A Day in Moray
Last night was a mess. It could have been worse, but, it was pretty bad.
Malcolm wouldn’t sleep. We got Neil and Malcolm in sometime around 9 or 9:30 and he wouldn't sleep. He said, "I don't wanna sleep!" Normally he isn't that difficult but, this night, he was. They had their backpacks with all of their stuff in them. Apparently, at some point, he drew all over himself with markers. Sorry, I didn't take pictures.
At around 10:50, he jumped on to Neil’s bed, onto his head and woke him up. We hear, "Why do you have to do that Malcolm?!?!" Of course, Neil couldn’t go back to sleep. Malcolm did shortly thereafter.
Neil ended up staying up and in and out of the room until 2 am. I caught him at the door, opening the door, not going back to bed....
Duncan woke up around midnight for the second time - I went in and held him in the wicker chair that is in the bedroom. I fell asleep at some point. When I tried to put him in the crib, he started to bug out. I was so tired, I just said screw it and put him in bed with me. He climbed on me for two hours. It was hot AF again. He was all over the place, laying on me, on my head, perpendicular, he pushed off me. At one point he way lying on his back with his head was hanging off the bed - I had to slide him back on to the bed. Jess slept on the couch because Neil wouldn't sleep. She said at around 2 am she woke up and he was under the coffee table on the floor next to her in the living room. He had his blanket with him. The second night is often hard for adjusting - hopefully everyone will be back on the same schedule or at least one close to it.
Jess was up at like 6:30. I woke at 9:12. Malcolm at like 9:30. Neil woke around 10:30 and we woke Duncan up at about 10:50. This is not ideal for vacation or for trying to squeeze in visits to historic sights between raindrops.
The plan for the day was to head to Elgin Cathedral, Spynie Palace (the residence for the bishops) and then to Duffus castle a prime example of a motte and bailey castle. Unfortunately, it was raining, as it often does in Scotland. We have been very lucky during most of our trips and hopefully that luck will hold up, but rain + tired, cranky boys is not the best equation.
I think tht it rained the heaviest here and we didn't really get to spend time getting to know the history of the place. We walked up the towers and took a peek around. There was a small cathedral on site that was still used. They were going to have a wedding and the photographer was getting set up. He invited us in to look because the wedding was not until 2 pm. As we enter, I tell the boys not to touch anything. Malcolm proceeds to ask the guy, "Can we touch stuff?" The guy was laughing his ass off. They had some chanting music playing in there and it was coming from behind a door. Malcolm wanted to go see who it was. I told him that it was a tape unless they had a bunch of monks locked up in the room.
When everyone had had enough, and by everyone, I mean Jess, we headed back to the car to go over to Spynie Palace. This was where the bishops residence was. It was about 1.7 miles away from the cathedral. Jess thought it was really far from the cathedral and how could they travel that distance all the time. Neil informed her that they could just drive.
After torturing the woman in the shop, Neil asked her how the place got its name. Spynie was the Gaelic word for spike and apparently there were tons of Hawthorne bushes in the area and they have large spikes. We climbed up the tower that was there. There wasn't a ton to see, but there were some cool features at the site. There was a double murder hole above the East Gate:
and some other features that were pretty cool - the tower was cool and was one of those where all the timber had been removed, so you could see where each floor was as well as the fireplace that seems to be randomly placed in the sky.
When the rain picked up, everyone had had enough. By everyone, I mean Jess. I would have done some more exploring but we decided to head back to the car and have our lunch as we headed over to Duffus Castle.
When we got to Duffus no one wanted to get out of the car. Shame on them. That was the first and the last time that that is going to happen on the trip, at least for Neil and Malcolm. I didn't pay for them to go to Scotland to sit their asses in the car because it is slightly drizzly or they are lazy. Napping is one thing.
The castle was a surprise. It looks like it isn;t much but then you head up the embankment and get to the inside and you can see the space that was the bailey and it was quite large. The ruins itself were cool. The views were sweet as well.
The pictures above took some time to get because there was this really WT family who came in and stood right outside the castle. Now, the motte that the castle was on was pretty high and steep. These people's kids were really loud but then they showed how intelligent they were when they started to roll down the motte. It was like something you would see on finniest home videos or some shit. They were flying - one kid was catching air and then landed on his face a few times. I don't know how no one was seriously injured. At one point, I was worried that there would be a stone or something in thr ground and the kid would smash his head open - thankfully he did not.
We stopped in at our second brewery, Windswept and picked up some beer for the next few days. Ok, like two days - I'm on vacation!
Then hit sports direct for a soccer ball. Somehow, we walked out with three.
We parked so Jess could get in to town and get us SIM cards for our phones - though, she's not sure that we got everything that we needed in order to get things up and running.
We ate dinner - nachos and then kicked the boys outside to play with their soccer balls. Cody, a boy visiting the owners of the house came down to play with the boys. He brought the owner's dog Sammie and they played soccer for quite a while. Of course, his family are man united fans. They spent a lot of time playing with the dog, who is a boarder collie or as Neil likes to say, a porter collie. The dog was better than all of them. They repeatedly threw the ball to the dog who tried to bite it and launched it into the brush - where all the fucking nettles are. The did it so many times, that I had to go put on the legs to my pants and my hiking shoes so I wouldn't get stung. Of course, I did once, which promoted the return to full pants. If you've never been stung by nettles, do yourself a favor and don't. They suck, big time. It's after midnight and I can still feel the spot on my knee. Usually, if there are nettles, there are dock leaf and you can mush this up to rub on the affected area.
