Spring Scotland and England, Part 3

The Big Stones

On our trips to Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales we’ve visited scores of cairns, stone circles, and standing stones.  I’ve written articles on the “Stones of Isle Arran” for Historic Scotland Magazine (see the last chapter of Ten Years of Travel in Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales [shameless commercial plug]). But two of the most impressive sites we’ve seen are Stonehenge and Avebury stone circle, and we’ve seen them twice.

Stonehenge, 

located a few miles from Amesbury village on the Salisbury Plains, is a World Heritage site.  The stone circle and henge (circular mound) are from the Neolithic period (New Stone Age) and date to between 3000 and 2000 BCE. 

The stones in the circle, some coming from as far as 250 miles away in Wales, are up to 30 feet tall and weigh 25 tons.  Built in phases, Stonehenge is associated with burials (cremated human remains were found) and astronomical alignments.  The circle was roped off to visitors in 1977 because of erosion and damage to the stones.  

The 16' Heel Stone leans towards the circle.

We noticed on this last visit that the ropes keep people even further back than a few years ago.  Even on a crowded mid-day, though, I could still get angles and views of the stones with no people in them--all it takes is a little patience.  Some people believe that Stonehenge loses some of its mysticism by not being able to get up close and personal.  I believe just the opposite.  Having to stay back from the circle allows visitors unobstructed views of the entire circle, and its elusiveness makes the stones even more mystical.  

Seventeen miles north of Stonehenge is Avebury village, Wiltshire, with its massive three-quarter mile around stone circle, 

the Avebury Stone Circle.  Also a World Heritage site, Avebury dates to about 2600 BCE but isn’t as sculpted as Stonehenge.  Probably used for ritualistic purposes, Avebury is far more spread out and visitors can get right up to the stones.  

People often believe that that these stone circles and others were the work of Druid priest for their rituals including human sacrifice.  Not true.  

The earliest account of Druids dates back to only 200 BCE.  By the time of the Druids both Stonehenge and Avebury circles would have long since been abandoned.  Certainly, Druid priests may have used the circles, but they were definitely not the creators.  

On this trip we also visited another set of stones we’d visited before.  This set of stones is quite different from Stonehenge or Avebury.  

The Aberlemno Pictish stones, located about six miles NE of Forfar in Angus, Scotland, are early Medieval (mid-9th century) standing stones with a  variety of carvings and designs on them.  The Picts, known to the Romans as barbarians or “Painted People,” were Caledonian tribes of people living north of Hadrian’s Wall. 

The Irish called them the Cruithi, “People of the Design,” for their art work, mostly carved on the stones.  The Aberlemno stones, a series of four stones all over 6 feet tall, are located in the local churchyard and along the road leading into the village of Aberlemno.  The stones, although in places quite weathered, 

show a variety of Pictish images and the stone in the churchyard depicts a famous Pictish battle.  More of the Pictish stones can be seen at the small Historic Scotland 

Pictish stones in the Meigle Museum.

run museum in Miegle a few miles away.

Ancient stone circles, standing stones, Pictish stones, and cairns are all grand reasons to visit the early sites maintained by Historic Scotland, English Heritage, and the Welsh counterpart, Cadw.

Trip Summary

Our spring 2013 trip to Scotland and England had highlights and lowlights.  Among the lowest of the lowlights was a brand new Garmin GPS (Sat Nav to the Scots) which half the time took us the strangest ways to our destinations--see the May 16 post.  A second lowlight was some of the worst weather we’ve had on our spring trips, including the coldest spring in the UK in the last 30 years. 

Mountains of Glencoe.

 Although those aspects of the trip will be good stories, it will be the highlights which we will remember.  Statistically the trip breaks down like this:

Car: VW Golf TSi driven 3500 miles, 30-35 miles/gallon
          £1.35 per litre = £5.40 gallon = with exchange rate ~ $9.00
         Do the maths.

Golf:

16 rounds in five weeks, 236 holes, 63 miles walked on courses.

Stirling GC seen from Stirling Castle.

11 different courses, 3 links, 2 moorland, 6 parkland.

None of the courses were new to us..

In our competitions Anne won 6 matches, I won 5, and 2 were tied

Anne putting at Crail Balcombie, one of the few matches she lost.

Anne’s and my favorite course played was Crail Balcombie on Fife, with Carnoustie a close second.

Eateries:

13 pubs, 14 restaurants, 14 tearooms or coffee shops.

Latte in the Watermill Tearoom and Bakery, in Blair Atholl.

23 new to us.

We both agree that our favorite was dinner at the Greyhound Inn in Staple Fitzpaine 

The Greyhound Inn

with second going to The Old Stocks in Stow-on-the-Wold.  Probably beating everything, though, was the breakfasts put on by The Blue Seas Hotel in Penzance--unbelievable!

Attractions: 

75% of what we did or saw was new to us.

13 villages, 

Mousehole (mowz-ole) Harbour

2 shopping venues, 

Just arrived in Scotland and she's already shopping in Linlithgow.

10 nature sites, 2 gardens, 

Himalayan Blue Poppies at Branklyn Garden in Perth.

9 religious sites (cathedrals, abbeys, churches), 

Truro Cathedral, Truro, Devon.

