Adventures in Scotland , continued

Monday we dropped Regina off in the center of Glasgow (brave woman!) and picked up Caleb for a week of adventures. He had a week off between his work in Morocco and Norway. Monday was a "recover-from-worst-flight-ever" day for Caleb. We got to our friend, Susie Kelly's, house and rested.

We were doing programs in the area schools for three days but sunset is getting late in Galloway & Dumfries so we had some time in the afternoon to go exploring. We had been there several times so we were able to show Caleb a lot of the area sights during our time there.

Sorbie Castle, stronghold of Clan Hannay (spelt Hanna in our area of Maine)

We seemed to be missing some critical phone numbers (again) and the phone still wasn't working correctly but we took a chance and stopped to visit David and Janet Hannay. David is the clan chief these days. The castle in uninhabited; they live in an 18th century house a few miles away. David was giving a bagpipe lesson to his grandson but after the lesson we shared a cup of tea then continued our explorations.

In the high fields behind Kirtalhouse is Cairn Holy. We have been here several times over the years.

Cairn Holy 1. Cairn Holy 2 is a few hundred feet along the way.

Another ancient site we like is the Torhouse Stones, near Wigtown. The official plaque describes the stones as "dumpy". You've got to love Scottish signage!

Jean Armour

Wednesday was another  was another school day for us. Caleb explored Dumfries during the day.

 That evening we went to a music session in Moniavie. It was a mixed bag of traditional and modern with a couple of memorable electric bass solos. Susie was there as were Phyllis and Billy Martin and Dereck Spense, all Sang O the Solway alumni. Thursday was more local exploration and a concert in the evening. Margaret Bennet was the featured performer. We got to do a couple of floor spots.

Friday we set to explore Hadrian's Wall. We took some extra time to go over to Long Meg and  Her Daughters. This is a a rather large circle with about 60 stones.  The legend is that if they are ever accurately counted the magic will be broken.

Here is Long Meg. There are some spiral and ring carvings on this red sandstone outlier.

Hadrian's Wall

Caleb had visited the southeasternmost outpost of the Roman Empire when he was in Morocco. It only seemed right to see the northeasternmost outpost the following week. Besides, how could he resist visiting the towns of Once Brewed and Twice Brewed, which are right along the wall.

It was a full day! After following several miles of the wall, meeting Canadian hikers, finding an unlisted stone circle and finding some lunch we ended our day at Caerlaverock Castle. Actually there were two castles. An older, smaller castle is a few hundred yards away. It was built a couple of centuries earlier. Both castles have a double moat and are (were) handy to ships.

Then it was back to Susie's house for a great supper involving fresh tuna.