Scotland with family - Day 6 and 7

Why two days in one post? Because on the sixth day of our family holiday nothing happened XD Absolutly nothing XD We stayed at home and just enjoyed some quiet time =D

On the seventh day though we explored the Scotland's countryside again =)

We got up early in the morning to drive to Glasgow and find a car boot sale there. Car boot sales in Scotland are the same as flea markets in England =D So lots of old, antique and interesting stuff for less money than normally =D My mom went crazy on the shopping but I can totally understand her XD The things were really nice and I enjoyed talking to the people about the history of some of the articles they sold. =)

After an hour or two on  the market we stuffed everything into our car and took off to Alexandria. Yes, the city is really called Alexandria XD 

After a short stop at McDonalds we drove further into nowhere to Balmaha (our "Bahamas" XD). 

Balmaha is a super small village at Loch Lomond but it's THE place to go if you want to get on the island Inchcailloch. You can get a ferry ride from Balmaha boat yard to Inchcailloch for around 5 pounds per person, return inclusive. We got on the island with the nice Lady Jean =D

There is also the chance to rent a rowing boat but the current seems quite strong when there's wind (which is nearly always XD) so the ferry is nicer =D

Inchcailloch is a really interesting island as nobody lives on it and it has quite a lot of history for such a small island =) 

We used 2 of the 3 possible tracking routes on the island and it's just perfect =D The trails are done well enough that you can hike comfortably but not so obvious as that they would destroy the view. Oh and there are animals everywhere =D

the boat yard you get dropped off at =D

find the trail =D

Walking around is really nice and everything is so quiet! There were relativly few tourist so you could really feel like an explorer find new things everywhere =D

I would absolutly recommend to take the hiking trail that gets you on top of the mountains. The few is just fantastic! (and there are benches there in case someone need a pause XD)

On the island everything is green =D Everywhere you look seems as if it could hide some magical secret or be an entrance to a magical new world =) Places like this are where fantasy stories are born =D

love the "wood monster" XD

If you choose to go around the whole island halfway point is of course the other jetty of the island. There is a nice sandy beach, some toilets and an area for grilling =D 

the beach

And, as it's still Scotland with way to many golf courses, my mum found this at the beach:

On the way back to "our" jetty we came by the Inchcailloch burial ground. This place has a sign with lots of very interesting information about the island, its former inhabitants and the graves on the burial ground. Though it is quite creepy with the remains of the old church and some graves that nobody knows who's in them. 

the burial ground is actually bigger than this but I didn't want to photograph random people

From the burial ground it's only a short walk back to the starting point =D Another thing I liked about the island was that every sign is in English and in Gaelic ! Makes it all seem more magical =D

While waiting for our ferry back we meet Daisy Duck. 

This lovely lady was dancing around and in front of us and kept expecting us to feed her. Sadly we didn'T have anything with us =( And I wouldn't let my dad feed her cigaretts! 

But she kept us entertained during the whole time we were waiting for the ferry XD Everytime we thought she was finished she showed a new trick XD

In the end we were back in Balmaha and from there to our cottage. 

I will never forget Inchcailloch and swore to come back there again. If only to have some place to really relax!

Love

Thym

Scotland with family - Day 2

Hiking Day =D
On the second day we all got up early as we wanted to explore the surrounding area. We went to the Co-op in the village and I introduced my family to the "meal deals" you can get all over England and Scotland. A meal deal normally includes a sandwich, snack (chocolate or crisps) and a drink. The price of one ranges from 2 pounds to 5 pounds depending on where you get one and what is included (the most expensive ones were at the service station at the motorway).
Sadly they didn't have my favourite (Chicken salad) so I got one sandwich with chicken stuffing. It tasted different but still very nice =)
We then took off to explore the area. Our destination was  Dalquhairn  Castle and the manor as we had seen pictures on the internet and it's supposed to be hidden in the forest =D
The first problem was finding our hicking route has new buildings were build on it and the redirection was not mentioned anywhere XD We were quite lucky that a nice couple told us the "secret" way to the bridge to get in the path =D It's right around the houses hidden and only accessible by a small trail.
Once we got into the forrest we immediatly felt enchanted by it's wild beauty. The forest is relativley small but you can fell the history and some kind of magic in it. I wouldn't be surprised if at one point someone saw a fairy in there XD
On our way looking for the castle we came across an old graveyard/burial ground in the middle of the forrest. It was really creepy seeing age old graves and newer ones (around 1900) strewn around. Some were toppled over and some looked like children's graves. The common thing on all though was that they belonged to members of the Kennedy family. One grave was opened and emtpy which was really creepy. My first thought was to watch out for zombies O.o My brother and I investigated some more and took photos of all the gravestones. Maybe we can find out what happened to the family (if I find out anything I'll post it here =) ).

