Linlithgow, Rosslyn Chapel and Melrose Abbey

Hello All!

After my long adventure up into the highlands I decided to stick a little closer to home and visit some local attractions near Edinburgh. Linlithgow Palace is only a 20 minute train ride west and great place to visit. http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/propertyoverview?PropID=pl_199&PropName=Linlithgow%20Palace. This is where Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots was born in the 1500's. This palace is another fantastic ruin that you can run around in and explore. My favorite room was the Great Hall. There was no ceiling, but I could just imagine the torches glowing from the side walls, and the tables that would have lined the room filled with venison, pork and chickens. I could hear the shouting between men and the sound of music coming from the musicians playing the harp and lyre from the corner of the room. Even today, this would be a really neat place to throw a party, you could hang twinkle lights everywhere and really decorate the place up nice! (of course you would have to keep your fingers crossed that it wouldn't rain since there is no roof :-) The Palace is set on a loch, which is a nice 2 1/2 miles round and a great place for a walk. That day was particularly windy and all the little sailboats on the loch kept falling over and dumping their occupants into the water. I felt bad they were all getting wet, but it really was quite funny :-)

After Linlithgow, I headed over to Rosslyn Chapel. The chapel is about a 1/2 hour bus ride from Edinburgh - not too bad. Most of you will remember that it is featured in part of the book/movie "The Di Vinici Code". All I can say is it is so much more impressive in person! I was completely awed when I walked in. The chapel is under some serious renovations (after the movie the number of tourists visiting jumped from 11,000 a year to over a million a year (I think.. don't hold me to that :-) There had been some bad structural decisions made over the past century so they are now trying to be corrected. I wish I could post pictures, but no picture taking is allowed in the chapel anymore. This is all thanks to some stupid lady who was walking around taking pictures and not looking where she was going and she tripped. Well, of course she sued and ended up winning, so now no one can take pictures in the chapel. Thanks Lady for wreaking it for everyone else! So here is a link to the web-site so you can check it out yourself http://www.rosslynchapel.org.uk/. I do think this is one of my favorite places that I've been to so far. The inside of the chapel is small, and everything is a limestone white (this was done to protect the soft sandstone, but ended harming the building more than helping) but it gives the chapel a peaceful feeling. The stonework is unbelievably intracit and it amazes me that masons were able to do this kind of work over 500 years ago! If you ever get to Scotland - you have to visit, it's worth the trip!

My next stop was Melrose Abbey. http://www.aboutscotland.co.uk/mel.html Yeah.....well, that wasn't as great as I would have hoped it to be. I was under the misguided impression that the bus trip would take about an hour, it took 2 1/4 hours! Once I got there, it started pouring - what could I do but walk around anyway? The abbey itself is another ruin with no ceiling but the work was so beautiful. About 300 monks and laymen lived there once upon a time and they really did have a lot of modern conveniences for their time. After exploring for a couple house, I contemplated continuing my journey south to Jedburgh Abbey (where I would also be in the rain) or giving up and going home to get dry and warm - I gave up :-) I'll leave Jedburgh Abbey and Dryburgh Abbey for another day (If I get up the courage to get on the bus for another couple hours ;-)

I hope you like the pictures I've posted for these past few adventures. Keep an eye out, I continued running more of the Fife Coastal Trail and it was another amazing 9 miles! Pictures coming soon :-)