Scotland 12 - Stonehaven and Dunnottar

This morning we set off for a castle! Dun Otter Dunnottar is within walking distance of our bnb, a mile and change around the coast, and at the top of our Stone Haven list.  So we headed a few blocks through some alleys and then uphill to the coastal plateau. Good views of the city, but still no castle, so we climbed up the gentle hump of the plateau - into more and more wind.  It became so windy I could walk slightly overbalanced, leaning on the wind to hold me up.  A short detour to the top of the plateau lead to the war memorial - Built to commemorate those lost in The World War, and later updated to include those lost in the Second. From here I could see our castle in the distance, and then jogged back down to catch up to the rest of the family.

We continued hiking toward the ruined castle, fighting yet more wind, while the view continued to improve (though the pictures did not, as the sun was directly behind the castle the whole time. If I do include a picture here it'll have to be HDR'd from a handful of exposures). On the final approach to the castle cliffs our conversation had to get louder and progressively more clipped to be heard, and when we got to the stairs to the castle itself, we were shouting "Closed for Weather?"  - That was a hard push for a 'closed today' sign. 

HDR couldn't save it, but it did do fun things 
with interference patterns on the sea...

Ethan and Hannah turned back immediately, my mom soon behind. Adam+Fam went to the cafe for snacks, it was Oli's feeding time so they had to sit down somewhere. My dad and I headed down the short trail to another castle overlook, which offered a vantage point with better lighting, and then we went to find Adam and Fam. The cafe was a snack shed, with outdoor picnic tables to eat at, where we held our tea to keep it from blowing away, and did our best to keep dust from the parkinglot out of our eyes.

[It's all photon angles]

Once we'd all finished our warm drinks, we headed back towards the castle, and down to the beach beneath it. Sage loves every beach, which... fair. I do too.  We checked the tidepools, collected seashells and cool rocks... and took our time meandering across a few hundred yards of gravel. I was personally distracted by the shingle: The entire beach was wave-rounded stones, which ranged in size from from softballs to marbles, and sorted themselves into bands. Annoying to walk on, especially in loafers (I assumed we had an easy paved trail today, my bad), but very cool from a geologic perspective. A few might have ended up in my pockets.  After the beach we hiked up the steep trail on the far side and reversed our initial hike, eventually getting home for a lunch of leftovers, which were even better than they were last night.

After lunch... everything just sorta died. Naps were had by all the children and most of the adults, I had a shower that started nicely before turning ice cold two minutes in, finished my book, and went for a short wander around town.  The five-and-dime store was interesting, everything from yarn to nails, birthday cards to insecticide. The beach here was also shingle, but less littorally sorted,  and the stream outlet sluicing across the beach is almost exactly one stride wide at full sprint.  <This part is boring, dress it up? Talk about the boardwalk? Talk about the town being old and classic and pretty and all the houses having a dozen chimneys?> [Nah, authenticity]

I looked out the window just as mom walked by....

Back home, people gradually woke up and we shared a bottle of wine on the patio before heading over to the harbor for dinner. The harbor is a two minute walk away, so we luckily arrived far too early and spent 20 minutes wandering out piers, looking at boats, misidentifying birds... harbor things. 

Dinner was fancy fish+chips (and Scottish egg, and turbot, and venison) at Mariner Hotel - all great, and since we were in shoulder-season the staff spoiled us. Totally recommend if you're ever in Stonehaven. Tomorrow E/H/A have to head back to the states, unfortunately. The rest of us still have a few days, so.... castle?