7 October: Fine arts and quirky details at Fyvie Castle

The past couple of weeks have been spent showing visitors from Norway the best of Scotland, or at least as much as is possible during a long weekend. Our excursions included Dunottar castle, Haddo House, Lochnagar Distillery, a trip to Edinburgh and of course visits to Aberdeen.

YO! Sushi has been a great hit with our visitors and a another meal there was at the top of my in-laws' wishlist when they came back to visit us in September. Two days after my in-laws left I was back at YO! Sushi with one of my Norwegian friends and her 11-year-old daughter. Both of them loved the food and the concept.

Fyvie Castle - a fairytale castle

Only 45 minutes by car from our house is an amazing fairytale castle - Fyvie Castle. Before visiting Fyvie I had seen 14 castles, 2 palaces and 2 stately homes, giving a total of 18 amazing homes (and I still wanted to see more!). In addition to this we've seen 8 cathedrals/chapels/abbeys, Fort George and a fair few museums. No wonder the kids feel they've seen just about every castle in Scotland.

With friends and family back in Norway and my kids making it very clear that they'd had enough of castles for now, I was very happy that my Algerian friend agreed to go to Fyvie Castle with me. I'm not very interested in ghosts, so I won't write about the ghost stories connected to Fyvie Castle, if you're interested you can easily find this information online.

On the hands of five different families

Fyvie Castles first building was a royal lodge, built by William the Lion in the 13th century. A curtain wall was later added to create a huge courtyard and the castle had a succession of royal visitors, including Alexander II (1222), Edward I of England (1296), and Robert the Bruce in 1308.

In 1380 Fyvie was sold by the crown to the Lindsay family, but it quickly passed to the Preston family. It was the Prestons who made the first major changes to Fyvie, and they built the oldest surviving part of the current castle, the Preston Tower, at the south east corner. This tower dates to between 1390 and 1433.

In the 15th century Sir Alexander Meldrum added his own tower at the south west corner. Much of the current building, however, was the work of the Seton family, who added the impressive main entrance, with a high arched doorway flanked by twin drum towers. The Setons made the mistake of supporting the Jacobite cause, and in 1690 they were outlawed.

Fyvie then passed to the powerful Gordon family, Earls of Aberdeen, and they added yet another tower, to the north. In 1885 Alexander Forbes-Leith, a steel tycoon, purchased Fyvie with his American wife. They added a final tower, and, more importantly, restored the interiors and furnished Fyvie in a grand style.

A guided tour of the castle

Together with three other visitors we enjoyed a guided tour of the castle. The guide was very knowledgable and eager to share his knowledge with us. I get so inspired by guides like him, he was truly passionate about his job. In the end I think he had to skip a room or two in order to get back in time to take the next group on their tour of the castle.

Fyvie Castle has been a National Trust for Scotland property since 1984, when the Laird of Fyvie, Sir Andrew Forbes-Leith, sold the property to them. I assume it was because the castle was in such good condition when it was taken over by the Trust that it still feels a bit like a family home.

Exquisite interior, with a twist

The interior of the castle is magnificent, including beautiful four-poster beds and exquisitely carved furniture. The door we entered to get into the reception hall and the rest of the castle has the largest key I've ever seen - it's massive! In the reception hall there is also a smiling suit of armour, but I though it just looks creepy.

The piece of furniture that fascinated me the most was in one of the en-suite  bathrooms. It was a toilet that looks like a normal chair. When you want to go to the toilet, you lift the chair's seat - this is the toilet seat lid.

The library has a very large collection of large, old books - they are even stacked on the floor. In addition the library has a number of busts, including the death mask of a murderer who was hung. The mark left by the noose is quite visible on the neck of the bust. I found it rather macabre - I certainly wouldn't fancy a bust like that in my house.

