Linlithgow Palace and East Lothian Coastal Walk

Hi Everyone!

We hope that everyone is doing well, and all set for Christmas! We haven't had any snow here (in Edinburgh that is) as of yet, but we're praying for it. One week and three days until Christmas...we're so excited!!! This break will be fabulous, and needed. We'd just like to update everyone on our latest travels....this time to a little town called Linlithgow and also Gullane/North Berwick this past weekend.

We thought that we'd try to get in a few more places before Christmas. So on Saturday, we took the bus to a little town about a 45 minute bus ride north from Edinburgh, to see what we heard was a great palace. We travelled through the beautiful countryside again, and when we arrived in Linlithgow we found it to be a cute little town about the size of Coldwater. We made our way up to the palace and were pleasantly surprised. It is an absolutely beautiful palace.

First for a bit of history about the place... the palace was built the 15th century, and it is more widely known as a medieval and renaissance castle, in which ruins of an earlier 12th century castle lie. It was the royal residence for almost all of the Stewart kings and queens. Mary Queen of Scots was born at the palace in the mid 1500s. Upon reading a bit about the palace I found that James Vs queen, Mary de Guise, is said to have compared the palace to the most splendid of those found in France at the time. The palace was where the Stewarts held their court, until the early 1700s when James VI moved his court to England following his coronation as James I of England. At the point, the palace started to fall into decline. It was last visited by the Stewart family in 1745 when Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed here following his unsuccessful march into England to reclaim the throne for the Stewarts from George II. As a result, government troops (from England) followed Charlie to the Palace and onto the eventual battle at Culloden. They stayed at Linlithgow during this pursuit, and as they left, they set it on fire. What remains of the palace today, is very much the same as what could have been found right after the fire in 1746. Enough of it remains to imagine what a magnificent palace it must have been in its day.

The roofless remains of the palace stand on top of a hill, at the bottom of which lies Linlithgow Loch. 'Linlithgow' actually means 'the loch in the damp hollow'. It was quite damp when we were there....but a beautiful hollow it is! The ground floor and the first floor of the palace are largely accessible along with some basement areas. In the 4 corner towers, it is possible to access some of the upper levels, but the majority of the floors and roofs are gone above the first floor. What remains is basically just a tall hollow shell surrounding the central courtyard.

However, the palace is by far, the best we've seen so far. Due to its state of ruin, the entire palace (except for one decrepit level and the uppermost walkways on the roofline) are open to the public, and no guide is required. This meant that we were free to explore every single nook and cranny to our hearts content. This was amazing! As I said, the palace has four towers with circular staircases going up...and off of these staircases are many different levels and rooms...all retaining a little bit of the magic and charm that they must have during their prime. The hollows of the fireplaces and some of the ornate carvings on the walls remain, as do the shells of the beautiful glass windows that must have existed. There are so many little corridors and rooms, and random staircases leading everywhere, that it is a hide-and-go-seek delight!!!! This is the type of castle (as it really feels to be one more than a palace) that I dreamed of visiting!!!! Although it is a shame that the floors and roof are gone, as well as all of the internal tapestries, paintings and furniture, it still feels cozy, and really grand. We would definitely recommend that if anyone were to come to Scotland, that they should see this palace...instead of Edinburgh Castle and the others we have seen. Mind you be prepared to do a lot of climbing...as there is so much to see! My calves are aching today:) But it was definitely worth it!!!! We took tonnes of picture (and thanks to a new tripod we got with our photo editor (a Christmas gift to the two of us, as we have hundreds of pictures we take each month:), we have lots of pictures of the two of us together! I will add these pictures to the blog within the next couple of days so you can get an idea of what it was like.

After visiting the Palace, we took the trip back to Edinburgh and went to see the play 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' at the Lyceum Theater. The theater was beautiful with four levels and ornate carvings everywhere, and a beautiful massive chandeleir hanging from the ceiling. We were more enamoured with the theater than with the play...as it was very much toned down for the kids, and the actors...well, lets just say that whatever they did, could never be called acting. To put it bluntly, Rob describes the experience like ordering a prime sirloin stake, and getting donkey's *ss instead:) Leave it to my husband to describe it so eloquently!

