Scotland 2019

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Sunday was such a good weather day for golf we headed to St. Andrews, the birthplace of the game. We finished the Old Course(there are 7 courses in St. Andrews and 41 in the Fife area) in about 1 1/2 hours. It would have taken longer had we actually played! The course is closed on Sunday and they allow the public to walk around the course. We walked every hole and stopped at Swilken Bridge on the 18th fairway for some photo-ops. On the 15th fairway a friendly local, who was walking his dogs, stopped for a nice chat! As a local resident, he pays 350 pound sterling/annually for his membership which is almost the price tourists pay for one round!

St Andrews is a very historic town, one of the oldest in Scotland. University of St. Andrews is also the oldest in Scotland and third in the United Kingdom, behind Oxford and Cambridge. The Cathedral, which is now mostly in ruins, was once the largest in Scotland and even though a lot of it is in rubble, it’s still quite an impressive sight. The coastal route back to Edinburgh, which meanders through numerous towns, should have provided some great pictures, however, we couldn’t get Google Maps to cooperate and ran out of time.

“Da Vinci Code“ enthusiasts would appreciate our stop the next day as we explore East Lothian and The Borders Regions. Rosslyn Chapel inspired parts of the book and some of the scenes in the movie with Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou were shot at this location. It still operates as an Episcopalian church which is now a branch of the United Church. Other interesting stops included Traquair House (Oldest house in Scotland still inhabited by the family) and Melrose Abby which was built and occupied by Cistercian Monks, a monastic order established in 1098. The Borders Region, being closest to England, experienced multiple invasions by the British over the centuries resulting in the destruction of many historic sites, particularly those affiliated with Catholicism.

When visiting Scotland, unless you’re a ”castle/cathedral aficionados or history buff, you can easily get “burn out”. With that risk, we did travel about 1 hour outside of Edinburgh to tour Stirling Castle. When it was built, it was the gateway between north and south Scotland and in a very strategic location between the Forth and Clyde rivers. Many of Scottish Royalty inhabited the fortress and it too was the scene of punishing battles between British and Scottish forces. On the way back, we diverted to Falkirk Wheel, a engineering marvel that is part of the union canal linking the Clyde and the Forth rivers. Basically it’s two mobile boat docks that rotate on a wheel device connecting the higher and lower parts of the canal. Search the video on You Tube, it’s fascinating!

We are now heading to the Highlands and looking forward to spending time in the Scottish countryside.

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Photos

Stirling Castle
Beautifully manicured Garden courtyard of the Castle

Inside Stirling Castle
Unlike many castles, much of the interior of Stirling Castle has been restored to replicate what it would have looked like around 300 years ago.