The rest of the family had various doctor and dentist appointments today so the Cannon family got an earlyish start and headed north. First stop, Glamis Castle. This was the first time we’d visited a baronial estate that was still in private use – it’s the home of the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and is best known as the childhood home of the late beloved Queen Mother. It was interesting to see how the aristocracy really “lives” and try to imagine how they can possibly fund such a lifestyle! Of course the entrance fees to the estate probably help. The castle itself started as a fortified structure in the 1400’s and was added to as the family prospered – gained titles, more grounds etc. Some of the more interesting bits were the Victorian “restoration” work that was done: work done in the late 1800’s to restore the castle to what the folks at that time looked more medieval. And of course lots of references to the late Queen Mum.
After the tour and a cup of tea to wait for the showers to pass, we were treated to a sliver of sunshine under which to wander around the grounds. They are lovely. An Italian garden, a “pinetum” (go look it up!) and plenty of trees and highland cattle make for a varied but attractive landscape. We got in a fair amount of wandering and quite a bit of nature photography.
Then to the coast! Arbroath Abbey (or the ruins thereof) was the destination but not before we had a bite to eat. Funny, we have no problem finding pubs in Scotland that will serve baked potatoes for lunch but we had very little luck in Ireland…. go figure. Not surprisingly, there were a fair number of charity shops between the pub and the abbey so our travel time was impeded by the rummaging teenagers. I’m not sure how they are getting all this stuff home!
Then on to the Abbey. It was started in 1128 – about the same time as St. Patrick’s cathedral on the Rock of Cashel – but not much of what must have been a magnificent building still remains. The kids love these kind of sites more than the restored ones because they can wander freely, climb on stuff and imagine for themselves what the building must have been like. This one was dedicated to the then-recently cannonized Thomas Becket and housed one of the stricter orders of Benedictine Monks. It also had an important part in Scottish history: the abbot of Arbroath was an advisor to King Robert the Bruce and basically scribed the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320which was an appeal to the Pope to help achieve peace between Scotland and England with an understanding of why the Scottish are fighting. It is often referred to as the Scottish Declaration of Independence as it contains the following phrase quoted often by Scottish Nationalists:
“As long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom — for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.”
Full of our nationalist fervor, we headed down the coast to Carnoustie and wandered along the newly refurbished beach front. We explored a bit of Brought Ferry as well before heading inland for a bar supper at the Inn at Muckhart (located in the Yetts of Muckhart outside Dollar of course!) which was lovely. Then home for a quiet evening of doing laundry and watching the highly recommended – and therefore borrowed – video “Mama Mia!” I’m not sure what all the fuss was about – I thought it was so bad that I went to bed before it was over. Maybe that’s why I’m not a film critic!
/san/
Pedometer: 15,539 or about 7 miles. That’s more like it!
The Cannon Family's travel blog 