Category: Scotland
-
Scotland Day 17: Gullane #1
Our last day… We awoke to the familiar and still silence of life at the Standingstone. Karen and Ann were both out early this morning, so we were on our own for breakfast. We’d already arranged to have a late breakfast at the course so we could make it all the way around before an…
-
Scotland Day 16: Back to Kingsbarns
Memories of Marina Hotel— very comfortable, lovely morning light, and waking to the sound of seagulls. So what if there were rats in the overhead, a big, big spider in the bathroom, and maybe a few bug bites— that could happen anywhere. I had a bowl of muesli. The guys decided to hold out for…
-
Scotland, Day 15: Donnattor Castle and back to Crail
Today, we started early by playing the St. Olaf course inside of the Cruden Bay course! For all those who know of St. Olaf, this place is where the bloody battle of Cruden was fought against the Vikings. The crest of the St. Olaf and Cruden Bay includes a castle for Slain’s Castle, water for…
-
Scotland Day 14: Dracula in Scotland! And in our hotel!
Today’s forecast, from the BBC: Northeast Scotland will have sunny spells, but with showers pushing in from the west. These showers could be heavy and thundery. Tonight, showers will clear, leaving many dry spells for a time with long clear spells. After midnight it will turn cloudy with the odd shower. (In Scotland, maybe the “odd shower” is…
-
Scotland Day 13: Fraserburgh Golf Course!
Today was our day to go as far north as is possible in this part of Scotland. First, we stopped in at Fraserburgh Golf Course for a quick nine holes (golf in Scotland is a four-hour game!). Two years ago, John and I played this course and loved it. Today was lovely again, if you…
-
Scotland Day 12: A Scottish Wedding and a Scottish Prison!
My family had a good laugh at my misspellings from yesterday…Neapolitan’s Waterloo (too much ice cream?) should have been Napoleon— ok, ok, I was typing without my glasses on (which makes a good excuse for all past and future errors) Today’s Scottish story comes from the end of the day, when, after golf, we met…
-
Day 11: Dundee and North, pt 1
Scottish people, as I saw them out the car window as we were driving through the work town of Dundee. I was people-watching in Dundee, a dock-worker’s town, as people were just walking down the street. I saw a few blunt haircuts, a man with a limp that made me wonder how he got that,…
-
Day 11: Cruden Bay, Part 2
Our new hotel is fabulous. I just love the use of this ancient wall inside the building. Our room is very quiet at the end of this hall, through a door and to the right. Huge. Johnny and I couldn’t really take a day without golf, so he drove (illegally) over to our destination course…
-
Day 10: Lundin Links with a friend
Scottish lesson for today: Scottish Place Names The real, but goofy town names that you’ve heard of in England extend up to Scotland too! Here are just a few from this neighborhood: Piscotti, Bow Butts, Windy Gates, Pittenweem, Pullofmucket, and Gliebe. We managed an early out and on the road to meet our friend Peter…
-
Day 9: Kingsbarns, the king of all!
Today’s lesson in Scottish is on haggis. I always try to have a couple of servings of haggis while I’m in Scotland because the ingredients are nearly impossible to find in the States. So, when Johnny was offered vegetarian haggis for breakfast, I spoke for him, “Yes! He’ll take it!” The serving was of couscous (not sheep…