  Yeah, I know, we could’ve flown straight to Glasgow, but we changed our touring plans after we’d already booked the flights. It would’ve cost more to change the flights than it cost to have the car for 10 days!  

We typically stay in what are termed “vacation rentals,” and we often book through TripAdvisor. We much prefer these to hotels, as it is much homier.  We can go to a market and get food and supplies for a few days, and not have to rely on restaurants, plus we find locations with washer and dryer so we can clean our clothes and not have to bring so many! 

View from our flat

In Glasgow we stayed 3 nights in a stone building from the 1900s, with a short walk to the train station and markets, and a beautiful view (above). It was a great place to start the trip and get settled to the new time zone. We took the train to city center each day and toured around from there. We’ve never done this before, but we took the sightseeing bus, which turned out to be a very good deal. You can hop on and off as you wish at 28 locations on a 45-minute tour, and it was only £2 more for a 2-day pass. We took advantage of this and saw everything we wanted to see!

Flower train at station 

 Glasgow is Scotland’s largest city, and reminds me a bit of Montreal – a bustling, modern city center with old, quiet, pleasant outlying communities. It was green everywhere, which was lovely! We really expected it to be more into fall.  Here are a few highlights from what we saw from the Hop On Hop Off bus tour. 

The Clyde Arc – This lovely arch crosses over the road it supports, giving it a very unique, angled look, and the locals call it the Squinty Bridge.

Finnieston Crane – the River Clyde was a center of commerce and industry, and hosted a massive ship building enterprise. This huge crane is the only remaining one of 13 along the water, a stark reminder of the Clydeside shipbuilding era.

 Tunnel entrance – I know, it doesn’t look like a tunnel, but it has a twin on the other side of the River Clyde. Build in the 1800s, each holds a hydraulic lift that could raise and lower horses, wagons, and people to and from a tunnel below the water. This system operated until the 1980s! Pretty successful idea.

The Kelvingrove Museum – This magnificent structure was built of red sandstone in 1901 on the banks of the Kelvin River at Kelvingrove Park.  It was refurbished and reopened in 2006 and admission is free! We highly recommend a visit. Full of art and artifacts, exhibits range from old masters artwork to Scottish history to a Spitfire hanging from the ceiling!

Glasgow Cathedral – Scotland’s only remaining medieval cathedral, there has been a church of some kind at this site for over 1000 years, since the patron saint of Glasgow, Saint Mungo, built a church here. Construction of the existing building began in the late 12^th century and it has survived redesign and rebuilding, reformation, and war. The architecture is breathtaking! Pictures don’t do it justice, but here are a few.  We spent way too long looking at this awesome place, and almost missed the last bus of the day to get back to Central Station to take the train back to our flat. 

One note about the city is how clean it is. In the 1980s the city began a program to sandblast the decades of soot and grime from the city's many tenements and municipal buildings, revealing their magnificent Victorian stonework. This was a coal-powered town for decades, but it is gleaming now. Well done Glaswegians! 

Glasgow was a good starting point for the trip, which over the next two weeks took us to Scotland’s west coast, up the Caledonian Canal to Fort Augustus at Loch Ness, up to the most northeast point at John O’ Groats, south to Inverness, then down to Edinburgh.  More to come soon!

#Glasgow  #Scotland  #KelvingroveMuseum  #GlasgowCathedral