Day 1 - We Encounter the Haggis

Our Arrival

We landed at 8:00am, about 25 minutes ahead of time. The flight was uneventful though I finally got to watch "The Big Labowski". And, the real gem that I discovered was episodes of "The Repair Shop". I was only able to watch one, but I will binge on it on he way home.

Unfortunately, as we came through customs, my Passport would not scan and I had to divert to the manual line. There the agent told me that some US passports did not jive with their system. I told him it worked fine when I left the US and he replied "Well, there ya' go!"

The car rental counters at Edinburgh Airport are listed as "on site". It just doesn't say which site. I checked and the distance from our gate to the Budget counter was 2,394.5 feet more or less! And then the guy gave us the wrong car and I had to walk back to the counter and then back to the car to get it fixed (considerably less distance, but still it's the principle).

Finally we hit the road with my trusty Tom Tom GPS as our guide. For some reason "Our Lady of the GPS" was not talking and it caused me to miss several turns. As a result, we took the scenic route to our first stop of the trip which was Blackness Castle. (I just discovered that the volume was set to 0!)

Blackness Castle

Blackness Castle, just 7 mile northwest of Edinburgh Airport, has stood guard over the Firth of Forth for over 500 years. Built around 1440, it has served as the main port for the Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. Because of it's long narrow shape and pointed end, the castle has often been referred to as "the ship that never sailed" and its battlements referred to as the Stem, Mast and Stern Towers. In modern day, the castle has been used in the filming of Netflix's "The Outlaw King", where it was used as the site of the imprisonment of Robert the Bruce's wife, Elizabeth de Burgh, and in the Stars series "Outlander" as the jail wall from which Jamie and Claire jumped on his escape in, I think, season 2.

The Lobster Pot

Taking leave of the castle, we had our first meal at a local eatery, The Lobster Pot. Here we all decided to christen our trip with an order of fish and chips. John even topped his off with a diet Irn Bru. For those not familiar, Irn Bru is often referred to as Scotland's "other national drink" (the first being whisky, of course.) It is orange in color and has the taste somewhere between a Cream Soda and a Big Red. I would have probably joined him but I felt I needed a jolt of caffeine and went for coffee.

The Cottage & the Colebrooke Arms

After our long trip and with little, actually no, sleep since the day before, we felt it was time to head to our abode for the first leg of our trip. The Mountherrich Cottages are located in the Dumfries and Galloway area of southern Scotland just west of the small, but lovely, village of Crawford John. From here we will spend the next seven days exploring the areas of Ayershire and the Scottish Borders.

I cannot close without mentioning our excellent meal at the local pub, The ColeBrooke Arms. Located in Crawfordjohn, it is all you would expect of a small pub. The proprietress there, Shiree, was lovely and helped us get our bearings for such as a local grocery and ATM. Posted on the wall was the "startup" for the night - Haggis Pakora. This turned out to be small balls of haggis, battered and fried and absolutely delicious. In fact, we ordered a second helping. For our main course, we all had Auntie Janette's Homemade Steak Pie. While it was served in a deconstructed manner with a puff pastry topping, it was excellent with tender beef in a lovely brown gravy. And, of course, it was served with a side of peas (that would be English peas). I had a Tennents with mine and managed to make off with the serving glass to replace the one (of a pair) that Amy broke that she absconded with on one of our Scotland trips. After our excellent meal, we made a run up to Tesco in Lesmahagow to fill our stores and visit the ATM. With that, we repaired to our country farmhouse and tucked in for the night. More on the farmhouse and surrounds later.

Tomorrow we make a visit to the Rosslyn Chapel, probably best known in the States from The Da Vinci Code, and then on to the Edinburgh Tattoo, surely to be a highlight of our visit.