Malcolm wouldn’t sleep. We got Neil and Malcolm in sometime around 9 or 9:30 and he wouldn't sleep. He said, "I don't wanna sleep!" Normally he isn't that difficult but, this night, he was. They had their backpacks with all of their stuff in them. Apparently, at some point, he drew all over himself with markers. Sorry, I didn't take pictures.
At around 10:50, he jumped on to Neil’s bed, onto his head and woke him up. We hear, "Why do you have to do that Malcolm?!?!" Of course, Neil couldn’t go back to sleep. Malcolm did shortly thereafter.
Neil ended up staying up and in and out of the room until 2 am. I caught him at the door, opening the door, not going back to bed....
Duncan woke up around midnight for the second time - I went in and held him in the wicker chair that is in the bedroom. I fell asleep at some point. When I tried to put him in the crib, he started to bug out. I was so tired, I just said screw it and put him in bed with me. He climbed on me for two hours. It was hot AF again. He was all over the place, laying on me, on my head, perpendicular, he pushed off me. At one point he way lying on his back with his head was hanging off the bed - I had to slide him back on to the bed. Jess slept on the couch because Neil wouldn't sleep. She said at around 2 am she woke up and he was under the coffee table on the floor next to her in the living room. He had his blanket with him. The second night is often hard for adjusting - hopefully everyone will be back on the same schedule or at least one close to it.
Jess was up at like 6:30. I woke at 9:12. Malcolm at like 9:30. Neil woke around 10:30 and we woke Duncan up at about 10:50. This is not ideal for vacation or for trying to squeeze in visits to historic sights between raindrops.
Once all the sleeping beauties were up, we had some breakfast and made some last minute preparations and headed out for the day.
The plan for the day was to head to Elgin Cathedral, Spynie Palace (the residence for the bishops) and then to Duffus castle a prime example of a motte and bailey castle. Unfortunately, it was raining, as it often does in Scotland. We have been very lucky during most of our trips and hopefully that luck will hold up, but rain + tired, cranky boys is not the best equation.
I think tht it rained the heaviest here and we didn't really get to spend time getting to know the history of the place. We walked up the towers and took a peek around. There was a small cathedral on site that was still used. They were going to have a wedding and the photographer was getting set up. He invited us in to look because the wedding was not until 2 pm. As we enter, I tell the boys not to touch anything. Malcolm proceeds to ask the guy, "Can we touch stuff?" The guy was laughing his ass off. They had some chanting music playing in there and it was coming from behind a door. Malcolm wanted to go see who it was. I told him that it was a tape unless they had a bunch of monks locked up in the room.
After torturing the woman in the shop, Neil asked her how the place got its name. Spynie was the Gaelic word for spike and apparently there were tons of Hawthorne bushes in the area and they have large spikes. We climbed up the tower that was there. There wasn't a ton to see, but there were some cool features at the site. There was a double murder hole above the East Gate:
When the rain picked up, everyone had had enough. By everyone, I mean Jess. I would have done some more exploring but we decided to head back to the car and have our lunch as we headed over to Duffus Castle.
When we got to Duffus no one wanted to get out of the car. Shame on them. That was the first and the last time that that is going to happen on the trip, at least for Neil and Malcolm. I didn't pay for them to go to Scotland to sit their asses in the car because it is slightly drizzly or they are lazy. Napping is one thing.
The castle was a surprise. It looks like it isn;t much but then you head up the embankment and get to the inside and you can see the space that was the bailey and it was quite large. The ruins itself were cool. The views were sweet as well.
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| The castle and motte from the bailey |
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| The bailey |
There was a cool section of the castle that was compromised and now lay on its side. I hadn't see something like it before. I assume more would fall given the fact that the WC people were climbing up the side of the castle's wall when we were leaving.
I headed back down to the car so that we could get on our way.
We stopped in at our second brewery, Windswept and picked up some beer for the next few days. Ok, like two days - I'm on vacation!
Then hit sports direct for a soccer ball. Somehow, we walked out with three.
We parked so Jess could get in to town and get us SIM cards for our phones - though, she's not sure that we got everything that we needed in order to get things up and running.
We ate dinner - nachos and then kicked the boys outside to play with their soccer balls. Cody, a boy visiting the owners of the house came down to play with the boys. He brought the owner's dog Sammie and they played soccer for quite a while. Of course, his family are man united fans. They spent a lot of time playing with the dog, who is a boarder collie or as Neil likes to say, a porter collie. The dog was better than all of them. They repeatedly threw the ball to the dog who tried to bite it and launched it into the brush - where all the fucking nettles are. The did it so many times, that I had to go put on the legs to my pants and my hiking shoes so I wouldn't get stung. Of course, I did once, which promoted the return to full pants. If you've never been stung by nettles, do yourself a favor and don't. They suck, big time. It's after midnight and I can still feel the spot on my knee. Usually, if there are nettles, there are dock leaf and you can mush this up to rub on the affected area.
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| This is what our life will look like with a fourth boy and a dog. |
Poor Sammie waited patiently for the boys to come back out - but they never did.
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