Today Chuck left bright and early to go pick up our rental car for us to head into the Scottish Highlands. We had a walking tour booked at 11 in St Andrews, so were somewhat anxious about the possibility of delay with the rental car, but all went pretty smoothly and Chuck swung back to the hotel to pick up me and our luggage with plenty of time for us to get to St Andrews, park, and do a little exploring before the tour. Being on the “wrong side” of the road took quite a bit of adjustment for both of us. As soon as I got into the car on what felt like should have been the driver side, I warned Chuck that if I fell asleep while he was driving, I absolutely was going to wake up screaming, finding myself in what felt like should have been the driver’s seat on the wrong side of the road. Roads were narrow and curvy for quite a bit of the route and Edinburgh is fairly bike-friendly, which meant bikes everywhere for the first part of the trip.

By the time we got to St Andrews, we both needed to use the toilets (don’t call them “restrooms” here… they’ll send you to the nearest park bench thinking that your feet are tired). We tried a café first but they didn’t have any customer toilets and directed us to a bookshop around the corner. The bookshop staff was so friendly and since we had a little extra time, we hung around and browsed books while they served me freshly brewed French press coffee. I really liked it there and was tempted to move in permanently, but settled for buying several books before heading back to the café to get a little snack before our tour.

I’m not so much into the sportsball so wasn’t particularly excited about our walking tour, but it ended up being only a little bit about the golf course (St Andrews is the birthplace of golf. Did you know that Mary Queen of Scots was the first ever female golfer?) and a lot a bit about the history of St Andrews, which played a pretty vital role in Scotland’s history. It’s home of the remains of Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland and played a large role in the Reformation (to sum up: a lot of horrifying martyrdom happened there). St Andrews University is also where Prince William and Princess Kate met and apparently where Netflix just finished filming the upcoming season of The Crown. After our tour, we grabbed lunch at a pub specializing in pies. Chuck got a traditional steak and ale pie, but I got a butternut squash and spinach pie that was really tasty. We spent some time visiting with some other Texans (from Dallas) at the table next to us before getting back on the road to head to Pitlochry.

Pitlochry is a smaller town that we mostly chose because it got us a little closer to our next stops for tomorrow (Balmoral Castle and Inverness), but it has a high street worth a stroll, as well as a dam and salmon ladder with some picturesque views. Unfortunately, most of the shops on the high street were already closed by the time we got settled in our bed & breakfast, but a few were still open and the window shopping was fun anyway. The stream on either side of the dam was very picturesque and we’ve had beautiful sunny weather all day today, so it was a picturesque walk back to our B&B and our restaurant for dinner.

Today’s Highlights:

• A cozy bookstore with customer toilets and French press coffee
• A tour guide with a brogue so comforting that I kept forgetting to listen to what he was actually saying
• Another beautiful, sunny day (starting to think people have been lying about how rainy it is in Scotland)
• A butternut squash and spinach pie with vegetarian haggis
• Picturesque Scottish countryside (SHEEP!) and the first glimpses of Highland terrain
• The whimpering sounds that my unflappable husband was making as we crossed a terrifying suspension foot bridge over the River Tummel in Pitlochry
• Scottish salmon for dinner and my first peated whisky (I’m here for it)
• Sitting in our charming B&B with the window open, feeling a cool breeze and listening to the birds chirp outside

Tomorrow’s Proposed Adventures:

• Scottish smoked salmon on the breakfast menu at our B&B
• A tour of Balmoral Castle
• Possibly a working sheepdog demonstration, if time allows
• Traveling to Inverness