Impressive collection of paintings

Fyvie Castle has a rich portrait collection, including works by Batoni, Romney, Opie, Gainsborough, Lawrence and Hoppner. The castle also boasts one of the largest private collections of Raeburn paintings in the world, it has 13 Raeburns. Among the most famous Raeburn paintings at Fyvie are Portrait of Thomas Reid and Portrait of Isabella McLeod, Mrs. James Gregory.

I rather enjoyed the Raeburns, but I was most intrigued by the Pompeo Batoni painting of Colonel William Gordon - there is such a mismatch between the upper and lower body. It almost looks like two paintings have been combined to make this one.

A cup of tea and back home to the kids

After our guided tour we only had time for a quick cup of tea before we had to head back home to pick up the children from school.

I guess it's more correct to say that my friend picks up her children from their school in Kingswells, mine have to walk home on their own. After all, it's only a ten minute walk for my boys.

23 September: A day at the beach

Monday 23 September was a local holiday, which meant the boys had a day off school. The boys and I spent the day with our French friends and had another fantastic day with them. The children get on extremely well and so do the adults, so it was the perfect way of spending the day.

A piece of Australia in Scotland

My oldest son was running late with his school project on  dinosaurs which was due the next day, so we got up at 07:00 so he could finish his presentation before we went to the beach. He worked really hard all morning and a little after 11:00 we decided it was enough for the moment.


After picking up our French friends, we all drove to Newburgh beach, just over half an hour from where we live. We parked at the car park close to the estuary of River Ythan. A short walk took us down to the beach.

What a surprise we got when we arrived at the beach - it was like being back in Australia where we spent our Christmas holidays last year. The weather was nice and warm and the beach was just like an Australian beach with sand dunes as far as the eye could see. Amazing!

Getting close to the seals

Another novelty of this beach is all the seals in the estuary. There must have been more than 30 all together, from the inner to the outer parts of the river mouth. It was the first time my boys and I have seen seals in the wild, so we were extremely thrilled. I took lots and lots of photos of these lovely, playful creatures.

It was such a lovely day, so many people came to look at the seals and to go for a walk along the beautiful beach. We had our picnic and stayed for hours, but most people just went for a walk along the beach, so it was never really crowded.

Swimming in September

The boys were all thrilled with the sand dunes and the beach and soon they were running up and down the dunes. We managed to get them to have a quick lunch before they were back in the dunes, running up and jumping down. I think they played a number of games, including 'Hide and seek'.

As with most children, our boys are attracted to water, so after a while they were down on the beach, playing at the edge of the water. As expected, it didn't take them long to get their trousers wet. The weather was nice and warm, so the wet clothes were quickly stripped off and they continued to play until they all were only wearing their boxer shorts.

At this stage my oldest son decided it was a good idea to get his underwear wet too. When asked what he intended to wear on the way back home, he had no answer. This didn't put the others off and soon all the boys were running around soaked to the skin.

By the time we left their clothes were only damp, so we put their trousers in plastic bags, wiped off as much sand as possible and let the boys sit in the car with only their T-shirts on. They were extremely happy with their day at the beach.

 

The constant gardener

When we got home my oldest son continued to work on his school project, while I cut the grass. On Friday our French friends had been over for dinner and while we were eating the husband was looking out of the window and said:"You're not a very keen gardener, are you?"

This is of course true. Strictly speaking I have lots of time to spend in the garden, but I still keep putting off cutting the grass. I decided to cut the grass before my in-laws arrive on Wednesday, so the only thing they can comment on is: "You're not a very keen housewife, are you?"

The garden does look much better after the grass has been cut, though the shrubbery could do with a proper cutting. I'm afraid I'll end up killing them through sheer ignorance, so I've decided to leave it for our landlord to fix after we've left the country.

22 September: Fishing at Raemoir Trout Fishery

Our French friends had invited us to go fishing with them, which I thought was an excellent idea. My boys are fond of fishing but we don't go very often. I'm not really patient enough to enjoy fishing, which is one of the reasons our boys haven't gone very often. I feel I should take them fishing a lot more, it's one of those things you do with your kids isn't it? It's all about giving them great childhood memories.

