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The view from my bedroom window.
Sep. 9th, 2007 12:50 pmWhich is a lie on two fronts - not only is it the view from the steps into the castle, but we've now left and are actually on the train back to Edinburgh.
The view down a 200 foot cliff into the gorge where the wide river winds its way slowly down the hill is what you'd call scenic if you were (a)completely lacking in any aesthetic sensibility and (b) very tired after a long weekend away and incapable of more poetic language. Rose and I arrived on Thursday after five hours of trains, buses and taxis and staggered out expecting to collapse, only to spend the next hour wandering around repeating variations of "It's so pretty" as we encountered yet another bit of incredible natural beauty.
It was slightly worrying that the view from the back bedrooms was a vertical drop, but watching the water rippling far beneath us far and away made up for it. The walk down to the river zig-zagged down the slope, and when we were lucky one of the castle dogs would join us for the wander. At the bottom was a lovely seating area, and a ten minute walk further upstream brought us to a small pebble beach which we could swim from. I didn't, the water being icy cold, but I happily read and shouted encouragement to the insane people that insisted on throwing themselves in. We're fairly sure that several penises and clitorises were lost forever to the cold, although on the last day we gathered wood and built a fire on the beach for people to warm themselves by when the climed, teeth chattering, from the near-frozen water.
Various people had arrived at different times, so we'd all picked up the staples, leading to a vast surplus of tea and eggs, and a fridge that _must_ have been bigger on the inside to hold quite that much bacon. In addition we went into town on a few occasions to get extras and organise food/presents for Jen's birthday, each trip into Tescos prompting people to pick up more snackfood 'just in case' until a general feeling was reached that unless we were to spend our final evening chewing rather than tidying/packing we'd never be able to carry the remaining food home. As it was the final dinner was constructed from everything in the freezer and anything else that might go with it, and the final breakfast was enough bacon and eggs to kill less hardy holidayers.
We also managed to fit in the odd stone circle, standing stone, and mile and a half walk down the driveway to take out the bins, as well as quite a lot of time sitting in the grounds in front of the castle in the dark staring at the huge amount of stars that you don't get in Edinburgh. I managed to spot two satellites and see three shooting stars -the words stunning, gorgeous and amazing were deployed with remarkable frequency and everyone agreed that when they talk about "the life" this is what they meant.
In short, Craighall castle was a fantastic place to get away to for a few days, part of me wishes I'd been along for the whole week, and should you and nine of your friends (it was slightly overcrowded with 12 of us) need to get away then I recommend it.
Fri 07/09/2007 17:52 07092007182
The view down a 200 foot cliff into the gorge where the wide river winds its way slowly down the hill is what you'd call scenic if you were (a)completely lacking in any aesthetic sensibility and (b) very tired after a long weekend away and incapable of more poetic language. Rose and I arrived on Thursday after five hours of trains, buses and taxis and staggered out expecting to collapse, only to spend the next hour wandering around repeating variations of "It's so pretty" as we encountered yet another bit of incredible natural beauty.
It was slightly worrying that the view from the back bedrooms was a vertical drop, but watching the water rippling far beneath us far and away made up for it. The walk down to the river zig-zagged down the slope, and when we were lucky one of the castle dogs would join us for the wander. At the bottom was a lovely seating area, and a ten minute walk further upstream brought us to a small pebble beach which we could swim from. I didn't, the water being icy cold, but I happily read and shouted encouragement to the insane people that insisted on throwing themselves in. We're fairly sure that several penises and clitorises were lost forever to the cold, although on the last day we gathered wood and built a fire on the beach for people to warm themselves by when the climed, teeth chattering, from the near-frozen water.
Various people had arrived at different times, so we'd all picked up the staples, leading to a vast surplus of tea and eggs, and a fridge that _must_ have been bigger on the inside to hold quite that much bacon. In addition we went into town on a few occasions to get extras and organise food/presents for Jen's birthday, each trip into Tescos prompting people to pick up more snackfood 'just in case' until a general feeling was reached that unless we were to spend our final evening chewing rather than tidying/packing we'd never be able to carry the remaining food home. As it was the final dinner was constructed from everything in the freezer and anything else that might go with it, and the final breakfast was enough bacon and eggs to kill less hardy holidayers.
We also managed to fit in the odd stone circle, standing stone, and mile and a half walk down the driveway to take out the bins, as well as quite a lot of time sitting in the grounds in front of the castle in the dark staring at the huge amount of stars that you don't get in Edinburgh. I managed to spot two satellites and see three shooting stars -the words stunning, gorgeous and amazing were deployed with remarkable frequency and everyone agreed that when they talk about "the life" this is what they meant.
In short, Craighall castle was a fantastic place to get away to for a few days, part of me wishes I'd been along for the whole week, and should you and nine of your friends (it was slightly overcrowded with 12 of us) need to get away then I recommend it.
Fri 07/09/2007 17:52 07092007182
