Friday, May 06, 2011

Another Day Out With the Camera

Yes Wednesday was to be the last really sunny day for apparently a while, so I was so glad that I jumped on a bus and made my way to St Andrews.

The bus sped through the spring country side which was highlighted by sections of vibrant yellow Rapeseed sitting between the green of young grain and what looked like brown corduroy . The neatness and regular spacing of the straight furrows amazed me …sadly I could not capture those on film as we were travelling too fast.

St Andrews a a great place to wonder around….of course there is THE golf course and the university, three almost parallel streets that have many small interesting shops, including many tiny local food purveyors and loads of places to eat ….but there are also ruins …and you know how much I love capturing shots of ruins.

This is the West Port …one of the few surviving Scottish city gates … I love entering South Street here …I feel I am stepping into history …despite the cars you need to dodge.

Traffic cones and workmen mar much of Market Street at the moment, so I ignored it and captured some of the little old houses in side streets.

I then headed for the first of the ruins….

St Andrews Castle …it sits overlooking Castle Sands and the North Sea. There has been a castle standing there since the time of Bishop Roger (1189 -1202). It has housed wealthy bishops, been a home to kings and a feared prison for those who got on the wrong side the resident bishop and were to be incarcerated in the ‘bottle dungeon’.

The next ruins were those of the Cathedral of St Andrews ….

This was founded in 1158 and was the seat of the Bishops and later Archbishops, until the reformation in the Sixteenth century, when it fell into disuse. It was a impressive building having a length of over 100 meters. Now the ruins are in the custody of Historic Scotland.

This is a great place to just sit … have a sandwich …and take it all in.

Many students sit and revise, reciting prose into the air or sit with earphones, motionless but intently listening. …probably to taped lectures rather than music.

I sat on the seat you can just see in the photo ......

... and these were weatherd stones that caught my eye. I find it hard to believe that they have been there for nearly 900 years....if only they could talk.

….And then there are the gulls who nest high on those walls and pop own to beg a crumb

Hope you enjoyed the trip

Take care xx


7 comments:

Jocelyn said...

OHHHHHHHHHHHH I so enjoyed the trip....such beauty...such history!!!

Thank you so much for sharing....I loved all the pics!!!!

Wishing you a great weekend!!! :-)

Alison said...

Thank you for sharing your wonderful photos Angie! Love the shot through the arch of the ruins, beautiful! x

sandra de said...

I loved the trip .... to be surrounded by such glorious pictures of history. Thanks for sharing.

Cardarian said...

What a lovely post - really enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing a bit of Scotland!
Hugs,
Cardarian

Carmen said...

Love these posts you do Angie. More please. I wonder if you know of another of my favourite blogs? Like you she loves to walk and take pictures of Scotland... http://scotland4thesenses.blogspot.com/ I think you'd like the blog - she featured Kirkaldy and surrounding areas recently and I love how she decribed where I used to live: In terms of tourism jargon, the section of the trail leading into the town of Inverkeithing could be marketed to those with an interest in seeing what a post apocalyptic Scotland might look like.

Teehee!

Liverpool Lou (Anne) said...

Hi Angie, thanks for sharing more wonderful photos :-)
Talking of weather we've had a mixed bag today, a short while ago we had a real downpour of big fat hailstones and now it's sunny again.
Anne xx

JoZart Designs said...

Wonderful potted tour and I especially love the photo of the castle through the arch, in the collage. A place I've yet to visit but you've really tempted me.
Love JoZarty x
Such a perfectly clean seagull!!