The Fishery

Sunday morning we followed our friends to the Raemoir Trout Fishery, which is less than 30 minutes by car from our house. I'm used to fishing in lakes or in the sea, or angling for mackerel from our boat, so the concept of a 'fishery' was new to me. 

Going fishing in a fishery is extremely effortless. Instead of walking for hours or driving your boat to get to where the fish are, you just park your car in the car park just outside the fishery. 

No need for sturdy walking boots and backpacks full of clothes, food, drinks and bait. You can bring your food in a basket and wear high heeled shoes if you like. And no need to worry about bait - you get that at the fishery and then just stroll over to your allocated pond. You can be in nature in an 'urban way'.

Easy for the fishermen - and for the tag-along

The fishery we went to has three small ponds/lochs with lots of fish. Two of the lochs are for fly fishing, the last one is for regular fishing (or whatever it's called - I don't know much about fishing).
Around the ponds there are a number of small, timber platforms you can fish from if you like, or you can just stand at the edge of the grass and fish. Behind the narrow area where the fishermen (and -women) stand is a lawn, where you can relax if you don't want to go fishing. There are also benches and tables where you can sit down to eat your food.

 As a visitor, all you have to do is to bring your fishing gear, pay to fish and off you go. Extremely simple and straightforward. We didn't have our fishing equipment here in Scotland, so we rented rods and went over to the pond allocated for regular fishing.  
 

Indian Summer

 










We had a FANTASTIC day! The sun was shining all day and it was more than 20 degrees the whole day - it felt like it was July, not the end of September. 

The boys were quick to start fishing and they were all very eager and concentrated. They had been given sweet corn as bait, which I've never tried before. The boys didn't catch anything, though we did see others catching a few fish.

The feast

After the first excitement had worn off a bit, the boys were hungry. Our friends put their picnic blanket on the ground and then we put all the lovely food and drinks in the middle - it was a true feast.

After we'd had our sandwiches, fruit and vegetables, out came the cakes. 

 

The boys and I had baked cupcakes before we went fishing. We had decorated the cakes with icing, but we didn't have any sprinkles at home. 

On our way to meet our friends, we bought sprinkles. When it was time for cake, everyone decorated their own cupcakes. This was a great success - the boys loved it!

A full day of fishing and playing

When the boys were full they went back to fishing again. None of the boys caught anything and they were a bit annoyed that one of the newcomers caught a fish withing 15 minutes of arrival, but what can you do? He was probably a better fisherman than any of us.

After a while the boys grew tired of fishing and went to play around the fishery while we relaxed on the picnic rug. It was so nice and warm, I almost fell asleep on that rug.

Better luck with worms

While we were relaxing, one of the men working at the fishery came around and offered us worms as bait instead of the sweet corn. He said the fish tend to get sick and tired of sweet corn after a while.

Our friends' youngest boy was the only child around at the time, but he was keen to have a go with one of the worms. In less than five minutes he had caught a nice trout and he was extremely happy. 

After the fish had been brought out of the water and had been beaten around the head with a small hammer, we sent the boy off to notify the others. We expected the boys to come running immediately, but by that time the others were too busy playing to be bothered to go back to fishing, even if it was with worms. 
 
It took them quite a while to come back, and when they finally came it seemed the 'worm effect' had worn off. However, my oldest son  did manage to catch a trout too - it's the smallest catch I've ever seen, see photo. 

No need to end the party yet

We were at the fishery for 5 hours and we only left because it was time for dinner. The weather was still fantastic and the boys had been fishing and playing all day. My boys wanted to stay longer, but the other two boys had had enough. 

The children didn't want to part quite yet, so in the end they were all chatting happily away in my car as we drove to our friends' house. We had a lovely salmon dinner together and it was quite late before we called it a day and went home to bed. What a fantastic day!

