The Second and Third Firth

We began yet another amazing sunny day with a stop in St. Andrews, visiting the castle ruins and snapping photos at the world famous golf links. The links are promoted as the home of golf and the host for the British Open. As remarkable as the seven courses of St. Andrews are, the setting along The Firth of Eden is perhaps its most glorious of assets. The wide beach and sandy dunes provide a wild contrast to courses with double greens and clipped fairways. One of the double greens is 100 yards from top to bottom. Imagine the 90 yard putt!

After traveling west and crossing over the River Eden, we proceeded to Dundee, crossing over the The Firth of Tay to take lunch at the  Bridgeview Station. We enjoyed a salad and shared some fish and chips, which left room for us to try our very first sticky toffee pudding. We often leave off dessert at lunch time, but Kilohana evoked the voice of the Mo, our good friend Carl Ramsey. He said, “Mo would have dessert.” After assurances from our waiter that this was one of the better versions to be had, we took the plunge. Served warm with vanilla ice cream on top, it lived up to its billing as one of Scotland’s finest.

From Dundee we struck out for Grantown-On-Spey, our next destination. Crossing south to north through the Cairngorms National Park, we were treated to a series spectacular panoramas and mountain vistas. Along the way we traveled on some picturesque country lanes replete ancient stone walls, hillside brooks, and early season lambs. All of it bathed in the bright Scottish sunshine.