Banchory to the Borders
Taking our leave of Banchory and Royal Deeside, our destination for today is the town of Melrose, located in the middle of the Scottish Borders. Or route will take us south through the Grampian Mountains, the Kingdom of Fife, the across the Firth of Forth, through Edinburgh to the Borders.

It was at this same location in the Grampians in 2003 that I declared the smell of the blooming heather as the "Aroma of Heaven". And it inspired a line in my contribution to the song of "Tramps and Hawkers". We disembark the coach to experience the blooming heather. In the village of Fettercairn, Aberdeenshire, we crossed under the Royal Arch. Erected in 1864, the archway commemorates the 1861 visit by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The RRS Discovery is a barque rigged ship originally built in 1901 in Dundee for Antarctic research. The harbour at Anstruther. We stopped here for the "best fish & chips in Scotland"! At the war memorial at St. Andrews are inscribed the names of the men who fell in the great wars. It contains the names of 186 men who fell in WWI and 96 who fell in WWII. The ruins at St. Andrews Abbey.
The Borders