Cawdor Castle

 June 7

We are so comfortable in our little apartment that even though it is an absolutely beautiful, sunny day, we don't get out until almost noon.  We have a light day of sight seeing - Cawdor Castle.  

I should have taken a picture of the convenient store that we have frequented.  Especially the barrel that says "Donations for Ukraine."

Cawdor Castle is built around a 15th century tower.  It was originally built by the Calder family and then passed to the Campbells in the 16th century and has remained with them up to the present.   The name was used in Shakespeare's play "Macbeth" but historically didn't have any part of the play and wasn't built until about 400 years after the plot of Macbeth.  The castle is currently lived in by the countess in the winters.  Until her husband died in 2019, the couple lived in the castle and would vacate it each day so visitors could tour it.  Now the countess lives off site during the tourist months and moves back in for the winters when the castle is closed to tourists.

There is a moat here and the bridge pulls up and there are heavy iron gates.  

The sitting room

The countesses bedroom.  She still sleeps here.

Notice the chair and how the back is at the corner of the chair.

Guest bedroom.  

The pink bedroom.  Notice the tartan carpet.  That was how we knew where to go next.  Follow the tartan road!

Every room had geraniums in it somewhere.  

Then we went out to the gardens.  Wow!  The Laburnum were in bloom and oh how magnificent!  I couldn't help myself in taking numerous pictures of them.  Sure is nice that it isn't with film!  

Laburnum

Then there were the informal, woodsy gardens

We had heard that there was a really good pizza place near by and planned to go there for a late lunch/early supper.  But GPS took us into Inverness.  Couldn't find the restaurant and got out of the city as fast as we could.  Thought maybe we would see something on the way to the whisky distillery.  We found ourselves at the distillery before we found ourselves at a restaurant.  Hmmmm.  Tasting on an empty stomach.  They were very strict about not serving ANYTHING to the designated driver.  Marilyn felt quite left out.  We didn't stay long and asked where there was a restaurant nearby.  Got directions.  It had closed 20 minutes earlier.  There are some hangry people in the car.  We end up back at the little convenience store by the apartment.   Pick up a chicken pie that looks good, a frozen pizza, salad makings and some more of the yummy cannoli.  We're all quite happy now.

It is a bit further to the ferry to the Orkney Islands than we thought and they want us there earlier than we thought.  The plan is to leave at 4 AM!  The suitcases are in the car already.  Everyone is quite organized with just a backpack to take into our next location and take out to the car in the middle of the night when we leave.  

So, shower time so I can catch a few winks before it's time to get up again.