Day 50 - [E]dinburgh (and St Andrews)

Visit St Andrews to set up my birthday

Today was a brilliantly sunny, but cold day in Edinburgh, and St Andrews. It would have been perfect for playing golf but I hadn’t arranged that (and discovered that I couldn’t have anyway). Nonetheless, I headed out to St Andrews on the train to investigate, and also to tour the town after completing my investigations to protect the chance that I would not be returning the next day.

I got the bus into Edinburgh, then wandered around to find the train station. The SIM card that I’ve been using does not provide data in the UK (it does allow calls). So, I am limited in my roving ability to find things out. The GPS works, so I can trace myself on Google Maps, but I can’t find out about anything on the map unless I’m connected to wifi. I’m finding that wifi is pretty prevalent in Edinburgh, but I have to deliberately connect everytime as every time somewhere is my first time. I’m hoping over the next couple of days, my phone will automatically connect to things like the bus wifi, the train station wifi, the train wifi, etc. My navigation skills were a bit ordinary this morning and I ended up asking for advice from a tourist information centre to direct me to the train entrance. In my defence, it is not well signposted, with no significant indications at street level that the stairs you go down lead to the train station. Anyway, I found it. The ticket office is only machines. However, it is attended, so I asked the man standing there if he’d help out a lost Aussie with acquiring a ticket. He did so and I quickly had open return tickets to Dundee (further than I needed, but I was being safe, I knew I wanted to be on the Dundee train).

Street scene of Edinburgh, fresh off the bus

Another street scene, which I should actually have walked down

Looking back over my path I’ve subsequently learned that this photo shows Wellington on the horse, the Balmoral Hotel opposite him, and the Scot Memorial behind the tall white tower

I got on the train with no problems. Scottish trains are not as classy as their European counterparts, but they work fine, so that’s to the good. On the trip I knew that I would cross the Firth of Forth, on the old Forth Bridge. I made sure to try to photograph that experience. I managed to get some good photos of the new bridges over the firth, but had to resort to video recording the train’s passage over the iconic old bridge. I also took other photos of the passing landscape, especially as it was a really glorious sunny day. The usual standard of ‘photos from a moving vehicle’ was maintained.

The new road bridges over the Firth of Forth	Video of passing through the old Forth Bridge	North Queensferry
Looking out across the Firth	Holiday homes facing the Firth	Renewable energy is big in Scotland

I arrived at Leuchars station as planned, jumped off the train and headed to the bus station outside. Leuchars is not a very big train station, in fact, it’s tiny. But it’s the closest station to St Andrews, so I think it does a bit of business. The buses service it routinely. It’s at most a 10 minute wait at the station for the bus into St Andrews (or on to Dundee, going in the other direction). I panicked a bit when the bus pulled up at ‘Old Course’ stop and got off. It was one stop short of where I had found on Google Maps to travel too, but the driver didn’t recognise the name of the stop I asked about (“Grannie Clark’s Wynd”) and I could see my ultimate destination from where I was, so I got off. That meant a longer walk to the golf course than originally planned, but it was not really that much. The walk into St Andrews, and especially after I had walked through Grannie Clark’s Wynd, was filled with iconic views. I went a little camera-mad trying to capture these views for myself, especially on this beautiful day (you can almost certainly find all of them online with the broadest of Google Image searches).

Links Cres entry to St Andrews	First look across the Swilcan Bridge to the St Andrews Links Clubhouse	Looking down the 18th fairway (‘Home hole’) to the first tee and the R&A Golf Club
Looking along ‘The Links’ (street name) – the St Andrews Golf Club	Back down the 18th fairway at the Old Course hotel	Across the first fairway at the beach Could not have been a nicer day

Panorama of the 18^th and 1^st fairways

I knew that I had to sign up at the pavillion near the first tee (seen in the photos above) or at the clubhouse. The pavillion was closed and a guy was re-painting the ceiling when I got there. The whole course was giving very ‘not operating’ vibes. I walked back to a little golf store that I’d passed, which I could see was open, and inquired about what I should do. The very helpful fellow in the golf store told me that the course was usually closed on Sundays and Mondays during the off-season (now) – that explained the absence of golfers – and that if the pavillion was closed, I should head down to the clubhouse, where I would be able to sign up to play. Discovering that the course was closed on Mondays made me feel a bit better about not having made arrangements to play today, given the weather is perfect. I wandered up to the clubhouse. That walk exposed me directly to the sea breeze coming in over the course (something that St Andrews and all ‘links courses’ are famous for). While the day was perfect, that breeze had some bite. Anything more than the zephyr it was would have surgical capabilities.

