Hiking Weekend

This past weekend we went with our host to Edinburgh and stayed in their family flat for the weekend, which was awesome because we got a free place to stay and a free ride! A good chance to get away from the midges and see more of Edinburgh. Friday night we went to Mary Kings Close which is an underground tour of the royal mile. A close is essentially an alley but this one just had buildings built on top of it until it was completely underground. It was really interesting because it ensured the unchanged survival of old homes and businesses that existed in the 1700's. We couldn't take any pictures because it was under the the city council chambers.....something about taking pictures = us wanting to blow up the city council.

Saturday morning we got dropped off at the bottom of Arthur's Seat which is basically a mountain that is located right beside Edinburgh. It was fairly windy in the city but we still decided to climb up anyways, by the time we got to the top we were almost getting blown off! Which was really fun because you could just lean into the wind and not fall over or just jump straight up and get blown a few feet.

On the way down I spotted some ruins that turned out to be an old abbey, which was sweet cause you can just spot some ruins and check them out, can't really do that in Canada.

Ruins

In the Afternoon we headed back to Duchray to recover from our hike up the mountain. Sunday we had lunch and then headed out for a hike to find some ruins and Rob Roy's cave where he hid after fleeing the redcoats at Duchray. Discovered that there is actually a huge network of trails nearby, too bad we are running out of time to hike them all. Hiked for about five hours and saw the castle ruins, pretty much just an old stone wall, so a bit of a disappointment.

Hill of Torture

Could not find Rob Roy's cave either, afterwards the gardener told me where I could have found it....should have talked to the locals first I guess! After seeing the ruins we followed the trail which kind of ended which was ok because just over the hill is where the main trail was.....Little did I know the other side of the hill held a torturous journey in store for us. Thorns! Ferns! Midges! Moss covered logs that haven't been disturbed in a millennia! The worst bush whacking decision I have ever made. Took us over 20 minutes to cover 300m.


After that we headed back to the castle to recover. Our hosts took us out to the local pub for dinner which was really nice of them and then we watched England get knocked out of the Euro cup. This week Sophie has been doing a lot of painting in the castle, doing the trim and panels in one of the hallways. I have been taking all the moss out of the lawn an trying to remove the most stubborn paint from a 150 year old door. We leave Duchray this Friday, which kind of stinks as we have come to love hanging out with our hosts and the food is good. But on the other hand it will be soooo nice to get away from the midges! They are so small, last night they invaded our trailer as they can fit through typical screens. Our bodies are covered in bites and Sophie is going a little bit insane with scratching! On Saturday we leave for a tour of Northern Scotland for five days which should be lots of fun and then off to a sheep farm/B&B in Oban for our next job!

A Castle Weekend

Sophie and Vatic

Not enough weekend to do all the things we would like to do around Aberfoyle and the area, so many castles, so little time. On Saturday we got up and walked to the village (Aberfoyle), a 50 minute walk, and got on a local bus that took us to Stirling. Stirling is the closest large city to Aberfoyle and where William Wallace fought his battle. When we arrived at the bus stop we incidentally met up with our Polish friend Vatic who works at the castle during the week as a general labourer. We rode the bus with him to Stirling and since he has never really toured the city himself we walked around the city with him for the day. We also got treated to some genuine polish sausage  from the local polish shop since Vatic claims that English sausage is actually crap and the Poles have the best. Walked up to Stirling castle but decided not to go in as it looked very similar to Edinburgh castle and just enjoyed the amazing view of the area as we are at the foot of the highlands.

Continued to walk around Stirling and made a stop at the free Church of the Holy Rude. Rude apparently means something about the crucifix. 

On Sunday we took a bike ride past the village up to Duke's pass in-between two mountains. It was quite beautiful. We stumbled upon a waterfall and got to bike through a great forest. It kind of feels like the amazon only without the humidity and cold. 

Monday we woke up and worked for three hours at which point we took off early with Frances our host and her children and headed to Doune Castle, them for a play date with a friend, us for a day of exploration. It was our first gloriously sunny day in Scotland as for the past week it had been rainy and overcast all the time. Doune was where Monty Python and the holy frail was filmed. A great castle still very much medieval. Only 5 pounds to get in and we got audio guides as well. After our picnic in the courtyard Sophie and I took over an hour and just explored the castle. This was by far our favourite castle so far. Mostly because there was less people and you could just wander around and let your imagination run wild. A sunny afternoon and scottish sun tan later,  we returned back to our own castle and did a little painting to catch up on some of our missed work hours. 

We thought we had covered the surrounding area and castles well but at Doune castle we came to realize that we are actually surrounded by castles and ruins all over! Just a few miles north of our trailer are castle ruins on Loch (Lake) Ard and further down the coast a cave where Rob Roy sheltered after fleeing our castle from the redcoats who were chasing him! (See History of Castle) We will definitely have to go hike there in the next few days!! Only a week and a bit before we have to move on to our next  job though so we have to make the days count!

