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.

We celebrated last night with a meal at David Bann‘s vegetarian restaurant, then watched Edinburgh’s Hogmanay fireworks from our street.

To blow away the cobwebs and start 2012 in the way we mean to go on, we climbed Arthur’s Seat – along with hundreds of other people. Despite the drizzle it was obviously a popular thing to do!

We took our first breather at St. Anthony’s Chapel, overlooking St. Margaret’s Loch.

Then it was onwards and upwards! In the end we didn’t go all the way to the top, stopping at the shoulder just before the summit as the rain got heavier.

The views over Edinburgh really are spectacular, even on such a dreich day.

Despite the grey clouds, this being Scotland there were inevitably blue skies at the same time, and the half moon was clearly visible.

As we reached the foot of the hill, the sun was well and truly setting over the cityscape.

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.

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.