This Friday we took the bus downtown to St. Andrews castle. On a hill with a spectacular view of the North Sea, the castle is mostly in ruins due to seawater erosion. Surprisingly, the viewing was quite a bit of a free-for-all; once we paid our admission, they sent us over to the castle with no tour guide and very little explanation. Signs were minimal, and there were no railings keeping you back; you can go right up to everything. (There was a grating over the mouth of the bottle dungeon.) Maeve even got to climb up onto the wall.

The most interesting part was underground. The signs informed us that during a siege of the castle, the attackers decided to dig a mine under the outer wall. The defenders could see the entrance of the mine and hear the digging, and guided by only that, started a countermine. After three false starts, they finally managed to intercept the mine. The castle eventually was lost, but the tunnels remain, and we got to go down into them! 

The tunnel was about forty yards long and four feet in diameter, with minimal modification (the floor was worn down somewhat from tourists, there was electric lighting, and a ladder at one point); it was also extremely damp and slippery. Maeve was terrified to go down the ladder, but she was persuaded, and voted the mine "the best part, except for the dungeon."

Afterwards we went down to the beach. There was of course no swimming in the water of the cold North Sea, but the little ones enjoyed collecting seaglass. The beach was also littered with gigantic, sunset-colored barnacles. (You can't imagine how hard it was to persuade Maeve to limit herself to three.)

Today, if we have time, we'll be heading to downtown St. Andrews again to explore the ruined cathedral. Stay tuned.

--Sophia

The view of the North Sea

Maeve and Mommy explore the mine

Maeve climbs the castle

The castle well