Day 4... almost there (ok so I'm here and made it.. but haven't been able to update you in a while)

I got up early and headed north to Glamis Castle, the childhood home of the 'Queen Mum' the current queen's mum. The ride was a scenic one, not too hilly minus the trip back out of Dundee. It turned into a 40 mile loop pretty quickly with all the backroads, but nice weather and the wind wasn't too strong. I saw a sign for Glamis on the way, so I pulled off in a little town and asked directions (and bought a couple scones).

There was a nice couple sitting on a bench so I asked them, they told me of a shortcut to avoid the 'main' road, which had very very few cars on it anyway, but it was nice to be even farther from traffic. The woman told me to be careful of tractors, and the man turned to her and said in his thick Scottish accent 'Bloody Hell woman! The man's come all the way from Inverness, don't think he needs to be told that!'

So off I went, saw 3 tractors within the first half mile haha. Got to the town about 10:30, too early for lunch but late for breakfast, so I had cereals and toast at a restaurant, where I was the only patron. The castle was down a mile long lane, almost fairy tale looking.

At the castle I locked up the bike in the guard house and headed in, without the hot tea like the last castle. This was a guided tour but no pictures allowed here either. The highlight for me was the part of the wall in the store room off the dining room that looked like it was a patched up doorway.

Story goes a duke was there playing cards and drinking with a buddy at 11:45 on a Saturday night, almost Sunday. A maid went in to tell them what time it was and on her way out she met a man on the stairs. The man went into the room and asked the gents if they wanted to continue drinking and gambling, and of course they answered yes! So, the devil sealed up the wall to the room and that's where they remained, drinking and playing cards, minus their souls!

They say you can hear them talking and laughing if you put your ear to the wall, but I did not. From the outside, there is a dark room with rusty bars on the window where that room should be...

The castle also has a chapel where there's said to be a family member lingering around. They always keep a chair open for her in the corner during services.

I headed back to Dundee after that, and went to the Discovery Museum. It was a neat place, detailing the Scottish Captain's voyage to Antarctica in 1901. Got to go on the ship too, unusual because it had been refitted to serve in 2 world wars and as a livestock carrier.

Then I headed out for St. Andrew's, now in a pouring rain. It was only about 15 miles, and the rain subsided when I got there for the most part.

The hostel didn't have a computer, so I asked a man walking out of a University building where I could find a computer lab. Malcom, as it turned out, was the IT Director for the U. of St. Andrew's, and he was just leaving a computer lab-- I've had some good luck on this trip for sure.

I was going to go out with a guy I met at the hostel and some of his friends, but he ended up having to work on a project... it was a Tuesday after all haha. He was studying Sustainable Development there at St. A's. Met another guy staying there who was working on his masters in Physics, working on fuel cells. Seems to be the place to be that sort of thing!