Castle Hunting and Drive through Scotland, 09-25

Gotta keep this short and sweet - as we have an early morning train to catch.
09-25 was a day of driving. We headed to Aberdeen through the castle loop route, trying to find castles to take pictures of - while we made our way west for the next days adventures. I'll blog some detail when we get home (since there is obviously no down time here) - but for now, here are some pics:

Random castle - the name escapes me

We found a beach

Cute little cow

Edinburgh at Night 09-24

Edinburgh. I don’t know what I could possibly say about Edinburgh that could fully express how much I love it. This is a place I could live. We expected the city to 90s themed touristy like Dublin, so we didn’t have high hopes – but it blew us out of the water. It’s absolutely gorgeous here. The city is layered, built with old brick, and most dwellings that of the original structure. The streets are cobblestone, and the stores prideful of their Scottish heritage. This felt like home to me, in the sense that I was proud to know I have lineage with the Scots. I was proud to see this thriving city so beautiful, and ever more so to see that it struck true to the history that built it.

After we settled in to our hostel – which was better than all the other places we’ve stayed to date – we saw a flyer for a ‘haunted ghost tour’ of the city at night. We saw that it took you to the underground of Edinburgh – the vaults – and figured, why not?

The tour started with a walk through a part of the city – where an old building used to stand that was used to permanently quarantine those infected with the black plague. The tour guide did an amazing job in building suspense while telling the stories – just had to throw that in there. We then continued to Greyfriars cemetery, where she further explained stories and rumors of paranormal activity, as well as gave insight to the fact that there were over 200,000 bodies buried there, in layers below the dirt. After – we went into the vaults. We were warned that several people throughout the tours feel too much, and get sick in the vaults and have to be escorted out. Based the overwhelming ‘earthly underground’ scent – I could see why. She told us stories of the historic use for the vaults in regards to the Scottish witch trials, and the horrific torture the women went through.

Overall, it was a fascinating tour – getting to learn about the gruesome history of Edinburgh. But being honest with you – I took this as the perfect opportunity to practice my night-time photography skills. Haha, and I must say, I’m pretty darn proud of myself – take a look: Do keep in mind - I have not done any touch up work on any of these. I also did not have my tripod with me. For those of you who love taking pictures - you know, the amount of blur here is pretty dang impressive considering I had to hold my breath and stand as still as possible! Oh, and I have a thing for phone booths...

Okay, this is during the day, but the rest are at night

Blarney Castle 09-23

                This morning, we knew we had a lot of driving ahead of us to make it back to Dublin, so we only got to see a couple things. Our first stop was Barney Castle, followed by the mother ship of the Waterford Crystal world.

                Blarney Castle was the most expensive tourist attraction yet – 12 Euros per person. This enabled us to walk the grounds of the castle, explore the dungeons and interior of the castle, and kiss the Barney Kissing Stone. While I have decided I want a castle of my own one day, it will surely be more spacious ;) All of the castles here have very, very small rooms, scary steep staircases, and short doors. I know this is because of the time they were built – but I can’t imagine what it would have been like to live there. Keeping this one short and simple because I’m behind a couple days – so here are the pics:

The Flight of South Western Ireland - 09-22

Yesterday we were scheduled to be at the Ashford Castle School of Falconry at 15:00. Due to a mishap with timing – we didn’t make it. With our hopes up, we decided that we would venture there first thing in the morning to see if they had any appointments before our scheduled departure to see The Burren and Cliffs of Moher. When we figured out how to navigate the castle grounds and found the Falconry School – we were really disappointed when they told us that they didn’t have anything available until the afternoon, by which time we would be far to the south. Deflated, we took a walk around the grounds to look at the owls, hawks, and falcons before we leaving. As we were on our way out the gate, a girl named Laura ran out to us and said that she may have to cut it a little short, but if we had time now, she had time to take us through the class.

                We were so happy that she stopped us when she did, and took us through the course. She first told us about the different birds, and some of their traits that allowed for high speed, hunting, and quick stops. Laura then told us about the science behind the food limits for the birds, and that as little as ¼ ounce of too much food would stop the birds from flying optimally, as well as ¼ too little would make them feel starved. The birds are weighed in everyday to ensure they are at optimal weight, and in doing so – the lifespan of the birds in their captivity are nearly doubled that of the birds in the wild. While their instincts enable the birds to maintain their optimal weight, being in captivity (and spoiled) does the hard work for them to ensure a longer life.

                After the overview of the birds, Laura handed Angie a female hawk named Lima – and me a male hawk named Andes. She walked us around the castle grounds and forest, showing us how to launch the birds to encourage flight, and how to call them back to perch on our arms. Working with the birds was really such a cool experience. Being social birds, they flew together and stayed close to us – knowing we had food for them. Andes was quite on queue at all times to return to our arms when called, while Lima was quite the sassy girl. Being only 6 months old (both birds) they hadn’t quite learned 100% the difference between food and other objects while hunting. Lima kept picking up sticks and fanning her wings around them, as a means to guard it so no one could get it. At one point, Laura went to pick her up, and while remaining in a shield like state, Lima tried to waddle away and protect her stick. It was quite funny to watch. Anyway, hope you enjoy the photos from this Falconry adventure:

The Flight of the Hawks:

The bridge to Ashford Castle

Ashford Castle

Laura showing us the Owl

The weights and scale - the very top weight shown is 1/4 ounce

The weight and optimal weight chart for the birds

Angie & Lima, Me & Andes

Slowing for perch

Andes and I getting ready for launch

Landing

Perching

Matt - taking a stroll

Charlie being perched by both birds

Mid-launch

Posing for the camera

In flight

 
 
 

                After Falconry, we headed to The Burren. We had heard that The Burren was a beautiful place with natural, strange rock formations. He hiked for about an hour, and while the view was beautiful the whole way, we didn’t actually see anything. Perhaps we missed a turn, but we were pressed for time and had to turn around. Below are just a few pictures from the hike:

The Burren:

                Our final stop for the day before heading to a bed and breakfast – The Cliffs of Moher. This is the number 1 tourist attraction in Ireland, and we had heard about how amazing it was. Take a look on Google. It is literally massive cliffs, staggered in a beautiful formation. I don’t really know what much there is to say about the cliffs, that cannot be shown through photos, so I’ll just put those in below. Near the cliffs, there was also a tower that we stopped for some photos: