Saturday 2nd June

After breakfast we drove to St Andrews further along the coast & went to see the ruined cathedral which was the largest in Scotland before it was burnt by followers of John Knox the Protestant reformer in the 1560s. He keeps turning up everywhere we have been in Scotland & appears to be the catalyst for the destruction of Catholicism in Scotland.

From there we moved to the castle which although ruined had a tremendous audio guide covering its tempestuous time in the Reformation when it was besieged after the cardinal archbishop was murdered in the 1540s.Scottish history is a mystery to d*** before it merged with England after the accession of King James 1. The most amazing part was a counter mining shaft under the wall cut through solid sandstone to intercept a shaft from outside dug during the siege about 15m in length.

Leaving St Andrews we took the coast road to Anstruther & saw a country house sign with a thistle. d*** mistook this for a Scottish National Trust building to which we have free entry. We parked & checked for any SMS's & the only one was from a friend in Perth whose brother owns Cambo, the house we were at. The house wasn't open but we saw the walled gardens & walked along down to the sea through a lovely treed path along the creek edge. It was fascinating to see the house & the work being done on the gardens & outbuildings. We even saw a family photo with our friend as a baby, with his family.

Moving on again we found Crial a tiny fishing harbour village similar to Cornish ones. Finally we found Kellies Castle, a Scottish baronial castle dating from the 14th to the 19th centuries. It is a great example of its type & was well worth the visit.

Returning home exhausted we had a fine Indian meal & talked to a very interesting lady who told us of several places we should visit on our way round.

Sunday 3rd June

Set off at about 9am & went to Kingsbarn Distillery as it is on the Cambo estate. Couldn't stay for the tour & tasting so we went on up the east coast across the Firth of Tay to Broughty Ferry where we admired the old castle which unfortunately opened later. Then on to Arbroath, where we visited the huge ruined abbey which was again quite a place. Built in red sandstone it was at least as imposing as St Andrew's abbey & we were very impressed with the presentations there. Here we had lunch, quite an unusual practise for us. d*** had an 'Arbroath Smokie' of which he had heard before but never seen. It is a cool smoked Haddock not a Herring as he had guessed & it was excellent with a delicate flavour & texture. Can't wait to have another if it can be found.

Although it is early June we think it is pretty cold & are in puff jackets & jeans while the local are often in shorts & t shirts. We had some light rain & near the coast light fog so it tends to make the towns look a bit grim.

Moving north & east we went on to Stonehaven which had been recommended & Dunnottar Castle near there. Unfortunately it was wreathed in mist & as it was getting late we carried on to Aberdeen for the next 2 nights. We took the car into Aberdeen & had a meal at a pub but were somewhat underwhelmed by the central area built in unrelieved grey granite.