Nicole had a place booked up in Scotland for half term, it was in Kinghorn on the Firth of Forth. Well me and Dot could not get a campsite booked in Kinghorn (I do not know what was wrong with the owners there) but we did get a hotel room, in Kirkcaldy just a bit further on.
Sunday the 21st of October
Nicole and the others went up on the Saturday but we didn't get up there until the Sunday. It was a relatively simple drive up, from our place it was the A19 to the A1 then all the way to Edinburgh. There we turned off the A1 onto The City Of Edinburgh Bypass A720, to the M8 then M9 to the M90, over the new bridge over the Forth, The Queensferry Crossing. Over the bridge the way is to turn off the M90 onto the A92, to the A910 into Kirkcaldy. The last bit, although we came back that way, as we were early for the hotel, we turned off the M90 early, drove the slow way along the river to Kirkcaldy and got a nice photo of the Rail Bridge.
We eventually booked into the hotel but our room was very noisy in the wind in fact it was incredibly noisy. We went to complain and were given a much much better room, the hotel staff were very helpful, as was everyone there for our entire stay.
The others phoned as soon as we got settled in and we met them outside (they had Syd the dog with them), to follow them to their nice flat for the night.
Monday the 22nd of October
We had arranged to get the train back across the river into Edinburgh today, so we had to be up early to get to the station. But first we had our breakfast which was included in the hotel price and it was very nice.
The train arrived on time and there was plenty of room in the carriage, pretty soon we were going back over the river which gave me a chance to get photos of the other two bridges.
Syd was a little bit jittery but the train guard let him sit in Tims knee, if fact the guard was very good and chatty along the way.
In the city was walked along Princes Street, were Emily wanted to do some shopping so we spent some time waiting outside shops with Syd.
After the shopping we wandered around the bottom of the castle to Grassmarket, for the girls to get a photo that they usually have done. There are also a lot of old telephone boxes up there for me to take photos of and a lot of them have been converted to other uses.
By now it was dinner time so we called into a place called Made In Italy, for lunch. Dot talked me out of getting something big because of our big breakfast and she was tight. We had to sit outside though as Syd was with us but it wasn't too cold. We had beers with the food as well, we were on holiday after all. After lunch we walked back up to the Royal Mile, but had to look in The Boy Wizard shop on the way back up.
Up at the Castle we had a quick look around then wandered down the Royal Mile, Dot and I decided to go into one of the museums and catch up with the others later. That went out of the window though, when we saw the size of the ques to get in and we just caught up with the others.
We used the Scottish Parliament building at the bottom of the Royal Mile to got to the toilet before walking back up and along to a pub in Cockburn Street. We had to sit outside The Malt Shovel with Syd again and I had a Jaw Brew, Four Balls beer.
After that as everyone was getting a bit tired we made our way back to the train station and then back to Kinghorn.
Tuesday the 23rd of October
After another very good breakfast, we went later today, we had much more time to eat and get ready back in the room.
When ready, we made our way down to the seafront (the only thing between the hotel and the beach was Ravenscraig Park). First we headed up river towards the town but didn't get as far as the castle before turning back the other way.
The other way we made towards Dysart village, it wasn't a long walk but it was very nice and not too cold at all.
In Dysart, I had a walk along the pier at the harbour leaving Dot shading out of the wind, not like where I was.
From there we walked on passed the harbour and on for a short while but thought we should head back towards the hotel, to meet the others.
Later on we drove over to meet the others and stayed there for the rest of the day and night.
Wednesday the 24th of October
Today we headed inland to Loch Leven where we would meet up with the others in Kinross. Unfortunately I left my camera so I do not have many photos of the day just a couple from my phone. We did have quite a long walk along the loch and back through the town before we headed off back to Nicole's place though.
Thursday the 25th of October
Today we were to visit St Andrews but first Me and Dot drove for a visit to Ruby Bay at Elie for a look around (we knew someone that had been). We parked up near the beach at Ruby Bay just passed the town and went for a walk in the wind.
After our walk t the lighthouse and around the front we headed back to the car and drove on to St Monans a bit further along. Again we drove through the town and parked up on the sea front were we could see a windmill, so we walked that way.
As we got to the windmill we found there was an open air swimming pool in the sea just below the mill. There was also the remains of what was the St Monans Salt Pans, an old industrial site of nine salt pans.
The pool was no longer in use but no longer supported by the local council, I have no idea how long it will last now. The original windmill was used to pump seawater into the salt pans but there are only the foundations left of them now.
We got a phone call from the others to say they were on the way to St Andrews, so we went back to the car and set of to meet them.
We got parked up in St Andrews pretty easily, down by the sea and it was free. From there we set off into town to meet up with the others. After some shopping we walked passed the old castle and down to the pier.
We had a walk on the pier and around the small harbour before making our way back up into town. Up there we popped into a cafe for drinks and the girls had nice cakes.
After that we drove back to Nicole's apartment and had our last meal together before our drive back home tomorrow.
Friday the 26th of October
Well we had our last big breakfast and set off back home, the others went into Edinburgh again but we went straight home.
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