We started today by heading back east to the coast at Crail, as we’d run out of sunlight yesterday evening after leaving St Andrews. From Crail we then looped back west along the coast, crossing the Firth of Forth before continuing along the coastline to Berwick upon Tweed.
Photo of the day
A telescope at North Berwick.
Crail
A quiet Sunday morning on Crail seafront.
Pittenweem
Fishing boats gathered in Pittenweem Harbour.
Elie Ness
A modern lighthouse on the headland at Elie Ness.
Lower Largo
A statue of Alexander Selkirk mounted on a house in Lower Largo, the inspiration behind Robinson Crusoe.Colourful bollards on the Lower Largo seafront.
Dysart
Just outside Kirkcaldy, the quaint Dysart.And an interesting coastal art installation by Donald Urquart just by the harbour. The 9 huge vertical beams painted to represent the colour of the sea under different light.
Aberdour Castle
Yep, no idea either, but we seemed to be enjoying ourselves at Historic Scotland’s Aberdour Castle.We weren’t sure what this building was on the terraced gardens that lead down to the castle orchard. Anyway, it turned out to be an unusual beehive shaped doocot.And inside the doocot, looking to the sky.
Firth of Forth Bridges
Crossing over the Forth Road Bridge. It was really busy, with lots of police and tourists around, then we realised it was the opening week of the new Queensferry Crossing bridge.From South Queensferry, looking back to the Forth Road Bridge, and the new Queensferry Crossing behind.The Queen would be visiting to officially open the new bridge tomorrow. In the meantime the bridge was open for pedestrians to cross.And the equally impressive Forth Rail Bridge sitting opposite the other two bridges. OK, enough bridges for the day…
Royal Yacht Britannia
As we skirted around the north of Edinburgh we decided to make a stop at the Royal Yacht Britannia, one of the highlights of our day.In service from 1954 to 1997, and now kept as a museum piece. A fascinating insight into the royal life on the seas.The Royal Roller kept on board for visits to local Kings and Queens.Having a royal beer in the royal pub with the royal corgi. Love the bar name 😉So The Queen likes a game of Operation! Good for her.Royal washing machines in the royal launderette.
North Berwick
North Berwick in the shadow of the Law hill. A lovely little town and harbour.Colourful doors in the harbour boatyard.A handy telescope to view Bass Rock, 3 miles out to sea in the outer part of the Firth of Forth.
Bass Rock
White from bird life. Thousands of gannets visit the island every year, and as many as 150,000 in high season! Poor lighthouse, bet that needs repainting quite a bit!We tried to zoom in, this is about as close as we could get. You can just about make out the thousands of gannets hogging every bit of the island and circling in the sky.
Tantallon Castle
The red sandstone Tantallon Castle, as we drove east out of North Berwick.
Torness
Another regular along our trip, every few days passing a coastal power station. This time Torness Nuclear Power Station, peeping over the blurred fields as we drove past along the A1 to the Scottish border and Berwick upon Tweed.
Wow, another beautiful day in Scotland. We will spend the morning in Aberdeen, before following the coastline down to Dundee, then across to St Andrews, before cutting slightly inland for the evening at Glenrothes.
Photo of the day
Scurdie Ness Lighthouse.
Aberdeen
Exploring some street sculptures in Aberdeen centre, here the trumpet like ‘The Listener’.The Scottish knight Sir William Wallace, with the dome of St. Mark’s Church in the background.St. Mary’s Cathedral, a service was in progress, so we didn’t go in.Jarno viewing his empire. OK, just checking out the view over Aberdeen and the River Dee from Torry Point Battery.A ship leaving the bustling Aberdeen Harbour past the South Breakwater.And the same ship in the distance as we drove south along the coast road out towards Cove. A road, railway line and footpath all following the same coastal route out of Aberdeen.
Dunnottar Castle
The remains of the medieval Dunnottar Castle perched on near vertical cliffs over the North Sea. It was super busy this Saturday lunchtime. As we had a long way to travel still, we didn’t stay long, continuing on towards Stonehaven.
Catterline Bay
The almost perfect arc of Catterline Bay, with Todd Head Lighthouse peeking over the headland in the far distance.
Scurdie Ness
Just past Montrose we parked up at Ferryden, then walked along the South Esk River to the old nautical navigation beacons.Then around the corner we arrived at Scurdie Ness Lighthouse.As we walked along we were followed by a pod of dolphins playing in the South Esk.They seemed to be having great fun.
Arbroath
Checking out the remains of Arbroath Abbey. We’ve really had our fair share of castle, cathedral and abbey remains along this trip 😉Arbroath Signal Tower Museum on the sea front.
Dundee
The McManus, Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum.A cartoonish character in a funny hat, and Desperate Dan.
St Andrews
The evening light on St Andrews’ Castle (yes, another ruin).As it was late in the day, the castle was now closed, so we wandered around the outside of the castle and the charming St Andrew’s lanes.All was quiet, now that most of the tourists had left for the day.A typical stone cottage on the way back to our car. Next stop Glenrothes for the night.
