Our next stop, with the Nice Lady from Stirling, was Dunnottar Castle. Carlos decided to stay at home as he was waiting for a parcel to be delivered, so he missed the scenic drive up the east coast to Stonehaven and the yummy pub lunch.
Dunnottar Castle comes highly recommended by us bears and Tony, as well as by Bev, Paul and the nice lady. The nice lady walked down with us to the cliff edge, where you get superb views of the castle out on its rocky promontory. We then left her there, telling her not to stand too close to the edge, while we all headed down the steep steps to the base of the castle. We did some exploring round there, then paid to get inside the castle - Paul and Bev paid, but we bears climbed the cliffs and got in for free!
Anyway, inside the castle was a bit of a surprise - we had expected it to be completely ruined, with little to see, but it was mostly well preserved and the biggest surprise was that there were beautifully kept lawns and flower-beds at the top of the castle! It was a steep climb to get up there, but the views were spectacular and the inside of the castle was well-worth the visit.
Paul even spotted a couple of puffins nesting on the steep slopes below the castle, but he couldn't get a photograph of them.
After struggling up the steps back to the car and the nice lady, we recovered from all the exercise and headed off to a place called Arbuthnott, which is where the Lewis Grassic Gibbon Centre is. For anyone unfamiliar with Lewis Grassic Gibbon, he wrote what is probably Bev's favourite book, Sunset Song. His real name was Leslie Mitchell, and the museum had a small but beautifully-presented display of his life and work, as well as a short film about him.
And then it was time to head home for tea with Carlos.
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