We drove back out to Duart Castle the next morning, and wandered around. I got some lovely shots of the castle and the view from its shores. It soon started to turn nasty, though.
Then, we drove up to the northern part of Mull, to the village of Tobermory (where we met twin orange cats who loved to be petted) ...known for its colorful High Street...and then over to Calgary Bay (which I did not get a photo of, as it was unimpressive in the rain). We picked up Andrew (the St Andrews student/hitchhiker of the day before) and his roommate on the side of the one-track road, in the middle of friggin' nowhere...and managed to lose Ross's glasses in the process. Good thing he had another pair back at St. Andrews.
We spent that night on the mainland at Oban (in a fabu hotel called the Manor House Hotel, overlooking Oban Bay). Then we headed across the country and stopped to photograph this castle ruin (called Kilchurn Castle), but didn't hike in. It sat on the banks of Loch Awe, and was very impressive.
We headed back on the (very winding) road and stopped at the MONTY PYTHON castle...you know the one in the Holy Grail, where the French lob a cow over the walls at our heroes...
Next stop, Castle Campbell, formerly known as Castle Gloom. Some of our dearest friends (at home) are Campbells, and we just had to see this castle. It had such a beautiful description in the guide book. We parked at the lower lot and hiked up the scenic path, along the Burn of Sorrow and the Burn of Care (burn=stream). Lovely.
The Castle itself was mostly intact and quite impressive. It had a grand view of the sprawling valley below.
Unfortunately for me, the cowgate, meant to stop animals from crossing, ensnared ME instead and I fell headlong forward...got some nasty scratches, was achy from head to toe, and did something really horrid to the middle finger of my left hand (still not fully recovered from THAT nearly 2 weeks later).
We finally did end up at St Andrews, where we had a good dinner and went out to see Quantam of Solace, at the local theatre. The highlight was sitting in the balcony and getting a very interesting view of the screen.
The next morning, we did the St. Andrew's Castle tour, then headed to Anstruthers (about a fifteen minute drive away) to have their famous fish and chips...supposedly the best in Scotland. Ross and I did a self-portrait there.
Then, back to St Andrews to tour the grounds of the old cathedral church. St. Andrews was the seat of the Catholic church in Scotland from Medieval times till the Reformation. Oh, yes, then came the Reformation...not good for Catholic Churches in Scotland.
And here is my favorite picture of Ross and I.
We climbed to the top of St. Rule's tower, which gave me the heebie-jeebie's, but the view is wonderful.
And HERE is the view from Ross's room (which, remember is a former 'cleaning cupboard' [janitor's closet]), which is pretty spectacular. This is the beach where they filmed Chariots of Fire.
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