Week-End in Aberdeen

The city of Aberdeen - The Granite City - is on the east coast of Scotland facing the North Sea and Norway. It is a three hour train ride north from Edinburgh. It was nice to glide through the country side on the quiet, smooth train and have a look at the coastline, villages, and fields of the area. Lots of wheat, potatoes and other vegetables, and soybeans.

The city itself is known as the "granite city" because there is a large deposit of granite that has been mined over recent centuries to build the city, and the granite has been shipped out all over the world. There are buildings built with this granite that date back to 1300 bc.  They say that when the sun is shining in Aberdeen the buildings, 50% of which are made with this high grade granite, sparkle and shine. 

I will have to take their word for it, as the sun didn't come out while we were there. Many of the streets were done in beautiful granite cobble stone too.

Another prevalent aspect of Aberdeen is the oil industry.  In the 1970's, some of you may remember, oil was found in the North Sea, and off shore oil rigs continue to pump oil from beneath the ocean floor, making the port of Aberdeen very busy indeed.



While traveling around the area, we met a couple on the bus, and the gentleman had spent many years working on the oil rigs and now teaches continuing education courses to oil rig workers all over the world. It was very interesting to talk with him about the industry. The city has grown rapidly since the time of the oil rigs, so people talk about the "before and after" , as it changed the city significantly.

At the end of our ride together, they brought us to the two oldest pubs in the city. There is a disput as to which is oldest, so we had to go to both. The first was The Old King's Highway, established by local monks in the 1600's. However, I liked the second one, The Prince of Wales, best because there was no TV and no jukebox - just suds, old wooden floors, and folks talking and laughing.

We used the bus system in Aberdeen to make a couple of outings into the country side.  On Saturday we went to Dunnottar Castle, which is a castle ruin near the small town of Stonehaven.   From the brochure:

• William Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots, the Marquis of Montrose and the future King Charles, all graced the Castle with their presence. Most famously though, it was here that a small garrison held out against the might of Cromwell's army for eight months and saved the Scottish Crown Jewels, the 'Honors of Scotland' from destruction.
• A darker chapter in the history of the castle is that of the 'Whig's Vault'. The gruesume story of the imprinsoment in 1685 of a group of Covenanters who refused to acknowledge the King's supremacy in spiritual matters.
• The Castle was home of hte Earls Marischal once one of the most powerful families in the land. The last Earl was convicted of treason for his part in the Jacobite rising of 1715, and as a result his estates, including Dunnottar, were seized by the government.
• The buildings were thereafter much neglected until 1925 when the 1st Viscontess Cowdray embarked on a systematic preservation of the castle, which was offically made open to visitors thereafter.

It was a little soggy for hiking with sporadic rain, but still, with proper gear, not unpleasent. We hiked for about an hour each way to get to the castle from Stonehaven. The following are some photos from the hike.

On Sunday we went inland, following the River Dee, to the town of Banchory, and there we hiked up Scolty Hill.  Scolty Hill is a small hill south of the Deeside town, Banchory. Its best known feature is the 20m tall tower monument, a memorial to General Burnett who fought alongside Wellington. It was cool and very windy, especially at the top of the tower, but less wet that day.



The River Dee

 

 

 

We are back at Dalkeith House again, and today we will meet with the rest of the faculty and begin our orientation. There is a group of 10 students and 2 staff who are coming from the UW system specifically for a week of the Fringe Festival, which is a course the students will take, and an event that will warrent a posting all its own.  The fall semester students will begin to arrive next week as well, with classes starting on the 17th.

I have an appointment with the Jewel and Esk college in Edinburgh on Friday (the 12th) to meet a director there to begin looking for ways to make connections for our WITC students in the future. Today I will take a walk to the Jewel and Esk, Dalkeith-campus.  It was a great week-end in Aberdeen - now we're back to it.