Scotland II

Train issues and calming landscapes made this day what it was. We had hoped to take a day and travel up to Inverness and just walk around there for a few hours. When we finally had time to look at train tickets the cost just did not make sense to do that. I went online and found someone who mentioned a few places to visit around Edinburgh by short train rides. One place was a small town called Aberdour. It sits right across the bay from Edinburgh and is less than an hour train ride. We bought tickets and headed to get our morning coffee and on to the train.

Unfortunately, when we arrived at the train station and tried to use our tickets, we discovered that I had bought them for the wrong day. I was a bit frustrated with myself and it took standing in line, going online, and eventually calling a help line to get a refund for the tickets we had bought and to buy new tickets for the day we wanted. After many deep breaths we got on the train and headed out of the city of Edinburgh and off across the Forth Bridge. Some may have heard the phrase “Firth of Forth”. The bay of the North Sea by Edinburgh is actually called the firth and it feed into the river Forth. Thus, we rode the train on a bridge over the Firth of Forth. It was gorgeous, and we could feel the pressure of the passed days slide off our shoulders.

The train let us off at the beautiful little train station at Aberdour. We walked a couple of blocks to the town, and it was another world we were in. It was a little seaside location. We walked through the very quiet little town and down to the beach area. We then walked slowly along the walkway around the point, up a hill and to the other side of the town. It was a cold, overcast day, with a breeze, but it was so quiet and restful the whole walk. There was a harbor with boats, sheep grazing on a little hillside, a little stream feeding into the bay, and we saw the tide come up and go down while we walked. It was just the day we needed, and it was so nice.

We worked our way slowly back to the train station and rode back to the city. As we crossed over the Firth of Forth there was an island that we passed over and we got curious as there were clearly some very old rundown buildings on it. Turns out it is called Inchgarvie and it has a castle dating back to the 1500’s on it. It has seen much history and has served many purposes including a prison at one point. Now it is just some ruins. It also served as defense during WWI and WWII to protect enemy boats from coming into the Firth. We also read about the Tay Bridge Disaster, which is when the original train bridge across the Firth collapsed in in 1879 killing approximately 75 people.

You really cannot go anywhere in this country without tripping over some major historical event. You see something interesting, and you look it up and discover that there is a significant series of events surrounding it. Even the little town of Aberdour is where in 1915 the hydrophone was developed that helped people detect and find German U-boats.

Once back in the city we were too relaxed to go out and so we just ordered some food in and watched “Wolf Hall”. It was a great way to end our time in Scotland.