A brief interlude
Brief summary:
The mission office had a hotel room booked and paid for in Dundee, and no-one was going to use it, so we said we would take a trip up to Dundee, just in order to use the room. That is the local version of economy, or something. It was in the middle of the week, so we left work a little early, spent the night there and came to the office a little late next day. It was fun, except for the traffic on our way back to Edinburgh.
A bit more detail:
We finally crossed the Firth of Forth bridge, which we haven't done since 2012, and it's a different bridge now. The new Queensferry bridge is an engineering marvel and only opened a few months ago. It's a record-breaking 1.7 mile long cable-stayed bridge. We didn't get a picture of it (we were too busy driving on it) but here's a link for engineering types. We could see the old Firth of Forth bridge while crossing the new one. Here's a picture of that.
Actually we didn't take that picture either, it's a public domain one. The old bridge is famous for the cliche' about tasks that are "like painting the Forth bridge" being never-ending, because as soon as you finish you have to start again. It's also not true for the Forth bridge anymore. In 2008 they came up with metal coating technologies that will last for 25-40 years.
Our sat-nav was having conniptions as we crossed the bridge. Its maps are disgracefully out of date, and the sat-nav had us frantically dog-paddling across the firth crying out piteously "refer to the map, refer to the map" occasionally. It's a good thing that artificial intelligence hasn't been included in this model, otherwise it would have called for the coast guard to come and rescue us. With the bridge behind us we turned off the motorway and headed along the coast for Kirkcaldy (or kir-coddy) as the locals would say, but if that's too much of a mouthful, just call it the 'lang toun' since it stretches itself out in a relaxed fashion along the sea coast. In town we stopped for some essential basic supplies (chocolate) and took a picture of an amazing statue in the shopping centre parking lot
Notice I said amazing, not beautiful. It is made out of steel which is rusting nicely. There was no plaque, so I assume the viewer is free to interpret it as they choose. The sea was a little more dramatic here than at our local beach. there were waves pounding on the rocky shoreline, but their height is measured in inches rather than feet, at least while we were watching.
Kircaldy appealed to both of us. It just seemed friendly and peaceful and nice. We could almost imagine ourselves staying there happily. Of course weather plays into this; we were blessed with sunshine and clouds (as opposed to total cloud cover) for much of the trip.
With the town fading away in our rear-view mirror we headed north and just enjoyed the Scottish countryside. Shortly thereafter we crossed the Tay Bridge and stopped off in downtown Dundee for a wander-around. Despite the sun, the wind was biting, but we enjoyed the curious statues in the town square.
These are both from the Beano/Dandy comics of the 1940's to 1960's. That's a catapult Minnie is aiming at Dan's dog and he looks understandably perturbed.
We also admired the clock tower and the appeal not to feed the seagulls
Our sat-nav took us, or tried to take us via an interesting route to the hotel. We came off the main road right at the hotel entrance but the sat-nav insisted we had a mile to go, in a big square loop. Just for fun (we were feeling very relaxed) we followed it, right up until it told us to go down this road.
In case it is not obvious from the photo, that is a single-track, unlighted dirt road, and muddy in the bargain. We felt that was enough fun for one trip, and did a U-turn back to the hotel entrance.
The hotel itself was very nice-- a mix of old and new, with a stone tower to which had been welded a thoroughly modern three-story hotel.
The restaurant provided a very pleasant meal. Certainly not fast food, but once again we were relaxed--although I admit I was good and hungry, by the time it arrived. I don't generally feel the need to snap a picture of all my food before I eat it but treacle-marinated beef pave' sounded fascinating, especially when served by the chef with a theatrical "Voila, monsieur " (yes really) and it was obviously a Creation, not just edibles on a plate, so here is the food, together with a picture of Louise. I hope you are suitably impressed. You will have to take my word for it that it tasted as good as it looked.
The next morning we admired the whimsical and definitely Scottish-themed artwork in the lobby. We didn't quite make up our minds to purchase any, as the thought of transporting it back to Provo was a bit daunting.
The hotel served a full breakfast including a "traditional English breakfast" which only the tourists eat. It consists of eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and baked beans. But they also served fruit, yoghurt, porridge, cereal, croissants and much more, so we made a good breakfast and headed for home, once again following the road-less-travelled rather than the motorway. As an aside, it's difficult to describe any road in Britain as "less-travelled," considering the constant flow of traffic everywhere, although that muddy track made a good attempt.
Crossing the Firth of Tay just at sunrise was glorious. The water was still and the sun reflected pastel shades of orange, pink, silver, blue and a dozen other hues in the water, with a little ship riding at anchor and the shoreline hills awash in greys and greens and shadows. It truly was beautiful. With no stopping permitted on the bridge we drank it all in with our eyes and stored it in memory.
We were able to stop for photos on the road home.
The windmills were turning lazily in the breeze and sweeping out arcs of energy and grace; the fields looked sleepy and friendly and the farmhouses solidly comfortable.
