Lynn's Travel Adventures

In spite of what you might think based on the last two posts, there is more to St. Andrews than golf. Of course, there is St. Andrews University, the 3rd oldest university in the UK after Oxford and Cambridge. Like the others, the University of St. Andrews is spread out through a fairly large section of the city. We only walked down one street of the main part of the university but there were some beautiful old buildings.

We had a relaxing morning before heading to the ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral. It was only about a 20-minute walk but, unfortunately, we got caught in a little bit of rain. It didn’t rain hard but we still got a little wet. Of course, since weather said no chance of rain, the umbrellas were still in the flat. The rain only lasted about 10 minutes, though, so it wasn’t too bad.

On our way to the Cathedral we passed the ruins of the Blackfriars Chapel which is all that remains of the Dominican Friary of St. Andrews. It was a Catholic Friary that was destroyed during the Protestant Reformation in the mid-16th century.

The Cathedral of St. Andrews was built in 1158 and was the center of medieval Catholic Church in Scotland. During the Reformation, the Catholic Church was outlawed and the Cathedral fell into disuse. BTW, contrary to what many people think, the Church of Scotland is not Catholic, it’s Presbyterian. Who knew??

By the size of the ruins, experts believe that the Cathedral was 390 feet long, which makes it the largest church to have ever been built in Scotland.

There was also an old cemetery. While some of the graves were old, there were also some headstones that were relatively new with dates up to the 1940s.

There was a Cathedral museum that had artifacts from the middle ages found during excavation of the site.

Most of the slabs and headstones had skull and crossbones engraved on them.

Part of the Cathedral, St. Rule’s Tower was built in the early 12th century to store the relics of St. Andrew.

A short walk from the Cathedral is St. Andrews Castle, another ruin. It was closed today but we were able to get some photos from the street. The Castle was from the late 12th century. It was destroyed and rebuilt many times during the Wars of Scottish Independence of the late 13th/early 14th centuries.

Between the Castle and the Cathedral was a large marshy area.

After seeing the ruins, we headed back to the town center, only about another 10-minute walk. After stopping at Superdrug to pick up more gauze pads (I brought quite a few with us but used them all on Peter’s face after he fell) we stopped for ice cream before heading home.

We had lunch at home and enjoyed a lazy afternoon. I napped for about an hour and Peter is still asleep, although I’m thinking about waking him up so he can sleep tonight.

Tomorrow we head north to Ballater where we’ll stay at a Hilton Garden Vacation Resort for the next 3 nights. On our way we have a few castles to visit. Should be fun.

Friday night didn’t go exactly as planned. As we were getting ready to leave for the Royal Edinburgh Tattoo, Peter tripped over a small ledge at the doorway of the flat and face-planted onto the sidewalk. I was in the living room when I heard a crash and when I ran out to see what happened, I saw him sprawled out on the sidewalk with blood pouring down his face. Since there were two small steps leading into the flat, he fell quite a distance. I got him off the ground and into the bathroom trying to stop the bleeding. Luckily, we already had a taxi coming for us and 15 minutes later we were on our way, not to the Edinburgh Castle as planned, but the Royal Infirmary A&E (accident and emergency) department. This is where we sat for the next 8 hours (think 90’s hit tv show ER) until it was our turn to see a doctor. Peter’s face bled for the first 2 of those hours. Luckily I had grabbed the roll of paper towels on our way out the door.

A very long story short, by some miracle Peter managed not to break anything even though I would have bet money his nose was broken. He’s face looks like he went 5 rounds with Rocky Balboa and he has a couple of sprained fingers on his left hand, but other than that he came through unscathed. After we saw the physician at 6:30am (we’d arrived at 7:45pm the night before), I had to leave to get back to the flat to finish packing and clean up the blood before the 8:00 taxi came to take me to get our rental car. Once the taxi came, it swung by the hospital to pick up Peter, who hadn’t yet been discharged when I left the hospital, and we headed to the airport.

Since the Royal Infirmary is a NHS (National Health Service) hospital, we saw the best and worst of socialized medicine. The wait was incredibly long in a lobby with people sitting on the floor and no fewer than 6 people in handcuffs escorted by Edinburgh’s finest (BTW, they don’t carry weapons). It was 2 hours before he was triaged and another 30 minutes after that to get a CT scan. Compare this to when he fell at Home Depot 3-4 months ago. He was in CT within 15 minutes of our arrival.

