N. Queensferry to Pitlochry

August 1:  Our first destination today was St. Andrews, on the east coast, and then we drove to Pitlochry, the gateway to the Cairngorms National Park.  We had an easy time getting away from Edinburgh and arrived in St Andrews, which we had never visited, by mid-morning.  We parked the car in a long-term lot next to the University of St. Andrews Physics Building and walked to the 18th hole of the "Old Course."  St Andrews is where golf was invented and played since the 17th century.  The 18th hole is parallel to the 1st hole, and we watched foursomes 'tee off,' complete with photographs, as well as people putting out the last hole.  The guide books say that if you want a tee time, book ahead by at least a year.  The fairways were as immaculate and closely cropped as the greens, and it was only by finding a flag did we know where the green was.  Interestingly, there are five different courses woven together in a triangle of land just back from the beach called West Sands.  The West Sands is where the running scene in The Chariots of Fire was filmed.

The 18th Hole, Old Course

We walked up along the famous golf-related buildings on the bluff overlooking the courses and by the museum of golf.  We then passed a war memorial, bandstand, and a pool; the views of the coast line were spectacular.  The town of St Andrews was founded as a religious site sometime around about 600 AD.  The relics of Saint Andrew were being brought from the Holy Land when the ship wrecked just off the coast of Scotland, so the priests said "we have arrived" and built an abbey and cathedral.  We followed a Rick Steve's walking tour into town, passing the University of St. Andrews (the original, historic, quad and chapel buildings), stopped briefly in the Museum of St. Andrews, went by the ruins of the Castle (founded about the same time as the monastery as home for the bishop) and finally reached the point of the peninsula where the the cathedral was.  It is a major ruin with only a few walls and two towers still standing (castle, abbey, and cathedral were gradually dismantled during the Scottish Reformation).  The cathedral was historically a pilgrim destination comparable to Santiago de Compostela and is still a tourist mecca.  We walked back through town with its old, historic buildings and shops.  The university is intermingled with much of this downtown area.  By the way, Prince William and wife Kate were both members of the class of 2005.

University of St. Andrew, main quad

St. Andrew Castle 

St. Andrew Cathedral

We left St. Andrews and drove first north over the Firth of Tay to Dundee (4th largest city in Scotland), then west to Perth and then north to Pitlochry, just outside of the Cairngorms National Park.  We checked in to a very nice "large B&B" and decided to walk up and around to the Edradour Distillery.  We arrived 15 minutes after the last tour, but I already knew what I was going to buy.  The shop was still open, of course.  When we were in Ft. William after the WHW hike, we sampled a cream liqueur made with Edradour scotch and milk.

 It was lovely then, so we bought a bottle for evening nightcaps.  I also got a small bottle of their standard 10-year old single malt scotch.  However, we won't be bringing any of it home since there is no room in the luggage.  We'll have to drink it here - so sad.

We walked back to town by way of a scenic waterfall and stopped for beer and cider before returning to the B&B.  We went for dinner, saw a pipe band parade through town to a park ground near the Tay River for an evening show of Scottish music, and then we walked up to the Pitlochry Dam and Fish Ladder.  The dam and ladder are part of a huge hydroelectric power 'scheme' in this section of the Highlands owned by Scottish Power.  This dam was built in 1951, and there are over 70 more dams, 54 powerhouses, and lots of underground tunnels and diversions moving water around, consolidating it, thereby maximizing generation.