After tearing ourselves away from the view we journeyed a little bit down the hill to a short walk that culminated in a nice statue of William Wallace, put up by the Earl of Buchan, a raging egomaniac that people generally didn't have too many good things to say about. They do give him kudos, however, for working hard to preserve castles and general interest in Scottish history. His Wallace statue was nothing too spectacular, but the walk to it was quite fun, with Casey chasing several squirrels - some real, some imaginary.
Our next stop was the first of the resplendent Border Abbeys - Dryburgh. Dryburgh Abbey probably takes the cake in terms of being scenically situated. While it is in a very advanced state of decay, the parts that are left give you an the definite impression that it must have been very beautiful when it was all in one piece. There were also great little interpretive stations that gave you a neat idea of what life must have been like for the monks living there so long ago. We had a great time climbing all over the ruins in one of the better sunny patches of the day.
In keeping with the Walter Scott theme of the day we attempted to go to Abbottsford, his old home. Unfortunately it was being renovated, with a great new visitor's centre being added, so we couldn't get in. A view from the parking lot showed it would likely have been quite an interesting place to poke around in. But instead of allowing it to ruin our day we simply pushed on to the next attraction - Jedburgh Abbey.
Jedburgh Abbey was the greatest of the Border Abbeys and if we had to choose only one to go and visit, we would likely recommend this one. A large portion of it is still standing, and much of the rest of the complex has been well excavated and contains lots of interesting tidbits. The ruins themselves are magnificent and awe inspiring. It really is amazing what people can build. There was this little doorway down one side of the building that had all these little badges carved into it, with each badge carrying a separate story or image.
After Jedburgh Abbey we found a sunny patch of green grass and opened up our picnic. There was hot soup, sandwiches, cakes and crisps. There were actual china plates and nice cups for the hot chocolate as well. It was a proper, civilised picnic, as they used to due in the golden age of civilisation, except with no servants to carry the basket.
Our next stop was Smailholm Tower, a bleak and desolate four storey tower built on a nearby hill. It commanded magnificent views of all the surroundings, so much better to see the Border Rovers coming, I guess. We weren't really expecting much as it wasn't a large property or anything, but it was a nice surprise. We found ourselves climbing yet another flight of stairs, and each floor of the tower was kitted out with dioramas from Scott's plays and poems. The rooms were surprisingly large and well-lit. The highlight was the parapet on the top floor where you could look out over the moor-lands. We chose a side that was out of the wind and just drank it all in. Behind us the roof angled up, covered in a fresh coat of sod, which was apparently how they would have done it back then.
Our last stop of the day was to be Floors Castle, but we made a pit stop first at a small pottery to view some of the work done by the local artists. It was really nice and we ended up buying a charger to go with the one we bought in Tain and the one we bought in Florence.
Floors Castle is the largest inhabited castle in Scotland. It is absolutely humungous. They were having their Easter Egg-stravaganza so we had to do some work in keeping Casey off all the hard boiled eggs lying around on the property. We took her for a proper walk through the surrounding sheep pastures, where the ewes all stopped to give her a long, hard look. Casey was more interested in getting to the river, where she took a good long walk in the shallows.
Once she had her fill we let her sleep it off in the car while we toured the castle. We were pretty much the last tour of the day so we had most rooms to ourselves. This was cool because the docents had lots of time and told us endless stories of the dukes and the castle. It quickly emerged that there was a theme, and it surrounded the 9th Duchess, referred to everywhere as "the American" and her re-design of the castle rooms. It was quite clear that she was not well liked by the locals. By the end, we weren't big fans either. Apparently she had inherited some old tapestries and wanted to display them in her new castle, so she convinced her husband, the Duke, to strip the rooms down and make them plainer so that her tapestries would stand out. While the rooms were still quite grand, you could tell that at one time they had been much grander. It was a pity that she left the Bird Room untouched. That was enough to creep anyone out - an entire room filled with stuffed birds - from eagles to hummingbirds, all stuffed and put behind glass.
All in all, the castle was a sight to behold and we are glad we did the tour. It's only a pity that the tour encompassed a small part of the castle, I'm sure there was much more to see. We got back to the hotel that evening completely wiped out but quite fulfilled. We had hit almost all of our Borders targets. The next day we slept in a little and packed up our stuff. We had breakfast in the main lodge next to these two ultra-posh guys dressed in sportsmen's tweed and talking about rugby and fishing. When they met another old fishing buddy they exchanged pleasantries before parting with "and tight lines to you today." It was all very proper.
The car ride home was easy and pleasant as we rediscovered the classical section of our iPod music selection. We made only one stop, at the antique market in Abernyte, where we bought the perfect mantle clock. We had been searching for one for quite some time and now the house fills with a pleasant ticking and stately chimes at the top and bottom of every hour. I also bought an old book written by Earnest Shackleton about his Antarctic adventures. It smells so old and musty - I can't wait to crack it open. There will be little time for reading, however, as it is a short week. We flew off to Orkney on Thursday night. I'm glad I'm finally caught up on the Borders' posts because there should be a flood of good Orkney stuff coming in the next couple of days.
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