Carberry Tower is a substantial early 16th century tower – probably incorporating the remains of an earlier castle – to which extensive 19th and early 20th century additions have been made.

The tower rises to a height of three storeys plus an attic, and is topped off with a crenelated parapet, on the north-west corner of which is an iron basket used for lighting fire beacons.

Just below the parapet level is a carved detail running around the tower, featuring what look like small winged faces, now disfigured after centuries of weathering. There are also stone drainage chutes carved to look like figures, the water pouring through the mouth.

Unusually the battlements of the tower feature gun loops, which is something I don’t think I’ve seen before, and it may be that they were a later addition (although the gun loops themselves do look old).

Attached to the tower is a tall narrow stair tower, thought to have been added in the late 16th century, surmounted by a caphouse, flag pole and Saltire.

Around the back of the tower, it can be seen that the newer additions create a U shape, and a low range has been built across the open end, forming an enclosed courtyard.

In the castle’s gardens, snowdrops are starting to appear, the only snowy things we saw all day.

Beside the tower are several old yew tress, bathed in golden light from the low winter sun.

We took a momentary break from hotels next, stopping to take a long distance photo of Monkton House.

The main building of Monkton House is a mansion house built in 1680, but incorporating the bottom of a 16th century (or earlier) tower. In front of it is a stable block which was originally an L-shaped building built in 1625, and attached to the main house by a wing which has since been removed.

In a field next to Monkton House, some sheep were browsing, the ground flooded in peachy hues.

We were back onto the castle hotels next, moving on to Melville Castle nearby. I wasn’t sure if we’d be able get access as I’d read that it was being redeveloped ahead of being reopened in March.

But the gates were open, so we drove on in. Although there was a car parked at the front of the castle, there didn’t appear to be anyone around to ask, so we just took a few pictures quickly.

The current building, commissioned by Henry Dundas (later the first Viscount Melville), was completed in 1791 to a design by James Playfair. But it replaced a much earlier castle, possibly dating back as far as the 12th century, which was demolished to make way for its successor. The foundations of the old castle were discovered during renovation work in 1993.

Above the main entrance is a carved panel carrying the arms of the Dundas family.

Carberry Tower and Melville Castle are just two of the many castle hotels in Scotland, more of which can be seen here.

Once again the sun was low in the sky and shining brightly, and when we arrived at Rosyth Castle the sun was directly behind it, making it difficult to photograph straight on.

The sun was the least of our worries however. As we were wandering around in front of the castle we noticed a sign saying “No Trespassing”, so being a law-abiding citizen I went to a nearby Portakabin at the entrance to the Port of Rosyth, and asked the lone security guard if it would be ok to take some pictures of the castle.

The answer was a resolute “No”, apparently due to “security reasons” connected with the port. I thought he was joking at first, but he was serious. This is the first time I’ve ever been refused permission to take photos of a castle. A castle which is right on the perimeter of the port site, with no high fences keeping out undesirables, and seemingly nothing of any interest or sensitivity anywhere nearby.

I’m sure Forth Ports will be delighted to know they have such dedicated staff protecting their top secret property. Staff who are so on the ball they didn’t notice us arrive, park the car, and walk around such a sensitive site taking photos for a good 5 minutes (before noticing the sign), and continued to be completely unaware of our presence until I knocked on his door.

So away we went, moving uphill slightly for a more distant view of the castle.

Although a ruin, Rosyth Castle is a substantial one, with the main 15th century tower still standing to its full height. There are plenty of architectural details to be seen too, including interesting window surrounds, presumably a later Renaissance addition, and space for armorial panels above a entrance into the courtyard.

The hill which was serving as our vantage point is home to the castle’s doocot. Also built in the 16th century, it has crow-stepped gables, a stone roof, a barrel-vaulted ceiling and an interesting snake motif carved over the entrance.

