Old and New England with Scotland.The cripples on tour.

[drron]

Saturday and our time in Edinburgh is over.Set off for St.Andrews via the Fife county tourist drive.Lots of travellers out for the weekend.St.Andrews was really jumping and impossible to park near the Old Course.Though we did get to drive across it.Seems really stupid that you can especially on a Saturday morning when all courses are packed.So some pics-had to go to my little camera as card was full in my better camera.First the Forth river and views back to Edinburgh-

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Now the Jubilee and New courses-

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The Fairmont with golfers on the Old course in front of it-

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And back to the original clubhouse over a chip and putt area absolutely crowded with bus tours-

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And the beach which also starred in Chariots of Fire.They were having a wind surfing comp that day-

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[drron]

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And a famous part of the Old course-

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Then off to Dunblane via Dundee and the Tay-

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Just east of Dunblane on the A9 we stopped at the Baxters Food outlet.Great selection of food and if we were self catering we would have bought a bundle.As it was just cappuccinos and scones with jam and clotted cream.At Dunblane they have this incredibly large cathedral-

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There was awedding going on which later did impact us.

 

[amaroo]

I hope the lousy weather improves.....

 

[drron]

At Dunblane we were staying at the Doubletree.An impressive place.

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When we arrived there was a piper standing at the entrance.As I got out of the car he started playing.Unfortunately it was for the wedding party.When I went back to the car to get the bags I ended up sharing the lift with the father of the groom who had the champagne.Thanked him for putting on the welcome.
The reason we stayed here instead of Dundee or Dunkeld was they have a Nick Nairn restaurant.We were on a DBB rate.The food was very good and we felt good value.Mrsdrron started with a chicken liver parfait and I had the chicken and pork terrine with pickled veggies and celeriac remoulade-

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Mrsdrron then had pork belly,roast tatties on bok choi whilst I had Hake on mustard mash with curried veggies and mussels-

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For desserts mrsdrron had a raspberry crème brulee and I had a marmalade pudding with Drambuie custard-

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We enjoyed all the dishes.
Unfortunately the night went downhill from there.The fellows from the wedding party set themselves up below our window and drank,talked and sung badly until 0400.Then the Chinese bus group got up at 0530.So very little sleep.

 

[NM]

I hope the lousy weather improves.....

Indeed! Not a a pair of decent golf shorts to be seen on the course

 

[RooFlyer]

<snip>

Mrsdrron then had pork belly,roast tatties on bok choi whilst I had Hake on mustard mash with curried veggies and mussels-
<snip>

"Roast tatties on bok choi" doesn't quite sound right, does it? Sort of 'Neil Perry's Asian fusion interpretation of haggis' .

 

[Princess Fiona]

The Doubletree looks pretty nice, never stayed there but adding it to my list

 

[zig]

"Roast tatties on bok choi" doesn't quite sound right, does it? Sort of 'Neil Perry's Asian fusion interpretation of haggis' .

I also had my doubts about hake on mustard mash with curried vegetables and mussels. I'll have to assume they ate better than they read.

Still enjoying travelling with you drron. The photos as always are magical.

 

[ellen10]

Still enjoying the trip report. You were there a similar time to us.
Although we were pleasantly surprised with how many sunny days we experienced in Scotland.

Love the photos!

 

[drron]

I also had my doubts about hake on mustard mash with curried vegetables and mussels. I'll have to assume they ate better than they read.

Still enjoying travelling with you drron. The photos as always are magical.

Very mild curry.The Mustard mash was very good so I might try it at home.All the flavours worked together.

 

[drron]

After we checked in I took off down the road a little to this place-

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Yes I am at the site of the battle of Bannockburn and just 10 days short of the 700th Anniversary.It is a National Trust site and as a member of the QLD National trust you get in for nought.So the Memorials-

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So a look over the battlefield-

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And then to the reason for the battle.Robert the Bruce had laid siege to Stirling Castle.The English had promised to surrender if they had not been relieved by Midsummer and it was now that time.So the view from the memorial to Stirling Castle-

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[drron]

Now looking down to the Bannock Burn,the wandering line of trees-

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And the man of the moment-

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I wondered why this Scottish flag was at half mast.Turned out to be the bowls club and a member had died so everyone had gone home-

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The memorial looking back up the hill-

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Then into Stirling itself.Too late to visit the castle.But I found my church!

