International Weekend Away...very photo heavy.
so what type of places are on your resume of i slept ins?
Mine now includes a castle and a supposedly haunted one at that...i spent this weekend with 150 other international students at Carbisdale Castle in the Northeast of Scotland about 45min from Inverness. On Friday we left at noon and drove through Stiriling, Pitlochry and Inverness before arriving at the castle.
The landscape through the north part of the low lands.
Moving into the highlands.
Some burning we saw along the way.
Such beautiful contrast, mind the power lines.
On Friday night we walked to a field in the dark to take a few night time pics of the castle as its flood light at night and then had a 'music from around the world night' where each country represented was put in a hat and then drawn out and had to sing a song from their nation...we sang the anthem...but it was awesome, everyone got really in to it and enjoyed it...
The outside of the castle.
The Tower and Entrance.
The Castle with the moon behind it and its brightly coloured rooms.
The front of the Castle at night, one section had a really orange light its not the 'guide light' from my camera...
After an incredibly cool night we got up to a beautiful morning and took a few photos of the castle as the sun was just burning off the mist. It was a beautiful day for photos and also for a 'forest walk' aka mild hike through the woods, clear cut and fields to a battle field and lake which were very beautiful. In the afternoon we went to Dunrobin Castle, home to the family of the Duke of Sutherland. It is a much more expensive castle than the one the hostel is in, however its a long story, ask when I get home.
From the roof outside our room.
The back of the Tower.
The front door from inside looking to the gardens.
The Castle in the mist.
The beautiful lake we walked up to on our forest walk. There was a bridge over the creek that was built by uni students from Strathclyde.
The Carbisdale Castle from a distance during the day.
In the afternoon we drove about an hour to the Duke of Sutherlands castle. The back of the castle is in a more traditional style, while the front is modeled after a french chateau, it was incredibly beautiful and the light stone showed up against the sky beautifully. we were able to walk along the sea and also to see the beautiful gardens, however the castle isn't open until later in the season and is quite expensive to see.
The back of the Duke of Sutherlands Castle.
The front of the castle from the gardens.
The formal gardens at the castle. The fountains were running at very low levels to keep them from freezing during the winter and the gardens were just being planted, it was still quite beautiful though.
This is a statue of the conceited bastard the Duke of Sutherland. He thought quite highly of himself and commissioned this statue on a hill that looks over all of Sutherland. It is to be there for eternity and the towns people had tried to get it taken down as recently as two years ago and were defeated. You can see it for about 50 miles if you are high enough and at night there is a red light on the lightening rod to prevent accidents and such. Such ego!
On Saturday night we had a Ceildh with a small band and they taught us traditional group dances, thanks to highschool P.E. class many of us knew some of them already and had a great time dancing for a couple of hours. We also got to see a partial lunar eclipse which was cool. The moon didn't quite turn red as we were too far north but we could watch the shadow pass and the orange colour start up the sides. I also showed found Orion's belt and the Big Dipper, it was so nice to see the stars, you never realize how much you miss them until you see them again!
On the drive home Sunday we passed around Loch Ness, stopped or a photo with her, saw the Caledonia Canal and its locks as well as Glencoe which is a beautiful section of the highlands, and then Loch Lomond and back into Glasgow with moments to spare in in the drivers 'allowed hours' per day.
Looking up Loch Ness.
Nessie according to the most recent sonar scans of the Loch which is between 400 and 500 feet deep and holds the secrets to the monster.
Urquhart Castle from above with the Loch in the background. They built a great centre here about the history of the castle but they won't allow people to take photos without paying the 8 Pounds to get in so they have put many trees along the road at the top and such to obstruct the view. Our international advisor who organized the trips point was we are 150 and he is one, we shall take photos and leave.
The locks at Fort Augustus, where Loch Ness becomes the Caledonian Canal and there is a series of 8 locks. I thought it was quite neat to see them after studying the influence of canals on transportation systems and economics at school last semester.
The highlands near Glencoe, with snow!
It was a fantastic trip and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go as otherwise I wouldn't have seen many of those areas of Scotland.