But on the flip side, all the staff were wonderful. And the most incredible part it didn’t cost us anything. Even though he had a head CT, hand XRAY and an EKG it didn’t cost us a dime.

There are private hospitals we could have gone to and it would have been a lot faster but who knows how much that would have cost. Of course, we have travel insurance that would have covered it, but I don’t even want to think about the hoops we would have had to jump through to get that settled, especially since we’re traveling for another 3 months.

Once the drama was over, it sunk in as to how very bad this could have been. From the height he fell and the way he landed on his face, the outcome could have been disastrous. He certainly dodged a bullet…again.

It was a very long night with no sleep for either one of us, but once we got our car we were in St. Andrews in a little over an hour. We stopped for a delicious breakfast in a café just out of town, then headed into town to find Peter a new pair of pants. His were covered in blood so there was no way he could continue to wear them.

After a successful shopping trip, we went to the St. Andrews Links Clubhouse to get tickets for the 2pm walking tour of the Old Course. The Old Course at St. Andrews Links is the most famous course in the world and recently hosted the 2022 British Open won by Aussie Cameron Smith.

As you can see from the sign, there are 7 courses at St. Andrews. You don’t see the Castle Course on the map because it’s a couple of miles out of town.

Alex was our tour guide and told some great stories about the course. We covered 3 holes (1, 17, 18). The beginning of the 1st hole (tee box) is adjacent to the end (green) of the 18th hole so it was easy to get from one to the next.

Peter only made it about halfway through the tour. He was understandably very tired and was having trouble walking so he found a bench at the 18th green and waited for us to finish the tour.

In the middle of the 18th hole is the famous stone bridge. It’s official name is Swilcan Bridge called that because it spans the Swilcan Burn (small waterway). Everyone stops playing to take their picture on that bridge. When no golfers are teeing off, tourists take their picture on that bridge. It’s also a popular spots for bridal party pictures.

Here’s a video I found of Tiger Woods, one of the best golfers ever, taking what is probably his last walk across this bridge as a competitor. This was just this July at the British Open and it was his last hole of that tournament.

The 17th hole at the Old Course (also called the Road Hole because of the road that runs along its side) is considered to be one of the hardest holes in golf. The way the pros play the hole is to take the most direct route from the tee box to the green but it’s a blind shot because of the wall of the hotel. That’s the way the pros play the hole. We mere mortals would follow the fairway instead of trying to hit the monster shot past the hotel.

It also has a wicked bunker. At its tallest, the wall is about 6 feet and bunker isn’t very wide which makes getting out very difficult. Its nickname is the The Sands of Nakajima for Japan’s Tommy Nakajima who was tied for the lead in the final round of the 1997 Open before running into the bunker. He ended up with a quintuple bogey (5 over par which unheard of for a pro; even I don’t usually have that bad of a hole) and lost the championship.

Here’s an interesting 5-minute video I found about this hole. If you’re not that into golf feel free to skip it. Actually since the rest of this post is all about golf, you might want to stop reading all together. But if you do, you’ll miss the story of my greatest shot ever.

After the tour, I picked up Peter and we headed for our new flat. It’s a pretty little 2-bedroom bungalow with a nice backyard. After dinner of delicious tomato basil soup we brought home from the café where we had lunch, we headed back to St. Andrews for my lesson with the pro, Mike. It was wonderful and I learned a lot. Whether or not I’ll be able to incorporate any of it into my swing is an entirely different matter.

It should come as no surprise that we had an early night as by 9pm we’d been awake for almost 40 hours.

Today (it’s Sunday) we played the Strathyrum Course, which is a par 69 course intended for the non-expert golfer (that’s us). For the non-golfers that means that in order to “play par”, a golfer will take only 69 shots (including putts) to get the ball in the hole for the entire 18 holes. Our course at home is a par 72 and my best ever round was 82, which is 10 over par.

It was a chilly, damp, cloudy morning but we still had a great time. Peter didn’t think he’d be able to play because of his swollen left hand so we only took one set of clubs. But it turns out he had no trouble swinging the club so he played all the shots.

Here’s Peter’s first tee shot.