All too soon we were back on the motorway and stuck in early morning-turning-into-late-morning stop-and-go Edinburgh traffic. Nose to tail and mostly stationary crossing the Forth bridge heading south, and equally slow all the way across town. We arrived at the office later than planned, but earlier than they expected us, refreshed and ready to go again.
The mission office had a hotel room booked and paid for in Dundee, and no-one was going to use it, so we said we would take a trip up to Dundee, just in order to use the room. That is the local version of economy, or something. It was in the middle of the week, so we left work a little early, spent the night there and came to the office a little late next day. It was fun, except for the traffic on our way back to Edinburgh.
A bit more detail:
We finally crossed the Firth of Forth bridge, which we haven't done since 2012, and it's a different bridge now. The new Queensferry bridge is an engineering marvel and only opened a few months ago. It's a record-breaking 1.7 mile long cable-stayed bridge. We didn't get a picture of it (we were too busy driving on it) but here's a link for engineering types. We could see the old Firth of Forth bridge while crossing the new one. Here's a picture of that.
Our sat-nav was having conniptions as we crossed the bridge. Its maps are disgracefully out of date, and the sat-nav had us frantically dog-paddling across the firth crying out piteously "refer to the map, refer to the map" occasionally. It's a good thing that artificial intelligence hasn't been included in this model, otherwise it would have called for the coast guard to come and rescue us. With the bridge behind us we turned off the motorway and headed along the coast for Kirkcaldy (or kir-coddy) as the locals would say, but if that's too much of a mouthful, just call it the 'lang toun' since it stretches itself out in a relaxed fashion along the sea coast. In town we stopped for some essential basic supplies (chocolate) and took a picture of an amazing statue in the shopping centre parking lot
Notice I said amazing, not beautiful. It is made out of steel which is rusting nicely. There was no plaque, so I assume the viewer is free to interpret it as they choose. The sea was a little more dramatic here than at our local beach. there were waves pounding on the rocky shoreline, but their height is measured in inches rather than feet, at least while we were watching.
Kircaldy appealed to both of us. It just seemed friendly and peaceful and nice. We could almost imagine ourselves staying there happily. Of course weather plays into this; we were blessed with sunshine and clouds (as opposed to total cloud cover) for much of the trip.
With the town fading away in our rear-view mirror we headed north and just enjoyed the Scottish countryside. Shortly thereafter we crossed the Tay Bridge and stopped off in downtown Dundee for a wander-around. Despite the sun, the wind was biting, but we enjoyed the curious statues in the town square.
 Minnie the Minx | 
Desperate Dan
|
These are both from the Beano/Dandy comics of the 1940's to 1960's. That's a catapult Minnie is aiming at Dan's dog and he looks understandably perturbed.
We also admired the clock tower and the appeal not to feed the seagulls
 |  |
In case it is not obvious from the photo, that is a single-track, unlighted dirt road, and muddy in the bargain. We felt that was enough fun for one trip, and did a U-turn back to the hotel entrance.
The hotel itself was very nice-- a mix of old and new, with a stone tower to which had been welded a thoroughly modern three-story hotel.
The restaurant provided a very pleasant meal. Certainly not fast food, but once again we were relaxed--although I admit I was good and hungry, by the time it arrived. I don't generally feel the need to snap a picture of all my food before I eat it but treacle-marinated beef pave' sounded fascinating, especially when served by the chef with a theatrical "Voila, monsieur " (yes really) and it was obviously a Creation, not just edibles on a plate, so here is the food, together with a picture of Louise. I hope you are suitably impressed. You will have to take my word for it that it tasted as good as it looked.
 Beef Pave' |  Louise admiring dinner creation, or perhaps admiring Richard? |
The next morning we admired the whimsical and definitely Scottish-themed artwork in the lobby. We didn't quite make up our minds to purchase any, as the thought of transporting it back to Provo was a bit daunting.
 |  |
The hotel served a full breakfast including a "traditional English breakfast" which only the tourists eat. It consists of eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and baked beans. But they also served fruit, yoghurt, porridge, cereal, croissants and much more, so we made a good breakfast and headed for home, once again following the road-less-travelled rather than the motorway. As an aside, it's difficult to describe any road in Britain as "less-travelled," considering the constant flow of traffic everywhere, although that muddy track made a good attempt.
We were able to stop for photos on the road home.
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All too soon we were back on the motorway and stuck in early morning-turning-into-late-morning stop-and-go Edinburgh traffic. Nose to tail and mostly stationary crossing the Forth bridge heading south, and equally slow all the way across town. We arrived at the office later than planned, but earlier than they expected us, refreshed and ready to go again.
What an absolutely amazing trip! And I'm glad you stopped for the essential chocolate.
ReplyDeleteI love reading all about your Scotland adventures. And Mom is lovely in that picture!
ReplyDelete