Exploring Aldourie Castle

We arrived in Scotland on Saturday afternoon.  The other girls had also arrived the same day and they all wanted to relax for the evening, so we went to the local grocery store, picked up food for the next day, and spent time getting to know one another.  For Sunday we decided to take it easy, sleeping in and then planning on what we were going to be doing for the next week.

By around noon I was getting antsy and wanted to explore, so Emily and I went for a walk.  After the non-stop pace in Japan and Amsterdam, it felt as though we were wasting away our time in the cottage.  I vented my frustration with Emily, who took what I was saying personally (I hadn't meant for that), and we had a little argument.  It was the only time the whole trip that we really got upset with one another.  We gave each other a short time to cool off, and afterward, I think we were closer for it.  I realized that our pace was going to be quite a bit lazier with the five of us, and once I adjusted my thinking, I took advantage of that and got plenty of sleep--after all, I hadn't really been able to sleep in over five months since before River was born.  Having a newborn really wrecks your sleep, and the bed in the cottage was really comfortable.  I was still going through postpartum stuff, and although I don't get depression, I do go through a phase that I call "baby coma," where I tend to be a little more withdrawn and quiet.  While we we go-go-go in Japan and Amsterdam, I didn't really notice it, but when we were just chilling with the other girls, I found I was too tired/restless to sit down and play endless games of Monopoly with the others.  I found myself falling asleep and just being aloof, which isn't like me.  At the time I didn't catch it for what it was--I just thought all the lack of sleep was finally catching up to me. 

As Emily and I explored the castle grounds, we met up with the rest of the group, who had finally ventured out of the cottage to look around as well.  Since we were staying in the cottages on the castle grounds, we were given free reign to explore, and we took advantage of it.  

Aldourie Castle:
Aldourie Castle is located just on the shoreline of Loch Ness, within 500 acres of private estate, and has become part of the incredible landscape of the Scottish Highlands.
An idyllic and enchanting setting, Aldourie Castle is just 6 miles from the Highlands’ capital city of Inverness, on the south shores of Loch Ness, the most iconic Loch in the world and home to the Highland Games. Hidden amongst wilderness you could be anywhere yet just minutes away guests have instant access to the main travel networks.

Aldourie Castle is of Scottish Baronial style and Grade A listed property. It was originally known as a 17^th Century mansion house and was later extended to include an arts and craft wing in 1903. Impressively, the Aldourie Estate belonged to the same family for 250 years until it was bought privately in 2004 and subsequently underwent a generous £10 million development winning it the Sotherby’s UK Restoration of the Year 2011 award. Since its grand restoration the Castle has welcomed family groups, couples, weddings and other celebrations to enjoy its wonderful calming ambience and welcome atmosphere. A medieval castle to the core, Aldourie features hidden doors, old family portraits and vast fireplaces. It epitomizes Scottish history in both its interior and external characteristics.

 The castle gardens:

Exploring the grounds:

We saw a doe.  I had had my camera tucked away, and by the time I pulled it out, I was only able to get this shot

Loch Ness

A chair at the end of the path, it overlooked Loch Ness

 We found an old graveyard:

 A bright yellow mushroom--too bad there wasn't a ring of mushrooms

Some very unusual trees:

 When we first saw this tree, we didn't realize it was covered in ivy.  They have a neat way of taking care of it.

A little creek 

We met up with the rest of our group.  Nikki is the one in front, bending down.  Jamie is in the middle, and Alex is the one walking away.

 We came across this abandoned building.  We were thinking maybe old stables or something.

Ferns

 So beautiful--when I think of Scotland, this is what comes to my mind:

Emily and Nikki sparring.  They did that a lot

 Back to our cottage:

Growing Up

River has now turned one.  She has graduated from the infant phase into the toddler phase.  Part of me mourns each day that she gains a new skill and grows a little older.  She is my caboose.  My little baby--and she is growing so quickly.  I wish that I can keep her a baby and not let her grow.

At the same time, it is so fun to watch as she discovers new things.  To see her excitement as she starts to master skills such as walking, to hear her babble and yearn to know what goes on in that little mind of hers.

She loves to keep us on our toes.  She has discovered the stairs and will spend hours going up and down them.  She has only made the mistake of planting her bum in midair once.  She is quite adept at the stairs and can get up and down them pretty quickly.

Little River has quite the temper on her, especially if you take something away from her.  She will throw herself down on the ground and cry as if her world was ending.  It is quite the phenomenon to watch.

Overall, she is pretty easy going and quick to smile.  She still does not sleep through the night, though.  She went for about five nights where she slept through the night several months ago, then she started teething, and then she got sick.  I think she is so used to waking up now that it has just become habit.  She will cry until I go in and give her a bottle.  If I don't give her a bottle and just soothe her, she will cry when I leave until she gets her bottle.  Such a stinker.  She definitely has a mind of her own.

She has also begun taking her first steps.  Crawling is still her preferred method, but she is starting to walk more and more.  I could easily see her walking completely within the next couple of weeks.  She is still pretty unsteady, but once she figures out the balance part, she will be unstoppable.

Arrival in Scotland

Our flight to Scotland was pretty uneventful, other than they didn't offer any complimentary snacks or beverages on the flight, which was really lame because they wouldn't allow anything carried on to the plane with the security screening at the gate.  By the time we reached Scotland, it was mid-afternoon. 

We flew into the Inverness airport, which is a tiny airport.  Our plane was the only one arriving at that time, and it took forever to get through customs.  They only had one customs agent, and she was very strict.  There was a lady several people ahead of us and she didn't know the name and address of the hotel she was going to be staying at while in Scotland.  The customs lady wouldn't let her go through, even though her husband had just cleared moments before.  The lady became quite rude and belligerent, while someone else in security went to get the husband.

Emily had all our info on her phone, however, she had been counting on wi-fi access to obtain the information.  She had to deactivate her cellular plan upon her departure from Japan, so we were relying upon being able to have wi-fi when we reached the airport.  However, the wi-fi didn't extend to the customs area and we started to get really nervous about being able to make it through customs. 

Luckily, Emily knew the address of the people with whom she would be staying in England, so we were able to put that down.  The customs lady was actually fairly nice to us, even though we didn't know the exact name of the cottage we would be staying at in Scotland.  She accepted the address in England and let us go on our way.  Whew!  I think the difference was our attitude--we weren't pulling one, and we were really respectful.  From now on, whenever I travel out of the country, I will make sure to have a hard copy of our hotel accommodations so that experience never happens again.  

We wandered the small Inverness Airport for a short time while waiting for Nikki to pick us up.  Both of us felt like we narrowly escaped something really bad, so we ended up waiting outside. 

The Aldourie Castle--we affectionately dubbed it our castle

For our stay in Scotland, we were meeting up with Emily's friend, Nikki, who also was an ALT in Japan.  Along with Nikki was a former roommate of hers, Jamie, and her sister, Alex.  The five of us were in a cottage on the grounds of the Aldourie Castle which sat along the shore of Loch Ness. 

How cool is that?!

Our cottage for the week

The keys to the cottage--the door locked on both sides only with the keys--you had to have them to get in and out

 

The cottage grounds:

 

 

 

Our room

 

A claw bathtub!

 A brief glimpse of the city of Inverness:

A Ford!

They still have old VW vans!

Sheep in Scotland are everywhere

The Inverness Castle