We had every intention of taking the boat tour to the Isle of May, but this morning I could tell that John did not love the idea. “Do you really want to take a boat ride for an hour and a half, walk around the island for two hours, and then…” he asked. The magic of the idea had faded. But we vowed to do The Scottish Fisheries Museum later in the day. For sure!
On the way north, we pulled off at Kingsbarns Whisky distillery. Kingsbarns is a new distiller, so their main product is gin (easy, fast, and a good start for the whisky biz), but they do have some young whisky. The fellow serving the tastes (for free!) was German, and very helpful. He explained each Scotch and helped us identify the nose (aroma) of each sample. I checked the color, sniffed, nodded, then sipped and nodded again. (Looks very professional.) Since this scotch was just 5 years old (not 12, 15, or 18 years like others), it was sharp. And since scotch does not continue aging in the bottle, this was not worth buying. We took sips of cask-strength whisky (92 proof, not 80 proof), which was milder and tastier. The gins were much more fun, and I had a little fun with our German friend, to test his sense of humor. He poured a taste of gin, I smelled it, swirled it, then held it up to look at the color. (No color? There never is.) No laugh either. Hmm. But it was delicious so we picked one out to take home as a gift! And in ten years, however, Kingsbarns whisky will be a tasty one!
From there, we went to the far end of St. Andrews’s where the Eden and Strathtyrum Courses are “just to have a look.” Strathtyrum was hosting some Walker Cup players who were practicing for the competition starting tomorrow, so the only possibility was the Eden Course. The Walker Cup (between the States and GB and I)is on at St. Andrews Old Course this weekend. People, tents, and tall camera cranes are everywhere! Check it out on Golf Channel for a glimpse of how big the Old Course really is! Meanwhile, we waited like orphans for one of the many 2-ball groups to choose us to complete their foursomes— which would be our only chance for golf today.
We watched as group after group teed off, thinking we might end up on the Isle of May after all, when two women came up and introduced themselves. Lucky John with the three of us! They claimed not to be very good, but hit great drives and terrific approach shots. Lots of inside knowledge was a huge help here.
The Eden Course is not the classic nine out and nine back. Nine actually ends back at one. No. 2 and 3 are right against the Eden Estuary. No. 7 is also has a lovely view. At 9, Margaret and Jackie left to take care of grandchildren, while we went on. Ten starts with a par 3 and stays close to the water with 14 and 15 wrapping around a reed pond. The fellows behind us told to watch out for Scottish alligators on that hole! Eden is a lovely course with gentle hills and greens tucked into some of those hills. The day was gorgeous, with blue skies. No clouds or rain all day!
By the time we finished, it was just 30 minutes too late to make it to the Scottish Fisheries Museum (ahh) so while we waited for a snack in the restaurant, we watched the virtual tour of the museum on YouTube. If you’d like to see this terrific museum narrated in very Scottish English, check out the tour on Youtube!
Back at the hotel, we took a walk down to the “most photographed harbor in all of Scotland,” they say. We wandered by the old Marine Hotel, where we found emergency lodgings four years ago, and amazingly, the owner is still alive! He was sitting in front of the hotel, sadly still inebriated, just as we remembered him. We said hello and thanked him for his help before, then went down to the shore and the castle wall (no castle) along the sea. At the point where we would take the narrow road to the harbor, we met a man with a spyglass looking out to sea. I stopped to talk to him about what “those white things out there are,” and he explained that it was a wind farm at sea. A chain of small man-made islands was meant to bring power to the shore. One wind turbine was almost erected. We marveled at the engineering and had a pleasant chat.
No time for the whole walk, we hurried back to our dinner reservation. Inside the hotel, we looked in on the 300-year-old bar (still crowded!) and ate at a table in the Waterloo dining room in front of a giant mural celebrating Napoleon. Why Napoleon? The first owner of the Golf Hotel was one of his officers, who ended up doing very well. More surprises tomorrow! Good night!