I had originally meant to type this post up quite a few days ago, but between working and parenting it's hard to find the time. So, my apologies for taking so long to post!
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
From Glasgow we took a train to Ayrshire. This train was quite nice and had a USB port that I could use to charge my phone, and also had free wifi. I had originally bought an international talk/text/data plan from Koodo for the trip but it never worked, so I relied on free wifi the entire trip to stay in touch via email, Skype, and Facebook.
When we arrived in Maybole we had to toodle around a bit to figure out how to get to our B&B. One thing to mention is that Steve didn't really want to plan anything for this trip...no booking of hotels or B&Bs, no booking of trains, no pre-planning at all really. The only things we booked ahead were our sleeper train from London to Glasgow and our first B&B, which I booked about 8 months in advance. We had a rough schedule of where we wanted to go during our trip and when, but no real plan. I, however, couldn't help but plan and research, and research and plan, but in all my planning and research I forgot to get directions to our B&B, lol. What I did know was that it was close to Culzean Castle, so we were able to figure out which bus to take with the help of a nice girl from the US who was trying to go to the castle. We grabbed the bus there (expensive...like 6 £ each or something for a 4 minute ride!), asked directions at the visitor center and only had to walk a mile or 2 to the B&B.
Our B&B, Whitestone Cottage, was the house that my granny grew up, which was why I booked it in the first place. It was also the birthplace of Robbie Burns' mother, Agnes Broun, and the smaller cottage in the back (where our room was) dates back to the 1700s. The cottage was also the home for the groundskeeper to Culzean Castle, which was how I knew it would be close to the castle, lol. My research came in handy after all!
Our hosts were George and Sharon. Though we didn't meet Sharon, George was so welcoming and made a Scottish breakfast that was amazing! Picture a bowl of porridge, OJ, coffee, yogurt cup, a banana and/or apple, piles of toast, potato scone, 2 sausages, 2 pcs of back bacon (most of the bacon we had in Scotland was back bacon), 1-2 eggs, baked beans, and a cup of rice pudding. It was enough food to last us until dinner...and DELISH. I can't say enough how wonderful it was staying there.
This is the cottage where granny grew up. When you walk around the back of the cottage (left side of picture) you see what is in the next picture.
We stayed in the little building on the left in the picture below, which had 2 suites. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of the room...too tired I guess. We had a nice little table in the yard where we ate breakfast in the mornings.
The driveway of the cottage. There are huge rhododendron plants everywhere in Western Scotland.
We arrived early to the cottage so we dropped our packs in the yard and wandered around down a trail through the back forest and found a cool aqueduct tunnel.
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
The next day, after our immense Scottish breakfast, we set out to walk down to the ocean and head South to Culzean Castle and then down to the fishing village of Maidens, where my mom lived as a child.
The roads criss-crossed through back properties where we saw quite a few pheasants and beautiful ocean views. This little road turned to the left a little ways down and led up to the ocean...about a 10-15 minute walk from the cottage.
A little bit of walking along the beach and we could see the castle on the point.
The stairs leading from the beach to the castle. You have to pay to enter the castle, about 15 £ per person, and you're probably supposed to pay to enter the grounds, as well, but we just walked up the stairs and right through the grounds.
Looking back down the stairs towards the direction we came from.
Looking at the ocean from the castle courtyard.
Beautiful, ornate cannon in the courtyard.
We sat here awhile and continued on through the grounds to the swan pond. My pictures of the swans weren't the sharpest...I didn't want to get too close because they had young ones (cygnets). My mom told me that the swans chased my brother when she was there before I was born, lol. I did not get chased.
The town of Maidens is on the middle right of the picture below.
Walking along the gorgeous beach towards the town.
On the breakwater looking towards the town, the harbor didn't have much water in it.
On the breakwater looking back towards Culzean Castle.
Looking back towards the town.
We made use of the public washroom on the harbor, where I stuffed paper towels in my pockets for future bush-peeing use, bought some crisps (potato chips..mine were roast beef and mustard flavour) and chocolate, and walked up the road to Turnberry golf course. This was part of Granny and Grampa's old stomping grounds when they were kids and was used as a military air strip during the WW2. Now, it's a super posh Trump golf course, but you can walk through the middle of it as part of the Ayrshire Coastal Path, so we did.
That is the Trump Turnberry resort in the distance. We only walked to the trail through the course.
Steve "golfing" at Turnberry, lol.
Ailsa Craig island in the distance.
Turnberry lighthouse. There were workers doing some kind of maintenance to the lighthouse and its grounds so we couldn't go in. I'm not sure if we would even be allowed to if they weren't...probably would've had to pay.
Walking back to Maidens from Turnberry.
If you draw a straight line with a GPS map from our B&B to Turnberry lighthouse it's about 6.5 km, but in reality we walked much more than that by following the coast line...and had to go all the way back. It was gorgeous the entire day. I got sunburned even with sunscreen on. My feet were burning from all the walking too, and I was a little worried I would get blisters, but I didn't. I got some nice shots of the castle on the way back through in the evening.
Cannons overlooking the ocean.
Plant conservatory at the castle.
Stables of the castle.
Up next is Iona.
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