However, Sunday's trip more than made up for the poor theater performance! We had been reading one of our travel guidebooks, and noticed that it described a great walking trail along the coast, starting in a town called Gullane and stretching 6 miles to North Berwick. It said it would take about 3 hours to walk, and as Sunday was such as nice day here (about 6-7 degrees and sunny), we thought it would be a great opportunity to try it out...and we're really glad we did!

We packed a lunch and set off! The walk took us about 2.5 hours or so...and would have taken a little less, except we really dawdeled....and Rob had a few incidences along the way, which I'll explain. The walk is really beautiful, and was unlike anything we'd expected. We expected to be walking along the cliffs of the coast on a well worn path (or a bike path if you will) with benches along the way. Instead, we walked along the beaches and on top of the sand dunes amongst all the grasses and across the rocky shoreline of the Firth of Forth all the way to North Berwick...and it turned out to be fabulous!!

The shoreline is quite sandy and relatively low-lying. In fact it reminded me immediately of the beaches of P.E.I. We walked through over low cliffs, woodland, through sandy grasses, over rocky shores and we saw tons of wildlife...especially the really unique puffins! The area is also renowned for its nice golf courses which we saw along the way. The beaches we passed had quite coarse sand, and often had rocky patches as well...and we were told that the water never really gets warm enough (even in the summer) to go swimming...which is such a shame, because it looked beautiful. We walked past a few little villages and massive coastal homes, one of which was Gosford House. We only caught glimpses of it from the shore, so the picture we have is from the internet...but pretty cool that we were that close to it!!!

Rob was the main photographer of the day...which proved to be highly amusing:) A couple of areas of shoreline that we had to walk over became quite narrow (especially on the corners) and as the tide came in, the rocks that were left exposed were few and far between. But being adventurous and sure of himself (hehe) Rob assured me we could make it. So being the nice person that I am...I told him to go first:) And boy did he get a soaker!!!! He jumped onto the rock just at the time that a big wave came and crashed into the shore, getting him wet, and sending me into hysterical giggles....he was pressed as close to the cliff ledge as he could to try and avoid getting wet, but the water kept coming. Instead of helping him out...I asked for the camera....haha...and we got some good pictures....and like a typical man he didn't learn his lesson. Not even half an hour later, Rob went scooting onto a rock in the ocean about a jump's length from the shore...that he had been watching so that he could get a good picture of the water crashing against a nearby rock. He was so fixated on getting the PERFECT picture that he didn't see the massive roller come rushing in....I warned him, but he thought he was safe...until about 30 seconds later when the wave came crashing over the rock he was standing on, soaking his shoes completely and his pants as far up to his knees!!! Oh my god, I couldn't stop laughing....unfortunately I couldn't get a picture on the camera, but I got a great one that is going to stay in my mind for weeks to come:) Needless to say, the poor guy had wet feet for the rest of the walk...but he took it all in good humour...and we made it finally to North Berwick safe and sound.

North Berwick itself is a cute little town right on the coast, surrounded by golf courses. The streets are quite narrow, and are lined with beautiful century (or older) homes all decorated up for Christmas. It was a really nice little town...but we didn't have much time to explore because shortly after we arrived in North Berwick, it started to get dark and cold (at 3:30pm!!!). So we hopped on the bus back to Edinburgh for an early night in.

We had an absolutely fabulous weekend, and we can't wait to do some more exploring! We hope you enjoy the post and the pictures! (I'll be putting them up tonight or tomorrow).

Lots of love and Merry Christmas!

Rob and Sarah

xxx

Rugby Games and Aberdeen Driving Trip!

Well again, it's been awhile, but hopefully this blog is worth the wait:) Quite a bit has happened since the last post, and we've been so busy we (in all reality me) just haven't had time to write. Well here goes!

