My girlfriend, her parents and my father met up this weekend at the place we’re getting married in July. Being a guy I’m not really into weddings. I thought I was the only one to wonder at the point of putting on such a big show when we’ve been together for six and a half years already and living together for over two, but it turns out that weddings are a girl thing. A lot of my married friends admit that it was the girl who organised the whole thing and they pretty much “turned up on the day”. So with that burden of guilt lifted I can look forward to it without feeling I have to get as excited as my good lady!

Anyway, it was a nice, albeit short trip up north not helped by the fact that I was a bit knackered. However it was good to see the place and check out the local accommodation for guests. Oh, and as I had my camera I insisted we go and find a ruined castle or something equally as interesting to take pictures of…

This isn’t the castle I’m getting married in, this is Caeverlock Castle which has seen better days. What I often forget having grown up in Scotland is that castles are quite a novelty to many. Scotland is covered in the things so I’ve never really paid much attention to them (apart from Eilean Donan Castle – the one in Highlander).

What is interesting is that the area around Dumfries (where we were) is where a lot of interesting 13th and 14th century history happened that I learned about in school – there are more Robert Bruce memorials than you can shake a stick at. Maybe I’ll finally buy my self a copy of Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland by G.W.S. Barrow and read it without my history teacher looking over his half-moon glasses at me!