As I sat at the bottom of the hill, looking up at the bird cloud, I realised I just had to go on up to the castle, see what I could see and photograph although, I did have a moment considering the hill itself. I'd seen a tractor with trailer come down earlier without any problems, I know, it's a tractor but, if the road is in use, it's not likely to be iced up so, up I went, no problem, I even stopped half way up to grab a quick shot back down towards home.
As I cleared the farmyard and past Balintore House, I looked up to the left to see the castle standing above, surrounded by snow. Bearing in mind this is single track road, I carried on past to the gated entrance for a few shots and I'd get some of the castle on the way back.
The entrance is beautiful, well, maybe was? I love it anyway and the drive runs up the hill to the castle where it stands looking out over the entire valley.
The castle is a restoration project for David, the owner and what a project, follow the link to read more about it. There is also accommodation available if you ever fancy a trip.
The gate actually continues the same to the right but a parked car meant I had to crop it out, for now.
This looking back the way I had come in to give some idea of the view the castle must have, it's just up to the right in this shot.
The view from the castle must be wonderful, I really must get in touch with David and see if we can get up there for a look around. You can make out the turrets and the state of the roofing on them, it's going to be a long project methinks. Balintore Castle Restoration Project
It was time to head back down the road, shown below. I didn't know it yet but, I was going to be just the other side of those two hills in around 30 minutes.
The heat from the sun was wonderful standing up there on that hillside, looking out over the valley.
But, heading back along the road, I stopped a couple of times to grab a few shots of the castle itself. I think it's an amazing building in need of a lot of TLC but, that's what it is getting, slowly but surely. My sister and her fella used to come up here regularly when it was a sad, forgotten ruin.
Ever onwards and one last shot of the castle frontage from the road before the twisting steep slope back down towards Glen Quharity
Not a road for the faint hearted or non four wheelers in the dark of win her but beautiful in this light.
And so I began a slow cruise back along the Balintore road, towards Loch of Lintrathen again, with no real goal, yet.
I have to add, I just Googled castles in Scotland and came up with so many options and yet, when I looked at a few they appeared very incomplete, aimed at tourists as opposed to a definitive list. 🤔
See you again soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment