Friday, August 8, 2014

Findlater Castle - A gem in the middle of nowhere

Last week, my friend Julia and I went on a day road trip. As we were browsing the map book I have, we noticed a castle that wasn't too far from us, but was too far at the time (we needed to head home). So, this week we planned to head north again and find Findlater Castle with our friend Jessica. It is east of Cullen, Scotland. It was a bit tricky to find. The roads were small and the signs were smaller!
(Thanks to Julia and Jessica for some of the pictures!)
This one looks like it's pointing across the field, but really you just go straight down the road!

The very small road.
 Rain can't keep us down!
 From the car park, take the path on the right behind the building. When you reach a fork in the path, continue to your right.
Wheat fields and an aviary in the back.
 We were so surprised to see this! None of us looked it up ahead of time (It would have spoiled it, although we would have been more prepared for the hike...).
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Julia, Jessica, and Me!


The treacherous muddy path. We were very careful.
 I wouldn't recommend the walk down to the ruins for small children or anybody with problems walking steep trails. I would say this was a moderately tough hike. It was worse in the rain. We were crabwalking down some of the slopes to avoid slipping in the mud! hehe.


Jessica with her cute umbrella.

The ruins!



Check out that quartz!
The castle was situated on the edge of the cliff so the views were amazing!




Rain? Psshh. We are having a GREAT time!


 Now for some pictures of the hike back to the top!
This gives some perspective on how steep it was. Not too bad though. Going up was easier than going down.

Climbing up using the grass has a handle because the mud was slippery!

Snail!!
 The drive was a little challenging leaving the castle area! The single-track road had no passing places. You just had to back up to the nearest road or driveway, as you can see this person in front of us doing!
 "Holy s***! Is that a bus?"
"WHAT is it doing on this road? Seriously, nobody lives here!"
He backed up, and we drove past him onto a little driveway to let him pass.
From the castle, we drove to Cullen. When we see brown signs, we are tempted to check it out. We followed this one to a rock. Picture... picture... cool. On the road again.


Cullen


Railway bridge in Cullen. So neat!

If you get a chance, go check out the Findlater Castle ruins. We really enjoyed it. I bet it's even better on a sunny day!

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