And here’s mine. It was my best drive of the day…169 yards. My longest drive ever is 178 yards. My average drive is probably about 135.

To speed up the game, we played best ball which means we both played from the shot that went the farthest. We played my ball on this one but Peter had a very nice round so we played plenty of his balls as well.

I had my best shot ever today. It was on the 7th hole and we were about 89 yards from the pin. I used my 8 iron and hit a very nice shot which landed on the green and continued to role until it dropped INTO THE HOLE for a birdie (one under par; we shot a 3 when par is 4). Of course I gave a big shout and threw my hands into the air. The pair in front of us, with whom we’d been chatting, asked if I dropped it in. When I said yes, the woman came over and handed me a ball on which she’d written “chipped in at 7 on Strathtyrum; 28 Aug 22.” She wrote it on a ball from her home club here in St. Andrews. It was such a nice gesture and it will be one of my most prized treasures. When we get home it’s going into my golf ball display box.

We finished our round with an 81, only 12 over par which is great. Neither one of us on our own would have had the good of a score but playing best ball combines the best shots of both players. We had an incredible time and are so glad we were able to play.

After turning in the cart and clubs, we had a very nice lunch at the Eden Clubhouse. The Eden Course is one of the par 72 expert courses, and is adjacent to our course. Lunch was delicious (mac and cheese for me; burger for Peter) and was a great way to cap off a very special round of golf.

After stopping at the Old Course Store for some essential (and very expensive) souvenirs, we headed home. It will probably be another early night as it will take another good night’s sleep to catch up with what we lost Friday night.

Tomorrow we’re going to do a little sightseeing in the town of St. Andrews. It’s supposed to be another cool, cloudy day but as long as it doesn’t rain we’re good. Thanks for following our adventures. Talk soon.

Today started a drizzly, dreary day when we headed out to the waterfront to tour the Royal Yacht Britannia. The yacht was completed in 1953 and traveled more than 1 million nautical miles before being decommissioned in 1997.

It was a self-guided tour, using hand-held audio guides. We were one of the first ones on the yacht so it wasn’t very crowded at all.

Moving off the Royal Apartments to the crew quarters.

Here’s a video I found about the decommissioning in 1997. The Queen is clearly emotional. We talked with one of the stewards who told us that the Queen loved the yacht and had many happy memories of it.

A former open area of the ship has been redesigned as a tea room, so of course, we had to check it out.

The yacht has been used by the Royal family for special occasions like the pre-wedding party for Princess Anne’s daughter Zara and her husband Mike Tindall. It is also the only royal yacht in the world available private hire. Here’s what you get if you book the State Drawing Room: Exclusive use of the whole yacht; up to 100 for drinks receptions; white-gloved butler service; a red carpet entrance and piping aboard via the Royal Brow; drinks served in crystal glassware and entertainment by the official pianist on the original Welmar baby grand piano. How cool would it be to have a wedding here!

After browsing the gift shop, where Peter found his 3rd jigsaw puzzle, we headed back to the bus for an early trip home. There really wasn’t anything else we wanted to see and since we’re going to have a very late night tonight, we decided to have a relaxing afternoon.

Tonight I get to cross off the 2nd of the 3 things on my list of must do while in the UK…the Edinburgh Tattoo. Weather is a bit iffy so our fingers are crossed for no rain. We bought a tartan blanket the other day so we don’t mind cold weather but rain would be miserable. I’ll let you know.

We skipped the Hop On/Hop Off today as our two sightseeing stops took up the entire day so we wouldn’t have had time to see anything else. First up was Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen’s residence when she’s in Edinburgh. She was in here in July while waiting for Balmoral to be ready for her.

We were there when it opened and were able to tour the palace before it got too busy. As in the other Royal Palaces, this one also had a special exhibition. And just like in the other exhibitions, no cameras were allowed. This one highlighted the outfits the Queen wore to all 4 of her jubilee celebrations, including the two from this year.

This was the only of her palaces where we were able to take pictures.

Mary Queen of Scots lived in the Palace between 1561-1567. The apartment is accessed via a narrow winding stone staircase. Peter didn’t make the trip so I went up and caught up with him afterward. This apartment was in the oldest part of the Palace.

The ruins of the Abbey were closed for renovation so we weren’t able to visit.

