A trip through the UK & Ireland
Big day! Off to St. Andrews early in the morning. We played the ‘New Course’ (built in 1895) as a two-some. Our caddy was kind with his commentary, but we actually played pretty well.
Lunch on the course, then back to Crail. Birthday dinner in St. Andrews at the ‘Adamson’ restaurant was excellent.
We finished the evening at the ‘Golf Inn’ where the regulars sang me ‘Happy Birthday’ with a Gaelic tint and bought a dram of fine Scotch whiskey in celebration.
The day starts with a great breakfast at the B&B – omelets, local pastries & meats.
We ditched the car and took the local bus to Elie, a small village along the Fife coast noted for its’ early Tom Morris golf course. The Fife Coastal Path runs through here and we from Elie, through St. Morans, Puttenweem, to Anstruther (about 4 hours of special views). The trail follows the coast with castle ruins and spectacular landscape the entire route. Mary got to use the Silver Award winner in Scotland’s 2014 ‘Loo of the Year’ competition!
Back to the Golf Inn for nightcaps. Same group of locals. They know our names now.
We caught an early morning black taxi to the airport to pick up our rental car and are glad not to be driving through the city as it’s a convoluted route and the streets are really narrow. Really disappointing car rental process and the ‘surprise’ extra insurance fees.
Our drive up to Fife is pretty cool. First stop is the Kelpie installation in Grangemouth – controversial, but very special from our point of view. Close by is the Falmouth Wheel, an engineering marvel to say the least. The ride up to Stirling castle was quite ‘hairy’ – narrow, curvy, REALLY high stone curbs. The castle itself is awesome and it’s clear why the site was chosen as it commands access to the central lands. Off in the distance is the Wallace Memorial. Although we didn’t visit, it’s a striking view.
A short, foggy drive away is our lodging in Crail, along the Fife coast. Crail is a beautiful, small coastal village. Our B&B, the ‘Honeypot Guesthouse’ is great – Graham, our host, is a fountain of info. Ten steps from our lodging is the ‘Golf Inn’, a historic (and the only) pub in Crail. The founders of the Crail Golfing Society met there in 1786 to form the club (the 7th oldest golfing club in the world). Golf Inn is a small and very friendly pub – we met some caddies who service the St. Andrews courses up the road and the town bookie!
In the morning we head to Roslyn town and historic chapel made famous by the move ‘Da Vincie Code’. Incredibly cool location, structure, and vibe.
Back to Edinburgh for the afternoon. The populace is pretty geeked up about the break-away vote. We landed in town in the middle of a huge unionist parade marching to Parliament – groups from everywhere! Some guy in a kilt kept hitting on Mary. Later, we took in a tour of the Royal Yacht Brittania, at one time the Queen’s royal floating residence. Apparently, the only boat in the world that isn’t required to have its name painted on it. Dick gets to pour a beer from the Royal Tap!
We finished up the day with a visit to some of the city’s most historic pubs: the Jolly Judge, Hollyrood, Brew Dog . . . we’ve lost track.
Morning takes us to Hadrian’s Wall & Housesteads Roman Fort in Greenhead. After viewing the siting and landscape, it’s easy to understand the significance of the wall’s fortifications. Next stop is Jedburgh Abbey, then north to Traquar House and brewery. The brewery is one of the oldest in the UK and still brews a classic ‘Special Ale’ which we sample at the hotel in town.
As we cross the border into Scotland there is much evidence of the upcoming vote on breaking away from the UK.
Our hotel in Edinburgh is a short bus ride from the old town and historic sites & pubs.
Travelling in a foreign land is all about surprises. My ignorance of early plumbing technology led to a pretty cold early morning shower – who knew you had to turn on a heat pump first!?
Off to York for an afternoon touring the ‘Minster’, walking the medieval streets of the ‘Shambles’, visiting the Quilt Museum and its’ signature quilts, a couple of great pubs, Scottish eggs & pork pies at the old ‘White Swan’ pub. Further down the road in Yorkshire is the outstanding Black Sheep brewery for dinner & bevs.
Our lodging for the night is the Ship Inn in Wylam, a pub with rooms close to Hadrian’s wall.
Shaun & Carol are driving us up through northern England to Edinburgh and we head north this morning.
First stop is the Rutherford Abbey for tea, cakes & soup. Our route takes us through Sherwood Forest (!) and on to Haddon Hall and gardens. Magnificent country with beautiful views. We cut through Lower Bradford (home of the Ronksley clan) and observe a spirited game of lawn bowling and dine at a local pub whose garden area is loaded with chickens. Along the route is Chesterfield, home of a very curious ‘twisted’ spire. Legend suggests it’s the devil’s work, other thoughts are that green wood was used in construction and twisted as the wood aged. I like the devil angle.
Shaun and Carol’s son Kieran lives and works in Sheffield where he’s been kind enough to lodge us for the evening. He prepared a wonderful paella for dinner – really, really good!
Wow – a 4* breakfast of Carol’s specialty: poached eggs, beans, English bacon. We Smiths took a vote – we’re not leaving.
Our tour guides took us to a bunch more special places – first the Wilkins Jam outlet then up to Colchester Castle where we hit the Castle Tavern & walked ancient Roman walls.
Later in the day we headed up to the Chappel Real Ale festival in a very cool setting – an old train station. Fun food (especially the Essex sausage!) and a fine selection of real ales. Good friends of S&C join us – Steve and Mara. Mara shares a birthday and year with me! How cool is that?
Carol, why are you going out and buying croissants while we are sleeping? Thank You!!
Late rise – but an early visit to Wibblers, a small brewery in the Essex countryside . We then head out to S&C’s ‘allotment’ which reminds us of a plot in a community garden. Very serious gardening here – we harvest berries, corn, beans for later meals. Shaun’s folks Charlie and Anne live not far from the allotment and we stop in for a visit and a tour of Charlie’s auto projects. We also took a drive by the area where Carol spent her early years. Interesting to see how life is managed in a different cultural setting.
Dinner at the King’s Head
