As we continued back from North Berwick, we stopped at Whitekirk, no doubt named after the appearance of this small medieval church. While the original structure on this site dates to the 12th century, construction on the current structure began in 1439.
Tantallon Castle was begin in the 1350's by William Douglas, one of the most powerful men in Scotland. He inherited from his father and his uncle, 'Good Sir Jame' of Douglas, a close ally of Robert the Bruce. By 1358, he became the first Earl of Douglas, by which time the castle was well underway.
Above, we see the reconstructed bridge leading to the Mid Tower, the main entrance to the castle.
We took a drive up the coast of the Firth to the north and west of Dunbar to the small town of North Berwick. Here, we find the Scottish Seabird Center. It turns out that it mostly a place to have a cuppa (which we did) and few souvenirs (which we also did) and support the Center's activities. Town wasn't large or terribly interesting. But there were things along the shore that I found photo worthy. Above is a much closer view of Bass Rock that you saw the other day. It is white on top from all the bird poop.
There are many secrets hidden in plain sight in the cemetery. Above is a family history that started in the18th century and ended almost a century later.
We get a different view of the history of Dunbar when we visit the parish church. W. Archibald gave his young life for his country in 1944.
From the area around the castle, we see that the neighborhood has gotten a lot more crowded than it was in the 16th century.
Our next trip was to Dunbar, Scotland. This turns out to be an interesting place to visit. Across the street from our pet sit, is a golf course (naturally, we're in Scotland) and on the other side of it is the Firth of Forth. Out behind the clubhouse is a stone fence between us and Bass Rock. The flowers add just the right decorations.
Inside the castle, we find the remains poorly lit rooms (small windows make it easier to heat) surrounded with cold stone walls. This is just the sort of place one would find lots of tapestries hanging on the wall to help keep the people inside warm.
One of the towers still has functional stairs and I took one for the team and climbed up. Also, I figures there would be a few fun photos from up there. See what you think.
After the English civil war, many castles were dismantled or partially or wholly destroyed. Here, on the interior buildings and the drawbridges were razed leaving us with the castle in much the condition we see today.
And so we say goodby to Bodiam and to England for this trip. This ends our summer adventure. But fear not, more adventures in the UK are on tap and will be coming your way in the not too distant future. And, of course, There are still photos from the Nome trip to show you along with those from our trip to Albuquerque. Lots of adventures to report.
The photo above is an interesting juxtaposition of the old and new. Notice the contrail across the sky above the castle. the original residents would certainly never have seen that!
Most of the castles we've visited have laced a still functioning moat. Some had no moat, others have a big ditch that may or may not have once been wet but are not dry. We now make a visit to a real moated castle that looks just like it came from a fairytale. This is Bodiam Castle.
This church is graced with outstanding stained glass windows. While the chandelier is not special, it fits well with the space and adds its own touch of elegance.
We made another visit to Rye to do a bit of shopping and I visited the church that sits on top of the hill on which the old town is built: St. Mary the Virgin. This is the parish church of Rye and has been here for over 900 years.
As you look uphill along Lion Street, you see the tower of the church that holds this clock. It was installed in 1561 and is one of the oldest working church tower clock in the country. The present clock face and the two so-called "quarter boys" were added in 1760. The figures above and on either side of the clock strike the quarter hours but not the hours, hence the name.
Many memorials fill this wall.As you can see, they are Victorian in their style.
In front of the church, where the nave once stood, is now a churchyard filled with gravestones.
Near the coast between Hastings and Rye is the small town of Winchelsea. Originally on the coast, it was destroyed in 1287 be a terrific storm. As a result King Edward I relocated it inland to the present site on the Hill of Ilam. It was named as one of the Cinque Ports (the original five were Hastings, New Romney, Hythe, Dover, Sandwich; King Edward added Winchelsea and Rye) that were to prove so important in Edward's many wars to keep and expand this kingdom.
In the center of this small, neat town is the church of St. Thomas the Martyr.
Just north of the dormitory stood the church. It is now gone... only the outline of the foundation exists. I was not able to get a photo of this that would make any sense. This is unfortunate, for in 1070 when the church was originally built the altar was placed at the spot where Harold fell.
A few yards from the location of the church stands a monument to the world changing event that happened here in 1066. The inscription on the monument translates as:
Translated as - God be with us, In the historic field of Senlac, where brave Harold the Saxon fell, 837 years after the battle that gave Britain the Norman Law. The Norman remembrance, came from the Banks of the Seine to proclaim with joy the peace of the Sisters of Normandy. 1066 - 1903
Just next door to Brexhill is St. Leonards-on-Sea. The casual observer would not notice that they'd passed from on the the next. However, St. Leonards is where our pet sit is located. We are up on a hill where we can see the sea from the back deck. Being the warm, dry summer season, it is nice to be able to venture outside with multiple layers or rain protection.
Low tide on England's southern coast shows that the beach is composed of stone rather than sand. The regular array of breakwaters extending out into the sea attest to the turbulence of the sea along this shore.
As partial testimony to the length of time that this town has existed, it is easy to find an eclectic mix of architectural styles. Additionally, us yanks are always a bit jarred by finding a Boots in an building that is older than my grandmother.
Now that you are thoroughly confused about where we are at the moment, I thought I'd toss in a relatively current posting. As you probably have figured out, I try to keep ahead of things with my posting so that I have a queue of posts ready to go even if our schedule prevents me from a daily updates. At the moment, I'm about two weeks ahead, which means that what you see today is about two weeks out-of-date (rather than the 2-4 months out-of-date that you've been seeing... we'll get back to that soon). This is, I think, part of the big storm and cold weather that hit the US in late October. This is how it arrived in the high desert.
It is a lifeless place on first glance. Remember, however, that all the animals I've shown you in earlier posts are found in this place.
Even without the animals to spice things up, the region around Nome is an interesting place. Not that there are spectacular things to see or really impressive mountains, but rather that it is place not quite like any other.
As I have noted before, if solitude is what you are after, this is the place to come.
A reminder that life near Nome is often hard and ends in the usual way. This reminder of the musk ox sitting on the snow is a stark sign of the what life is like.
Here's another view of the long-tailed duck we saw yesterday. Yes, I realize that this bird does not have a long tail. I believe this is a juvenal or female, hence the shorter tail.
