..... on our doorstep

For some reason I cannot fathom, I have never in my 61 years visited Linlithgow Palace! I passed it numerous times in the train when I was a student in Glasgow 68/73 and my parents lived near Edinburgh. It's a short drive from where I've lived for 35 years .... and yet I've never been there.

Until today I'd never discovered that the metal 'spire' on the tower belongs to the adjacent church, not the Palace. Or that the building is huge and brilliantly conserved. Or that so much of the three and five storey ranges are accessible to visitors that we could easily imagine the life of the long ago court, of the courtiers and servants - banquets in the Great Hall, audiences in the Presence Room.

Difficult to choose which shot to blip; this one taught me about exposure for such a situation but also shows the highest point to which we'd already climbed! Scarey!

Amazing place! Lesson to self: don't overlook what's on your doorstep!