Linlithgow Palace courtyard

Monday 21^st May 2012

Another lovely day, blue sky and temperature about 15°- 16°.

We had a big day planned with plenty of sight seeing and lots of miles to cover.

Left Blairgowrie about 9:30AM and headed south to Scone to visit Scone Palace, the crowning place of Scottish Kings on the Stone of Scone. Charles II was the last man to be crowned King at Scone in 1651. The Palace is home to the Mansfield family and has been since 1600. The Palace is very grand with lovely state rooms and beautiful gardens which have peacocks wondering around.

Next stop was Linlithgow Palace, near Edinburgh. Construction of  the Palace was started by James I in 1425, and it was the home of the Royal  House of Stewart and birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots.

We spent a couple of hours exploring the ruins of the castle and climbing up and down spiral stair cases admiring the views from the top of the tower.

Also visited St Michaels Scottish Church which is right next door to the Castle and was founded in 1242.

White Swan Inn Dining Room

After a quick lunch in Linlithgow we headed further south, said goodbye to Scotland, and drove to Alnwick in Northumberland. Here we visited the White Swan Inn where the 1^st class lounge timber paneling and windows from ‘Titanic’’s sister ship ‘Olympic’ has been installed in the hotel’s dining room. The Olympic was sold for scrap in 1935 and the White Swan Inn bought the fittings from the 1^st class lounge and part of the aft grand staircase.

The effect is absolutely stunning. We spent quite a while admiring the workmanship and taking many photos.

Our room in Lumley Castle

Back in the car for the final leg of todays travels and our stop for the night, Lumley Castle just north of Durham.

We arrived at Lumley Castle about 5:45PM. The castle was constructed in the 14^th century and the journey to our room involved walking along corridors up a staircase, along more corridors and finally up a narrow stone spiral staircase, not the place to bring a large suitcase!! Fortunately for us a porter carried both our bags up to our room for us.

After settling in we went to the ‘Black Watch’ restaurant for dinner. Definitely lots of atmosphere.

Dinner in Black Watch Restaurant