We started off walking along the River Tyne, making our way to Hailes Castle. The birds were singing madly, and the wild garlic and few-flowered leeks were rampant, scenting the air with the smell the garlic. The gorse was also in full vibrant yellow bloom, giving off its coconut fragrance as we walked past.
At Hailes Castle, we stopped for a wee break. The castle overlooks the River Tyne. As with most castles left in Scotland, it's a bit of a fixer-upper. Presumably it was in a better shape when Mary, Queen of Scots, stayed there with her kidnapper/soon-to-be-husband, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell.
Leaving Hailes Castle, we made our way via country roads to Traprain Law, where we stopped for lunch. Afterward, about 1/2 the group decided to climb to the top. It's not a big hill as far as hills go, but it looked intimidating from a distance. I was mentally dithering about whether to climb up, but finally just told myself to stuff it, and went. It got my heart rate up, that's for sure, but I only had to stop once or twice for a quick breather. And the views, of course, were spectacular. By now the sun decided to join the party, and we could see the coast and Bass Rock and North Berwick Law, which I'd climbed with Little Sis last summer. (And I just now realized that I'd brought my binoculars and forgot to use them. Drat.)
The climb down is always much quicker than going up, and before long we were on our way back to East Linton via country roads and the path along the Tyne River. Our last stop was the beer garden at The Crown.
A terrific walk with great company made for an excellent, excellent day.
5 comments:
Thank you! That was a lovely vicarious experience. I'm glad your camera survived it ;)
So what was that hill you climbed? A munro? A corbett? I always have to look up these terms every time I read them; I don't think anyone ever uses them here.
uraff - when u rock and u laff, uraff
Pretty! Also, I heart sheep encounters.
@Xenia - Sheep are fun to look at. I'm not precisely sure why. We could probably find you when you come up.
@Merry - Nothing so grand as a munro or a corbett. It's a law, which is a Scots word for "a conical hill which rises incongruously from the surrounding landscape"
And most laws are volcanic plugs, which is all that's left after the glaciers have come and scraped everything away.
I didn't realize 'law' was a description. So... does this mean Jude Law is a volcanic plug? Gosh, the things you learn from the Internet ;)
Post a Comment