Last month, Jonathan and I went to visit his family in Scotland. In preparation for this, in April I churned my way through a heavy and long biography of Mary, Queen of Scots. As a result, the one place I really wanted to visit was Holyroodhouse Palace, where Mary witnessed a brutal murder and got married twice (out of 3 times). However, the current queen was in residence so we couldn’t get in.

For consolation, while driving to Edinburgh for a couple of days, we decided to stop by Lochleven, a castle on an island considered a much less important landmark in Mary’s life. It was there that she was imprisoned for a year, was forced to abdicate and miscarried twins. She eventually escaped by charming two of the castle staff into helping her commandeer a rowboat, sabotage the other boats and get away.

To get to Lochleven, we had to drive through the tiny village of Kinross, constantly thinking we were lost before finding another tiny sign for the hidden castle. Eventually we got to the shores of a lake, with hardly anything to indicate we had found our way. A ferryman in a small motorboat waited patiently for his next fare. It was really exciting to have found a bit of history that wasn’t completely overrun with tour buses and souvenirs. Lochleven showed nothing of its importance as it stood humbly in the distance.

When we got there, we had the run of the island and castle, all to ourselves. We stood in the room where Mary lost her twins, saw the window from where she bitterly watched fireworks celebrating her infant son’s coronation, following her forced abdication. She would never see him again, and he would be raised by her enemies.

I’ll visit Holyroodhouse next time I go to Scotland, but I doubt it will be as exciting as this impromptu visit. As is often the case when travelling, the unforeseen events that throw you off the planned path always lead to the best discoveries.