Daily Archives: October 20, 2016

#SEWES2016, Broughty Ferry, Chris Longmuir, Craigmillar Castle, Edinburgh, Kelso, Scotland's Secret Bunker

#SEWES2016 ~ Sept 22 – Kelso to Broughty Ferry

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#SEWES2016

Sept 22 – Kelso to Broughty Ferry

Castle and a Cold War Bunker, too

 

Jeff, our host at Duncan House, and his black lab joined the group of folks in the dining room. He apologized profusely for not remembering me (actually, putting the name with the face). With the number of people who stay in his wonderful Georgian B&B, I’m not surprised, nor was I offended.

After a hearty breakfast, including porridge, we set out. Shortly before we left home for Scotland, we received an email telling us that Craigmillar Castle would be closed until Sept 20th. The picture of the property included in the Historic Scotland email intrigued me and it being after the 20th, and the castle being close to (if not in the ‘burbs of Edinburgh) so en route to Broughty Ferry, the satnav was programmed to take us there.

I ended up driving Monty further into the city than I wanted thanks to roadworks (as in a humungous hole) in Craigmillar Castle Road. So I had to drive by that end of the road, follow the diversion signs … AND ignore Satnav Sally.

Two school buses (not like our North American ones) parked back to back on opposite sides of the car park. No way on earth Monty would fit between their snouts.

I parked sort of on the edge of the road and we strode to the ticket office/gift shop. “One concession (aka senior), one adult and toilets,” was the buzz phrase of the day. He stamped our “zero charge” receipt with the combination we needed to gain access to the facilities and off we went.

Sept 22
Craigmillar Castle
The entrance to Craigmillar Castle
The entrance to Craigmillar Castle inside the outer curtain wall
Sept 22
Don standing by the yew tree inside the inner curtain wall of Craigmillar Castle
Sept 22
Me standing by the yew tree inside the inner curtain wall at Craigmillar Castle
Sept 22
Stairway to … at Craigmillar Castle
Sept 22
Sign indicating the direction of the wine cellar

My favourite place! I’ll even do the spiral stairs to get there… 😉

Sept 22
Spiral staircase leading to the wine cellar
Sept 22
Sign describing the room. Note the windows on both sides of the fireplace and the stonework on the mantle

Years later, the windows have been filled in but the fireplace remains.

Sept 22
As the room looks now
Sept 22
One of the massive fireplaces
Sept 22
Me standing inside the fireplace

The school children were amazed that in two different towers of the castle there were bathrooms. One group called over to the other, “we’ve got a loo!” and the other replied “So do we! We have a loo, too!”

Sept 22
View from the castle ramparts
Sept 22
Craigmillar Castle from the highest level you can access

The view from the castle ramparts is amazing. The clear weather made it easy to see and recognize North Berwick Law (we’d seen it last year on our way to Dunbar and on the train to Edinburgh).

Sept 22
View from the castle rampart – the visible hump in the center of the background is North Berwick Law
Sept 22
Salisbury Crags
Sept 22
Busted taking a photo
But so was someone else
But so was someone else…

Driving towards Craigmillar Castle, we had spectacular views of Edinburgh Castle and Arthur’s Seat but no place to pull over for a photo op. I was chuffed to bits to get this view from Craigmillar’s ramparts.

Sept 22
Edinburgh Castle on the left and Arthur’s Seat on the right

As we approached the Forth Road Bridge, the first of many signs for Scotland’s Secret Bunker popped up. It had been a possibility on previous trips and we happened to have the time, so decided to make it a reality this trip. Canada has the Diefenbunker (which we’ve visited) so we needed to compare the two locations.

Imagine a Cold War Shelter capable of running the country from under an innocuous farm house? Now that the cold war threat is over (or is it) things aren’t so secret anymore.

Unfortunately, the roads leading to it aren’t so smooth, so again the buzz phrase when we bought our tickets was “One concession, one adult and toilets” but this time I added “and not necessarily in that order”.

Sept 22
The cottage that the bunker “hides” under
Sept 22
Page from The Courier
Sept 22
Inside the bunker
Sept 22
Barracks room inside the bunker
Sept 22
Bulletin board with related photos and articles
Another bulletin board
Another bulletin board
Sept 22
The chapel
Sept 22
The switchboard
Sept 22
A place to take selfies… or of each other
Sept 22
A place to take selfies… or of each other
Sept 22
A “rat” on the conduit
Sept 22
Military vehicles outside

Finally, we reached our destination for the night. When I booked, I thought we’d get the same room as last year but this time we got one on the ground floor at the front of the hotel (corner of Queen Street and Claypotts/Westfield Road). Finally, a place where we didn’t have to lug everything up at least one flight of stairs!

Sept 22
Our room at the Hotel Broughty Ferry
Sept 22
Our room at the Hotel Broughty Ferry and our champagne waiting for our arrival
Sept 22
In the bar at the Hotel Broughty Ferry where we had our evening meal

Tomorrow morning, we’re catching the train in Dundee to Edinburgh where we’ll spend the day with our good friend (fellow author and crime writer), Chris Longmuir.