A HOT BED FOR THE JACOBEAN CAUSE
One of my passions (amongst many - and not a peep out of you Mr.Killen), is Castles.
Living in Northern Ireland, regularly visiting the Republic of Ireland and trotting over to Scotland I have more than enough castles to keep me amused.
So looking through my photos from the past nearly 5 years of living here, I have managed to upload the grand total of three Castles.
Going to have to address that little discrepancy !
So first on my list is the gorgeous, very photogenic Eilean Donan Castle which is on the way to the Isle of Skye.
I always thought the film Entrapment with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones was filmed here, in fact I would have bet money on it. Wrong!!!
The first Highlander film was filmed here and I must have got it into my head that most films were filmed here. The owners of the castle would have loved every film to be made here!!
What totally took me by surprise is that it is incredibly close to the road. Yes it is on its own little island, but that too is incredibly close to the road!!! I had this romantic notion that the island was in the middle of the Loch and only accessible by boat.
As usual with most castles, especially in this area of Scotland, it has had a very checkered past.
It downfall came in 1719 when its owners were discovered to be part of the Jacobean Cause to bring Bonnie Prince Charlie back from exile and plonk him on the throne.
For this little indiscretion the castle was blown to bits and lay in ruins for 200 years.
Fast forward to 1911 and Lieutenant Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap bought the ruins and spent the next 20 years making it into his home. No doubt many locals (and believe me its not the most inhabited of places) thought he was totally bonkers.
But, bless him he did it and even reduced his carbon footprint by using most of the stone left behind.
We arrived here quite early as we were heading to the Isle of Skye for the day and despite the awful weather, the place was heaving with tourists, one of my pet dislikes.
As we weren't actually going into the castle, I got away from the throng of people in the carpark and discovered a little place where I could get a decent shot with minimal people.
I must have a sign with neon lights over my head because from nowhere I had a van load of very rude tourists trying to push me out of the way.
Once those hiking boots get embedded into the mud, there is NO moving me and I must admit the urge to shove them into the Loch was very, very strong.
Truly I am a nice person!!
A HOT BED FOR THE JACOBEAN CAUSE
One of my passions (amongst many - and not a peep out of you Mr.Killen), is Castles.
Living in Northern Ireland, regularly visiting the Republic of Ireland and trotting over to Scotland I have more than enough castles to keep me amused.
So looking through my photos from the past nearly 5 years of living here, I have managed to upload the grand total of three Castles.
Going to have to address that little discrepancy !
So first on my list is the gorgeous, very photogenic Eilean Donan Castle which is on the way to the Isle of Skye.
I always thought the film Entrapment with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones was filmed here, in fact I would have bet money on it. Wrong!!!
The first Highlander film was filmed here and I must have got it into my head that most films were filmed here. The owners of the castle would have loved every film to be made here!!
What totally took me by surprise is that it is incredibly close to the road. Yes it is on its own little island, but that too is incredibly close to the road!!! I had this romantic notion that the island was in the middle of the Loch and only accessible by boat.
As usual with most castles, especially in this area of Scotland, it has had a very checkered past.
It downfall came in 1719 when its owners were discovered to be part of the Jacobean Cause to bring Bonnie Prince Charlie back from exile and plonk him on the throne.
For this little indiscretion the castle was blown to bits and lay in ruins for 200 years.
Fast forward to 1911 and Lieutenant Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap bought the ruins and spent the next 20 years making it into his home. No doubt many locals (and believe me its not the most inhabited of places) thought he was totally bonkers.
But, bless him he did it and even reduced his carbon footprint by using most of the stone left behind.
We arrived here quite early as we were heading to the Isle of Skye for the day and despite the awful weather, the place was heaving with tourists, one of my pet dislikes.
As we weren't actually going into the castle, I got away from the throng of people in the carpark and discovered a little place where I could get a decent shot with minimal people.
I must have a sign with neon lights over my head because from nowhere I had a van load of very rude tourists trying to push me out of the way.
Once those hiking boots get embedded into the mud, there is NO moving me and I must admit the urge to shove them into the Loch was very, very strong.
Truly I am a nice person!!