Bundled up on the North Sea!

i Dunnottar Castle, near Stonehaven, Aberdeen, Scotland off the east coast of Scotland was the first day of our trip. As you can see, I was bundled up that first day. It was windy, cold and situated high above the North Sea. It was the only day I wore a hat and gloves, although I believe I pulled up my hood on other occasions.

The oddest part was that it was warmer on the castle grounds even though many of the areas were very much open to the sea winds, but closer to where we parked the car, which was farther from the sea, the colder it got!




Everything was covered in moss and I wondered if it would have been as mossy earlier in the history of the castle. :)

Note the interior walls weren't as thick as outer walls, and see how green everything is even in October. Also, I didn't have to bend down to enter the buildings, although that's probably because I'm not that tall. But here, it's probably about 6 foot tall at the opening where I was standing. Hmm, as I write this, I looked back up at the picture above, and it appears this is one of the openings that even I would have to have bent down to enter.

One of the defense measures used in castles was to make entryways lower so that the enemy would have to crouch upon entering, giving them a decided disadvantage. I wouldn't have had that disadvantage as I didn't have to bend over hardly ever. But many of the entryway heights were only an inch or so above my own height. I always think of people of earlier times being shorter than the men of our day, but this wasn't always true. Which means they were about 5'5".

I commented once to my Playfair Scots descendants that my grandfather was so short, and it must have been that side of the family. He was Welsh, but his grandparents were Playfair and a German Cramer. But I was told that they were all tall. So it must have been his Irish Welsh/Kelly family that were smaller. Not sure. I haven't been in touch with any of the family on that side, couldn't find them, so they may say Nay! to that too. :)




My computer is still not working, but when it is, I wanted to show pictures of the day we returned to Edinburgh. On the drive back, we were surrounded by pea soup. I hope the pictures turned out well. It was perfect for the way I had written the opening pages of Heart of the Highland Wolf. Which the marketing staff is now working on, so hopefully it will be up for preorders soon.

I'm off to another day of work! Have a great Saturday and I should have Killing the Bloodlust up tomorrow. Sorry for the delay. What with being on the trip, I couldn't upload it and working nonstop, no time this week. Work has been absolutely crazy. So tomorrow, I hope to have the story up. :) Thanks to all my fans who have written, hoping I'll send the next installment soon!!!

Terry
"Giving the meaning to the term alpha male."
www.terryspear.com