Interestingly Rosyth Castle used to be completely surrounded by water, standing on a rocky island in the Forth. It wasn’t until some time after the Admiralty bought the coastline here in 1903 and began a land reclamation project that the castle became landlocked. I have yet to ascertain whether the doocot was also on the island, or isolated from the castle on the shore.

From our slightly raised position there was a great view of the bridges, with the Forth Road Bridge in the foreground and the iconic red Forth Bridge behind it.

We continued north-west from here, deeper into Fife, and to the village of Crossford. On the edge of the village is Dunfermline Golf Club, whose clubhouse is the rather magnificent Pitfirrane Castle.

In stark contrast to our experience at Rosyth Castle, upon asking permission at the Club shop we were told to feel free to wander around taking photos.

Consisting of a 15th century tower which was extended upwards and outwards in 1583, the later main entrance was on the west side, next to which an old “yett”, or iron gate, has been mounted, thought to date from 1583.

Above the doorway is a carved coat of arms for the Halkett family, the former owners of Pitfirrane Castle, with the mottos “Fides sufficit” and “Honeste vivo” (Faith is sufficient, I live by my honour).

In the 19th century further additions were made to the castle, and in the 20th century a rather unsympathetic extension was built, now housing the clubhouse’s bar.

While it may not be in keeping with the rest of the castle’s style, the large windows on the bar give its occupants great views out over the golf course, with the added interest of a 16th century sundial in the foreground.

Above the bar’s roof, in the re-entrant angle between the old 15th century tower and the 16th century staircase wing (and presumably above the original 16th century entrance), are two further carved armorial panels.

The upper panel appears to be the arms of Scotland, while the lower combines the Halkett and Hepburn coats of arms, with the initials GH and IH, commemorating the marriage of George Halkett to Isabel Hepburn in 1576.

Looking at the east side of the castle reveals a mix of styles from various centuries, showing how the building developed over the years.

While on the north side, the low 19th century additions are clearly distinct from the main 15th and 16th century block to which they’re attached.

After a slightly disappointing start at Rosyth Castle, the day finished on a high note with the golden walls and warm welcome at Pitfirrane Castle.

I wasn’t completely sure what access would be like, as my usual tool in these matters, Google Maps, shows empty land around the tower, but with an overlay of a street plan. Clearly a newish housing estate has been built here, as can be seen from the Street View, and while the castle is just next to the Fife Coastal Path, I didn’t know how much of it we’d have to walk in order to reach it!

As it happened, there was easy access from the south end of Inchkeith Crescent, where a path leads down to join the Fife Coastal Path.

On the way down the path we spotted something large sitting on the rocks just off the coast, huddled against the bitter cold. It wasn’t clear what it was with the naked eye, but as we guessed it turned out to be a heron.

At the end of the same rocks was a small seal, balanced precariously and seemingly sunning itself, apparently oblivious to the disappearing sun and freezing temperatures.

After a good few minutes watching the wildlife, we approached the tower from the south, where the majority of the walls have fallen, revealing the vaulted basement and the floors above.

The castle stands on a rocky platform below cliffs, and these rocks continue down towards and into the water. They appear to be a red sandstone, with quite a vibrant colour and distinctive strata.

We’d set off rather late, and the sun was starting to set by the time we arrived. But for once our tardiness was rewarded, with beautiful golden hues in the sky over the Forth and the Midlothian coast on the horizon.

As we stood on the rocks, the seal made another appearance, staring inquisitively at us.

Looking back up the rocks we were standing on, the castle’s position at the top of them is clear.

Approaching the castle from the east there is a large hole in the wall where the original entrance into the basement level presumably once existed.

Passing through this arch leads you into the basement. This has obviously filled up with sand and mud over the years, and you find yourself standing probably a couple of metres above the original floor level. As the wooden floors have all rotted away, there’s an uninterrupted view up through the tower, with a chimney in the north wall stretching the full height from first floor level.

The west wall is largely intact, with corbels, a doorway and a small chimney still visible.

With the light now fading fast, and the wind chill really starting to bite, we made our way back up the path, and headed for home, pausing on the way to take a photo of the setting sun.

