The Knights of...oops

Ok, so I have to admit, my planning skills aren't always up to par, which is why that's generally more Skick's department. So when I told Skick about this great old castle we were going to be heading off to in the middle of nowhere, I'm pretty sure she had doubts from the start. It turns out this place was really the middle of nowhere - the train dropped us off in a town of maybe a few hundred people, and the "map" was this old wood plank with either roads or hiking trails (no way to know) etched into it, and nothing in the way of labels. I was pretty sure I could read it, though, to which Skick only replied, "Uh, Derrick?" (a commonly heard expression of doubt that she uses) to which I replied (as always), "It'll be fine - trust me."

But after a bit of walking through the extremely foggy winding roads, I double-checked the book only to find that it wasn't listed as a 3/4 kilometer hike from the station, but a 3/4 hour one. Oops. That wouldn't leave us with much time at the castle, which by now Skick was obviously very doubtful of its mere existence. I assured her everything would be fine again, and onwards we trekked. When we turned off the road onto a small, poorly-marked and still foggy hiking trail, I have to admit that my doubts started to rise as well. I of course didn't admit as much, slipping into a rhythm of the occasional "I'm sure it's just a little bit farther."

Just about when I'm pretty sure Skick was ready to give up, I spied something through the fog - a tower, maybe? Could it be? By this point, I knew I'd never live it down if we didn't find this castle, so I hastened my pace and said confidently, "Aha, we're almost there!"

Sure enough, the castle was really there. It was an impressively massive and foreboding medieval structure, complete with moat, drawbridge and a slew of tall, arrow-slit laden towers.

The place was built by some knights a long time ago, but here's where my luck ran out. I had apparently also overlooked one other small fact in the book - it didn't open until 10AM, and we would already have to be heading to our train by then. So after a lengthy apology, I agreed to turn our backs on the castle without being dazzled by the dungeon, torture chamber, armory and mess hall promised within. Nevertheless, the hike and castle outer-grounds were well worth (in my opinion, at least...) the time. And maybe next time this'll teach me to pay a bit more attention to the details. Yeah right ;-)