After we finished at the Palace and gardens, we headed over to the Queen’s Gallery which was just across the walkway. It was a small art museum containing artwork that has hung in one or the other of the Palaces. A steward told us that they rotate paintings between the Palaces and the gallery.

Next up was a bus ride to and EE store to recharge our phone SIM cards, then it was off the the Edinburgh Castle. Along the way we saw a few interesting things.

It was a long, uphill climb to Edinburgh Castle but Peter made it like a champ. We still had about 90 minutes before our timed tickets to enter the castle, so we stopped in at Cottonwood Restaurant for a lovely lunch.

We had just enough time after lunch to chat with a few people about tomorrow’s Tattoo. We found out that if we arrive NLT 8:00pm, we’ll be allowed to enter the grounds early so we don’t have to stand in the queue. Also, if we wait for about 45 minutes after the show ends, the roads will be open again and they will call a taxi for us to get home. We were wondering how that was going to work and I was worried about Peter climbing that monster hill again. I’m very happy with this plan.

Of course we weren’t able to take photos, but I found this photo online.

In another part of the Castle grounds we saw St. Margaret’s Chapel. It’s a small chapel built in 12th century.

The windows were very small but they still used stained glass.

The view from the Castle was amazing. The sky was pretty cloudy but it was still pretty.

The final stop at the Castle was the Scottish War Museum…Peter was in heaven!

After the museum, we headed back down the hill to where we walked yesterday. We didn’t realize it at the time but the Edinburgh Castle is at one end of the Royal Mile and the Palace of Holyroodhouse is at the other. So, we were at both ends today. We walked quite a bit of it but certainly not the entire length.

We saw another bagpiper, this one in full regalia.

And another street performer.

We made it home around 4pm so it was a full day. We had ham/cheese sandwiches for dinner as we’d had such a big lunch.

Tomorrow we visit the Royal Yacht Britannia so that will be fun. Have a great night everyone and thanks for sharing our adventures.

Ok, so I wasn’t wearing boots, but you know what I mean. I’m FINALLY in Scotland. We settled into our adorable flat after an uneventful one-hour flight from Heathrow and a 25-minute cab ride from the airport. Then we headed to the bus for the 10-minute ride into Old Town Edinburgh. Edinburgh is an incredibly old city with the first recorded inhabitants here in 8500 BC! It has been the capital of Scotland since the 15th century.

This guy was playing outside the museum. We saw a few men walking in the streets dressed in their kilts.

There are several interesting things happening in Edinburgh right now: the Edinburgh Tattoo (we’re going Friday night); the Edinburgh Fringe festival (the world’s largest arts festival) and a refuse workers’ strike. The latter event has left the city strewn with garbage. Luckily it’s not hot or the smell would be horrendous. It’s a 12-day strike that started last week and will be ongoing the entire time we’re here. It’s really sad because this city is absolutely gorgeous, or would be without all the garbage.

After we got off the bus from our flat, we headed to the Royal Mile in the heart of Old Town. I’m not sure if it’s usually a pedestrian only street but it is now because of the Fringe Festival. There were street performers everywhere and people busking in the streets to get people to come to their shows. The street was jammed-packed with people and had a very cool vibe.

I think the name of this church was Tron Kirk. But….

Well, it used to be a church, now it’s a market. We browsed the stalls for a few minutes; they had some cool stuff, much of it handcrafted.

After a quick bite to eat, we visited St. Giles Cathedral and it was amazing. It was founded in 1124 as a Roman Catholic Church but after the Scottish reformation of the 16th century it became a Presbyterian church.

John Knox was one of the leaders of the Reformation, and since this was his church, St. Giles is considered to be the “home” of the Presbyterian church.

St. Giles isn’t a particularly big church but it was very beautiful and we’re glad we stopped for a visit.

I can certainly tell I’m not in the desert anymore. My joints are killing me (I can barely move my left shoulder) from the dampness and my hair is beginning to have a Roseanne Rosanna Danna look to it.

I actually had to pull out my Celebrex and flat iron today. Not that either one helped much but, oh well. I guess I’ll just take my anti-inflammatories and live in a pony tail until we get to France. Achy joints and frizzy hair are small prices to pay to be in this amazing city. Even with the garbage it’s a beautiful place. We’re looking forward to tomorrow when we explore even more on the Hop On/Hop Off bus.