Once finished we headed to Dumfries. 
Our purpose of coming to Dumfries was to check out Robert Burns' home. We visited the great poet's house and bought a compilation of all his poems. 
Just before we left I had to check out this crazy toilet! You pay 20 pence (about 45 cents) to use it and it's hilarious! It's totally mechanical, so once you pop your 20p in the door slides open and it's like a little closet. You stand inside, then the door closes. Once you're finished, you place your hands in a small space built into the wall. Water comes out, then soap, then water again, then the water turns off and the dryer comes on! Then you press a button to open the door. Once the door shuts after you're out it's automatically hosed down inside. The whole thing is plastic and you have to wipe the seat off when you go to use it because it gets hosed down after every use. But it's always clean! Crazy invention!
Back on the road we headed to Stirling. I wanted to visit Stirling Castle as I head it's beautiful. Once we arrived we ended up at the William Wallace Monument and never made it back to the castle. My own fault as I pointed Keith towards the monument first and didn't realize until after we passed the exit that the castle was now behind us - we didn't feel like driving back by the time we were finished at the monument. 
The monument is impressive in size. It was built within the decade and there's a climb of 240 steps to get to the top. These steps are narrow and in a tight spiral staircase. There are 3 floors and each floor has memorabilia of Sir William Wallace, details of his life and battles as he fought for Scotland's freedom. Once at the top of the 240 steps, it is an amazing panoramic view of the town of Stirling. However, it was insanely windy!
Back on the road again we headed for St. Andrews and Radernie, the small village we were staying at just outside St. Andrews. We travelled through various small villages, and one that still stays with me is Dollar, located in Clackmannanshire. We didn't stop but it was a pretty village and felt so welcoming as soon as we entered it. We arrived at our B&B, Anvil Cottage at 5pm. After grabbing some tea and biscuits (so Scottish!), we headed into St. Andrews for supper and to check out the town.
Driving in from Radernie (6 miles) there's a point where you're totally overlooking St. Andrews and the ocean it rests on. Beautiful! I was so anxious to see the home of Golf as I heard it was a beautiful place. We parked the car and walked a bit, then stopped into a pub called the Dunvegan Inn. This pub is located around the corner form the 18th hole of the Old Course and has been visited by many of the great golfers. It's obvious once in the pub with pictures of Tiger Woods, Payne Stewart, John Daly, Jack Nicolas (to name a few) taken with the owners, decorating the walls. The pub had great food and atmosphere, but the unfortunate part is it's owned by a Scot and her Texan husband so it is very Americanized. Including the menu and the TVs running TSN. 
After dinner we walked around the Old Course and grabbed a few pictures. That's me being goofy on the 18th hole! The picture was taken for Dad and I was in the midst of saying "Hi Dad! Look at me!" as Keith was taking the picture. Haha. The hotel resting behind the course (not the one in this picture) is spectacular too and a great beach called West Sands lies just down from the 18th green. We walked along the beach enjoying it's beauty, then walked through town. I'm in love with this place! The architecture, the ocean, the feel of it all is wonderful. I definitely want to come back. I took some pictures of St. Andrews Castle and the Cathedral which is century old ruins. Then it was back to the B&B for some sleep.The pictures below are: Keith by the putting green, the view from West Sands Beach looking at St. Andrews, West Sands Beach itself, the Club House beside Jubilee Course, and St. Andrews beautiful Castle.
1 comment:
I never would have pictured such an amazing beach in Great Britain !
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