Edinburgh's Royal Botanical Gardens

We tacked on 2-3 days for exploring Edinburgh after our trip, and our first stop was the Royal Botanical Gardens.  This time we were staying at a B&B right in Edinburgh, just south of the new Scottish Parliament buildings.  Thus we could take a quick taxi north to the gardens, entering by this shiny rock garden gate rather than the main entrance.

We'd been here before at the end of our very first trip to look at gardens in England, so we knew what we wanted to see.  We were after the rock garden and the alpine garden especially.

The rock garden is something else to see, rolling knolls and small valleys now covered in a collection of mature shrubs and flowers.  It was drizzling the day we visited, that constant Scottish smirr that left this garden looking a thousand shades of green rather than colourful.

Mrs. F.G. herself was very colourful that day!

Walking through the beautiful grove of specimen trees toward the main greenhouses we passed a Tulip tree with a bloom so low I could get a photo.  It really does look like a Tulip bloom in shape.

Of course there were a few Monkey Puzzle trees, one of those unusual trees brought back by the early plant collectors as they roamed the globe.  Monkey Puzzle trees are native to Chile and also known as Chilean Pine.

Shortly we found ourselves in front of the original greenhouse, the Palm House.  Outside, lying on the ground, was this truly ancient fossilized tree older than the dinosaurs that I wanted to see.  It's another earthcache.

Inside were all manner of tropical plants including this one, but we didn't stay long; we were headed for the alpine garden.

The alpine garden is hemmed in by this beautiful flat rock wall, teeming with plants hanging down over the edge or out of crevices.

Ironically, for they are certainly hardy plants, native to high elevations of mountains around the world, alpine plants need protection from the wet Scottish winters and from summer heat. so some of them must be grown in greenhouses.

The alpine garden in Edinburgh is a world renowned collection of mostly tiny alpine plants, some protected in the greenhouse, other growing in the open, many of them in small troughs.

Of all the gardens we've visited in Europe, this one provided the most specific ideas we brought home.  Mrs. F.G. was the plant collector, and had already been building troughs, but I did the grunt work as the undergardener at our previous house.  From this Edinburgh garden I brought home the idea of developing a scree garden, with mostly alpine plants that would survive in southern Ontario.  And it became one of my favourite little patches of unusual plants in our garden.

St. Andrews

We headed back southwest of Fair Isle to mainland Scotland, landing near Aberdeen.  I think they were making things up as we went here, for we actually had to wade from the dinghies into shore.  We were taken by bus to Aberdeen where we got to look around a little, then on down the coast to Dunnotter Castle.

Dunnottar is a spectacular ruin, situated on a high rocky outcrop almost but not quite separated from the mainland, surrounded by the North Sea on three sides.  It has a long and violent history as the home of the Keiths, Earls Marischal for Scotland.

From there we rode on by bus to St. Andrews, ancient home of St. Andrews University, the third oldest university in the English-speaking world, and one of the best in the UK.  We had a short historical tour led by one of the students, wearing his bright red robe.

Among other things, he pointed out the town's most popular tourist site at the time, the dorm where William and Katherine met.

I was equally interested in the pattern of thick branches of the old apple trees.

The town grew up around St. Andrews Cathedral, where relics of St. Andrews were kept, brought to Scotland by St. Regulus.  Of course during the Reformation the cathedral was destroyed and it is now a sad ruin, most of the stone taken elsewhere for building purposes.  This cathedral suffered more than most with its fairly complete destruction.

You may remember the square St. Rules tower from my earlier post on our first trip to Scotland.  It is part of an earlier church, intended as a beacon for travelling pilgrims.

And we paused to remember George Wishart, his place of execution marked by bricks in the pavement.  Wishart was one of the very earliest preachers who laid the foundation for the Scottish Reformation.  We have just missed the 477th Anniversary of his death on March 1st.

As the plaque says, he was apprehended for his heretical preaching, condemned to death by the nefarious Cardinal Beaton and burned at the stake at this spot in St. Andrews, in 1546 while the Cardinal watched from a castle window.  Within three months a Protestant mob attacked the castle, murdering the Cardinal and hanging his own body from the window.  Thus was born the Protestant Church in Scotland.

Fair Isle

Leaving Shetland we sailed south, back toward Scotland, and stopped midway at Fair Isle, nearly 100 miles from Shetland.  Fair Isle is another isolated island, with a population of only about 50, though it does have a school, with 3 pupils at the moment.  Crofting and knitting provide the main income, the island being famous (among knitters) for the 'Fair Isle technique' of knitting multi-coloured jumpers.  The island also has a famous (among birders) bird observatory.

As usual we were ferried in to the tiny harbour in small groups to go exploring.  Some were headed for the small outlet to look at the knitting, while others were going bird watching.  Our ship is anchored just around the headland out of sight.

The Good ?shepherd IV was docked in the harbour, the local ferry that provides the cheapest ride back to Shetland.  It will carry one car but is mainly a passenger ferry.  The island also has a small airstrip.