On arrival at the clubhouse, the fellow on reception was unbelievably helpful, explaining all the parameters of the singles daily draw, and then going so far as to tell me how many booking slots were likely to be available, and how many people had signed up (so far) to play. In short, he concluded that I was virtually certain to get a tee time and that it would be at least 10 am, giving me plenty of time to get out here again from Edinburgh. He did also explain that the club was in the off season and so there were only 16 holes on the Old Course operating, and of them there were a few temporary greens and temporary tees. So, one was not going to get the full, authentic Old Course experience. However, it was also not going to cost as much as usual – £148 rather than £328. Good to know! The final discussion we had was about the weather. While it was perfect outside when we were talking, I knew that the forecast was for cold rain tomorrow. He acknowledged that, but looking at his local meteorological information, he felt that it would be very little rain and only for the first part of our game.

In sum, I decided that I would put my name down. I did that, then went into the clubhouse proper and ordered a Full Scottish Breakfast, because Scotland.

The Himalyas Putting course beside the clubhouse	A map of the links courses on the St Andrews Links site (there’s five courses here)	Looking across from the Clubhouse to the Old Course Hotel
The front door of the St Andrews Links Clubhouse	This clubhouse is like golf clubhouses everywhere (just better located)	A full Scottish Breakfast, including haggis and black pudding

I decided that, as I was almost certainly going to be back tomorrow, I would head back to Edinburgh and get some sightseeing in while the weather was so good. I could sight-see around St Andrews tomorrow after my game. I set off for the train station, crossing the closed course as a short cut. Importantly, I wanted to photograph the Swilcan Bridge, especially in this weather. As it happened, I was followed across the course by an Irish (I think) couple, who called out to ask me to photograph them on the bridge. I did that and then they offered to photograph me on the bridge. As you know, I don’t usually appear in my own photos, but I thought this might be a useful exception.

The Swilcan Bridge

Me on the Swilcan Bridge (portrait)

Me on the Swilcan Bridge (landscape)

I got the bus back to the Leuchars station and boarded the next train to Edinburgh on my open return ticket. When I got to the station, I got the directions from Google Maps to get to the Edinburgh Castle (not really needing them because It’s visible from most of the city) and set that into the phone before losing the wifi in the station. Then I set off for the walk, up the Royal Mile to the Castle, with the intent of touring the premises. The Royal Mile was busy with tourists on this Monday afternoon, probably because the weather continued to be just glorious (and cold: 5C). I wandered up the Royal Mile slowly, photographing the things that caught my eye. Several statues to famous people (men, of course), some grand churches, generally fascinating ancient residential architecture, and the closes and courts that were just off the main boulevard.

The walk (climb) up to the Royal Mile from the train station	The Royal Mile towards the castle	The Royal Mile looking away from the castle
Adam Smith	Walter Francis Scott	David Hume
Looking down through Advocate’s Close	St Giles’ Cathedral (I realised later)	Tolbooth Kirk

When I got to the Castle, I tried to find a ticket office. I was told by one of the staff vetting tickets that they were only available online. When I mentioned that I didn’t have internet connectivity on my phone, she said that there was wifi near a booth at the foot of the Castle forecourt. I went down there, connected to the wifi (which was pretty patchy because of the wind blowing through the forecourt) and followed a QR link to the ticket purchasing site. Then I became frustrated because the bank required me to submit a one-time passcode to validate the credit card transaction to buy the tickets. That’s fine, except that the email containing the OTP didn’t show up, even after five minutes of constant refreshing of my email. Combined with the flaky connectivity, I became discouraged and decided that I would deal with the castle visit on Wednesday, with time to buy the tickets on a reliable wifi connection beforehand.

Edinburgh Castle, from the forecourt	Side view showing how the castle dominates its outcrop
The view out across modern Edinburgh from the forecourt	The view over old Edinburgh from the forecourt

I walked down the Royal Mile again having given up on my castle tour in electronic frustration. Back on ‘Follow your Nose’ setting, I walked down the steep lane to discover the 18^th century link from Castle to the lower town. This was interesting because it showed how steeply the castle’s ridge stood up from the surrounding countryside, and how folks had just built around that over time.