The weekend after our last blog post, Rob and I got bundled up into as much Scotland gear as we could find, and headed for Murrayfield stadium (the professional rugby pitch here in Edinburgh) to watch Scotland play the New Zealand All Blacks, arguably the best rugby team in the world. We had a fabulous time...although New Zealand beat Scotland pretty badly, the game was great to watch, and great to watch Rob too...because he was in his element:) Murrayfield is a huge stadium...seating upwards of 70,000 people, and I would say that it was about 3/4 full. On our bus ride out there, the streets and sidewalks were crammed with people in Scottish rugby outfits rushing to the stadium....about a 20 minute walk from the centre of the city. It was really neat to see all the patriotism. Our seats were at the very top, but surprisingly, we could see quite well. It was quite cold, so we were really bundled up. The Scottish team was introduced with fireworks and flames shooting up from their entrance to the field....the crowd went absolutely wild....I think the energy can be compared to something you might see at an NFL game in the states. When the New Zealand team was introduced, they did their traditional Hakka. This is a Maori dance that displays prowess...the whole team did it....and the purpose is generally to intimidate the other team....it looked quite intimidating...but would have been more so for the crowd, if they had been miked...regardless the game was great. There were beer gardens everywhere, which Rob and I fell victim to:) Needless to say, the next day we didn't get up very early.

The following weekend, friends of Pat and Mike's and ours of course, Ian and Maria McLaren, came up from Durham, England to visit us. They took us out to dinner at Harvey Nichols (a posh restaurant with a view of the city) and drinks at the Dome (a beautiful old building in the city centre). We visited a pub afterwards, and got the taste for gin and tonics:) Ian and Maria then had to go home via train that night, but we had an absolutely fabulous time...it was also a different look at the city for us, which was really great. We can't wait to spend Christmas with them!!!

On the 22nd of November, bright and early in the morning, Rob and I walked up to the Hertz rent-a-car to pick up our vehicle for the trip up to Aberdeen to see Scotland play Canada (in rugby). We had been hoping for a standard transmission vehicle, but instead were given a fairly new automatic VW Passat. What a beautiful car!!! And it turns out, that it's a good thing it was automatic, because there is enough to focus on, being on the opposite side of the car and the road without having to worry about shifting too:) Getting out of the city proved to be quite simple (although really weird feeling)...as everything was opposite.....Rob was the only one who could drive, as I'm not 25...and he tended to drift a little to the left:) Passing cars is a little weird too, as you pass on the inside, not the outside. You have to look over the opposite shoulder than you're used to, and turns you really have to pay attention to to make sure you're in the right lane!!

Driving up to Aberdeen was great, as the scenery was just beautiful.....and about halfway up there, it really started to snow....which although lovely to see (because we really miss the snow), not so great for the roads....people got really freaked out and were driving quite snow, but us Canadians took it in stride, and plowed right through...the Passat was great for handling, as it is a heavy car, and stuck to the road like glue. The road up to Aberdeen follows the coastline, and so we were able to see the ocean for bits....the coast is really beautiful, although quite tempestuous (just like I imagined it to be....). We also passed the Cairngorns...a Mountain range that is located in the center of Scotland, and is renowned for skiing and hiking.....they were also quite beautiful.

Once we entered Aberdeen, we got into our first fight (I know we actually went almost 3 hours in a car without fighting about directions:) The city is a little complicated to manoeuvre in....and after about 20 minutes of driving around, we happened upon the road we needed in the first place, so we were okay. First impressions about Aberdeen, is that it is a fairly industrial city...with it's main focus being the oil rigs that come into port....but it has it's fair share of beautiful old buildings, and surprisingly, we found it to be cleaner than Edinburgh. It almost seemed like a small town, rather than a city.

