The Tower of Saruman

If Scotland obtains its independence next year, I'm going to petition the First Minister to posthumously adopt J.R.R. Tolkien as an Honorary Citizen of the newly Independent Nation.

Near where we stay in Aberdeenshire we have Bilbo Bridge, and of course the Mither Tap of Bennachie that features so often in these pages - which to my imagination at least, simply has to be the prototype for Tolkien's Weathertop.

Here we see the Wallace Monument on its hill above Stirling, which I am convinced must be the model for Orthanc.