Scotland Trip Report--Day 7--Dumfries to Fintry

I woke up early for some odd reason, so I got loaded up, had breakfast, and headed out. My first stop was Culzean Castle, which was out on the coast. It was just lovely! Great views of the water, very large and opulent. Hard to imagine living that way! The weirdest thing was that in the gardens, there were tons of palm trees! It looked like I was in Florida! I had lunch at the Coffee House there, just soup and bread, but then got some ice cream on the way out.
I then began the long drive up to Fintry, which is north of Glasgow. My gas gauge was getting low, so I had to stop for petrol. OMG is it expensive! 1 pound per liter, 4 liters to a gallon, so that is over $7 per gallon! It cost over $70 to fill the little tank! OUCH!!
I was truly driving through the wilds of Scotland. Beautiful country, but desolate. Few cars, no people, just lots and lots of cows and sheep. At one point the sheep were all in the road ahead of me! The shepherd and his dog were trying to clear them off the road. Naturally, I stopped and took a picture. I thought it was a riot!
I continued on my way, going over one lane roads again, through the hills. No cell signal there--”emergency calls only”. Nice to know I could get through if I really needed to!
My destination was the Culcreuch Castle Hotel, just outside of the tiny town of Fintry. It was not very well marked, and I drove past the entrance twice! Finally I found it though. It is a tower style castle, built in 1296. The oldest continually occupied castle in Central Scotland. The views are beautiful. I can’t imagine living here!
I checked in and was delighted to find that my room is the closest to the ground floor. Just one flight up. The negative to that turns out to be noise, as everyone has to pass my room to get up to theirs, and I also get some noise from the bar (which closes at 11pm thank heavens!) My room is lovely and quite comfortable, and WiFi is available for a small fee.
I wandered around the castle, looking at the Drawing Room, the Dining Room, and the Laird’s Hall (WOW!!), as well as the grounds. Took a bunch of pictures. Then I sat in the Drawing Room and read for awhile. I went down and had dinner in the Dungeon Bar. Really! It used to be the dungeon! Very cool. I had fish and chips, which were quite yummy.
I headed back up to my room to go online and watch some TV. It was a bit chilly in the room, so I turned on the heat. Yes, heat! In July! I indulged in some hot cocoa at bedtime, which warmed me up a bit more.  Sleeping in a 13th Century castle--too cool!