Nestled away in a bend of the Water of Leith to the west of Craiglockhart, it is one of the many, but lesser known, castles in Edinburgh. Or at least it used to be, the last remains of the castle having been used to build Redhall House nearby.

Redhall House was built in 1758 for George Inglis of Auchendinny, and used the red sandstone from Redhall Castle behind a harled exterior.

It was later acquired by the Edinburgh Corporation and became a children’s home, then schools were built in the grounds. In 2007 Redhall House and the surrounding land were sold to a developer, and a new housing estate was built, although plans to convert Redhall House into flats didn’t come to fruition, and it now stands empty and neglected. The windows are boarded up with plywood, although bathed in the golden light from the low winter sun they gave a welcome soft edge to the grey harling.

Despite looking contemporary with the rest of the house, the grand Classical porch was actually added around 1900, when the west wing was also added.

Around the back, out of the sun and into the shadows, the house gives off a more depressed air, with broken windows adding to the feeling of neglect.

It seems such a shame that Redhall House stands seemingly in a generally good condition, with so many period details intact, but with its potential unrealised.

The site of Redhall Castle itself is a roughly round promontory approximately 90m to the north-west of Redhall House. Now just covered with overgrown grass, the edge of the site is ringed by trees, beyond which are steep drops down to the Water of Leith.

This perfect defensive position meant that it was a strategically important castle in days gone by, and in 1650 it was attacked by Oliver Cromwell. An attack from which it never recovered.

We made our way down off the promontory and through the trees, taking a rough path down to the river below. A riverside walk here follows the Water of Leith all the way from the village of Balerno outside Edinburgh, through the city to Leith itself. However we just used it for a brief glimpse of the river, before climbing back up the hill.

A couple of hundred metres to the north-east of Redhall House is a mid-18th century doocot, accessed by a path along the edge of the housing estate.

Taking an unusual hexagonal form, it has niches on its south-east side which presumably would originally have been windows out of which the doves could fly. Unlike Redhall House itself, this is something that has actually been restored by the developers.

The north-west side of the doocot is of far more interest, to me at least, as built into that side is a 16th century armorial panel from Redhall Castle.

The arms are those of Sir Adam Otterburn, a lawyer and diplomat who inherited Redhall Castle in 1533, and was the King’s Advocate from 1524 until 1538, as well as being Lord Provost of Edinburgh several times between 1522 and 1547.

With the light fading, and increasingly lumpy rain falling (which overnight would turn to the first snow of the winter in Edinburgh), we made our way back to the warmth of the car.

The Chesters is a fort close to the East Lothian villages of Athelstaneford and Drem, and has been described as one of the best-preserved Iron Age forts in Scotland.

Although the original entrance is to the east, today the fort is approached from the west, where a series of ramparts and ditches block the way.

Despite it being mid-afternoon, the low autumn sun was well on its way down, bathing the ramparts in golden light and casting long shadows into the ditches.

Despite all these defences, what makes this site different to most others is the fact that it is overlooked by a rocky ridge to the south, which can be seen in the background of the photo below.

Defence was obviously important though, as you can tell by the number of banks and ditches one needs to negotiate to get into the centre of the fort.

Within all of these ramparts and ditches is a largely flat platform, on which was built some twenty huts with stone walls and timber roofs. Not much of these now remains, but low roughly circular banks of stones can still be seen in places.

At the opposite end of the fort, to the east, is the original entrance. A wide path snakes between the ditches and ramparts.

At the end of this path, outside the last ditch and bank, is a large boulder, which looks very much like it marks the entrance in some way. It also seems to be aligned, through the centre of the fort, with a small hill on the horizon to the east, and Arthur’s Seat on the horizon to the west.

We spent a good while wandering around the ridges of the ramparts, and through the ditches, but inevitably the pull of coffee and cake was soon too much to resist, and we made our way back through the fort to the west, stopping to take a panorama of the western defences.

