Below you’ll find a few of the images that tickled my funny bone while strolling Edinburgh, Scotland. At the very bottom of this post you will also find a short Youtube video featuring the sights of Edinburgh. My one regret is that I didn’t take a photo of our constant roommate for three nights in Smart City Hostel. Randy met his match in that this outgoing young English man out-talked him. Randy did happen to run into him in the hallway just as the young man was coming home from his night security job, so they did get a “proper” goodbye. Hope all is well…
Hmmm… I’m not sure if we are “kick ass” enough for this hostel! Smart City Hostel worked well for us.
I also found the people taking photos of each other at tourist spots interesting…
…and then you have the typical bored kids at a historically significant location ~ Edinburgh Castle. Bored looks bored in any language.
The short video below features some of the typical tourist spots such as, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle, Palace of Holyrood House and Holyrood Abbey, St. Giles Cathedral, Grassmarket…
9-14-15: I believe there are angels among us… ~Alabama
Yes, so many times when we may be tempted to take a wrong turn down a difficult path, someone appears to help us find our way. Today was no different.
The cold rain is drizzling down on us as we shuffle our way along the muddy path. We approach a coastal church with high tide up to the gated cemetery in front with no easy path around. The sign points to the high tide path which goes away from the coast and is quite long, but we decide that is our best option. Out of nowhere and in the rain, an older woman appears and stops us from taking our chosen path. No, that path is a muddy mess with all this rain and very long. Take these steps up and go around the front of the church, inside the cemetery and go over the stone fence. That will connect to the path directly on the other side of the church.
We also find the church open for viewing and take refuge from the rain for a while. Coincidence? I think not. Thank you, Angel lady!
I believe this structure may be the remains of Lady’s Tower built for Lady Jane Anstruther in the latter part of the 18th century and was used as a bathing house for her. She was a naturist and from this point she was able to enter the bay below without being seen by the local residents of Elie. ~ longdistancewalks.org
After arriving back at Anstruther, we walk uptown for a rewarding pint and supper. According to this sign there is no need for a babysitter if parents need a night out!!
The evening views in Anstruther are spectacular as we consume our hot, crispy fish & chips. We try NOT to feed the birds as instructed!
The evening walk after fish & chips includes a visit with this gregarious Scottish fisherman. Mackerel are the fruits of his labors today which will be sold to area restaurants.
Our B & B includes a nip of sherry for a nightcap and a decadent chocolate treat. Ah-h-h-h… Sweet dreams as we rest our weary bones for the bus trip to Edinburgh tomorrow.
Below is a YouTube link to a short video of our adventures today.
Historic records show that golf has been played in St Andrews, Scotland for more than 600 years, although many believe the game’s origins here date back to the 12th Century. Sh-h-h-h-h… and stay out of their way!
We are told that this is a local tavern, so we enter cautiously only to see a dining area. An employee greets us and quickly figures out our mission: Oh, you want the bar? Follow me… We wind our way through the dining area and walk up a narrow staircase. I’m beginning to feel as though I’m entering a speakeasy from the prohibition era.
Instead, we find ourselves sipping pints with a few of the local guys. We are all cautious, at first, until one of them breaks the ice: From America, eh? You aren’t seriously going to elect Donald Trump for President? By the end of our stay they offer to buy us a round and the conversation flows freely about locations in the United States.
Next stop, Randy inquires about store hours at Linda’s Fish & Chips. It seems that every town has the BEST award-winning fish & chips.
Yes, we ate ALL of it… delicious!!
Cullen is the home of Skink (Scottish word for “soup”) and The Rockpool has bragging rites for its award-winning soup.
No visit to Cullen, Scotland is complete without trying a hot bowl of Cullen Skink. (Smoked haddock and potato soup)
I enjoyed this experience so much that I decided to make my own skink on Christmas Eve in Minnesota. Smoked haddock is expensive here, so I substituted much cheaper pollock. It was O.K. and much better the second day, but let’s just say The Rockpool Cafe doesn’t have to worry about me whisking any awards away from them!
We had the opportunity to visit this unique and special resting place for pets of all kinds near Cullen Harbour Hostel in Cullen, Scotland on September 8, 2015. Stevie was one of the first local residents we met along the shoreline and it seems as though everyone in town knows and loves him.
The Cullen, Scotland pet cemetery started in 1992, after a local doctor asked local resident, Stephen (Stevie) Findlay, to bury her pet Spaniel and he later decided to bury his own beloved pet nearby. I was not aware of the controversy concerning the cemetery encroaching onto neighboring grassland until stumbling upon a newspaper article (Click on the link) published September 23, 2015 in the Daily Mail: Fears over future of seafront pet cemetery…
These are “straight out of my small travel” camera images and not as artistic as those featured in the Daily Mail article linked above.
An attempt to locate the land of our ancestors has led us to a stay in the quaint town of Cullen, Scotland, which is composed of two distinct parts:1) Sandwiched between the sea wall on one side and the curve of the main road on the other is the fishing village, Seatown of Cullen, a unique collection of a couple hundred stone fishermen’s cottages.
2) The “inland” side of Cullen, sometimes referred to as “New Cullen,” stretches up a grand and impressive main street that continues from Seatown under the most easterly of the three railway viaducts.
I’m glad the window washer has another man holding his ladder sturdy as it appears to be propped on an old stone wall. I might be inclined to own a window washing device like this, but I’d probably hit the power line and electrocute myself. Clean windows are not worth all that!
Cullen was established by 1189 on a location about half a mile inland from where you find it today, marked on maps as “Old Cullen” and close to Cullen House, which we were able to locate while following one of the walking trails near town.
