The Last of Scotland

We have now farewelled Scotland :( On the way down to England and Wales we did check out 2 highlights though - Rosslyn Chapel and Hadrian's Wall.

You can't take photos of Rosslyn Chapel but most of you would have seen (a replica of) it in the Da Vinci Code. It was built in 1446 and has a fascinating history involving Knights Templar, Freemasons, murder, treasure; all the good stuff. We were able to get into a guided tour of the place and learned a lot about the carvings inside. Some of the really kool features were;
- A copy of the death mask of Robert the Bruce (that guy from Braveheart)/ a famous Scottish King.
- Over 100 'Green men'; these weird little faces of men with plants coming out of their mouths, supposedly a Pagan symbol of the bond/link between man and earth.
- 2 famous pillars at the front of the chapel; the Mason and the Apprentice pillar. The Mason carved his pillar, and then set off to a nearby town for inspiration for the 2nd one. Meanwhile the apprentice had a dream and beautifully carved the second pillar. When the Mason returned and saw the work, he flew into a jealous rage and killed his apprentice with a mallet. At the back of the chapel is a carving of the Mason's face, nearby is the Apprentice with a bump on his head, and then the Apprentice's crying mother.
- There is a carving of an angel carrying a heart. This is supposedly because the chap who had the chapel built (William St Clair) and his brother were chosen to escort the heart of Robert the Bruce (King of Scotland) to Jerusalem. Robert the Bruce had wanted his heart to be returned to the Holy place when he fell. If you read the Da Vinci code, there were certain other ties of the St Clairs to Jerusalem!
- The Crypt was where limited filming took place for the movie. Apparently Tom Hanks walked down an aisle and down into the Crypt, but the rest of the church was shot from a model, as the real chapel is currently under restoration and is covered in scaffolding. Apparently the film crew put up a sticker of a pentagram over the entrance of the crypt, which was removed after filming to leave a white mark where it had taken off the surface of the 600year old stone!!!! So now there is a nice white circle above the entrance to the crypt, lol.

After that, we left Scotland and passed over the English border.


Hadrian's Wall was built in ~130AD by Roman Emperor Hadrian as the frontier of the Roman Empire, and to keep the Picts at bay haha, the ancient inhabitants of Northern Scotland proved a bit much for the Romans to handle. The wall is now broken in places but originally stretched the whole way across the country. We visited it in several places, the most memorable being the Sycamore Gap. Here the is a beautiful Sycamore tree in the place where the opening scene of Robin Hood; Prince of Thieves was filmed. Lol.

This is me at the Sycamore Gap.

Here's Hamish with his bow n arrow :)