Clicking the photo below will open the panorama image in a new window to give you a full-width view of the fort.

In the field next to the small car park where we had parked were several horses, one of which had one normal dark brown eye, however the other eye seemed to be blue.

On the way home, with the sun starting to set, we stopped at Gosford Bay for a quick walk on the beach and photo of the sunset.

We managed to get just outside the city limits of Edinburgh, crossing the bypass on our way to Dalhousie Castle.

Possibly dating back to the 12th century but added to over the centuries, Dalhousie Castle is an interesting and complex collection of towers and turrets.

The castle is now run as a luxury hotel, and one of the activities on offer is falconry, with the castle keeping its own birds. We couldn’t see any falcons, but there were plenty of owls, including an Eagle Owl and a Great Grey Owl.

The approach to the castle itself is dominated by the massive circular tower, which was added to the corner of the courtyard wall in the late 15th century.

The courtyard wall is no longer visible in its original form, the castle having been extended out to, and incorporating, the wall over the years. Next to the round tower is the main entrance to the castle, with a tall niche for accepting a drawbridge.

There was originally a moat at Dalhousie, passing through where the gravelled car parking area now is, and the drawbridge was required to cross it. The tall entrance with the round tower flanking and moat below it is very reminiscent of Direlton Castle.

Above the entrance is a section of parapet walk, adjoining the round tower, and the surface of both is covered with ivy.

On the south side of the castle it’s possible to get an idea of what a well-defended castle it would have been originally, as part of the moat was excavated in the 20th century, and the ground now falls away steeply to a bend in the River South Esk.

With the sun continuing its inevitable descent, we headed for home and left Dalhousie Castle behind us.

Situated between Meadowbank Stadium and Hibernian’s ground, this green and tranquil park is an oasis of calm, at the centre of which is Lochend Loch.

There are no burns or rivers flowing into or out of Lochend Loch, instead it is fed by underground springs. It was once reputed to be bottomless!

The silence is broken only by the squawking of birds, of which there are many, nestling in the undergrowth around the edge of the loch, and within the trees that grow out of the water in the middle.

Along the east side of the loch is a steep cliff, on top of which are the remains of Lochend Castle, now built into the later Lochend House.

Lochend Castle is thought to have been built in the 16th century, possibly on the site of an even earlier castle. Most of it was knocked down in the early 19th century, but a section of wall was incorporated into the new house, and an old castle fireplace can still be seen on the outside of Lochend House.

At the north end of Lochend Loch a wooden platform has been built, projecting out into the water to give a better view of the birds. Next to it is the stump of an old tree, which acts as a convenient viewing platform for the birds to get a better view of the people.

A mallard and his mate were swimming around, being followed by a younger male. This went on for several minutes before the older duck’s patience came to an end, and he chased off the young pretender in a cacophony of quacking.

There were also plenty of Tufted Ducks, diving repeatedly in search of tasty morsels on the bottom of the loch.

The park slopes upwards at the north end, providing a good view back over the loch, and beyond to Arthur’s Seat.

At this end of the loch is a large beehive doocot, also dating back to the 16th century and now doubt built to provide food for the occupants of Lochend Castle.

Before setting off for home we nipped around into a neighbouring cul-de-sac to see what could be seen from there of Lochend Castle. Not much was the answer, just the top of the section with the fireplace.

Sitting in the car waiting for the boat to arrive we would normally have had great views of the Forth Bridge and Forth Road Bridge, but today they were just lost in a sea of grey, particularly the Road Bridge.

We made our way along the shore to Hawes Pier where we got on the boat, and it set out west under the road bridge towards Beamer Rock lighthouse.

The boat then turned east to begin heading out to Inchcolm, passing under the road and rail bridges, both of which were disappearing into the clouds.

The approach to Inchcolm was decidedly grey, with Inchcolm Abbey struggling to rise out of the grey skies and falling rain.

As we rounded the east end of the island and entered the harbour, a grey seal popped her head out of the water, and was soon joined by her mate.

