Although Matthew and I have still not braved driving on the opposite side of the road, we have more daring friends than us, and so on a crisp, Autumn day we set off for a road trip through Dumfries to take in the scenery and the sites.
Our first stop was Sweetheart Abbey, a former Cistercian Monastery. It gets its poetic name from a love story - Dervorguilla of Galloway funded it in memory of her husband, John de Balliol (father of the future John Balliol, King of Scotland, puppet king to Edward I of England) and had his heart buried on the grounds. At her death she was buried beside her husband's heart.
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| Sweetheart Abbey |
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| The many arches in the nave. |
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| Long view of the nave. |
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| The wooden doors mystified me - a modern security precaution? |
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| The ruined rose window. |
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| The Abbey grounds. I liked that the stonework around the doorway still exists. |
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| The abbey has a really interesting graveyard just beyond it. |
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| A small glimpse of the autumnal foliage in the background. |
After poking around Sweetheart Abbey, we were off to Caerlaverock Castle - my new favourite Historic Scotland site (along with
Linlithgow Palace,
Dirleton Castle, and
Inchcolm Abbey which I have also blogged about!). Why is it my new favourite site, you ask? BECAUSE IT HAS A MOAT!!!!!! I don't know why we are fed the image of moated castles so much as children because for the most part if castles have moats, they are dry. So to encounter a ruined castle with its moat still intact was enchanting. It made me very aware that I am living in a very ancient country filled with the stuff of magical, fantastical, storybook goings-on.
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| Our first view of Caerlaverock Castle. Note that you cannot yet distinguish the moat. |
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| Matthew in his tour guide mode as we prepare to cross over the moat. |
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| Matthew highlights key features in the stonework of the aristocracy's apartments. |
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| The back of the castle is largely in ruin. |
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| Living quarters of the nobility (the Maxwells), stables to the left. |
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| The pictures of the moat begin. Brace yourself, I went a little crazy. |
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| The moat being moaty. |
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| Did I mention that the castle is a triangle? Another reason this site is so fantabulous. |
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| Matthew with the moat. |
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| A good shot of the ruinous nature of the castle. |
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| The ruins (and the moat!) from a different angle. |
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| Yet another view of the moat and the ruins. |
The adventuring did not stop there. After this it was a race against the sun to get to the Ruthwell parish church to see their early medieval standing cross. It is carved with images of Christ and the apostles with a poem written in runes. Runes, people. Like in Lord of the Rings only real and old. If that wasn't cool enough, to gain entry to the church, you walk a few yards to the manse to obtain the church key which is kept in a mounted briefcase-type box. I think I love small towns. :)
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| Ruthwell Parish Church |
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| The honour system is in place for visitors to let themselves in. |
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| Matthew does the honours. (Ha!) |
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| Matthew, Nathan with Hattie, and Bethany admiring the Ruthwell Cross. It sits in a pit, so it is about 3 feet taller than it looks here. |
With daylight fading fast, we made one more stop at Banks East Turret on Hadrian's Wall before driving home.
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| Matthew and Nathan walk the wall. |
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| A view across Northumberland with the requisite sheep. |
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| Me atop the ruins of Banks East Turret. |
All in all, a very excellent day of adventuring through the monument-dotted landscape of the south of Scotland and the North of England.
