A Week in Scotland

Edinburgh Castle

It was so fun and incredible to visit the Edinburgh Castle. Justin and I, 27 years earlier as newly weds, visited this castle. It has been a favorite of ours ever since. We enjoyed visiting the castle, which is build in 1103 AD atop the giant Castle Rock, which was formed as the result of a volcano erupting a million years previously. Because it was built on Castle Rock, it gives the Edinburgh Castle a majestic look when down in the valley.

One side of the Edinburgh Castle has the Royal Mile, the other side has the grand view from the valley. The Royal Mile is a Scottish mile (longer that an English mile), with Edinburgh Castle at the start and the Palace of Holyroodhouse at the other end. This Royal Mile has been used as a procession area for the last 500 years.

Saint Andrews Golf Links

Justin and Zeke were so excited to visit Saint Andrews Golf Course. Justin compared this day trip for him and Zeke, to all the Jane Austen days we had for me and Eliza. When we drove to the town of St Andrews, there were golf courses surrounding the famous and historical Saint Andrews Course. I also learned that, there are seven links at St Andrews (meaning 7 golf courses). Who would have thought that Justin and Zeke would get to play a round of golf at this prestigious course?! But they did! They played on the New Course Link. Even though it is called the New Course, it was build in 1895, over 125 years ago!

Justin and Zeke had a great time golfing. They said it wasn’t their best round golfing, due to the golf clubs being so nice and new! They both said they had never played with such nice clubs before. It was also fun for the little girls and myself, because we were able to walk on a designated walking path and see Zeke and Justin for a few holes. Apparently, this same walking path through the golf course, is also open for people to walk their dogs on with a leash. Who would have thought St Andrews Golf Course has a dog walking path through it. The United Kingdom seems to be very dog friendly.

We also visited the 18th hole on the Old Course (it is a 471 year old course!) and took quite a few pictures there and with the famous foot bridge called the Swilcan Bridge. In 1552 Archbishop Hamilton signed an official charter recognizing the right of the people of St Andrews to play golf on the Links, this is when golf Official started in St Andrews, where they previous to the charter had been playing since the 1400’s.

Chariots of Fire Reenactment

Justin’s favorite show is Chariots of Fire. If you have seen the show, then you know of Eric Liddell, who was a Christian Missionary and Olympic Gold Runner Athlete. Well, Justin had the idea of visiting the beach they filmed the running scene at, with the Chariots of Fire theme song by Vangelis, playing in the background. Oh yes….and we reenacted this scene. Haha… Click the link below for a good laugh. I was the videographer, Justin the director and he plays Aubrey Montague, Luke was Lord Andrew Lindsay, Zeke was Eric Liddell, Eliza was Harrold Abrahams, Sicily was Henry Stallard, Brooklyn is the old man and London the dog at the beach.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRc8jut7/

Arthur’s Seat and the Beautiful Rainbow

We took a two hour hike to Arthur’s Seat, which is in the same mountain range as the Castle Rock that the Edinburgh Castle is built on. We had an incredible view of the Edinburgh City, the castle, and the ocean. When we were hiking back and near our car we saw the most beautiful rainbow I have ever witnessed. The colors were so bright and beautiful.

Scotland Beauty

Loch Ness

We all were so excited to take a look at the Loch Ness and search for Nessie. I would like to say we spotted her, but we didn’t. It sure is a beautiful Loch, as were the other Lochs we drove past. You can see video clips of Loch Ness and the surrounding Scottish lands on the video at the beginning of this blog.

Scotland is such a beautiful place. I will miss the five sheep that lived in the field by our rental house. They were scared of me even when I tried to talk “sheep talk” to them like in Babe. Maybe one day I will have a pet sheep.

Thanks for reading.