On The Road: Anstruther to Dunblane

After leaving the Spindrift B&B, we went back into Anstruther to visit the Fisheries Museum.  It was an excellent stop!  Especially since Himself works in the fishing industry. 

After passing through the gift shop/ticket office, you step into a courtyard full of old anchors, ropes, and other such things. 

Then you go inside the maze of buildings…

Some are full of boats and even small ships!

This figurehead has been restored. 

There are displays on all aspects of fishing.  This is showing the ‘herring girls’ who gutted and salted the herring catch.

This beautiful quilt was near the memorial chapel. 

The details are fantastic!

In one area they are restoring a boat.  You can watch from the area above the workshop.

One of the craftsmen at work.

After we finished in the Fisheries Museum, we went over to the Lifeboat Museum across the street.  There is a small gift shop that benefits the Lifeboat crews.  Lifeboat crews are near and dear to my heart...

These food trailers are everywhere (even in the middle of “nowhere”) and they are GOOD!  I had some of the best hamburgers ever at various ones. 

There were more beautiful views as we drove along.

Some of the towns we went through had cobblestone streets.

Really narrow cobblestone streets…

One of our stops was at the beautiful Dunfermline Abbey.  The top of the church reads “King Robert The Bruce”.  

Here’s a bit from their website:  “Having only around 200 hundred years of history of their own, Americans and Australians find it particularly hard to grasp that just by going through the door of the Church into the Nave, they are travelling back from 1818 when the new Church was begun to 1072 when Queen Margaret`s Church was begun.”

Close up.

Also from the website:  “Visitors who are especially interested in stained glass also come to admire the magnificent windows, each by a different artist and from different dates. Each window has a story or a little secret hidden in it, remember to look for the tiny Bruce spider and try to find the Crown of Scotland hidden in a half open cupboard. Should you come to look at them remember to bring binoculars and you will be amazed at what you see.”

The grave of King Robert I (Robert the Bruce).  Not only was he king of Scotland in the early 1300s, he led in the Scottish war of independence from England.

This doesn’t have anything to do with the abbey or Scotland… but it’s the most beautiful rose I’m ever seen!  It was on the altar of the church. 

Next to the abbey is Dunfermline Palace ruins. 

They are incredible.

On the other side of the abbey is a small graveyard.  Some of the stones had markings that indicated what the person had done in their life.  This one might be a carpenter. 

Many of the stones had moss growing on them. 

Amazing how you can still somewhat see the form of the letters.  

As we continued our drive, the conversation somehow turned to the subject of “high tea”.  Dave started to explain how it isn’t the fussy affair we have in the US… then he decided we needed to have a proper high tea dinner. 

There is of course, tea…

But it is really an early evening meal.  This is (I think) steak and ale pie. 

Then it is finished with the cakes and other pastries we associate with “tea”.   

Yummy!!!

Sated with this nice meal, Dave dropped us at our B&B for the evening.  It had a very comfy lounge area and a fire glowing in the fireplace. 

The huge windows looked out on this stream (burn) that had salmon running up it.  On the other side was a park that is popular with dog walkers.

This caught my eye.  Wouldn’t Little Bird and Little Hoss love riding on it?