Operation Kelpie, with a Few Dolphins, Two Bridges and an Abbey thrown in for Good Measure…

… are what made our weekend away to Scotland 2014 memorable!

With having no internet connection in the three B&B/hotels we stayed in I am having to update when back at home. Over the three nights/four days we saw a lot of sights, drove for 17 hours and ranked up a total of over 800 miles! There are a lot of pictures to go through, and I mean a lot!!!

In this post I will try and cover all the highlights with a selection of pictures I have not shared on my Facebook page. I hope you enjoy reading as much as we enjoyed visiting some wonderful sights in the East of Scotland.

Our holiday started on the Thursday when David and I drove up to Falkirk from Liverpool. The four hour journey went without a hitch and the weather stayed dry, if not cloudy once crossed the boarder.We had lunch at the Helix with the Kelpies in the distance. We had a tour booked for 2.30pm!

Our tour guide was Andy and he was informative if not flamboyant! He really entertained David and I and the other six people on the tour! The tour was £5 each and lasted one hour which I thought was value for money! The tour explained the history behind the development of Helix and the Kelpies and then went on to explain about the past, of the areas industrial roots and the canals. The tour ended inside the base of one of the Kelpies, Duke I think it was. After the tour we spent another hour walking around and taking pictures from different angles. The sun broke through the clouds and we got some great pictures!

 

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After four we drove to our B&B in Stirling, West Plean. It was our third time of staying there and the welcome is always friendly.

West Plean B&B

We dinned at the River House, and afterwards we decided to go back to the Kelpies to see them lit up at night. It took over an hour for the sun to set but we got some fantastic pictures of the Kelpies lit up with red lights. To me they looked demonic!

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The Friday dawned with mist over Stirling. We shared a lovely friendly breakfast with a French couple from Paris and a German couple from Berlin. As Moira the proprietor of West Plean said, it was an international breakfast table!

After breakfast David and I left for Aberdeen. We came across cloud and more cloud before it turned to sharp piercing rain. We stopped for lunch at Dunnottar Castle and we’re going to visit, but we had good views of the mist shrouded castle from the headland so we snapped a few pictures and then went on our way!

Dunnottar Castle

We arrived in a rain soaked Aberdeen after 1.30pm and quickly went in search of Marischal College where the 50 dolphins of the Wild Dolphins art exhibition where housed before auction. They were displayed in an open courtyard and David and I were not protected from the ‘dreich’ weather!

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After 4pm we checked into our second base for the night, the Hilton, Treetops Hotel. It was a four star hotel but we were in a three star room! The other downside was that we were staying next to a ‘bride to be’ and she and her friends kept us up during the night with their antics!

The only positive of the stay was the restaurant. After nursing a migraine and not having brought any medication (the only thing I did not have) we went for dinner. After ordering the salmon, we were then entertained while waiting by a magician called Garry and his pet rabbit Basil! It was amusing and highly different! David had a smile on his face all evening!

Garry the Magician with Basil

Saturday dawned much brighter with the sun shining, my headache and sickness lifted. We did not pay for the £10 each for breakfast, we decided to just have a coffee and head off to Edinburgh. We were planning on visiting Highland Wildlife Park but the satnav said a three hour drive awaited us and then another 2.5 hours to Queensferry, so we opted to visit my favourite city instead. We stayed in Edinburgh for lunch and walked around Calton Hill, Holyrood Park and the Royal Mile. It was nice visiting old haunts.

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After 3pm we set off to our last base for the holiday.

Hawes Inn

We checked into the Hawes Inn, a pub on the river front. It was a three star and the room we were in was testament to that. We were in an outhouse, and in the basement as that, hence no internet signal! It was not the best B&B we have stayed in, but it was liveable! We were not there much of the time anyway!

After check in, we decided to mingle with the locals who were there for a food and drink festival. We took pictures of the two bridges and looked for restaurants. In the end we had a delightful curry at an Indian called the Queen’s Spice. At the end of the meal I was gifted a red rose, a nice touch!

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On leaving the restaurant and after I took a tumble, (silly high heeled shoes!) we rushed back to the hotel and then out again to see the sunset over the Firth. (Don’t worry I did not break any bones, just had a scraped knee.)