After the burial ground and finding my mother that dissapeared while we were investigating the graves we went on towards the ruins of  Dalquhairn  Castle.
It only takes about 2 minutes from the graves to the castle.
The castle itself is nothing but a ruin anymore and apparently a place for the teens to hang out as we found quite a lot of beer bottles and other things that indicated such.
My brother and I tried to explore some more but my mother was really adamant on us keeping our clothes clean and not doing anything dangerous. So we could only explore the outer parts and catch a small glimpse of the inner castle that is only accesible by climbing up on of the old towers and then entering thorugh the upper floor. All normal staircases were either destroyed or to instable to use. This is one of the places I definatly want to come back to and explore some more. But next time without my mothers that worries over everything ;-D

I think everyone can see that the stability is... debatable XD

We decided to follow the trail some more to see if it would bring us to the mansion. Sadly we found out that the trail that is supposed to be accesible for wheelchars is really hard to walk on O.o

yes, that is the wheelchair suited trail!

For a while we followed the river that goes around part of the forrest until my brother and I realized that the entrance gate we saw at the castle is probably the only way to the mansion. We turned back around and went through the remains of the gate.
The path to the mansion is very broad in the beginning and has beautiful plant on either side. At one point the trial turns right and right into the bushed and plants. That goes on for a minute or so and than your on a wide open grassy field that leads right to the main entrance of the mansion. =D

The history of the mansion is quite interesting. The following facts and informations are given to me by a local that knows quite a lot about the area and the mansion itself =)
At first there was the  Dalquhairn castle. The Kennedy family lived in there for a long time. Then at one point   around 1780 the mansion was to be built as the family wanted to move. One branch of the family stayed at the castle and the others moved to the mansion. At first they only build the inner part but later the two wings to the side were added to give more space. Shortly the before the second world war the mansion was ment to become one of Scotland's biggest youth hostels. But with the war starting its prupose was changed to become one of the shelters for children during the war. These shelters were often buildings far away from important strategic points and children from all over the area and even further away were brought to these safe places to protect them from the war (Think of the situation in the Narnia books).
During that time they even had a small building a little bit off from the main building to produce their own oil for heating.
After the war the building was used as a youth hostel well into the sixties but then closed due to monetary problems. Even before that they started to barricade some windows and make them unusable as you had to pay taxes on your house depending on how many windows it had. (In the beginning Dalquharran Mansion had 365 windows-one for every day of the year). As more and more money got lost and the taxes became to much eventually the roof got taken off as that was another way to lower the taxes you had to pay in the old laws. (Nowadays the laws are changed).
The mansion is truly magnificent and right now in the process of being rebuild to become an attraction on a golf course. 
The mansion has a cellar and had a ground, first and second floor. I imagine it was quite an imposing building back when it was build. Some spiral staircases and old ornaments are still preserved. 
You can even see some of the old fire places on the walls. 
The local person I talked with also told me that the basement was nearly only occupied by the servants and maids of the castle and that they had their own corridors under the mansion that led to staircases and small lifts that allowed them to bring food and other things to the house owner. 

The Kennedy family is something that we encountered very often on our travels through Ayrshire. The family is even mentioned in one of my ghost books that have stories about different ghosts in Scotland. I realy want to look deeper into their family history as they seemed very important and branched out into all the different areas in Ayrshire. 
While we kept walking around the mansion (entry is strictly forbidden) we got lost at one point. XD We were jsut walking around without a care in the world and the we looked up again and the mansion had disappeared O.o 
It was really creepy as we all were really sure that we had walked in a circle around it and the mansion is not  so small that you could just loose it. Luckily for us Gee, the security man of the mansion, found us wandering around and was so nice to show us the way back to the entrance =D We had to go through a deep and creepy jungle with upturned trees and mud and everything but in the other side, just 50 metres distance, was the mansion. I have to say, whoever started this garden was damn good at hiding a whole mansion with just  a few bushes O.o
After thanking Gee for saving us, thank you again Gee!, we went back to the track. On our way there we saw a deer right next to us! *__* I just love deer, they have this aura of a wild animal that you can just not tame. 

best lunch bench ever =D

We then kept walking until we were back on the trail =D At that point we were all starving and devoured our late lunch. 
After all this excitement and the rain that seemed to close for comfort we got back to our car and drove back to our cottage. Embarrassing thing is that it's only like a 15 minutes walk from our cottage to the castle but we only realized that on our way back home. It honestly looked further away on the map!
We then enjoyed the late afternoon and evening talking and catching up (we hadn't seen each other for 3 months!) and a nice dinner consisting of oven cheese (kinda like fondue) =D
It was a great and adventurous day and I really hope to be able to go back to explore some more =)


Love
Thym