Day 14 (July 28): Castles and Ice Cream

The day of departure dawned, and I was up at 6:00 to have a few minutes of quiet before breakfast and the rush of packing. We tried to finish off all that was in the fridge, bravely downing a dozen eggs among the four of us, as much toast and jam as we could handle, great pots of tea, and fruit with yogurt. Then the great wash-up, the flurry of packing leftover food as well as our belongings, and tidying up as best we could. Good-bye, dear Rosedale.

And good-bye, picturesque Falkland:

We were out the door by 10:15 (a bit past the deadline, but pretty good for five people after a big breakfast). Because we weren’t due in Dundee for Scriptoria registration and ice cream social until 5:30 p.m., we took Arielle’s suggestion and drove two hours on the coastal road to Dunratton Castle. The views of the North Sea to the east, the hills to the west, and the golden wheat fields were glorious—especially the shining white-gold of the fields against the deep, brilliant blue of the water. If I hadn’t been driving, I’d have taken so many pictures…

The ruins of Dunratton Castle sit atop a peninsula that juts out over the ocean, a massive rock formation connected by only a slender walkway to the mainland. This served as a near-impregnable stronghold for the Scots over the centuries, particularly when Oliver Cromwell besieged it for over half a year, attempting to wrest the Scottish crown jewels from their hiding place. In a darker moment, over a hundred Covenanters were later imprisoned here in abysmal conditions; many did not survive.

We were blessed with warm, sunny weather instead of the predicted rain, and took far too many pictures as we explored this fascinating ruin.

Reluctantly we took our leave and returned to the cars. Driving the faster motorway down to Dundee, we arrived close to 5:00, found our rooms at the Malmaison Dundee, located parking garages for our cars (about $20/day), and entered Gilfillan Memorial Church, which is almost next door to the hotel. The social time was a blur for me, due to travel fatigue, but it was a good time to meet up with Kristy Quist (fellow poet) and our workshop leader, Linda Nemec Foster. 

Returning to the hotel room and ready to crash, we ran into a problem. Instead of a twin room (two single beds), the hotel gave us a queen bed and a rollaway cot. Arielle, who is sharing the room with me, agreed that this was not acceptable. We spent the night in the queen bed, I tossing and turning and unable to sleep. Finally around 4 a.m. I went to the cot and managed to sleep a few hours before breakfast. We will have to deal with this!