Around any of the shoreline the scenery was spectacular, with cliffs dropping down into the North Sea.

Like I think all the other places we've visited outside of Glasgow and Edinburgh, sheep are ubiquitous, free to graze just about anywhere.  This one had some pretty fancy horns!

And bird watching was fun, with Puffins the main target for the serious photographers.  This one was serious enough to tell me off as I crept too close, trying to get a photo with my own rather ordinary camera lens.

Never-the-less, I did get my own photographs, a few of the Atlantic Puffins resting on the edge of the cliff.

The bird observatory was certainly a serious one, with overnight accommodation and a small cafeteria and bar.  This is a major migration point for north Atlantic birds, with a number of rarities seen every year.  The island is known as one of the best places in Europe to see rare birds.

Sadly, this building burned down in March 2019, though the birding observations were all digitized so were not lost.  A major campaign is now underway to rebuild it, led by Ann Cleeves, a well known British mystery writer, author of the books upon which  the TV series Shetland is based..  I just read one of her books actually,  Currently prefab modules are being brought over by barge, when weather permits, starting to recreate an actual building.  They hope to re-open in Fall 2023.

The island is known for its knitting, so well known in fact that there is a technique known as the 'Fair Isle technique'.  Mrs. F.G. picked up a touque; she couldn't afford a sweater!

The First Robin!

In our family the first robin has always been the first sign of spring.  My mother always said the first robins would arrive back about Mar. 10th, and she was usually right.  This year has been unusually warm for a winter here, so it doesn't surprise me that this one is a little early.

My caregiver took this picture this morning, right on her deck.  there were actually two robins, but she only got a picture of one.  I'm well aware that robins overwinter in some parts of southern Ontario, but I've never seen one in 50 years of birdwatching, so I'm happy to celebrate this one.

Of course there are other signs of spring around.  The days are much longer, and they're brighter during the middle of the day too.  Daylight Savings Time here arrives in less than two weeks.  It's above freezing the next few days, and the historical average takes us above freezing to stay in just two weeks.

Hope you're celebrating too!

[Picture used with permission]

The Broch of Mousa

Around on the opposite side of the Shetlands we anchored off the incredible Broch of Mousa.  A broch is a circular fort from the Iron Age, built entirely of drystone construction.  It is thought that they served as a safe retreat when under attack.  Most were apparently built during the 1st century AD or BC.

There are thought to be several hundred of them, almost entirely in northern Scotland.  Mousa is the most complete of these; most are just a jumble of fallen stones.

The drystone construction of these towers, is again amazing.  Anyone who has tried to build a drystone wall will understand, but to build one 44 feet high, circular and with hollow walls containing a staircase, seems almost impossible.  It certainly would be were it not for the small flat slabs of sandstone on the island.  But still, over 40 feet high without any mortar! 

The circular shape is amazing inside, with space to sit and a fire ring in the centre.  Gaps in the interior walls help reveal the construction and provide light for the stairs as well as galleries with tiny storage chambers.

Yes, it is possible to climb the stairs, built carefully into the hollow walls.   To give you an idea of how thick the walls are, the single entranceway passage is 16 feet long!

Of course I had to try climbing the stairs, and came out on top to beautiful views in all directions.  You can see the walls, tapered to the top, are still 6 feet thick!

We did get to wander this island for awhile, as only so many people could look inside the broch at one time.  There were lots more drystone walls across the landscape.

We watched the Bonxies (or Great Skuas to give them their proper name) soar over the island, seeking their prey.  Bonxies, about the size of a large gull, have even been known to attack lambs or Shetland pony foals and have the reputation as a fierce predator.

As is the case with much of the northern Scottish highlands and islands, sheep are everywhere.  Now it's on to the famous Fair Isle.

Shetland Sea Caves

After our visit to those stunning Neolithic sites on Orkney we continued sailing northwards to Shetland, stopping first at the small island of Foula, said to be the most remote populated island in Britain, with less than 30 people.  And a tenuous link to the main islands because of challenging weather that routinely delays both flights and ferries, sometimes for weeks.

At least some of the wildflowers were familiar to me, like this Marsh Marigold.

Others were just pretty little pink things!

This is definitely a place of Shetland ponies, and they roam freely over the island.

We had time to walk up from the tiny harbour, here to examine the local boat graveyard.

But one of the other highlights of the trip came later, when we anchored off Papa Stour and went to explore the sea caves, stacks and geos.

It was incredible motoring through the caves and coming to spots where the ceiling had caved in, leaving it open to the sky - a feature known as a geo.

It was dark in the caves but quite light in the geos; getting the correct camera setting was mostly impossible, but it was certainly exciting.

On this excursion the swell of the ocean meant that the loading platform was alternately 3 feet above then 3 feet below water level.  You had to time your leap in either direction just right!  In any case Mrs. F.G. came back so excited that she stood there telling me that "We should go to Antarctica next!"