At our lovely breakfast at the historic old old old (300 years old) Golf Hotel that creaks like an old ship, I called for a starting time—and got one! I actually didn’t realize that the Crail Golf Club is just 6 minutes away on this very road. Crail has two courses, the Balcomie and Craighead. Of the two, Balcomie is superior because of the excellent layout and proximity to the ocean. We could see the sea from every hole. And every hole was truly a challenge. There was wind and sun, cold and warmth. We started off with thick jackets and ended up in shirtsleeves. Typical Scottish weather.
The course goes up and down a bit, but what a terrific challenge. Our playing partners were two youngish men— Will and Brian— friends from Colorado who still get together with two other guys for wild golf outings. They had hired a company to take care of them, and one driver in a party van was driving them all over the place for one week of continuous golf. When the guide suggested a touring day in Inverness, they said, “Why not more golf instead?” My kind of guys.
And despite the fact that they were both well over 6 feet and we weren’t, and they could both hit the ball a ton, we both beat them gross. More importantly, they were interesting and kind. At the end of the game, I invited them to join us for a drink while they waited for their other two guys to come in. We had a delightful conversation about golf in Scotland, one of my favorite topics.
So Crail Balcomie is a total winner of a course! And so is the restaurant and bar. After a drink and soup with the boys, we toddled down the road a mile or so to our hotel and decided to walk the town, something we have done several times in the past. We know a few places. Morgan at the Marine Hotel took us in a few years ago when I made an error and reserved a room for us in South Africa (I really did!) Then down past the old castle wall right on the sea and around to the lovely little road the curls down to the quay. As we walked down the steep grade, we passed the house with the model sailing ship in the window. Then down to where all the boats are high and dry because it’s low tide, and then down to the seashore where families and dogs are enjoying a late evening runabout.
Two little girls came up to John. I could see him waving his hands around and so came to his rescue. They were little Ellie and big sister Emily, and they had rocks for sale. Well, I had a small 10 pence in my pocket so felt rich enough to buy a rock. The girls took me to their “shop” and told me about each rock. I picked up one and asked how much. £20 they said. What? Anyway, I ended up with a small rock (all I could afford!) and said a fond farewell to the darling girls. On the way back across the sand, I met a man carrying a baby. He was cheerful but with his arms full, I could tell he was the father. He held out his hand full of small pieces of sea glass and seeing that I was carrying a rock said with a smile, “This is all the currency you really need to pay for rocks around here.” It was totally a scene from the Katie Morag children’s books!
On the way back, we stopped at another charming place, The Beehive. It’s a seaside gift shop that also sells ice cream. I bought a few happy things, but not a sailing ship, alas.
Before dinner, we stopped in the lounge and found the owner watching golf. We had a lovely chat about this fabulous hotel— which isn’t for everyone, by the way. That’s when he told us that old Morgan from the Marine Hotel had finally died just three weeks ago. We all knew why. He was perpetually drunk. I was happy that we’d stopped by last year to thank him for his earlier kindness. Downstairs, I had to pop into the bar especially when the singing started up— Old Lang Syne — and someone had a great voice! Just one verse though…☹️
What a lovely, homey place. Good night.
