Our pub accommodation – which is a separate renovated older two story building in a narrow pedestrian lane next to the restaurant is really spacious and comfortable – and it was very reasonably priced at 100 pounds including breakfast. Bonus it comes with tea and coffee facilities, a shortbread, a spa bath and separate shower. The super king was really comfortable and the location lovely and quiet which facilitated a great sleep however, I am feeling worse for wear as far as my cold goes. We enjoyed a full cooked Scottish breakfast that had nice slabs of both black pudding and local haggis, eggs, bacon, link sausage, tomatoes and potato scones (could have had mushrooms but we don’t do them thank you). You could also help yourself to fresh fruits, yoghurt and cereal etc. and I got a wonderful bowl full of local raspberries, blackberries and strawberries – estimated value 8 GBP at least from what I saw in the supermarket. We questioned to ourselves how they would dare flower let alone ripen in this sort of ‘summer’ weather but then saw quite a few market gardens with items under covers or little tunnel houses.
After enjoying our breakfast we checked out and made our way up the road about 20 miles to St. Andrews (where the golf is) and visited the ruins of the cathedral which was built originally in the 1100’s. The sun made a perfectly timed appearance and we enjoyed wandering around this still impressive building for free. It must have been something in its day, and I marvel how they built these amazing buildings back then with little technology to help – clearly still the knowledge and skill though.
The cathedral is 119m (over 300 ft) long, and is the largest ever built in Scotland. It was originally a medieval catholic cathedral but when Catholicism was outlawed in the 16th century due to the Scottish reformation it fell into disuse. There are about 3 grave yards surrounding it which we enjoyed strolling around and reading some of the names. One family must have suffered an illness or similar perhaps as had about 4 children who died all early 20’s and the mother/wife in a short space of time. Another interesting one was a 54 year old wife dying giving birth to their child that also died! A really curious one was a black skull and cross bones with no name on a head stone? The grass was short, soft and green and smothered in tiny white daisy like flowers – made us chuckle thinking of the phrase “pushing up daisies”.
Outside the church and graveyards stone walls is a walking track along a peninsular on a cliff – on one side you see the coast up Scotland towards Dundee and then other curves around down to a tiny old port. There were lots of people out and about enjoying the Sunday sun, and one cute scene was an old lady – complete with walking stick and water bottle, with an older man following – they must have been in their late 80’s at least. We past the time of day, mentioning how nice it was to see the sun, and got a reply from the old dear ‘aye – be nicer w’out the wind’. The scenery was lovely and rugged Scotland with bumble bees busy working old fashioned rock roses, the dark blue grey sea receded by the long tide displaying lines of beautiful rock formations in black, white and pinky purple, with lacy bright green and brown kelps and moss.
Here in the UK – both at Liverpool as seen in the Mersey river and Anstruther there are really big tides – to a difference of at least 5 meters – facinating. Next stop we looped southwards and inland to an ex mining town called Glenrothes mining town. It used to get a bad wrap on how untidy and dull it was so they put an effort into planting lots of flowers, developing a nice river park, and letting loose local and other artists to create fun funky art and sculptures around the town. Somehow this quirky art caught our eye in research and we thought we would check it out – Like giant colored iris, big hippos and more. Unfortunately once we got there we found with the help of our iPad, that this art is mainly scattered around the town in odd places rather than in a park – so it is created for every day enjoyment by the locals – cool idea but not so easy for visitors to enjoy. It had also started to rain quite noticeably so we stopped at a shopping centre for a cuppa, comfort stop and to get some medication for my steadily worsening rhinitis. We also found out from our googling on the town that it is the largest undercover shopping centre in Scotland – makes a lot of sense where the weather the way it is.
We enjoyed our little wander and chose a Costa’s (chain) coffe shop to have a pot of tea. I asked for tea for two and he asked if I wanted two cups for the one pot – or two pots. I thought that was cute as he may have thought we wanted to be economical! I got the two pots and was happy to get 3 cups out of mine! We also shared a nice fruit scone with Cornish clotted cream and little pot of strawberry jam. My taste was just about gone, but it was delicious – love that clotted cream and enjoyed its silkiness on my tongue regardless. Shoppping for medication went will with a very helpful pharmacist at Boots chemist and then some more goodies from a health shop a couple of doors down. Figure hit it from every angle!
The last leg of our trip to Edinburgh went well, arriving at our airport hotel at about 3pm. We are staying at the Doubletree Hilton and they give you a warm big chocolate , choc pieces and walnuts cookie each on arrival. I am not a big cookie eater, but it was pretty yummy with big hunks of chocolate all melted and oozing and toasted nut crunch bits. We had been looking forward to the big indoor heated pool and exercise centre but there was a sign it was closed due to an ‘incident’. I googled and there was a death last week of a young man 9 weeks before his wedding – not sure why it was still closed a week later. So we returned car a short distance away just in front of the airport, and took the tram to town. Vern would have been happy to camp in and allow some time to catch up on blogs, due to me being very sniffly accompanied by the odd coughing fit and the weather being so very cold and wet – on and off. I said that I would rather dig deep and go hard so we could eat haggis and walk a lane or two in the medieval city just one more time, as I was not sure if we would ever be here again.
Double rugged up in down jackets and Mac’s we huddled under the umbrella and walked a short distance from the tram stop which was near Waverly station to a corner behind some bigger buildings where we had seen some interesting very old pubs circ. 1800’s last time we were here. We scanned the menu and decided on one and went inside to the decorative glass and wooden cosy interior. Luckily we got the last table and seated to very good service and bit of a splurge dinner. I really couldn’t taste much beyond salty or sweet but was happy to enjoy what I could and enjoy Vern’s appreciation of his meal. We chose two entree’s each and some sides of vegetable verses a main and everything was beautiful and very high quality.
We got complimentary breads and chose a tap cider and beer. First course I had a Scottish crab, salmon and watercress salad and you can guess who got the haggis bon bons with whiskey cream sauce. Second Vern had gnocchi with a subtle blue cheese, baby spinach and cream sauce. I sampled one and the texture were gorgeous – Vern assures me the flavour was just ‘yum’ and I had a ‘Cullen skinky’ which the waiter explained to me as a traditional and special form of smoking haddock in little houses up north, then they make a cream chowder type soup with a special bacon and little bits of potato. In my incapacitated state I could (almost regrettably) tell it was a delicious meal. Vern had a wee try – even though he is not a smoked fish eater and confirmed lovely delicate flavours of a good ham/bacon and fish – neither being over powering. Our sides were all good; triple cooked fat hand cut chips, watercress salad, and a sauté of leek, carrots, cabbage. I contented myself with the atmosphere, textures, and experience. The hotel we were in was pretty much in original state from early 1800’s and was very posh and richly decorated in dark crimson, golden brown to mahogany colored timbers, decorative light fittings, and stained glass windows bringing brightness to the room.
We got the tram home to enjoy a good hot deep bath and into bed in time for a few hours sleep before out 430 am start and flight to Mallorca, Spain.
Travels with Valrock 