After disembarking and watching the seals until they submerged and swam away, we started walking towards the west end of the island. We’ve visited Inchcolm before, but spent most of our time in the abbey itself and watching seals in the harbour, so this time we wanted to explore a bit further.

It wasn’t really exploring weather though, with a fine but persistent rain falling and seemingly hanging in the air. In the absence of any views to speak of I pointed my camera downwards.

Climbing to the top of the west end of Inchcolm gives a good view back over the island, but in this weather that was about it. Even the nearby shore of Fife was barely visible.

With considerably more nettles and rain than birds, seals or views, we made our way back past the abbey to the east end of the island, where there are various military fortifications dating back to the First and Second World Wars. Built into the hillside is a brick-lined tunnel, built between 1916 and 1917 by 576 Cornwall Works Company of the Royal Engineers.

Again, despite the various concrete structures, there wasn’t a great deal to keep us at this end of the island either, so we made our way back to the abbey at the centre. Right on cue another pair of inquisitive seals made an appearance in the harbour.

They soon had extra reason to be inquisitive, with the arrival first of an RNLI craft, closely followed by a Royal Navy Search and Rescue helicopter. It seems that someone on the island had taken a turn for the worse after suffering back pain, and couldn’t be moved by boat.

With the excitement over, both the seals and ourselves stopped watching the helicopter and started watching each other until the boat arrived.

If anything the visibility got worse on the way back as the rain began to fall more heavily.

The captain of the boat circled around the Long Craig rocks just off Dalgety Bay, a favourite haunt of seals. It’s a bit late in the season for seals, but we did still see one.

With the sky getting greyer by the minute, and the bridges still some way off, I once again turned my camera down the way temporarily.

As we made our way back towards the bridges we were passed by a gull, I think a ring-billed gull over-wintering from North America.

Rounding Inchgarvie, once the site of Inchgarvie Castle which was superseded by numerous other defences over the centuries, we passed under the Forth Bridge and back to Hawes Pier.

Surprisingly the weather got better after we passed through a torrential downpour at Shotts, and while it was still a chilly 11 degrees when we arrived in Glasgow, at least it wasn’t raining or too windy.

We continued through Glasgow and over the Clyde, branching off the M8 after the Kingston Bridge and onto the M77, before heading into Pollok in search of Crookston Castle.

Crookston Castle occupies the top of a natural hill which seems to have been fortified since ancient times. In the 12th century a wooden castle was built here by a Norman knight, Sir Robert de Croc, whose name is preserved in the name of Crookston.

In the 14th century Crookston was bought by the Stewart family, and around 1400 they built the stone castle which can be seen today. It took a rather unusual form, having a main central square tower at each corner of which was a taller square tower. The only tower still standing to its full height is the north-east one, and while the south-east tower’s footings are still visible, the north-west and south-west towers were destroyed in 1489 by Mons Meg and never rebuilt.

The castle is protected not only by the steep sides of the hill on which it stands, but also by a ditch and bank which pre-date the stone castle.

From Crookston we headed south-east to the edge of Newton Mearns, where Mearns Castle is located. Hidden away in a slightly odd position behind Mearns Castle High School, Mearns Castle is a large stone tower, built in 1449 by Herbert Maxwell, the 1st Lord Maxwell.

Standing on top of a steep-sided small knoll, it was once defended by a courtyard wall, gatehouse, drawbridge and moat, but all these features have long since been removed. It was restored in 1970, and connected to a newly-built circular, metal-clad church the following year.

The tower consists of four storeys, and stands to a height of some 12 metres.

Along the top of the wall are the original stone corbels, which probably would have carried a parapet.

Below a window on the top floor of the tower at the north-east corner are two corbels, suggesting some kind of balcony or platform.

From Mearns Castle we drove back into the centre of Glasgow, parked at the Buchanan Galleries, and walked to George Square. There was no filming going on while we were here, but lots of American vehicles were parked around the streets off George Square, and there were American signs and traffic lights everywhere. The effect was really quite convincing.

