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.

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.

The main attraction for us was the deer park, which is home to a herd of red deer, established in 1977.

Beyond the deer park is extensive woodland, criss-crossed by a network of paths and trails. Although we had a warm spell recently, autumn temperatures have started to bite, and with them the trees have started to turn to red and golden hues.

On the edge of Beecraigs Wood is Beecraigs Loch, surrounded by trees.

Abundant fish stocks make it popular both with anglers and birds. On a small island in the loch we spotted a pair of cormorants – or they may possibly have been shags – one of which was drying its wings in the customary position.

We made our way back through the deer park, stopping several times to watch these graceful animals.

At the boundary between a deer enclosure and one for Highland cows we observed a Mexican standoff with a Scottish twist.

The stag was obviously angling for a fight, and we were treated to the spectacle of two stags fighting as he entered into a confrontation with a second younger stag. The struggle went on for several minutes before he emerged victorious.

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.

Buchanty Spout, on the River Almond to the north-east of Crieff, is a renowned spot for seeing salmon leaping up the waterfalls, attempting to get upriver to where they were born in order to spawn. There were probably fifteen cars in the car park and spilling out onto the road, so it was a popular location and we weren’t alone.

However there was a relatively quick turnover of people and we were still able to get a good spot at the main falls. It wasn’t long before we saw our first salmon, but the speed at which they jump is incredible and therefore quite difficult to photograph.

As a back up we also used a video camera to catch the salmon jumping, the edited highlights of which I have uploaded to YouTube.

We spent a good hour there watching the salmon, and although they were relatively few and far between (one jumping every five minutes or so) watching and listening to the raging torrent of water was very therapeutic.

But conscious of the need to get up to Bruar while still leaving time for shopping and walking before the fall of darkness we continued north, up through the Sma’ Glen, along Strathbraan, then up the A9.

We parked at House of Bruar, did a bit of shopping, then headed up into the woods behind the complex. Initially the path follows the edge of the Bruar Water and is pretty flat, but it soon branches away from the burn and starts to climb.

Most of the forest is evergreen pine trees, but dotted amongst them are a few deciduous trees which where just starting to turn.

Further up the hill the path turns back towards the burn, but by now it’s running through a deep rocky gorge, as you can see from the viewpoint just below the first bridge.

Beyond the bridge is a deep pool into which another series of waterfalls pour.

Crossing the bridge we looked down to see the water rushing past beneath us.

Across the bridge and on the east side of the burn we continued to climb, the path getting ever steeper. From this side there’s a great view of the next bridge, with more waterfalls cascading down below it.

With the light starting to fade, and our hunger starting to increase, we turned around at this point and started making our way back down, pausing once again at the first bridge.

By the time we reached the bottom the House of Bruar was closing up for the night and ours was one of the last cars to leave the car park.

Since we were near Pitlochry around tea time, there was only one sensible course of action and that was to head for the Moulin Inn for something to eat!

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.

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.

Callendar House is a free museum run by Falkirk Council (and home to the Council’s archives), and is a country mansion in parkland on the east edge of Falkirk.

The approach to the house is slightly unusual compared to other houses of this type, passing five huge tower blocks built in the 1960s. But once into the grounds the tower blocks are largely screened by trees, and it’s much like any other country estate really.

Callendar House today has the appearance of a sprawling French chateau with a hint of Scots baronial, and consists of a wide three storey block flanked by two storeys wings on either side.

However all is not as it seems, and the house incorporates some much older work. The present style dates largely to the period between 1869 and 1877, but this was just the last part of centuries of extensions and remodelling (and the subject of one of the exhibits within the house).

As you approach the house from the west you are actually walking towards the oldest part of it. In the 14th century a simple stone tower house was built here by the Livingston family, replacing an earlier wooden hall of the Thanes of Callander. The tower house was three storeys in height, and was incorporated into the later building just to the left of the round tower with the conical roof in the photo below.

The tower was extended in the 15th and 16th centuries, and played host to Mary Queen of Scots, as one of her Maids of Honour was Mary Livingston from Callendar House. By the 17th century the main block had reached the size that it is today, and at the end of that century the two storey wings were added to each end of it.

In the 19th century a grand new entrance hall and porch were added to the front of the house, topped off with corner turrets.

At the same time, around the back of the house, a new double staircase was added , sweeping down from the first floor to the gardens below. It was above this staircase that we caught a sight of something rather special.

Sitting at the top of a drainpipe was a squirrel. Looking closer we noticed that it had a young squirrel with it.

It became clear that the adult squirrel, presumably the mother, was trying to coax the young squirrel out of its hiding place and onto the roof above.