3 castles, 5 historic sites (for lack of other classification), 1 lighthouse, 1 industrial site, and 8 ancient sites.

In one of the houses at Carn Euny, a Neolithic village in Cornwall.

Anne’s favorites include St Michael’s Mount, 

Repair work at St Michael's.

Minack Theatre, Tintagel Castle, and Dartmoor.  For me the day on Dartmoor couldn’t be beat, although I liked all the other things we did.

Whisky:

No distilleries this trip, poor planning on my part.

2 drank on the trip: Glen Scotia 12 year old, Arran Machrie Moor.

2 brought home: Carn Mor Arran 15 year old, Mackinlay’s blended 1907 Antarctic. 

Business:

3 photos sold at Red Squirrel Gallery and Merlindale.

14 books sold at Red Squirrel Gallery, Merlindale, and out of our car boot.

Most Unique:

A 23 hour layover in Amsterdam which allowed us to at least explore a little of the city.

Amsterdam tour boat.

For more photos from the trip, go Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/53918452@N00/sets/72157634184770097/
where I've posted a new set

Next: There will be more to share about our spring visit to the UK, as well as some summer adventures, but I’m already starting to work on our fall visit to the UK.  Ah, the life of a traveller.

To the South, To England (Part 1)

Our foray into England began with a golf tournament at Clovend GC in the Dumfries area of southern Scotland where we had a wonderful time with members even though we played miserably--too much visiting with Roger and Wendy Bailey (our playing partners) and not enough concentrating upon our golf).  After our golf and visiting, it was on with our English sojourn--Taunton in Somerset, Bude in Devon, Penzance in Cornwall, Tavistock in Devon, Stow-on-the-Wold in the Cotswolds, and back to Scotland.

Sat Nav Problems.  To help Anne the Navigator we had purchased a new Garmin GPS system updated with the latest UK maps.  The Sat Nav was doing great getting us down toward Devon until we wanted to see the Cheddar village and Cheddar Gorge.  

The Village of Cheddar

Cheddar Gorge

Using our handy Atlas Anne had it mapped out down the M5 and a short jaunt over to Cheddar, but we figured the Garmin knew a better way when she (female program voice) took us off the M5 (motorway or freeway) into and through downtown and Bristol. 

Buying Cheddar Cheese in Cheddar

Cheddar Man--the Oldest Skeleton Found in UK

When we finally got to Cheddar an hour later it was lovely and very crowded on a holiday Sunday.  But that was only the first of our GPS woes.  Next was a wild ride through the tall-hedged roads of Devon to the little village of Staple Fitzpaine and the Greyhound Inn.  

Staple Fitzpaine Manse

The next morning when we took five minutes to get to the M5 we wondered why the damned Garmin had taken us the back way which was much harder driving and probably three times longer than the easy way. 

Staple Fitzpaine Parish Church

Parish Church Interior

 We checked the settings and she was programmed for the fastest route and not the most round-about route (which I’m sure is one of Garmin’s standard settings).  As if to convince us of her control, the f--ing bitch took us through the center of Penzance and dumped us in the middle of a city garden (literally through the main gates and onto the garden service road) when our guest house was right on the sea front avenue of the town.  

The Blue Seas Guest House, Penzance

Needless to say we’ll be dealing with Garmin Corp as soon as we get home. 

Blown Away by St Michaels.  Not far from Penzance at the southern end of England is   the village of Marazion and just off shore is St Michael’s Mount, known locally as the Mount.  

St Michael's Mount

The tidal island is connected to the coast of Cornwall by a 400-yard manmade causeway.  The name for the monastery on the island comes from the legend that Archangel St Michael visited local island fisherfolk on the Mount in the fifth century.  Today, the former priory on the Mount is the residence of Lord St Leven.

On a Thursday in a mix of sun and clouds Anne and I walked over to the island at low tide.  

Anne Walks the Causeway to the Mount at Low Tide

The day was quite breezy and got even windier as we walked along the sea front and directly into the wind across the causeway to the Visitors’ Centre on the island.  Thirty to forty mile an hour gusts suddenly increased to fifty plus gusts.  

Starting the Climb

The Castle on the Mount

We started the climb up to the castle entrance--a steep zig-zag path ending in a climb up about fifty exposed rough hewn stone steps--with gusts now approaching hurricane force.  Anne struggled in the wind to keep her balance on the uneven steps and I got no photos because I was struggling as well. 

Interior Work

Checking the View

The Drawing Room

 While we toured the house the decision was made to close the island to more visitors and to clear the island of both visitors and staff as the conditions were getting too dangerous--we have no idea what the resident family did. The walk back across the causeway was easier with the wind at our backs, but it still was a struggle to keep our balance on the cobbled path.  

The Lovely Views from the Small Roads of Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall. Everyone had told us that the southern shires, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall, were lovely.  What they didn’t tell us was that we couldn’t see most of it from the road.  You see [well actually we saw, or couldn’t see], the narrow roads in the south of England are lined with lush hedges closing in the small roads even more.  Since we couldn’t see much of the countryside, I had Anne take a few snaps of what we could see.  Here is a sample of lovely Devon.

Are these Roads a Little Tight?

Next: Ghosts, Theatre, and more.