14 September: Climbing the peaks of Bennachie

Saturday morning both our boys had football matches at 10:00, but at different locations. I managed to get a lift for our youngest son and then my husband and I went to see our oldest son play his first football match ever.

A fantastic debut

Despite the fact that it was now the middle of September, there still was some heat left in the sun, which we as parents appreciated - it makes watching our kids play much more comfortable.

When the game started we cried out encouragements to the children in our team. Not all the feedback was appreciated by the kids. One annoyed boy yelled back at his dad in frustration over one of the many instructions his dad had called out. Unfortunately some parents get a bit too ambitious on behalf of their children, though of course they only mean to help.

How many players on each team?

The game started really well for our team, until the referee suddenly discovered that our team had one player too many! No wonder we were doing so well.

Even after we had one boy removed, it was an even game. Unfortunately our team ended up loosing 0 - 2, but it could easily have been the other way around. Both teams played really well and there was some great teamwork going on out there on the field.

A great boost for the ego

Our son was goalie and this was his first game. He clearly loved this position and finally being able to play for his team, he was almost radiating with joy.

After the game each team coach hands out a Gold card to the best player on the other team. Imagine the joy our son felt when he got this card in his first game ever! If he hadn't had ears his smile would have gone all the way around his head.

As a mum I was so happy for him, he's had a few challenges while we've been here so it was extra nice that he got this encouragement. 

A cup of tea and a change of plans

After the game we went to pick up our youngest son. We ended up having tea and discussing our planned walk up Bennachie, among other things, with the friendly father who had been so kind to give our son a lift to the match.

Based on his recommendations we chose a slightly different route than the one I had originally planned. Instead of the short, steep route from Bennachie Visitor Centre, we were advised to take the longer route from Bennachie Rowan Tree, as this offered better views of the surrounding landscapes.

Hiking up to Mither Tap

A couple of hours later than originally planned, we were finally ready to climb Mither Tap (518 metres), the second highest peak of Bennachie.

Even though Oxen Craig is 10 metres higher, Mither Tap is definitely the most popular summit. This is the most prominent peak in Bennachie, it is easily reached and it has an Iron Age hillfort on its summit.

Charcoal found at the fort is radiocarbon dated to somewhere between 340 AD and 780 AD, suggesting that the fort was used during Pictish times. However, it is possible that the construcion of the fort began in the Iron Age.

The rewarding walk to the summit

As advised by the friendly father, we started our hike from Bennachie Rowan Tree Car park. The paths were not very steep, but we soon left the forest and were rewarded with the great views we had been promised. We could see for miles and miles, even though we were not more than half way up Bennachie.


The children were not too keen on the hike. They were both a bit tired after their football matches and a late night on Friday, which we had spent with our Polish/Dutch neighbours across the road. We used encouragement, distractions and plenty of bribing to get hem going, but once we got them going they were fine.

It took us only an hour to reach Mither Tap and the view from the top was stunning. In the clear weather we could see Lochnagar, among many other peaks in the distance.

Might as well do the other peaks while we're at it

With the great weather and the beautiful landscape, we just couldn't call it a day quite yet. I really wanted to climb Oxen Craig (528 metres) and it was so easy to reach now that we were at Mither Tap. But could we convince the kids?

 

Bribing and other dirty tricks

Our oldest son was easily bribed to continue to Oxen Craig, but our youngest son was not happy with his parents when this slight change of plans was mentioned briefly. He was not happy at all! The bribing had to be combined with a few mild threats before he gave in.

Once on board, both boys kept up a decent pace and we soon had a very nice walk over to Oxen Craig and the magnificent views this peak offered.

Skipping through the heather

From Oxen Craig we chose the path we thought was the quickest path from Oxen Craig to Little Oxen Craig (410 metres). We soon discovered that we were wrong.

The path we had chosen was not very much longer, it just turned in the wrong direction for a while, before it crossed the path we needed to be on to reach the summit. It was getting a bit late and I didn't want to push the boys more than necessary, they had been so good.