Working for the Weekend.....and Food....and a Trailer

So in case you haven't realized, we have an arrangement with a family in Scotland for the month to work on their estate 5 days a week for 5 hours a day, in return for three meals a day and a place to live. Things have been working out great, the food has been good and the family is really nice. We basically do the odd jobs that they do not have the time to do. On Monday and Tuesday we sanded down a set of table and chairs so it they can be repainted. Wednesday we deep cleaned the newly completed kitchen in the castle and started "hoovering" (vacuuming) all the moss out of the grass in the garden. As we have come to realize it rains quite a bit here and because of that moss grows up everywhere! To make the garden and lawns look nice our hosts purchased a machine that just removes the moss when you drag it over the lawn. So we started working on the secret garden to remove all the moss from the lawn.

We filled 7 of those white bags from the secret garden alone! So much moss! Now the garden looks partially like a mud pit, but we just reseeded and aerated (stabbed it a lot) so now the ground can drain and will be less moss friendly. 

Thursday we finished up in the secret garden and then on friday we did some cleaning inside the castle. Mostly getting the rooms that we almost done, all cleaned and ready for use. We also did some weeding   around the well garden. Which is pretty cool cause it's just an old well under a tree that you don't really notice unless you get up close. 

So next week we will probably be doing similar jobs to what we have just been doing but right now it is the weekend so we are off on some adventures, we will see how they turn out!

History of Duchray Castle

For all the history buffs out there this is the history of the castle we are staying at! As far as I could gather from the current owners of the castle. 

In 1509 a charter of "lands of Duchra-Estir" was granted by King James IV to Dormund Makersane, who was obliged to build a dwelling house on the land, probably for use as a royal hunting lodge. Early title deeds also record an obligation to provide the crown with 70 armed men as and when required, and to guard the nearby ford over the duchy water. 

Duchray came into the possession of the Graham family in 1569 with whom it remained until the 1940s: William Graham became the first  owner of Duchray and was probably the builder of the castle. 

The historian and novelist Nigel Tranter wrote that the castle might have been built on the foundations of an earlier building and that it's massive walls would be highly necessary against the depredations of the neighbouring warlike clan of MacGregor, seldom friends of the Grahams. Nevertheless there is a story famously related by Sir Walter Scott that Rob Roy MacGregor himself was in the castle when party of red coats arrived to apprehend him. One of the two Graham sisters in residence at the time engaged the officers in talk while the other helped Rob Roy make his escape. 

In the 1600s the English set fire to the castle, but succeeded only in damaging the roof and timbers, not the walls. Duchray castle was also the meeting point for the royalist forces raised by the Earl of Glencairn, who routed Cromwellian English force under General Monk in the pass of aberfoyle (near the local town) in 1653, John Graham continued to support the King's cause and suffered greatly as a result. Tranter relates that the castle was burned again after the Jacobite rising of 1745, and it was certainly recorded as in ruins in 1815. It appears to have been rebuilt or restored in about 1825. The gothic revival windows and crenellation date from that period, but subsequent alternation through the course of the 19th century and another fire amid the 20th century have all left their mark on the historic structure.  

In 2005 the castle was bought for 1.6 million GBP and shoddily renovated for a summer home, subsequently the renovations were abandoned when the money ran out. In 2010 the current owners (our hosts) purchased the castle and are currently renovating it into a B&B that will open for business this fall 2012. 

A Castle on your Doorstep

This is our home for the next three weeks:

So we have arrived to our first HelpX host, they are a lovely young family that live in the Scottish countryside, a small village called Aberfoyle. Oliver and Frances bought Duchray castle (which was built in the 1500's) with the intention of creating a B&B out of it, so our job is helping to get it ready to be lived in by autumn. They have two young kids the oldest is named Florence she is 4 and the youngest is Austin and he is 2, they are quite entertaining with their little english accents. It sounds like we are going to have lots of fun though, Florence wants to take me for a picnic underneath the fairy tree so we can visit the fairies who live there! haha

So we arrived on Friday afternoon, and so far have just felt like free loaders because they would not let us work on the weekend, so we have been eating their food and taking their bikes out but have not done a thing for them. But tomorrow that all changes.
Saturday morning I woke up with a nasty head cold, so basically slept all day long. It was only in Gods good timing that I got sick right in between travelling and working, so it was a nice day to relax. And while I was relaxing Nathan was off being an explorer and imagining the trails that he was walking to be places where kings and queens walked and made big decisions for the country of Scotland. I managed to get out for one little hike and it is like walking in a fairy tale land. This land is just full of rivers, streams, flowers and moss covered trees and we are completely surrounded by mountains with beautiful little lochs (lakes) in between as they call them. Our next door neighbour is a horse that we have named "Nosey" who we bring an apple to everyday.

