DAY 24 ST ANDREWS (Scotland) – BERWICK-UPON-TWEED (England)

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Oh, we are having such easy pace days. With so many small villages along the roads less travelled to our destinations, we continually stop to explore which entails chatting to locals about all sorts of things, photographing the sites be they historical, current, funny, different or informative, having coffee and cake and wine(s) and food, walking the streets high and low, long and wide, hillside, beachside, streetside and even inside as locals can’t resist my charm!

We spent time in the beautifully kept village of Dirleton because Marjorie Stewart, a very good friend of ours, spent her childhood there, as her father was the primary school principal. Jane phoned her from the village green.

Berwick was another long stopover and a place we could have again spent a few extra days. Time, the bane of travelling. The countryside is rich with livestock and crops. We love the 1-2m high hedgerows and stone fences that hem you in on either side of the narrow roads. The tunnel effect of the trees that grow over the roads from either side also added to the beauty of the drives.

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Photos

The 3 bridges: Queensferry Bridge ... only takes motorway traffic. Middle bridge is the Forth Road Bridge ... takes pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. Furthest bridge is the Forth Bridge and it only takes trains.

The 3 bridges: Queensferry Bridge ... only takes motorway traffic. Middle bridge is the Forth Road Bridge ... takes pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. Furthest bridge is the Forth Bridge and it only takes trains.

Dirleton Village notice board. We saw these in every village.

The Dirleton Primary School sports carnival was being held on the Village Green.

Parents and villagers gather closely around to support.

Jane on the Village Green.

The Dirleton Castle is across the road from the Village Green. Unfortunately, it was closed for renovations. The gardens were open for wandering.

A section of the castle gardens.

House proud villagers. The village was immaculate.

An elderly gentleman tending the garden. He was eager to converse but damn well hard to understand.

Go 10m from the main village road and one enters farm country ... crops.

Dirleton Primary School.

Jane standing in the yard of the house where Marjorie spent her childhood. The Principal's house.

St Andrew's Kirk ... North Berwick.

The headstones are laid over to save children from being 'squashed'.

A picturesque ruin of St Andrew's Kirk in North Berwick. Opened 5 June 1664 for worship.

One of Berwick's streets.

Year 9 students from Berwick High School on lunch break. We had a good, fun time. They jumped at the opportunity to be captured on film!

Berwick sea shore frontage.

RNLI Station at Berwick.

Year one pupils playing in the safe water section of Berwick beach.

An unoccupied pub at the time of photo ... Berwick. I was assured that the regulars would fill the pub come 5pm.

Bass Rock ... steep sided volcanic rock approx 2km off-shore ... 107m high. Site of scientific interest due to gannet colony of 150 000 at peak of breeding season.

Forth Estuary extends for 96 miles and washes the shores of the communities along the edge. Sandy beaches, mudflats, reedbeds, saltmarshes are found all the way along.