Student Bloggers

Saturday morning, I struggled to rise when my alarm went off for the first time at an early 6am. The night before, I had decided that I wanted to travel up to Elgin to see Elgin Cathedral and just generally piddle around wasting time exploring a new town.

I woke up quite groggy as my alarm blared the most obnoxious tone imaginable, and my plans to be adventurous seemed like day dreams that went away as quickly as they appeared. I did not want to leave the comfortable warmth of my two loves: my bed and my duvet. Turning off my alarm, I quickly returned to the blissful state of unconsciousness, but not for long. I rose with the sun about an hour later, upset that sleep evaded me.

Contemplating my options for the day, I was tempted to lay in bed watching movies on Netflix, but my deep desire to explore needed to be quenched, so I pulled up the train schedule.

My initial plans to leave on the earliest train for Elgin fell through; but luckily, there was another train that morning. With new plans, I rose and got ready. Boots on and in the appropriate number of layers for the expected weather for the day, I packed my backpack with the essentials: sandwich, bottle of water, extra cash (if necessary), my big map of Scotland, and my travel journal. Ready to take on the day, I caught the bus to the train station.

The train ride to Elgin was nice. The sun was still in the process of rising, despite it being mid-morning by the time I left, lighting up the Scottish landscape with golden rays as the train traversed across the land. From the train you could see brief glimpses of the world around you as they passed by.

Finally, after about an hour and a half, I arrived in Elgin. It was a sunny day in Scotland, a rare feat for the winter months. One thing that I have learned about sunny days in Scotland is that if you get the chance, spend it outside because despite claims of sun via the weather app, you never know when you may see the next one.

I was hesitant at first because all the other Historic Scotland sites I had visited in Aberdeenshire had been closed for public access due to various reasons. Luckily after a short trek from the train station to Elgin Cathedral, I was genuinely ecstatic that it was open.

Here is my plugging the Historic Scotland membership cards--they are amazing and let you get into places like Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle, and Elgin Cathedral for FREE! Yes, you heard that right, free. So, why not take advantage of them?

The ruins of the cathedral stood tall, towering over the stone grave markers that littered the ground around the skeleton of cathedral. The main entrance is between two towers that still stand in their entirety. Both towers house different relics from the old cathedral which are mainly stone carvings that had once been part of the outer design of the building, but had fallen off. Some of the stone carvings were so detailed. They ranged in designs from faces of people, to plants and animals.

The two towers both have spiral staircases that you can climb to see more exhibits on higher floors. I would classify myself as a risk taker and adventurer, but as soon as I have to start climbing up a narrow spiral stair case with a rope as the hand rail, my ability to function dissipates and I look like a child attempting to walk for the first time. It is not a pleasant sight, and I naturally cursed like a sailor as I climbed up and down the stairs that were sort of wide on one side and definitely too small on the other. The fear I momentarily experienced was worth it, because at the top of the North Tower, there is a lookout deck that gave me one of the most exquisite views of the cathedral.

I stood up there for probably ten minutes laughing to myself about how beautiful a day it was, and how blessed I was to get to experience it.

After successfully not dying as I slowly climbed down all the flights of spiral stairs, I walked amongst the ruins of the cathedral taking it all in.

Around on the North side was the Chapterhouse. Upon entering you hear the low recording of monks singing and you look up at the magnificent arches that were, to me, an architectural wonder. Just getting to stand in there with the music playing, I felt as if I had been spirited away to a fantastical land that prior to this experience I thought could only exist in movies.

The body of the cathedral that still stands today is ornate despite time and other factors wearing it down. You can see the windows where stained glass once rested and the carvings that still stand stare down at you almost as if they are judging you from above.

Another thing that was at the cathedral was a Pictish stone that on one side had the carving of a cross while on the other side there were carvings of a crescent with v-rod, double-sun and z-rod, crows/ravens, and men or women riding horses. The Picts are such a mystery to me, despite the countless Wikipedia pages that I have read through, which makes me more fascinated by them, and the objects they have left behind.

The cathedral was beautiful, and by the time I had finished looking around at it all, it was only half past noon. Pulling out my handy dandy Tourist map of Scotland, I found Elgin on it and looked at the historic ruins that were nearby. My eyes landed on Duffus Castle. With Duffus Castle in mind, I consulted Google Maps to give me an approximate travel time via foot. It was only 5 to 6 miles away, I had walked further on previous excursions, and it was such a beautiful day. So, with my headphones in and my entire collection of music on shuffle, I began my walk.

After an hour of trekking down a dirt road, I saw the castle in the distance. It seemed so close, but it was still so far away. With the castle in sight, I walked with more motivation. I followed the road as it wound around fields of crops, sheep, and cows, which cut down the additional hour walk to only forty minutes.

From the outside, I initially looked at the castle in awe. It had a nice little moat around it that at a time may have been deeper, but was now dried up to the extent that a toddler could now wade across it without fear. Time had not been kind to Duffus Castle. It looked like a ruin with some sort of shape, which is cool, but it was tiny and there honestly was not much to see. Maybe it was because I was rushed due to wanting to catch the bus back to town instead of walking or all the small children running around unattended, I chose not to stay there long enough to properly enjoy the castle for all it had to offer.

On the train back to Aberdeen the sun slipped past the horizon painting the sky in fantastic hues of color making for a wonderful end to a sublime day.

Ultimately, my day in Elgin was a success and quite delightful. The day trip went smoothly, which was nice. There are a few more attractions that I didn’t have the time to see inside the city limits of Elgin itself, but would possibly like to go see at a later time.

If you ever see yourself in this part of the world, I highly recommend taking the time to see Elgin Cathedral. Thanks to vast efforts of preservation of the structure of the cathedral that still stand despite years of deterioration, it is a marvelous site to behold.