We all agreed that our best option would be to cut across the heather to get us back to the track that would take us up to Little Oxen Craig. The boys ran and fell and had a great time running through the heather. I think this made them forgive us for dragging them up to Oxen Craig in the first place.

The rest of the walk was easy and fast. We had very short stops at Little Oxen Craig and Craigshannoch to admire the view, but it was past my normal dinner time and I was getting very hungry. I don't handle hunger and low blood sugar very well, so I was desperate for something more filling than muesli bars and mints.

Food... Now!

I needed food quickly, so we had a pub dinner at Inverurie. The food wasn't great, but it filled me up and made me a nicer person to be with.

Our oldest son claimed he was too old to get the kids menu, so he bought a sausage with chips from the main menu. The sausage was the longest one I've ever seen. By the time he had finished the sausage, he was unable to finish his chips - clearly this meal was for bigger guys than him.

31 August: Strong winds at the top of Lochnagar

Friday night we had dinner at home and then drove to Ballater Caravan Park. Lochnagar is only an hours drive from our house, but the boys love sleeping in a tent so we decided to spend the night at Ballater.

A fascinating thing about this caravan park is that it's located almost in the middle of Ballater - we could have walked from our tent to the shops in just five minutes.

Getting ready for the hike

After buying a map in Ballater, we headed off to Lochnagar, which is located in the Cairngorms National Park. 

The nature in this national park, or at least the part we were in, is a bit like Dovrefjell National Park in Norway. The mountains are fairly tall, but before you start climbing the summits you have gained quite a few metres during your hike on soft, gentle paths that are not very steep.

Interesting displays at the Lochnagar Visitor Centre

The Lochnagar Visitor Centre is in Glen Muick (a 'glen' is a valley), approx half an hour by car from Ballater, which is the nearest town. It turned out that the visitor centre had a very interesting display about the area and the animals that live in the area. After studying the displays for a while, we started our hike.

A walk in the park compared to Ben Nevis?

The start of our hike was a flat path across the wide and open glen, before the path took us through a tranquil wood and then gradually got steeper as we started the ascent of the Allt na Guibhsaich. The path was not very steep and easy to follow, so with the fresh memory of the hike up Ben Nevis, I expected this hike to be a walk in the park.

What I had forgotten to take into consideration was the motivation of our kids. There were far fewer people doing this hike and it did not take our boys long to start asking for snacks, drinks and other reasons to stop.

The mental challenge

It turned out that even though the physical challenge was much smaller this time, the parenting/motivational challenge was all the greater. I think the kids were less motivated simply by the fact that there were far fewer people to compete with. For the first half of the hike, both my husband and I had to work hard to motivate the boys and also try to avoid yelling at them in frustration over all the nagging and complaining.

One really good thing about our boys is that even though they may be hard to convince at the beginning of a hike (or a cross country skiing trip for that matter), they're really great once we've been through a few hiccups at the start. And that's what happened this time too, thank goodness.

The boys are such great walkers and in the end we hiked around 19 km in 8 hours, so it was a long day. But the boys were happy and singing by the time we were descending. But first back to our climb up the mountain.

It gets steeper, colder and wetter

The path got gradually steeper and after a sunny start to our hike, we started to get rain spells and gradually more wind. In between the rain spells, the sun was out and it was quite nice, though the wind was getting pretty fierce.

As we started to climb 'The Ladder', a steep boulder field that takes you to the plateau that you need to cross before climbing the summit, we experienced heavy rain and gusts of wind so strong it almost knocked us off our feet. Our youngest son actually fell once and I had to lean hard against the wind to avoid falling. There was no chance I was going to get my camera out in these conditions!

Cold and miserable

It seemed the strong winds were created by the shape of the mountain, because once we were at the top of 'The Ladder', the wind was less fierce and soon it also stopped raining.

By now the boys had become quite cold and were not very keen on taking off their waterproof clothing in order to put on more woolen underwear and fleece clothes. However, once this had been done, they were nice and warm again and their spirits were immediately lifted - it's no fun being cold.