Oh-oh… whoops! (At least we didn’t pick any flowers and don’t have a dog.)
Cullen’s wealth in the 1700s was built on textiles, and thread-making; the main period of growth came with the herring boom in the 1800s.
The impressive Cullen railroad viaduct was built in the year 1884 and is now a bicycle path.
New Cullen and Seatown of Cullen were built in the 1820s, the latter close to the pier built by Thomas Telford in 1819. ~Undiscovered Scotland
Below is a slide show of our walks around Cullen, Scotland where you’ll find the most beautiful sunsets.
…still more to explore in Cullen, Scotland so stay tuned!
We follow the directions from the Cullen, Scotland bus stop to our hostel for tonight: Harbour HostelNice and roomy and we are delighted to find ourselves the lone occupants of this 16 bed hostel.
The kitchen is supplied with a stove, dishes, pots and pans, refrigerator and more…
A-h-h-h… Let’s stay two nights.
Day two finds us gaining a roommate. Meet Bill Nickson Sr., an ex-international professional cyclist with many notable victories in his career, including the overall in the Milk Race (Britain’s most prestigious stage race) and the British National Road Race championships. He also rode and completed the Tour de France. In 1981 he started Bill Nickson Cycles in Leyland, England and his son runs the business now. He biked into Cullen from the train station (I think, 30 miles away) and is touring the area on bicycle. What a wonderful gentleman!
View of the sea from our hostel.
Elvis’ roots are also in this region and, fate would have it, the hostel has an “old school” record player and at the top of the pile of records is Elvis’ Greatest Hits. O.K., let’s stay here a third night.
While gazingover at the campers cooking their breakfasts, I do a last-minute check to see if I have everything. Yes, I remembered to get our sandwiches out of the hostel refrigerator and pack them in my backpack. (I have been known to forget!)
We start our day with Laura from Berlin. I often find myself thinking of her and hope all is going well with her life.
What a beautiful site for wild camping, overlooking the town of Kinlochleven. Beautiful weather today and hikers seem to be going at a leisurely pace as if savoring their last day of hiking. Joan, AKA The Beast, is ready to tackle the last leg of the hike with Ben Nevis, the highest peak in the U.K., in the background.
We are fortunate to be able to share part of this last day with Mike and Stacy (Ireland/Ukraine) as we descend into Fort William. Such a lovely pair…
This is the last we see of Leon and his gang from Holland as they are staying in the campground just outside of Fort William. We notice they still have energy to play tricks. Oh, to be so young again.
We see many runners from the Ben Nevis race walking back to their vehicles with their medals and trophies. Apparently, I didn’t have enough energy to pull out the camera. After walking 16 miles today, I don’t think we’ll attempt Ben Nevis.
Maybe, some other time.
Mike and Stacy are going on through town to pay homage to the new end of the trail, but we are close to our check-in deadline for the B & B so we must bid them farewell. Sad to see them go.We appear to be faking glee and excitement. Maybe we are a little disappointed to not have all of our WHW friends cheering with us at the end.
Hold on.. Who is that I see chatting in the distance? No, it can’t be. Yes, it is!!! Mandy just happens to appear along our route.
Later, we meet up with Mandy and Karen at a the Grog and Gruel Pub, popular with the Ben Nevis race crowd as you can see by the race numbers in the background. The fun-loving Scottish gentlemen in these photos are our photographers tonight so that we could get some group photos. You can’t help but love the Scottish people.
We also spend time this evening visiting with a minister from Canada on sabbatical doing research. I can’t remember her research topic… Could an evening in the pub provide inspiration for a few sermon topics?Cheers to the West Highland Way! 96 miles and we did the WHOLE thing! We may walk slowly, but we never walk backward.
Here is the video of our last day hiking the West Highland Way:
September 4, 2015: We pack up and leave our cozy hobbit house at Glencoe Mountain Resort to diligently start down the trail finding the air chilly, but the weather generally pleasant.Seems as though we are in the middle of nowhere and here appears The Kings House, which is thought to be one of Scotland’s oldest licensed inns, originally built in the 17th century. It is called the King’s House because British troops were lodged here following the Battle of Culloden in 1746. Coffee, please!The challenge today will be the Devil’s Staircase which was named by General Wade’s road building soldiers who were lugging materials up and down it all day. ~ Wikipedia
It’s a long hike with several switchbacks, but really not a terribly strenuous hike so far.
We finally reach the top and the views are spectacular today with clear skies all around.
The Love Rock comes out of my pocket for a little fresh air and is perched on a cairn at the top of the Devil’s Staircase.
Blackwater Hostel is named after the Blackwater Reservoir and is our home for the night after a little more than ten mile hike. Nice drying room and kitchen with dorm type rooms containing cozy bunk beds. From a camping perspective, the name does not sound desirable to me since waste water is called black water. It’s not the case here, though.
Sign on the side of the hostel warns dog owners to keep their poop in a group or the Paw Patrol will take action.
We find ourselves at the Tail Race Inn at the end of the day to take advantage of their advertised special prices on meals. All eyes are NOT on us as Scotland is playing Georgia for the Euro 2016 soccer qualifier and local patrons are glued to the TV screen. FYI ~ Scotland lost.
Video below shows highlights from day seven. I was able to video the Grand Canyon Girls as they skipped across a stepping stone bridge. We have observed that they are like mountain goats when it comes to rock scrambling. One has hiked down and up the Grand Canyon nine times and the other has hiked the Grand Canyon five times. They are a couple of tough hikers with strong legs and determination.
RJ Meyer Arts 
