And now the trip has left the station, or the city, rather. After picking up the rental car at Edinburgh airport, we headed out of the urban area. Or tried to. I made a wrong turn so we had to backtrack a bit and I did stray to the wrong side of the road once. Ah, travel is full of adventures, isn’t it?!
One of “must do” items on my nephew’s list for Scotland was to visit St. Andrews, and that’s because he’s a golfer. A quick check of rental prices in St. Andrews left me breathless for all the wrong reasons, so we stayed about 30 minutes south, at a lovely apartment in Anstruther. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, comfortable seating, and well, some challenges. Like how to lock the front door. We ended up calling the owner, who explained what is apparently obvious to anyone who lives in the UK:
The washer/dryer combo machine was another challenge. After four hours (!), my clothes were still damp, not dry, and it was almost midnight, so I hung them to dry and went to bed. The washer/dryer had won round 1 in what would be a continuing feature of the trip.
St. Andrews did not disappoint either of us. Bob got in on a walking tour of the course, given by a famous caddie I’d never heard of, but he had, and had even read the guy’s book. He loved the tour. I loved walking on West Beach, soaking up the sunshine, both in such abundance that I actually finished the day with a slight sunburn. In Scotland. Amazing!
The one hiccup was parking. Last time I was here (OK, 10 years ago, so things can change in that length of time), there was free parking right next to the Old Course and Clubhouse. This time, not so free. Also not so easy. The machine only took UK money, of which we had none and there was no obvious ATM in town that Google Maps could point us to. The alternative was to download an app and use that. Which would have been fine except that the app wanted to confirm you were you by sending you a text. To a UK phone number. US numbers, in any format imaginable, didn’t work. But… there’s a reason Bob is a high-tech director and — on this day — certified genius. He went to the website, and the registration there used either phone or email. Voila! We were in like Flynn. After a half-hour of dicking around in the parking lot. Again, travel is full of adventures, right?!
After St. Andrews, I found my first Scottish beach, down a single-track road with, surprisingly a row of campers and a shack serving water and food, both of which I needed at that point. Then I took my shoes off and waded into the waters of the North Sea, a new body of water for my toes and me. It wasn’t as cold as you’d think, about like the water off Santa Cruz in California.
The other super-cool thing we did in Anstruther was see the Northern Lights. WOW!!!!! I’d seen a bit of green many years ago flying over Greenland, but this, this was something far, far better! Our eyes saw pale colors but the iPhone cameras saw everything. We ended up using the phones like eclipse glasses, pointing them up at the sky and then looking at the screens. And, of course, snapping a zillion photos. It was such a good show I went back inside and hauled out the patio chairs from the closet so we could watch the show in comfort.
Anstruther has some excellent restaurants, although it was a bit dicey getting a seat on a Friday night. We promised we’d eat and be gone in 45 minutes – mission accomplished, food devoured after a busy day.
As we were packing up the car to go after our two nights in Anstruther, we both agreed we could have spent a lot more time here. Golf courses galore for him, beaches at every turn of the coastline for me, and a lovely village to stay in and eat out at any number of restaurants. Anstruther, you were a most pleasant surprise, since we just picked you for closeness to St. Andrews + affordability. And the completely serendipitous viewing of the Northern Lights.
As soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was about to happen.
A. A. Milne (Winnie the Pooh)
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Wow! Love those beach images, especially the one with the big puffy white clouds. And the northern lights!!! Was that the May 10th set of lights? Or have you seen them since then ?
It was the big display of Northern Lights in early May. Amazing to see!
As Herb Caen said in one of his columns, “If you find a great city, you must stay for three days or three years.” Seems to be true. Love your Northern Lights photos.
I have not been to any golf courses in Scotland – not even to run on the cart paths (not a golfer) but I have driven in Great Britain and have stories about going the wrong way into parking garages (and the wrong way out) as well as having to stop on “round abouts”. to try to see which way to go.(when on my motor schooter) I enjoy your stories. about your stories. Mary
I know all those roads and towns you describe. Actually I felt a bit homesick reading.