Day 5 - Coastal Trail

This day we started out early from Aberdeen, driving north along the coastal trail. Our first stop was in the little fishing village of Cruden Bay, where mom and dad walked on the beach even though it was extremely cold out there. But you just can't keep mom away from the ocean when she sees it. I'm sure it felt a little odd to her to be walking on the sandy beach wearing tennis shoes, winter jacket, hood, and gloves. But she enjoyed it anyway.


Continuing north, we came to the ruins of Slain's Castle, the castle that inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula. I'd already been there, but forgot how long of a walk it is from the car park to the actual castle. When we pulled into the car park, Dad decided not to stop there but to drive down the MUDDY dirt road as far as he could so that it would shorten the walk for Mom and Papa. I was so scared we would get stuck in the mud, and I don't know whether we were supposed to drive down there or not, but we did it. The rental car was COVERED in mud by the time we left there! It was worth the effort, too, because that was probably Papa's favorite castle. He climbed up towers, and really enjoyed seeing the cliffs. It was a gorgeous day (though cold), and the view from the castle is spectacular. We all really liked being there, and we spent a lot more time there than I expected.

After that, we drove further up the coast to Fraserburg and went to the Scottish Lighthouse Museum and the Kinnairds Head Lighthouse. It was the first time any of us had ever been up in a lighthouse. Our guide told us all about the history of that particular lighthouse, which was built in a castle, how the lighthouse works and is maintained, and then took us up to the top to where the light is and allowed us to go out on the balcony. So cool! Literally, actually - it was freezing up there! But we had fun anyway.


From there the coast turned to the west, and we drove along some very windy, hilly, country roads to get to the tiny fishing villages of Pennan and Crovie. They are very picturesque little villages built right on the sea, and the cliffs surrounding them are incredible. In Crovie (pronounced cri-vie) there is no access by car to the main part of the village. The residents have to park at the end, and they use wheelbarrows to transport items down to their homes!


We ended our tour of the coast in Banff & MacDuff, which were rather disappointing after the sights we'd seen earlier. Then we headed back inland towards home via the incredible Fyvie Castle. This was one of the few non-ruined castles we saw during the trip. Fyvie is a huge castle, with an amazing front door, and the grounds are lovely. I was pleased that we were able to see it before the sun set.We finally arrived back in Aberdeen and prepared to depart the next morning for St. Andrews. This was our last night in Aberdeen. From there the adventures really began! Check back later for details about our trip to St. Andrews on Day 6.