May 31 - Travel to London, then going home tomorrow

She Said:
A brief catch-up:
We had a great adventure for dinner on Wednesday. We took a train two stops away to the town of Aberdour. We were met at the station by Pricilla, who then drove us to the restaurant, Room With A View.
It was a narrow, twisty, steep drive down to the restaurant; if you didn’t know it was there, you’d never find it. (We were given a gift certificate by some friends).

Tiny dining room - maybe 8 tables. Killer views over the Firth. Great seafood and wonderful ambience.

We had our coffee and dessert after dinner in the lounge and met a couple from Portland, OR. So fun to find fellow Americans in such an obscure place. They were staying in town, heard about this restaurant, and decided to walk down (in the rain) and chance an opening.
They are walkers and we had a great chat.

Turns out we didn’t use our full gift certificate do we paid it forward and gave the balance to our new friends from Portland. They were pleasantly surprised and we felt very warm and fuzzy.

Hannah, the owner, drove us back to the train station. Her mother bought the old house 30 years ago and ran it as an exclusive small hotel. Hannah and her husband added the restaurant a few years ago when Hannah inherited the place. Hannah runs the establishment and her husband is the chef. A sweet, little deal for all.

Thursday was pretty much a washout - rain all day long. We stayed in and read and played games - R with numbers (Sudoku) and me with words (Crosswords and Scrabble). Quite relaxing and atmospheric.
Quite Scotland.

Today, we flew from Edinburgh to London Heathrow. Edinburgh Airport was horrible. Crazy crowded and too small to handle it all efficiently. But, once we finally made it through all the mobs, we boarded a brand new British Airways Airbus and flew happily to London.
Staying the night at the Hilton Airport Hotel - quite nice and posh. Drinks and dinner in the downstairs bar.
Lolling around now on our big, king-sized bed. Heavenly. (We had a queen bed for the last week, and since I swim around when I sleep, it was not optimal).

Well, we had an awesome trip. Sark was the stand-out for me. Tough to beat a gorgeous island with fantastic weather and no cars!

But, as always, there’s no place like home and I’ll be looking forward to our happy house.
Cheers!


He said:
We have come to the end of another great trip.
After relaxing in a rainy Scotland for a few days, it's time to go home.

We have walked a total of 104.7 miles on this trip.
I expected the total to be lower since we never had a long walking day.





One of the Sark horses we met.

May 29 - Kinghorn: sunny start, damp hike

He said:
I went out early to look at the beach at low tide and take some photos.  The conditions were great; sunny, no wind, and uncrowded.

Later, we went for a hike inland from Kinghorn, stopping at the Kinghorn Loch nature area, and coming back to it later after a 4 mile rural loop on trails and farm roads.  It had become quite cloudy and later started to rain, but we loved it.


She Said:
A gorgeous morning - blue skies and bright sunshine, so we decided to go for a walk!
However, by the time we finished breakfast and made ourselves a packed lunch, the sky was completely overcast and gray.
Ah, Scotland.

We headed out and once again walked to the Kinghorn Loch before carrying on to the rest of our walk.
The Loch Conservation group built a Bird Hide, so we veered off the trail and checked it out.
Fabulous find.
Great Crested Grebes nesting, the male dredging pond grasses from below and offering them up to the female who accepts them and then ignores where the male put them and rearranges them on the nest to suit her.
Hmmmm. A cross-species phenomenon, I guess.

A pair of coots doing the same (they are called moor hens here).
A gray heron, looking like our Great Blue but much smaller.
Swans nesting on a manmade pontoon island, but still pretty awesome.
Lots of songbirds.
All in all, a good stop.

We continued on and were rewarded with the kind of country walking that we love - a good path, farm fields of wheat and yellow rapeseed, some woodland and the best, rural, deserted narrow tracks between exquisite stone walls.
Wow.
Cows, deer, pheasants.

And, drizzle. Then light rain.
Still, a perfect country walk.

A piece of forest art to cheer me up. Nothing like coming upon a piece of art in the middle of nowhere to lift the soul.

We crossed the Troll Bridge an took pictures of the creepy but seemingly accurate carved wooden troll sitting under the bridge.
A little further on, we came to the ruins of the Witches Cottage (according to the Kinghorn Pathways Book).
R was a little ahead of me as I stopped to talk with a Scottish couple along the path. We mused that the Witches Cottage was actually pretty big - three large stone rooms.  The woman said that being a witch must have paid well and we all decided that she was probably a healer who knew her way around herbs and poultices, so picked up the label “witch” by some superstitious ninnies.
In any case, good for her for having such a nice house in the woods!

Our walk was a loop, so we decided to eat our lunch out of the rain back in the Bird Hide.
Once again, lots of bird entertainment.

It drizzled all the way home and is raining pretty good right now.
We’re off by train to Aberdour, two towns over, for dinner at a supposedly great restaurant with killer views. In fact, the restaurant is called Room With A View.

Not tonight, though. Rain and plenty of mist over the Firth.
We were booked in for tonight by some friends though, so away we go!

More tomorrow.

Total Miles:
6.5 miles






An early morning walk on a sunny beach at low tide

Edinburgh and a cruise ship

Our hike inland from Kinghorn

The witches cottage at Rodanbraes

Walking in farm fields

Standing Stanes Road

The kissing trees

More farm fields

Back to Kinghorn Loch nature area

From the bird blind

And back to Kinghorn

Dinner in Aberdour