After several false starts, the young squirrel returning back to the drainpipe each time, they finally set off across the slates.

But the young squirrel still wasn’t happy on the roof, and so they proceeded to climb down the face of the wall, clinging to the rough harling.

Again the young squirrel didn’t seem too happy with the route its mum had chosen, and installed itself on a windowsill just short of the ground, the mother this time trying to coax her baby down rather than up.

With the young squirrel refusing to come down, she climbed up the wall and walked it down, but not without some drama, taking a twisty route of intertwined tails.

Eventually the youngster made it down to the ground, and the pair of them darted off in the direction of the trees behind the house.

With the show over, we made our way into the house to have a look at the exhibitions, which included a look at the surrounding area in Roman times (the Antonine Wall passes through the estate), the development of Callendar House itself over the centuries, and a restored and working Victorian kitchen where we had the chance to taste some gingerbread.

While we were on the top floor of the house, we looked out of the window close to where we thought we’d originally seen the squirrels, and were lucky enough to get a close-up view of a pair of squirrels. Whether or not it was the same ones, or perhaps more youngsters from the same litter. It may even be that the drey was built in the top of the drainpipe.

There are only a handful of brochs in the southern half of Scotland – there are hundreds in the north and on the islands – and Edin’s Hall is considered to be one of the best preserved.

The fields next to the parking area were full of sheep and their new lambs, enjoying the sunshine which had materialised.

The path to the broch took us through Avenue Wood, the approach to Retreat House, before branching off to cross the suspension bridge over the Whiteadder Water at Elba. It then follows the old flood plain of the Whiteadder before starting to gradually climb the lower slopes of Cockburn Law. As we reached the crest of the ridge we could see the remains of the stone ramparts of the fort in which the broch stands, and then the broch itself appeared on the horizon.

Edin’s Hall broch is thought to have been built in the first half of the second century AD and is pretty huge compared to other brochs, with massively thick walls.

The entrance to the broch is on the south-east edge, and passing through it reveals the huge circular space enclosed within.

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

Within the thickness of the walls are several chambers, including two inter-connected ones to the west.

Entering another of the chambers reveals a staircase which would originally have given access to upper levels in the broch.

It was starting to get pretty windy now, and without much warning the dark, brooding clouds overhead opened up and torrential rain began to fall. It still looked like good weather down by the Whiteadder, so we had a quick look around the interior of the fort, which contains hut circles and various piles of stones, then headed back down the slope.

Almost as soon as we were off the ridge the rain stopped. We spotted a pair of oyster catchers poking around in a puddle above the river, but as we got closer they took flight and headed up the hill.

As the path got closer to the Whiteadder we were able to look down onto the river, and saw a male and female goose swimming along. At first glance I thought they were Mallards, but they’re not. I haven’t been able to identify them, so if anyone knows what they are, please let me know!

As we walked further along the high bank above the river we noticed lichen growing on some trees, twisting and entwining itself around the branches into fantastic forms.

Eventually we made it back to the car, and while we were sorting ourselves out the sheep were becoming increasingly inquisitive.

We drove the short distance to Bunkle Castle, and in so doing drove into more torrential rain. Waterproofs back on, we clambered through the undergrowth to reach the gate that gives access to the castle.

There has been a castle on this site since the 11th or 12th centuries, but what you can see today probably dates to the 14th or 15th centuries. The first thing that you see is a massive corner section of castle wall with a small window in it, possibly part of a gatehouse.

The platform on which the castle stood is still obvious, although it’s slightly overgrown with grasses and weeds. No trace of the buildings from the interior of the castle now remain above ground, but a 20 metre section of the castle’s curtain wall still stands on the edge of the site to the south-west.

It was really pretty wet, so we didn’t spend too long at Bunkle, and headed south to Duns, where the weather improved considerably.

We had wondered about climbing Duns Law to see the fort there, but decided it was a bit late to be starting that and instead went for a walk in the grounds of Duns Castle.

Although the castle itself is private, some of the grounds are open to the public. The road up to the castle passes a small cairn commemorating John Duns Scotus, considered to be one of the more important philosophers of the Middle Ages, who may have been born here.

The cairn is just outside the Pavilion Lodge, an 18th century gatehouse to the east of the castle which can be rented out as holiday accommodation.

Through the arch is the main driveway to Duns Castle.

But we turned right here, taking a path to the Hen Poo, a man-made loch behind the castle. There was a cacophony of noise coming from the loch, made by a mix of gulls, ducks, geese, moorhens and coots. The ducks and the geese were the bravest, coming up to us in search of food.

With the birds fed with what we had on us, it was time to head home and feed ourselves.