Walk to the Castle

We can't leave this place without going on a walk to the castle ruins...

Down the lane.  Thankfully less muddy yet muddy none the less.

Through the woods. Some of them look exactly like the dark forest in the Harry Potter movies.

Over the burn bridge, this time on foot noting how the boards  look questionable.
Reminding self to drive over them  quickly. No pausing to hear a crack.

Rock walls in the barn yard covered in life.

Across the paved road and towards the castle/loch.

Up to the fortress...carefully.

The heathens have breached the gate!

Proof that he does, indeed, come outside every once in a while.

Inside the ruins, evidence of how the structure was built, including supports and grooves for floor structures.

Nature trumps manly pursuits.

Built in 1240...almost 800 years ago...Thinking about the souls that have stood looking out this window.

View from the ruins out at Loch Awe.

On this trip, we laughed at how many pictures we took of "nature" and how few we took of the towns and the people.  I guess our normal life involves an overload of the latter and so we were obsessed with the former.  There is, in fact, plenty of fascinating "nature" in the desert, but in the city there is less. And we are as guilty as normal about not being explorers in our own backyard.  I loved the trips we took when we first got here, and we need to go back to the Arabian Gulf shore.