The Forth Bridge

Later on that evening we headed back out (again) to see the bridges lit up with lights.

The Forth Bridges

The Sunday saw us getting up at 8am for a continental breakfast. We left Queensferry on our journey south. I with a tear in my eye said a farewell to Edinburgh and Arthur’s Seat as we saw it fading into the distance as we dove along the A7! We headed to Melrose Abbey for two hours of strolling around ruins. It was a pleasant, peaceful day!

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We got back to Liverpool after 4pm on Sunday, tired but satisfied that we had had a nice, diverse time.

I hope you have enjoyed my recital of our little weekend and inspired you to visit Scotland?! I will try and make a video of the highlights and post on here.

Christine x

First Impressions.

The Pig and Whistle was like any other old English pub, full of dark stained wood, hazy lighting and chintz. A thick bank of cigarette smoke hovered over the regulars’ heads, mostly men, their surprised faces momentarily raised from their pints as two young women walked in with a cold blast of air from the outside.

With full wine glasses in hand and slightly tipsy from the alcohol already consumed, Charlotte and Anne stood propping up the bar giggling like children.

Harry had seen Charlotte first. He had seen her as she walked into the crowded pub, young looking and with a worried expression on her face that she never seemed to shift. Her hair was brown and fell in straight strands down her back, but it was her eyes that struck him the most, beautiful dark eyes that when you looked closer were of light grey. He had been sitting at a table with friends, gaily drinking and laughing at some joke or other, he couldn’t remember what about now. Then he noticed Charlotte and her friend, her unremarkable looking friend, all the more unremarkable for she was standing next to Charlotte! Harry had always mocked people for saying that love at first sight existed, more ‘lust at first sight,’ he thought. He couldn’t see how with one look a person could be totally smitten by another, and then it happened…

In just one look!

Charlotte had raised her eyes from her glass for a brief second; just to take in the room they were in, when her look met that of Harry’s sitting across the room. It seemed that their eyes locked for a moment, both gazing at each other, eyes widening trying to capture the other person. Feeling at first, surprise at being caught looking and then stricken by wonder at why the other was still holding their gaze. Charlotte broke eye contact first, her eyes had relayed something to her brain and then to her heart that made it quicken and hammer against her ribs like it was a wild animal panicking to get out! Harry felt the same, but being bold, he held his gaze transfixed on Charlotte, his eyes dilated with interest. Did he notice her blush when she lowered her eyes? When she shyly raised her eyes towards Harry a second time, it was Harry’s turn to lower his gaze in a nonchalant manner, and so the game continued until Harry couldn’t take any more of this childish teasing.

Anne hadn’t been naïve to the sly looks her friend had been shooting towards the corner of the room, she was interested as to who could have had such a profound effect on Charlotte. She lowered her head looking to seek her confidence when the tone of a man came from behind her, asking if he could buy them both a drink. The two girls stood in shock, this had never happened to them before! The man’s dialect was rich and seductive, unlike the common tongues they could hear all around the pub. He spoke very like a gentleman should; though to Charlotte he looked nothing like one. None of the man’s clothes seemed to correspond with each other; it looked like he had just grabbed the first things he found in the wardrobe and threw them on saying, ‘this’ll do.’ His mop of brown hair was as disjointed as his fashion, his fringe hung down over his forehead and his curls caressed the nape of his neck. To Anne he looked like an artist while Charlotte didn’t know whether she should be jealous of his hair or be attracted to him! ‘I’m Harry!’ he smiled down towards Charlotte, a perfect wide toothy smile that she reflected back.

‘His smile,’ she thought ‘was perfect!’

Harry on the other hand was more appreciative of Charlotte though he was astonished at how small she was in stature. From behind to a casual glance she looked very like a child, however on closer inspection, her womanly curves and ample breasts betrayed her mature figure. She wore a long black dress, ‘quite Goth like’ he thought though her dress sense was infinitely better than his own! He noticed her skin was pale like porcelain and he wondered whether ‘if I touch her, would she break?’ To Harry she resembled a fine English figurine, the ones your grandmother has behind glass cabinets, all standing prettily carrying parasols and with red lips that are set in a pout ready to be kissed. Harry was overwhelmed with a feeling that he wanted to kiss Charlotte more than anything else!

Christine Lucas 2013.