Culzean and Straiton

Got a bit of a late start today since we needed to sleep. We basically missed a night of sleep, having been up at 7:30 a.m. on Monday and not going to bed until 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday SK time. We are now running on Scotland time and everything is great.

The Culzean castle does not open until April 1st, which we were aware of ahead of time. The castle has an armoury which would have been good to see but we were mainly interested in a 5.6 km walk in the country park which ended with a great cliff walk back to the castle.

Culzean is situated on a precipitous cliff overlooking the Firth of Clyde along the Ayrshire coast. It was originally a tower house belonging to the Kennedys and later the Cassills. It was reconstructed between 1777 and 1792 by the architect Robert Adam. The house was Georgian but Adam added some medieval looking towers and turrets.

A popular area in the park is the Swan Pond that was full of ducks vying for the chunks of bread that kids toss in. There were not many people about, which is why we travel in the off-season, the place will invariably be loaded with visitors in the summer. We sat on a bench in the sun along the coast for our lunch, it was an unbelievably warm day with sun, just gorgeous.

Some pics of Culzean, commentary about Straiton below...

Culzean Castle

Archway Leading to Castle

Culzean Castle

Trees Over the Path

Rhododendron

Tame Bird

Orangery

Daffodils are Blooming Everywhere

Since it was such a nice sunny day, after visiting Culzean we drove to the village of Straiton, a very pretty village with white row houses trimmed in black. We went for a 7 km walk in a re-forested area with great views of the Girvin valley. There are a lot of small lambs running around, the fields are fenced in Ayrshire, unlike the Highlands, so the drivers speed along the narrow roads like bats out of hell. The speed limit is 60 mph which feels like madness given the winding roads, we are slightly slower in comparison, but John is acting like a Scot driver, my protests are met with the comment, ‘the tires are not squealing on the curves, so there is nothing to worry about.’

View of Straiton

View of Girvin Valley

Village of Straiton

We cooked dinner at our cottage tonight after shopping in the big town of Ayr. Tomorrow we plan a long walk beginning in Ayr and then out towards the Heads of Ayr along the coast.

We can hear the River Doon from the deck outside the cottage, the Bard had something to say about the River Doon.

The Banks O' Doon (1791)

Ye banks and braes o' bonie Doon,
How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair?
How can ye chant, ye little birds,
And I sae weary fu' o' care!
Thou'll break my heart, thou warbling bird,
That wantons thro' the flowering thorn:
Thou minds me o' departed joys,
Departed never to return.

Aft hae I rov'd by Bonie Doon,
To see the rose and woodbine twine:
And ilka bird sang o' its Luve,
And fondly sae did I o' mine;
Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose,
Fu' sweet upon its thorny tree!
And may fause Luver staw my rose,
But ah! he left the thorn wi' me.