It's true - it's tough at the top!

After we got past 'The Ladder', the next part of the hike was fairly easy, both physically and mentally. The final climb took us up to the windy summit of Lochnagar, the Cac Carn Beag.

At the summit it was almost impossible to stand upright, as you can tell from the picture I've included. We didn't stay long at the peak, but it was good fun leaning against the extremely strong wind. It really makes me humble when I experience the power of  nature like we did here.

A pleasant stroll back

For our hike down from Lochnagar, we chose a slightly different route from the one we took going up. The descent had no steep parts, just a smooth walk down to the lake of Loch Muick. On our way down we once again had to cross the narrow strip of forest, before reaching the lake.

The final part of our hike was along the shores of Loch Muick, where we followed the gravel road to the other end of the lake, where our car was parked.

On this pleasant stroll, where the kids were happily skipping and singing, we came across some fascinating caterpillars on the gravel. We spent some time studying them before proceeding on our idyllic walk back to the car. By now the atmosphere was so harmonic, you could almost hear Julie Andrews sing 'The hills are alive with the sound of music'.

25 August: Riding the 'Harry Potter train'

Crying children (not mine, thank goodness!) woke me up before 06:00 and I couldn't sleep after that. That's one of the charms of camping at a camp site.

The good thing about waking early was that we had no trouble making it to the 10:15 departure of  'The Jacobite Train', also known as 'The Harry Potter train'.

A ride through magnificent landscapes

At the train station in Fort William, a lot of people had turned up to wave us off, or so I liked to think. A more likely explanation was that they came to admire and take photos of the charming old steam train.

As the steam train left the station in Fort William, the sun was shining, the sky was blue and all colours in nature were strong and vibrant. We were ready to see Scotland from its best side.

We had four seats around a big, old-fashioned table. As soon as the train left the station I got out our bread, houmous, cheese, soft drinks, strawberries etc., preparing for a gourmet breakfast. I'm afraid the other passengers may not have liked all the clutter, but everyone was too polite to say anything so we were free to enjoy our food and the superb view.

Splendid views

The train ride started in Fort William, with a nice view of Ben Nevis and the other mountains in the area. We drove along the Firth of Lorn and past a beautiful old lock, before we once again were in a landscape with mountains and lochs that looked a bit like some parts of Western Norway.

The train ride included a stop at Glenfinnan station, a charming old station which was now the home to the West Highland Railway Museum. It was nice to have half an hour in the sun, it seemed a shame to spend such a warm, sunny day travelling. But on the other hand, nature would have been a little less vibrant and colourful on a grey and rainy day.

Visiting Mallaig

As we got closer to the coast, we started seeing beautiful white beaches and soon the landscape opened up to the great Atlantic Ocean and the islands of Rum, Eigg, Muck, Canna and Skye.

Our end station was Mallaig, where the train was 'refueled' with more coal. The passengers were allowed a couple of hours to take a look at the town and to get some food before returning to Fort William. We had dinner in a local pub, but this time the food was extremely bland - adding some spices would have helped a lot.

Back on the train again we once more enjoyed the scenery. With the soft huffing-puffing noises of the steam engine it was difficult to stay awake after dinner, but there was too much to see for me to allow myself to fall asleep.

Harry Potters viaduct

Despite all the splendid scenery, the highlight of the train ride was the magnificent 21-arched Glenfinnan viaduct. The viaduct was made famous by the Harry Potter movies, where we see the Hogwarts Express train cross the viaduct as Harry and his friends travel to start a new year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It doesn't take long to cross the bridge, but it is still the highlight as it is such a beautiful construction.

When we left the train in Fort William, we quickly got in our car and started the long drive home, This time we had a smooth ride and got home just in time for the boys' bedtime.

For more background information on the train ride and the viaduct, I have embedded a YouTube video from the BBC which was rather interesting and not too long.