We stayed in a tiny bed and breakfast about a 2 minute walk from the stadium....so it was really quite convenient. Just before game time, we got all dolled up in our Canada gear (thanks to Pat who was awesome in sending us some stuff)...and headed to the stadium.....although we cheered for Scotland two weekends before, it was great to be cheering for our country. We walked the streets proudly decked head to toe in white and red....and got stares from almost everybody....but we didn't care:) At the game, we had great seats and sat with some of our friends from home (from Rob's rugby team) and other Canadians who had been travelling with the team to see their games. It was great to hear people with our accents, and who could sympathize with the differences in the two countries. Although Canada got their butts handed to them (46-0 I think)....it was still great watching the game. Afterwards, courtesy of the CEO of Rugby Canada (and player on the Aurora Barbarians team....Rob's team), we were able to get tickets to the executive dinner afterwards with the two teams and Rugby Canada and Rugby Scotland execs.....that was pretty cool....and it was great to see our two friends (Aaron and Mike) who play on the team.

That night, after the dinner, we went out for drinks with two people from the Aurora team (Marco and JR) and had great fun...but were in bed fairly early for our long drive back the next day. Nothing too eventful happened on Sunday, except we did have a near miss with the car....we got lost on the way to the airport to drop Marco and JR off....and then were filling up the gas, and looked left...saw cars coming from the left, and then Rob decided to go, after those cars had passed without looking right....I can totally understand....because at home, that would have worked, although in Scotland we nearly clipped the front off of a car coming from the right hand side.....but thankfully, we looked before anything happened....scary, but we were safe. Then we just took the car around a bit to get some grocery shopping done before we had to drop it off again.....oohhh it was so nice to have it for that, because we've been carrying our groceries home (20 min walk) since we got here...and it really limits what you can buy when you have to carry it all...so needless to say we stocked up:) It was great to have a car for the weekend.....and nice to see a few different areas of Edinburgh than we had by foot.

Winter Wonderland has come to Edinburgh again this year. It is a huge carnival on Princes Street that attracts hundreds of people everyday. It opened on the first of December, and runs until just after the new year. A huge Ferris wheel has been set up, along with a merry-go-round, swings like they have at Canada's Wonderland, an ice skating rink in the gardens and much more. Rob and I went to check it out the other night, hoping to maybe go skating, but upon finding out that they didn't have hockey skates, only male figure skates, there was no way Rob would go on the ice:) When he asked for hockey skates, the Scots looked at him funny...because hockey to them, is field hockey...needless to say, they didn't have any 'hockey' skates.

At the carnival, a German Christmas market has also been set up....it is absolutely beautiful. Little huts have been set up, and their peaks have been decorated with boughs of fir trees and mini white lights. The huts sell anything from sausages, little warm slippers, ornaments, traditional German Christmas cookies and cakes, nutcrakers, toys, strudle, and 'fire punch' which is a mixture of rum and red wine heated up....quite good actually!!! The huts line Princes Street and make it all very festive...it would be great if cities in Canada did this kind of thing for Christmas!

Rob's last day of placement is today, and then he's back to class for a couple of weeks before Christmas. He has been doing really well with the kids and with teaching, and all the teachers think he's a natural, and has improved since the first day. He isn't overly excited about starting a new placement, because everything will likely be quite different from this one, as the school he taught in is fairly priveledged...however I've said that often the tougher experiences are the ones you learn the most from.

As for myself, I'm working like crazy...am just about finished an almost 60 hour week, and I can't wait to sleep in:) I am quite settled in my job now, and taking on quite a few responsibilities. I am this year's Christmas Co-ordinator....so I get to organize lunches for all of the staff in the two buildings we manage....roughly 3,500 employees! It is challenging, but it keeps me busy....and will hopefully look good on a resume:)

We both can't wait for Christmas...Rob gets three weeks off, and I get 10 days...it will be a well deserved break (well sort of...considering we won't really be resting while in London:) We haven't really been travelling since October, so it will be nice to get out again and see new places.

Well that's it for now...hope everyone is doing well at home, and enjoying the snow that we seem to be sorely lacking...hopefully we'll get a dusting for Christmas. In case we don't write again before Christmas, we hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! Only about 3 more months until we're home for a little visit...can't wait:)

We miss you all!

Lots of love,

Rob and Sarah