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And the road up to the castle-

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[drron]

Sunday and another miserable,wet misty and cold day.As we listened to the weather report on BBC1 where it was said it would be a lovely fine day in Scotland with just a very occasional shower.Yeh right.Noticed though a little extra at the entrance to the DT-

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Breakfast was virtually the same as at all the DTs,HGIs and Hiltons we stayed in here in the UK.Always a chance to have black pudding or haggis.So today we are off to the Hilton Coylumbridge.It is only a couple of hours straight up A9 but we are on an all day joint because of mrsdrron's internet searches.The reason will come later.First we are off to Oban via A84-A85-A82 and back on A85 into Oban.Turned out to be a very scenic route with many lochs.On the way there was a tourist stop at a woollen shop.They had though a great range of whisky-

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But the best thing about it was the paddock next door-

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Highland cattle.And just to show you what a beautiful day it was here is one of the lochs-

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[drron]

Despite the weather still some good reflections in the lochs-

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Closer to Oban we reached the inlets that are typical of the Scottish coast-

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That bridge is on the outskirts of Oban.The tide was really running out-

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Oban was an interesting place and certainly seemed a good place to stay awhile-

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However you are going to have to wait until we get to Asia before you find out why we have gone so far out of our way.Sorry.

 

[drron]

We were heading north from Qban to Port Appin.A quaint,quiet little place-

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It overlooks the Isle of Lismore and there is a ferry to Lismore.It is one of the Southern Hebrides.

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There really isn't much to Port Appin and it probably has seen better times-

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The main street-

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It is 2.5 miles of the main road on a narrow single lane road.But we had come for this-

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As I said mrsdrron had found this on the internet and as we both love seafood we decided to try it.
Dining - the Pierhouse Hotel restaurant

 

[drron]

Certainly when we arrived at the hotel it didn't rea;;y seem like the place on the website.As it was Father's day in the UK we had booked a table as we thought it could be busy.Only 4 tables occupied throughout our lunch so really didn't have to worry.The food though was not a let down.Mrsdrron started with the mussels cooked with garlic,shallots,cream and smoked salmon.I started with the scallops on a cauliflower puree and as was almost universal in Scotland black pudding was a part of a scallop dish-

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For mains mrsdrron had lobster with garlic and herb butter and I had the seafood platter-langoustines,mussels,an oyster,2 very large scallops and traditional plus hot smoked salmon.Washed down with a nice bottle of Sancerre (the Loire's answer to Marlborough) and it was pricey at 112 GBP but the quality of the seafood was excellent.

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The Isle of Lismore looks interesting and for the able bodied would be a place to visit-
Isle of Lismore, Argyll, Scotland - Community website

Though it owes a bit to a lead mine-

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In Port Appin we also visited the other business that was open-

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Fairly limited stock though.The good thing though was that the lousy weather of the morning had gone making the place look beautiful-

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The tide was out but we stopped by this bay because of an interesting vision.That next.

 

[drron]

In the distance I saw something that was vaguely recognisable-

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On close up it first of all looked like someones folly-

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But it is a genuine castle and a little later on A828 we got a different view back to where we had been-

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Now Monty Python fans may recognise it-
Monty Python in Castle Stalker (Scotland) - YouTube.
It is indeed though a genuine old castle-
Castle Stalker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
We continued on A828 north until it met A82.Very scenic-

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The bridge is where we join A82.

 

[zig]

Good to see that normal food programming has returned drron - the Pierhouse fare looks like an improvement on the curried veg and mussels

 

[drron]

We continued up A82 until Ben Nevis then turned onto A86 to get to A9 and Aviemore.Scenic route but A86 is mostly a narrow road and a bit too interesting when you meet a bus or truck coming the other way.So a little more of the scenery and a hangglider next to Ben Nevis-

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We were having a 5 night stay at the Hilton Coylumbridge-this time on my points with the 5th night free.As well as a hotel section there is a Hilton Time Share section with cabins.Now when mrsdrron fractured her ankle I got in touch with the hotel as all the king rooms are on the second or third floors and there is no lift.So I arranged to have a family room on the ground floor which have 2 doubles,the larger ones also have bunk beds.So on checkin I get the spiel about how they have upgraded us to a family room-yeh right!.
The hotel has 2 sorts of guests forming the majority of their clients-first families wth young kids and then bus trippers usually older.2-5 busses every night.So to our room and view-

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At all the HH properties with the exception of the Hampton Inn we got vouchers for 2 complimentary drinks.We would go for the large glasses of wine which were usually ~ 10 GBP.Here the voucher was worth 5 GBP so only covered 1 drink.As well no extra waters after the first day and when we ate in their bistro we had to pay there and then and not charge it to our room.So not a recommendation for this place but it does make a reasonable base for the Highlands and very convenient if ski season.
So our dinner.This time sounded good but reality was quite mundane.I started with potted crayfish,mushrooms and chicken in garlic butter.Served hot so the overwhelming taste was of butter.Mrsdrron had the salmon,overcooked.I had pork belly but it was almost certainly pork neck chops with the bone removed.

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We didn't eat there again.

 

[drron]

So Monday comes around nd we awake to ble skies.In fact we end up having 3 fine days in a row.The only time this has happened this trip.So today it was off to Loch Ness.Originally planned to drive right around it but that would have taken us back over A86 and I didn't want to do that again.So a pictorial tour-

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So the little yellow submarine was used in one of the searches for "Nessie".The museum though is frequented by lots of tour busses so we left there early.