On The Road: Blackford to Anstruther

After our morning with the birds, Dave picked us up and he brought Maureen with him!  I was excited to meet her after so many months of emails back and forth planning. 

We were all hungry so we went to the grill of a nearby golf course.  Pretty good, very enjoyable.

You might have heard of the place… it’s called Gleneagles…

As we ate, we watched a tournament being played.  It was the “Highland Spring Junior Masters”.    Kind of fun watching the crowds and all the cameras following each player.  I think these two were coaches or something.

That is the main clubhouse behind Himself.  That is not where we had lunch!

From there we headed back to the east, through more beautiful countryside and lovely towns.

Isn’t this archway neat?

And this vine-covered home was so cozy. 

We stopped to tour Falkirk Palace.  (The difference between a palace and a castle is that a castle is defensive and a palace is luxury.)  Falkirk is a royal palace.  It was home to James IV and James V.

An interesting thing about it is that it’s the home of the world’s oldest in use tennis court… built in 1539! 

The below photos are of the ruins of St. Andrews Castle.  It was built – sacked – rebuilt for hundreds of years until by 1658 it was such a wreck that the town used its stones to rebuild the pier.  Only a portion of its south wall remains.   1658… that is only 50 years after Jamestown in the US was established!!!   

Nearby are the ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral.  It was started in mid 1100s.  In the second half of the 1500s part of the wall collapsed and the church went into ruin.  As happened to the nearby castle later, the stones of the cathedral were use by the towns’ people for other purposes.   The photos below are some of the ruins.

From there we headed on to Anstruther, where our lodging for the night was located.   

We passed by this home that was decorated with shells.  It’s called the “Buckie House”; buckies are a local name for a kind of shell.  It was decorated by Alex Batchelor in the 1840s… and on the inside too.  The locals called him “an agreeable eccentric”. 

After dropping off our stuff at our B&B, we four headed to the Anstruther Fish Bar – supposedly the ‘best fish and chips in Scotland’.  It was pretty packed up when we got there but it didn’t take too long to get a table.  Not sure I’d call it “the best” (that F&C in Mallaig was pretty good…); what did give it bonus points was the attached ice cream shop.   

Fish & chips and a milkshake?  We have a winner!  

Then back to the B&B, from where Dave and Maureen headed home.

We stayed at the Spindrift B&B, which had been the home of a Tea Clipper captain.  He fashioned the third story room into a replica of a ship master’s cabin, from which he could watch the harbor with the ships coming and going.  

The Captain’s Room is now the special room Spindrift and I reserved it.  Figured it was a good place for my Bering Sea sailor to spend a night!  The room is lovely with wood paneled walls, nautical accents and a spa-like bathroom. 

Our breakfast selections the next morning.

Himself ordered the whisky porridge.

And here is the ‘full Scottish breakfast’ we enjoyed.