After parking next to the swimming pool, we headed down to the harbour. Now reinforced with concrete, the new sea wall is built on rocks which form a natural harbour, which is what led this place to be settled in the first place. At the mouth of the harbour are the ruins of Dunbar Castle, built on a rock which is thought to have been fortified for at least 2000 years.

The ruins are thought to date back to the 15th and 16th centuries, and were built to protect the strategically-important harbour at Dunbar, which was the most convenient landing north of Berwick.

To the north-east are the remains of the main castle, standing on a large rock jutting out into the sea. A substantial amount of the massively thick red sandstone walls still stand, with a lonely section of a tower wall rising from the centre.

To the south-west, across a narrow channel of water, are the ruins of a great battery, thought to have been built in the mid-16th century, and featuring several gun loops which can still be seen.

This battery was once connected to its near neighbour by a massive wall, within which was an intramural passageway, but this has now fallen into the sea below. The opening of the enclosed passage can still be seen on the north-east side of the channel though, in the section of masonry closest to the camera in the photo below.

In 1567, following the Battle of Carberry Hill, Dunbar Castle was destroyed by an Act of Parliament, and has been a ruin ever since. Occupying such a precipitous position, and open to the elements, the castle has deteriorated significantly over the years.

The castle’s walls, severely weathered by the salty sea winds, now make convenient nesting sites for gulls.

It’s quite difficult to get an overall feel for Dunbar Castle from individual photos. Clicking on the image below will open a panoramic view of the castle in a new window.

We walked from the castle around the harbour and onto the sea wall. The sea off Dunbar is dotted with various rocks, and on one we could see a group of cormorants resting.

Looking back across the harbour we got a good view of the castle.

At the east end of the harbour is an 18th century fort and battery, built to protect the harbour from privateers who were particularly active at the time of the American War of Independence. The building of the fort, and of the new harbour, probably hastened the decline of the castle. But the concrete walkways of the new harbour also make it possible to walk around the castle, and see parts that would otherwise be inaccessible, such as the section which faces out to sea.

As we stood at the entrance to the harbour, a yacht made its way in off the sea.

Walking back around the harbour, one of the cormorants had moved to the rocks closer to the sea wall.

But our attention was soon diverted to a young herring gull flying majestically across the sea before landing in the water.

While crossing the bridge at the east end of the harbour, we noticed several jellyfish in the water. They were Cyanea lamarckii, also known as Blue jellyfish or Bluefire jellyfish due to their blue centres.

We probably saw ten or fifteen jellyfish in a small area, and apparently there are are a lot of jellyfish in the waters off the east coast of Scotland this year. In fact Torness nuclear power station had to shut down temporarily in June because Moon jellyfish were blocking the water intakes of the cooling system.

Leaving the harbour, we continued into Dunbar itself, and walked along the High Street, where there’s a statue of the celebrated naturalist John Muir (as a boy).

John Muir was born in Dunbar, and is probably best known in Scotland for the conservation organisation which bears his name, the John Muir Trust, although it wasn’t established until 1983, some 69 years after his death. There is also the John Muir Way, a walking trail which runs from the edge of Edinburgh along the coast of East Lothian and down to the Borders.

However John Muir’s family emigrated to America when he was 11 years old, and after spending time exploring the wilderness and studying plants, he devoted his life to preserving the great wild areas of his new country. He lobbied Congress for the creation of national parks, which led to the National Park Bill of 1899.

Further along the High Street is Dunbar Town House, a 17th century tolbooth thought to have been built around 1620, and currently undergoing renovation.

Rather ambitiously we thought we might manage a swim today, so we headed to Belhaven Bay just outside Dunbar. It was ambitious for two reasons – the first being that it wasn’t a particularly warm or sunny day so the sea would be cold, and the second being that the tide times were against us.

By the time we arrived the tide was well in, cutting off the bridge which crosses the Biel Water to the beach, so we saved the swim for another day.