Start of the Nutter's Tour! Heading out to the Borders.
Lowlands or Borders, I'm not sure.
Little loch by Scott's house.
Funniest Wallace statue evar. Tour guide thinks he kind of looks like Homer Simpson in a skirt.
Looking out from Homer Simpson.
At the Wallace Monument.
River photo op.
Melrose Abbey. These are the foundations for some of the older buildings.
Melrose Abbey. Some of these niches have knight tombs.
Melrose Abbey. Buttresses anyone?
Pile o'rubble = old building
I love the round pebble cobbles.
Arches open to the air are just so dang pretty.
Looks like a time-space event is about to erupt on that wall. eek.
In a niche at Melrose Abbey. Various 17th Century dead people.
Skull not so scary after someone got his nose.
The ceiling is a beautiful piece of work.
Knight's tomb at Melrose Abbey. He'll disappear entirely over time.
Portals.
Insert bad poetry here.
Interesting to see the structure laid bare like that.
Gargoyles say boo! There's one that is a pig playing the bagpipes at the top of the tower.
Moss. I like moss.
Time and nature taking their stuff back.
There would have been lots of light with the upper windows.
Melrose Abbey.
Oh yeah. Supposedly Robert the Bruce's heart is buried here. It made a journey as far as Spain before coming back to Scotland.
Some of the remaining floor mosaic at Melrose Abbey. I love this stuff.
A rook. Native to eating areas everywhere. I think they used to eat real food.
This town dismantled a church to build this bridge. The extra spans are for when the river floods, which is does fairly frequently.
Out in the Borders. Makes you want to recite some Rabbie Burns or something.
A little chruch we stopped at on the way to Rosslyn. It also has templar ties.
The style is much more modest than others we've seen, but it was in a lovely little village behind a wall, and the graveyard had some interesting headstones.
Notice the tomb in the floor.
Love this one. Folk death art - similar to what I saw in Halifax, NS.
Apparently, this gentleman is lovingly patting his children. It was an impressive carving.
Moss.
The gate is newly made with the templar cross by a smith in the town. It was lovely.
Rosslyn Chapel! Keep in mind that it's in a 10 year restoration project, so it's all covered. They are still trying to dry it out. Oh, and the pub down front was founded in 1606.
View beside Rosslyn Chapel.
Tried my best to get some outside shots. You can't take photos inside. You get a sense of the beautiful sandstone - they covered it with grey slurry to "preserve" it and now it's all got to come off.
A clear shot! Door to Rosslyn Chapel with some pretty scary gargoyles.
Here you can see some clean stone and some of the damaged stone.
Beautiful windows top and bottom. I really would have loved to have seen it post-restoration.