It is all almost perfect except for the stupid little clouds of bugs that will eat you alive. They are called "Midges"and they come in swarms. They are mini mosquitos, and just swarm around you and annoy you like crazy, they happen to love Nathan and not really bother eating me at all, so we make an excellent pair. 
Today though I was feeling much better after an entire days sleep.  Oliver and Frances suggested we take the bikes out and cycle over to a near by loch, Loch Ard. Which supposedly has a castle on the main island, and can only be gotten to by foot at certain point in the day when the water goes low enough to cross. But they did not mention that the road that we take to get there is just massive hills the entire way! We were pooped by the time we arrived and I did not even go the entire way into the village and we did not make it to see the castle because it was one giant hill into the village and I refused to go back up. So we are saving the rest for another days adventure. But along the way we went past an old aqueduct that was built in the Victorian era and still is Glasgow's and many villages in between's main source of drinking water. Which is crazy!

We got glorious views of the mountains and managed to see some wildlife, such as giant slugs! Which are apparently small in comparison to others that have been seen.
So overall this weekend has just been a continuation of our vacation but tomorrow the work begins. It sounds like we will be mostly cleaning tomorrow, cleaning the windows of the castle and cleaning some of the finished rooms. I am actually excited to do some work tomorrow, not feel like such a mooch and have an opportunity to help these lovely people out. Once we actually get a sunny day we will be doing some gardening, because midges are afraid of the sun so only on warm beautiful days will we be outside but until then we will work on our castle.

Old Friends, New Friends 

So we arrived safe, sound and tired in London. Checked in at our hostel at around 11:30am and then to stay awake we walked around the city for the rest of day. We stuck to our original plan to go and see the queen's jubilee parade. Little did we know that the whole commonwealth had decided to come out and see the parade too! Thousands of people milling around trying to get a good view of the queen. We found a spot along the road an hour before the parade was to start where we thought we might be able to look down and see the queen briefly before she turned the corner. It was an eventful hour, I chatted up a metro constable (there were tonnes of them) and watched about 8 of them arrest some guy for selling flags. So that was fun. After waiting an hour and the anticipation mounting…..we managed to see….the horse plume of one the honour guards…..! So that was a little anti-climatic but oh well.  We walked back to our hostel and had some Subway (not very english I know) and then went to sleep early as we were exhausted. Next day we woke up around 6:30 because we were all messed up and started really touring the city. Checked out Tower bridge, took a free tour of the london museum, etc etc. Also we went to our orientation for BUNAC/SWAP and they gave us tips about opening our bank account etc etc boring stuff. After walking over 20km all around the city we saw Pizza Hutt (i know not very english) and had to see if it was the same as North America (It wasn't). Went back to hostel at last after that long day. Hostels kind of remind of college, lots of youth, stinky and alcohol. Nothing a pair of earplugs and breathing through your mouth won't fix. 

Next we got up and walked an hour and bit to the bus station were we caught a ten hour bus ride to edinburgh. Saw some gorgeous countryside that we want to go back too and arrived in the city that is shrouded permanently (or so it seems) in fog. Our host says that in the 16 years she lived in Ediniburgh she never once wore a t-shirt because of the chilly/foggy breeze that comes off the water. Besides the weather the city was awesome, entirely old looking and gorgeous. I went to have a shower at the hostel, when I came back to our room sophie had made friends an australian fellow named Jake. We ended up going out to the pub to have some pizza and a pint, which was really fun and authentically scottish (unlike pizza hutt and subway). 

Next day we headed off to Edinburgh castle (expensive) and did the tour there. Not too shabby, neat castle with lots of good exhibits and the scottish crown jewels. As we were leaving the castle to catch our bus I decided I would take a picture of all the suckers coming into the castle later in the day as they all had to wait in line and we got to just zip right into the castle. Heres a look at the picture I took:

As I looked at the picture I said to myself "Hey I know that guy in the blue coat!" I waited for Sophie to get back from the washroom and we caught up to him. Turns out it was my friend I met when I was a councillor at muskoka woods. He was/is from Ireland and went to Edinburgh for the first time in his life...just as we happened to be leaving the castle.....small world! Old Friends and New Friends in Scotland!

This IS Actually Happening..!!

Never thought I would see the day when I would create a blog to write down stuff....Just like I never thought the day would actually come when we would set off to pearson after the "Last Supper" with the family to actually board a plan destined for the UK! Sure it sounds cool to go to Europe....and talking is easy, but talk is also cheap. To actually go out on our own, on our own adventure, it's exciting and just a bit scary. It gets scarier trying to convince security that Sophie wants to willing go to Europe despite all the tears and me dragging her onto the plane.....just kidding. Sophie has done really good saying her good byes and she is strong. I think this next year I will see how strong she really is! I'm looking forward to growing closer together and growing deeper in love as we only have each other to rely on this next year....

Anyways enough of the mushy stuff it's been great making our round saying good bye to friends, family and co-workers. Despite my parents worst fears, I will not have my pounds hanging out my back pocket and I think we will be alright. As the Scots would say we are "dashing out" now onto our plane. Thanks everyone for their prayers, love and support over the past months of planning and dreaming!