A Weekend with "The Wee Ones"

The end of November brought Holiday lights and friends to Helensburgh.

Our Friends, Katelyn and Veronica (from Florida) came for a short visit.  It was their first trip to Scotland, and we only had 3 days to give them a quick tour of this beautiful country.

We started the weekend off with dinner and drinks downtown, later hitting The Ashton, so they could experience an authentic Scottish pub. 

Good times were had by all, meeting new friends, a wee scotch tasting, dancing with the locals and even earning the new nickname of 

"The Wee Ones".

After their first successful night in Scotland, it was time to get out and see the sights.  The next day we headed to Dumbarton Castle.  It is impressively situated on a volcanic rock 240 ft high, overlooking the Firth of Clyde with amazing views from the top.  Dumbarton Castle has the longest recorded history of any stronghold in Great Britain.

 

There were 557 steps to the very top, after doing half of those we decided that our viewing point was pleasant enough and decided to call it a day there.  (Maybe we shouldn't have stayed out as late last night? Or maybe we should have eaten lunch before we set out?)

We headed back to the house to pick up John and continued on to see more sights.  Our next stop was Loch Lomond, a beautiful sight to see when the sun is shining!

We stopped at one of our favorite places, Rest and Be Thankful.

We then stopped for a late lunch at the highly recommended Loch Fyne Oyster House.  We were not disappointed, the food was fabulous!

 We continued on to Oban, where we took a walk around town enjoying the Christmas lights. (but no Northern Lights)  We drove up to McCaig's Tower to take in the view of the city.  It was beautiful all lit up at night.  

Well, that was it for the road trip it was time to head back home to rest up for the next day's adventure.

Oh, and what an adventure it was!

We decided to head to Stonehaven to visit Dunnottar Castle.  We had visited this castle in February, but were unable to take the tour due to high winds.  (Yes, this is the one we use for our header on our blog)

  

Dunnottar Castle is an impressive castle ruins standing upon a flat-topped, red sandstone island, surrounded by the blue water of the North Sea.  It is an absolutely amazing sight to see.

From the parking area it is 1/4 mile walk to the top of the cliffs, with over 200 steps going down to the base of the cliffs and then back up to the Gatehouse on the other side.

  

  It was originally known as a Pictish fortress.  A chapel at Dunnottar is said to have been founded by St Ninian in the 5th century, but the surviving buildings are largely of the 15th and 16th centuries.   For over 1000 years it played a crucial role in Scottish history.  It has been a religious community, a fortress and a prison.  It has been burned, rebuilt, and burned again.  It has been besieged, stored "The Honours of Scotland" (Scottish Crown Jewels), been the setting for dramatic escapes and has housed some of the nation's greatest historical figures: Constantine Mac Aed, Sigurd the Mighty, William Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots, and the Marquis of Montrose. 

We had a great time exploring the ruins and enjoying the views, but now it was time to trek back down and up the cliffs, and the 200 stairs to get back to the car.  It was some great exercise and we were exhausted, but it was well worth it for this unforgettable experience.  

Now it was time for Katelyn to drive us back home.  She enjoyed driving and did a great job.  (We couldn't get Veronica to even drive in a parking lot.)

Our time was up and we were very sad to see "The Wee Ones" leave.  We really enjoyed having them as our guests and look forward to more travel adventures with them in the future. 

Next weeks blog will be our Northern Ireland travels with John's cousin Whitney.

"You will develop all kinds of unexpectedly wonderful friendships through travel and adventures."

   Wishing all of our family and friends a wonderful fun-filled holiday season.

Cheers, 

John and CJ