Thursday, January 29, 2026 - Up and at 'em. A nice breakfast in the hotel, and we left about 9 AM. The Map for Day 3 in Scotland:
There are stone walls underneath all that moss:
Wide-open countryside:
By 10:30 we were at
Arbroath Abbey. No art associated with this place (that I am aware of), but still a Very Cool Place:
Continuing north, over the
River North Esk:
Driving north along the Scottish Coast, on the wrong side of the road. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing
We reached
Dunnottar Castle a little before noon (we did not go ALL THE WAY OUT on this stormy and windy day). Having said that, it was Very Cool:
30 minutes later, we were up in
Aberdeen:
Of course - it being half-past NOON - our first priority (after parking the car) was Finding Lunch! The car park exited into an indoor mall, with a sandwich shop RIGHT THERE - Thank You God. Then it was out on the street for a block to the
Aberdeen Art Gallery:
Claude Monet - "La Falaise à Fécamp", 1881 oil:
J.M.W. Turner - "Bellinzona from the Road to Locarno", 1843 watercolour:
We then journeyed 20 minutes up the road to the
Abedeen Treasure Hub - Museum Centre:
Two weeks ago I exchanged emails with Fern Bulfin, the Collection Information Officer, to see if we could see 4 Turner watercolours (which were "Not On Display"). She very generously/graciously offered a 1:30 time slot on Thursday!!!
J.M.W. Turner - "Interior of Ely Cathedral - North Transept and Chancel", 1797 watercolour:
J.M.W. Turner - "Baccharach on the Rhine", c. 1820 watercolour:
J.M.W. Turner - "Canal Scene with Shipping", 1800-1824 watercolour:
J.M.W. Turner - "Caerlaverock Castle", c. 1832 watercolour:
I don't have the engraving - yet. The engraving appears in 'Scott's Poetical Works' (Cadell), 1834:
They sure have quite a range of architectural styles in
Aberdeen:
We drove a little east, to the
University of Aberdeen area, first seeing
The Cathedral Church of St. Machar:
We then walked 1/2 mile down the street:
and visited
King's College Chapel:
Back outside, and back to our car:
That was a FUN hike:
We left
Aberdeen, and drove southwest to
Dundee and
The McManus (their Art Museum):
They have a David Roberts (that I knew about) ["Edinburgh Town and Castle", 1831 oil] and a watercolour by J.M.W. Turner (that I did not know about) ["River Scene, Le Havre", c. 1832 watercolour]:
We said goodbye to
Dundee at 5 PM:
Back to The Hotel, and dinner at 6:30. Thank You God for this wonderful Scotland adventure (and driving safely on VERY NARROW ROADS)!
For listening, I just kept the car radio on "Smooth Scotland" - the Bee Gee's seem to be in play-list-rotation:
Past entries of this blog are available on the website
https://dixonheadingwest.blogspot.com/
Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine/New York:
hyperlink:
dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/