Upper Bow, looking West

Upper Bow, looking East

Explanatory material

Back up to the Royal Mile and more progress downhill. I went down into James Court, through its quaint arched doorway, and photographed the court hidden behind the tall buildings facing onto the Mile. It was really quaint, tall, with interesting architecture. It felt a bit like the inner bastion of a castle. In the left-hand photo, you can see someone bent over sitting in a wheelchair. I think this person is unhoused and makes their home in this close (at least at the moment). That was a sudden, discordant note in my developing appreciation of Edinburgh. The right-hand photo shows the Writer’s Museum (closed at the time).

James’ Court

James’ Court

The Writers Museum

More descending the Mile and this time I recognised St Giles’ Cathedral. (I had walked right past it unknowingly on the way up, distracted by the Tolbooth Kirk opposite.) Mhairi is a volunteer/friend at the cathedral and had suggested that I should visit St Giles’. In particular, I was to look for large banners hanging on the four central columns that had been hand-sewn by her and other volunteers in the cathedral in recent weeks. Of course, I had to investigate. St Giles’ is a really lovely cathedral, though not on the scale of the cathedrals I’ve been visiting in Europe. However, its celebratory art, stained glass, and overall construction are fantastically grand and beautiful.

St Giles’ Cathedral Note the very low angle of the sun, at 2:10 pm	The nave	An example of the stained glass windows
The interest in this photo is the very old house standards hanging in tribute to people buried in the cathedral	The centre of the cathedral, with the banners that Mhairi helped to make	More stained glass windows
Memorial statue for a long-passed nobleman	One of the former town leaders (life size?)

Another look along the nave

More walking down the Royal Mile after St Giles’ observing the interesting architecture in this ancient city. Eventually, I walked past one pub window that suggested that Mary Queens of Scots had probably drunk there, and that John Knox (very famous Edinburgh figure) probably had too. I thought that was tremendous advertising, couldn’t be refuted, just as it couldn’t be proven. After strolling on for a short while, I decided that having a beer on the Royal Mile would be a worthy Edinburgh thing to do, so I went back to that pub and did just that.

The Edinburgh City Chambers – equivalent to a European Rathaus, and seemingly built on similar lines	Street scene of the Royal Mile	Street scene of a lane leading off the Royal Mile
Just off the Royal Mile, looking North	The rest of the view across Calton Hill	The Royal Mile pub – probable watering hole for Mary and John Knox

After my beer, I decided that I would head home; it was already getting dark. By the time that the bus dropped me in front of the AirBNB I’m staying in, it was dark. I received email from St Andrews while I was riding home in the bus. About the same time as I got home, I got the formal email saying that I had a 10:30am tee time on the Old Course for the next day. Win! So, I spent a while planning the next day’s travel, buying a ticket on the train there and one for late in the day back using my Eurail pass, and then plotting the rest of the bus travel to get me to the Old Course about 9:00am. I felt that I would need the time to get organised and I had plans to acquire some merch from the pro shop to mark the occasion of playing there, and to address the likely weather conditions. I scheduled the return train trip for about 5:00 pm to allow myself some time after the game to visit some of St Andrews – I had particularly thought that I would visit the R&A Museum, which was 50m behind the first tee.

I decided that I would have a fancy dinner tonight for my birthday, expecting that I would not have time, and probably be too tired, to really enjoy something fancy tomorrow. I’d spotted the Tollhouse Restaurant as I’d walked to the AirBNB on Sunday. It looked out over the Water of Leith. Google said that it was 4.8 stars. As I could walk there, there I went. The Tollhouse had room for me (Monday night, I figured I’d be OK) and I was sat at a nice table looking out over the street. The service was fantastic, the menu was very appealing, the food that I selected was excellent, and I had a really lovely birthday dinner.

During my meal the table beside me, set for a group, was filled by folks celebrating a woman’s birthday. These folks were Eastern European, judging from their accents/speech. I only mention them because they just gave off vibes of being, like, Albanian gangsters having a great night out. (I’m sure that they are not, but British TV has developed an unconscious bias in me.) I found it all very amusing. I wished the birthday girl a Happy Birthday as I left, explaining that it was my birthday the next day, so I was feeling her celebration.

The Tollhouse interior

The birthday party next to me – the birthday girl is holding the cake

Daily facts: Location: [E]dinburgh (and St Andrews) Temp: 5 Weather: Sunny and cold