Castles in Scotland – The Crumbly Gappers

Montreuil sur Mer

Some of the best village ramparts in France

A corner of the Carnac Standing Stones

The Alignnements de Carnac stretch for several kilometers and contain thousands of standing stones of all sizes

Maiden Castle, Dorset

Excellent wild camp in car park directly below this impressive iron age hill fort

Marvao Castle

Marvao is stunning. It floats a thousand feet above the surrounding countryside with views in all directions

Glencaple Pier near Dumfries

Another amazing stopover on a pier on the River Nith below Dumfries

Crossing the Dart on the Kingsweir Ferry

Approaching Dartmouth on the Kingsweir Ferry.

Bidford Riverside Carpark

What an amazing place to spend a couple of nights. Hats off to Torridge DC for doing this.

Lossiemouth looking east

We sat in Bertie and scoffed our fish and chips with this view across the mouth of the River Lossie towards Buckie and Ben Rhynnie

Cullen and Seatown

Looking back to Cullen from the viaduct with Seatown in the foreground

Wildcamping at New Aberdour Beach

An amazing wild camping location on the Banffshire Coast. Walks, beach, birds, caves what more could you want?

The Alpuharras

View from the Miradour over a small town in the Alpuharras near Almeria.

Winter sunset from Cabo de Gata

There is a glorious carpark beside the little village of Cabo de Gata where you can park right beside the beach. The sunsets are stunning

Great little aire in the heart of Burgundy

The lovely little aire was in a tiny village in the heart of Burgundy

Tomphubil Car Park

A lovely spot at the top of the hill between the Tay Valley and the Tummel Valley.

Ricote - the oldest town in Murcia

There is a large aire on the edge of this little town. The town dates back to C9 and is well worth a visit.

We had more showers this morning to get the value from our expensive campsite stopover and we emptied grey water and filled the fresh water tank. There were two Scottish Castles on the intinerary today. The first was Crichton Castle just 13 miles up the road. This was a beauty and only a mile off the A68 which we have driven up and down many times over the last few years. I can’t understand how we have missed this gem. That mile from the A68 got narrower and narrower but with little traffic around the only problem was the bin lorry emptying bins near the castle.

Crichton Castle, like so many up here started as a tower house and was extended and improved as the owners gained wealth and status. This one was rugged and impressive on the outside in a commanding position controlling the Tyne valley (no not that Tyne – there is another, smaller Tyne here) but inside it had been almost a palace with some revolutionary design features borrowed from palaces the owner had seen in Italy and it also boasted the first straight (as opposed to spiral) staircase in Scotland!

Crichton Castle hides its famouse feature inside the courtyard. The design of this amazing wall is based on the Palcia Diamanti in Ferrara in Italy!

After a quick coffee in Bertie in the castle carpark we were back on the road at 11:30. Our next planned stop was Doune Castle just north of Stirling about 70 miles away. We stopped for more diesel (30 ltrs) in Stirling and arrived at Doune Castle (along a really narrow access lane!) at 13:30. After lunch in the castle car park we went to see the Castle. The audio tour here is done by Terry Jones and makes detailed mention of the castles many roles in Monty Python and the Holy Grail much of which was filmed here. The castle was very busy but really interesting and Terry’s commentary was great.

We left Doune Castle at 16:00 and headed 30 miles north to our planned Britstop at TastePerthshire just north of Perth beside the A9. This time we have a good mobile signal so I can finnally get the blog up to date. Tomorrow is our last day of travelling for a while as we will be staying with our son in Forres for a week or so.

Mileage reading: 115960
Travelled today: 183kms
Total distance: 888kms

23rd nighton Bertie

Castles in Scotland

Tagged on: BritStops Historic Scotland