Blogs from Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 4

We started the day quietly and midmorning decided to find the William Wallace memorial tower in Sterling and while we took a bus to the bottom of tower, we did walk the 16 stories (over 400 steep steps) to the top viewing platform. The view was spectacular if not windy and cold. The walk down was the same stairs as the way up, so there was frequent encounters with other climbers. After what feels like abseiling back down the tower, we decided to have lunch at Friend of Mine in Bridge of Allan. This was recommended by our host, we loved this lunch. After lunch we drove down to find Andy Murray's Hotel, but instead found the back door and was chased back down the road by a tractor. Epic Fail! - we need to save ... read more

Monday became a quiet morning catching up on the blogs, however in the afternoon we went into Edinburgh for dinner at Loch Fyne Restaurant. We walked around the pier and after dinner went down the road to look at The Royal Yacht Britannia. We intend to come back to Britannia when we stay in Edinburgh. Tuesday had us traveling to Dunblane, which was only a 90 minutes from Edinburgh, so we decided to make a detour through Glasgow and on the recommendation of my barista at Meister on Collins St, we went to Ox and Finch for lunch and what a superb lunch it was. See the photos for some of the special dishes. We also found some street art in Glasgow at the SWG3 Studios which was hidden gem for Glasgow. In Dunblane we are ... read more

Our ship returned to the United Kingdom today, with a port call in the town which services Edinburgh Scotland. Unfortunately, this is another "tender port" because the actual piers are too shallow for our cruise ship. The one-way trip from ship to shore is about 20 minutes. Since it is kind of windy today, David watched from the Lido deck as the tenders bounced around quite a bit during their trip. Also there were waves of rain showers moving through the area all day. So we decided not to go to shore, even though this is our final port. Scotland has 5.4 million people - more than Norway, but much smaller in area. Edinburgh was originally founded as a town in the 7th century. The castle, which is the highlight of the town tours, was built ... read more

today we are spending the day with Elizabeth and after a quiet morning we head out to the nearby town of Melrose for lunch. We have a walk around the town looking at the derelict Melrose Abbey, the Priorwood Gardens, and a walk down the main street where we found url=https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=5de677f172bc5655JmltdHM9MTY4NzczNzYwMCZpZ3VpZD0xODQ5ZmRiYi04YjkzLTYxMmMtMzg0MC1lZDc1OGEwMzYwNzEmaW5zaWQ9NTIwOQ&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=1849fdbb-8b93-612c-3840-ed758a036071&psq=country+kitchen+deli+melrose&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZmFjZWJvb2suY29tL3Blb3BsZS9UaGUtQ291bnRyeS1LaXRjaGVuLURlbGktTWVscm9zZS8xMDAwNTc1ODAzMjQxMDIv&ntb=1the Country Kitchen Deli where we purchased cheeses and accompaniments for afternoon drinks. We had lunch at the Burts Hotel for lunch, where Rose had Guinea Fowl for... read more

A decade ago I spent the second year of a three-year working holiday in Scotland. Having spent the first year in England my expectations when it came to the weather were low indeed, yet still I managed to be disappointed when the summer of 2011 brought just three sunny days with a temperature of over twenty degrees - two in the first week of June and another at the end of June. So as I finally headed back to Scotland to kick-start my adventurous northern summer of 2023, it was with a fair degree of trepidation - even more so once I decided to tackle the country's most famous multi-day walking trail - the West Highland Way - as a camping trip, staying in my tent rather than in the various hostels or B&Bs scattered along ... read more