We had an uneventful, but very uncomfortable, flight to Glasgow. I, of course, was stuck in the middle seat and I was next to Vic and a bonnie, very friendly, BIG Scottish fellow who gave us some tips on what to see and educated me on pronunciations and some Scottish terms. For instance, he told me if I thought a guy was cool to call him a “sound cu*t”. Yes that “cu*t”! I’m not sure if he was pulling my leg or not but I think I’ll pass on using that phrase. So far my impression of the Scottish people is bang on to what I thought.

First impression: colourful countryside....... if you consider grey a colour. Yes, it was dull, rainy and cool - exactly what I expected but the complete opposite of what I was hoping for.

We picked up our car with no problems and made our way to Dunfermline to meet Valerie & Kevin. We ended up getting a free upgrade which we thought was great at the time - bigger snd gps included. Problem was we forgot how narrow a lot of the streets are here! Vic had a hard time staying in the narrow lanes in the larger SUV. It didn’t help as it’s a standard gear shift with the steering wheel on the right side of the car and you have to use your left hand to shift gears. My mantra was “You’re in the other lane!” or “Watch the curb!”. We did, in fact, hit the curb at one point and I thought the car was going to roll over. But Vic righted us and I continued to “help” him stay in the lane. But we proceeded to miss trees, curbs and other cars.....barely! Prediction: It’s not going to be a relaxing trip when we’re driving!

Dumfermline, pronounced DUN-firm-lin, is a city in Fife, north of the Firth of Forth. What is the Firth of Forth, you ask?  Well a firth is an estuary and the Forth is a river in Scotland.  The Firth of Forth is actually an estuarry of several
rivers including the River Forth.  The city, the largest in Fife and 9th largest in Scotland with a  population of over 50,000 in 2012, has been around since the 11th century.  It was Scotland's capital until the 15th century.  The 'auld grey toun' of Dunfermline is at the heart of Scotland's history. There are a  number of historical sites such as the royal palace, a 12th century abbey (which is the final resting place of Robert the Bruce and the burial site of 11 other Scottish kings and queens), the restored 15th century Abbot House and the cave where St Margaret bathed the feet of the poor.  Dunfermline was the birthplace of James I in 1394, Charles I in 1600 and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1835.
We made it the Dumferline by lunch time and met Valerie and Kevin at the Abbey.
Some of Scotland’s greatest medieval monarchs were laid to rest at Dunfermline Abbey. Dunfermline Abbey and Palace was founded as a priory in about 1080 by Margaret who married Malcolm III on the site. David I, their son, made the priory an abbey in 1128. He had a new church built on a grand scale, of which the magnificent nave survives. Following the Protestant Reformation of 1560, Queen Anna of Denmark created an imposing palace with the monastic guesthouse at its heart. Charles I was delivered here in 1600 – the last monarch to be born in Scotland. Royal interest in Dunfermline waned when James and Anna left for London in 1603, and the palace fell into disrepair.
The abbey is beautiful and it's said is one of Scotlands most impressive medieval interiors and most important royal sites.  The impressive nave of Romanesque architecture is strilking.  The monks’ refectory is a towering structure that spoke volumes about Robert I’s confidence in his kingdon.  The views are  breathtaking from the palace windows.
We had worked up a thirst exploring the Abbey and palace and went for a traditional fish & chips & beer (Tennents) lunch. It was less than 8 pounds each all in. We were impressed. Then we made our way to Leven to Kilconquar (pronounced kill-conquer) Castle Estate where we checked in and proceeded to imbibe in some wine. None of us had slept on the flight over so we hit the pit around 9:00.

I’m having trouble downloading pictures but I’ll keep trying. You may be able to see them on Insta or FB though.