St. Andrews, Glamis Castle, Aviemore
It was time to leave Edinburgh. We boarded the bus around 9 and drove north. At Queensferry we stopped to see "The Three Bridges" which span the Firth (River) of Forth. Say "Firth of Forth" quickly 5 times in a row! It was very hazy so you could only really see the first bridge but it was still impressive to see three such large bridges next to one another. We had driven under the first when we stopped to catch a view. We proceeded to go under the second one and cross the river on the third of the three bridges. As we drove we passed some interesting things, one being a castle sitting at the end of a thin peninsula of land and another being farm land. Forgive the "not so great" pictures. It is difficult to take any good pictures while you are speeding along a highway.
We finally reached St. Andrews. Ian pointed out the University of St. Andrews where Prince William went to school then we stopped at the ruin of St. Andrews Cathedral. It must have been spectacular in its day but in the 16th century the insides of it were destroyed by Protestant followers of John Knox and it gradually fell into disrepair as people used parts of it as building supplies for other projects. We exited the Cathedral grounds by walking along the edge of the sea. The tide was out leaving a rocky seabed exposed. Down the way, you could see the ruins of St. Andrews Castle. As we completed a circle back to the bus, there was a war memorial honouring soldiers from both World Wars.
We then drove to the home of golf, The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. We took a walk down the road alongside the 18th hole to get to the Swilken Bridge, crossing a creek which comes into play on the 1st and 18th holes. The bridge is famous because golfers winning the British Open pose there. It was also the place where Big Jack Nicklaus said his final goodbye to the game. I remember watching that on TV with my Dad who LOVED golf to an extreme. Roberta, Adrienne and I also went into Rusack's Hotel where the press hangs out during tournaments. There were tribute walls to many generations of golfers displayed in one room and it is understandable why this is a press headquarters since the view of the final hole is awesome. Further along the street Adrienne and I shopped for souvenirs of the course. Adrienne bought the most adorable miniature golf glove key chain for her step father.
Since we still had time, we walked down the street to West Sands Beach. That is the beach filmed in Chariots of Fire. No runners that day BUT there was a pair of border collies who were having a grand time chasing a ball for their mistress. I walked back through a parking lot to get a view east towards the Castle in the distance and of the back side of the University of St. Andrews.
Out next stop was Glamis Castle, childhood home of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Queen Elizabeth's mother. Since the castle remains in the Bowes-Lyon family and it is a private residence, you cannot take pictures inside but I can tell you that the rooms we were allowed to visit were very interesting. The formal dining area, the hunting room, the drawing room... they even had the cribs that Queen Elizabeth and her sister Margaret slept in when they visited their grandparents as children. We WERE allowed to take pictures of the outdoor gardens. So very beautiful they were. A massive area, we only had time to visit the Italian Garden and briefly visit a memorial to Princess Margaret before it was time to meet the group back at the bus. One thing *I* will always remember about being at Glamis, is getting a phone call from my home security company telling me there was an alarm at my house and finding that my poor sister had to get up at ~5 in the morning (their time) to find out what had triggered it.
We were finally on our way to the night's destination... Aviemore. Two interesting things we passed were some old ruins (castle??) and some Scottish long horned cattle which were being engaged by either a very brave or a very stupid man. It seemed he might be feeding them something, but it was obvious that no matter WHAT he was doing in the middle of the field with them, it would have been a VERY foolish idea to turn his back on them.
We arrived in Aviemore and no sooner did we pull our bags into our room than we had to go next door to the food hall for our complimentary supper. Roberta and I sat with a couple from California and had a nice conversation with them.
