Tourist Time

Given that I am actually overseas and do attempt to do a fair amount of site-seeing, I figured that I should share some of the latest and greatest tourist shots from my parents' latest trip to visit us.  These were actually taken by my Dad (thanks for sharing).

Dunnottar Castle, always a favorite.

 

Drum Castle, on 'magic' filter.

Scottish sheep, because I < 3 them.

Castle Fraser, also on 'magic' filter.  The estate may or may not have been closed, courtesy of 'icy road' conditions...call us rebels.

 

Tolquhon Castle, specifically selected since its (ruined) interior is open on winter weekends...until we got there and it was closed until further notice due to 'inclement weather.'  Fortunately we could still get up close and personal with the exterior.

 

And then, courtesy of it being the 'off' season which means that most of the more popular/well-known sites are closed, we decided to go in hunt of  less discovered Scotland, also known as, stone circle hunting.

Unbeknownst to me before we moved here, the northeast of Scotland has one of the densest concentrations of stone circles, standing stones and other megalithic sites in all of the United Kingdom.  Armed with vague directions from the internet, my parents, and an outdated Garmin, I set off to find them.  We trekked through manure, mud and snow filled fields (and cemeteries), dodged cows, large trucks and the occasional security camera, and made a lot of u-turns to find the following.

Easter Aquhorthies Recumbent Stone Circle

 

Cullerlie Stone Circle

 

Midmar Kirk Recumbent Stone Circle

 

What we thought was the Kintore Stone, turns out, it was not.  To quote Bigstones, it was still a fine example...

Sadly neither H nor our latest visitor was keen to revisit these with me, or search for new ones.  So I'm currently in need of another person to go stone circle/recumbent stone hunting with me.  Any takers?