We left St Andrews early for Edinburgh.  The weather is pleasant,  no rain today!  We found a parking spot for the cheapest we saw advertised anywhere,  so I’m glad!  Hope it works for tomorrow too! 

We walked the Royal Mile a bit on our way to check in at our apartment and a bit after we had lunch.   This is an adventure!  Our apartment is in a 15th c. building, up a medieval spiral stone stair!  Small but efficient.

Up the street to the castle,  but no tour today.

Tonight we have a wonderful dinner and then the Military Tattoo! 

We are so enjoying the city as well!  it is so beautiful,  old Scotland!

Dinner again is Scottish fare!  Mussels, Burgers and Venison for main dish,  and Eton Mess for dessert,  almost like a Pavlova,  with meringue,  cream,  and berries!

Don’t worry!  walking upwards of 6 miles today worked out all off!

on Thursday,  Tucker was off to find another course to play!  And found 1 joining 2 golfers at Eden Course,  Andrew and Daniel.   He has had a wonderfully run of golf adventures,  even better than I could have hoped! 

Emmett and I wandered the city,  visited the ruins of St Andrew’s Cathedral,  once the largest cathedral in Scotland,  brought to destruction after attached by John Knox in 1559. 

We also visited Wardlow Museum,  with the story of young Mary, Queen of Scots, for a bit of early history, and The ruins of St Andrews Castle, and many St. Andrews University buildings

So much History around the city,  it feels like you are living history here.  I really enjoyed the city.

What a great day!  Beautiful weather, but breezy.   We walked over to St Andrews Links.

And Tucker was able to walk up to the starter on the New Course at St Andrews (new in 1895 anyway) and find a couple to guys to golf with, Abbas and Patrick,  from Florida.  Seems most golfers were tourists!  Locals golf Thursdays,  or so we heard! Their tee time was in just an hour and a half from walking up!  Amazing!  Gave us time to shop, and to rent his clubs,  and do a little warm up!

A lady,  Penny, from Philadelphia joined them just before tee time.    She turns 65 this year and is golfing her 65th game in her 65th year!  Fun challenge!

His tee shot on the first hole of the New Course!

In 4 hours, he will have enjoyed the round of his life…. so far!  He has a goal to golf the old course when he graduates with his doctorate in Anesthesiology!  I hope I’m around to see that! 

Great Round for Tucker, played 42 on each half!  Weather cooperated,  and he had a great day!  Coming in to the 18th green!

He found connections with several of the people he golfed with!   The couple from Philadelphia were donors to the union league which support the Founding forward program which Tucker traveled with to Valley Forge!  The 2 caddies know about BallyNeal where Tucker caddies! 

The iconic bridge!  It sits between the tee and the green of 18th hole in the Old Course!  all Cup winner take their picture there, and lots of individuals finishing the Old Course do too! 

Just a few more iconic sites around St Andrews.  The 18th green,  the FORE advisory, and the water station, a couple of the walk of Fame plates,  and an iconic scene,  the beach scene from the movie opening credits of Chariots of Fire!:

what a memorable day!

we arrived at 8PM at our new lodging on Lade Braes Walk in St Andrews.   Yes,  you have to walk to get to it!  We parked on a main street a couple hundred yards away. But it is SO unique , so Scottish,  I’m very happy with it!  again 3 BR with 2 baths! 

Inside isn’t fancy but large rooms,  washer and dryer, very comfortable

We walked a bit Around town and to dinner.   These pics were taken at 9 PM

We had a great Scottish dinner!  Wild mushrooms and patè and haggis bon bons to start.   Emmett had a salad but Tucker and I had Pea and Mint Raviolis!  delicious!

A Great start to St Andrews!  Tomorrow we have the number to call to see if Tucker can get a tee time!  We are a less than a mile from the St Andrews Links Club house!  15 minute walk!  More on that tomorrow! 

We left Portrush about 8:30 this morning to head south for the airport but that allowed enough time for a side trip to the Beaghmore Stone circles.  This is a Neolithic site found by a farmer digging Peat.  There are 7 circles, not as large as Stonehenge, and made worth much smaller stones, but still quite impressive.

interesting shaped and structures!  and fauna and flora too.  large black slug!

Made it to the airport with time to enjoy a lunch on the lounge before our flight to Edinburgh! 

This morning was laundry and time to sleep in a little before Tucker’s tee time at Castlerock golf course!  Another experience he will remember,  and he was able to join a couple of locals for the back 9! 

We also visited Royal Portrush Golf Club, home of the 2025 Open.  Unfortunately Tuck couldn’t get a tee time there but he had folded 3 different courses here in the area!  There is golf everywhere!

Today Emmett had his birthday!  So we celebrated at the restaurant of his choice,  the Tides, with a beautiful view overlooking ocean and some putting greens.   And Tucker surprised us and paid for dinner!  sweet guy!  He had Hammond, a pork dish,  Emmett had a cod curry,  and I had Salmon…. we shared 2 good appetizers, duck quesadilla and shrimp with garlic aijoli and we each enjoyed a delicious dessert.   Emmett loves Carmel our butterscotch and had a delicious little cake,  I enjoyed a berry Sundae, and Tucker tried a new dessert,  a Lemon Porret.  Thanks Tucker for dinner!

There was a nice seaside path so we walked a little after dinner and enjoyed the views, the flowers, and even a new plant to us,  a Rosa rugosa, or Beach rose. The hydrangeas were spectacular! 

Tomorrow is a travel day,  but we will start with a bit of Neolithic adventure.  

Today we had a few horse before Tucker’s tee time at The Strand Golf course at Portstewart.  Just a bit west of there,  across the River Bann is Castlerock,  where in 1785 the Fourth Earl of Bristol, the Church of England Bishop of  Derry built a home and a library he called  the Mussenden Temple.  it was built for his neice.  It is an iconic emblem of northern Ireland coast. 

We first drove down onto the beach below for a view from that perspective.  … Funny thing happened as we got a bit stuck in the softer sand and 5 wonderful young men helped push us out of trouble! 

From the top,  we parked at the Lion’s gate parking entrance and walked up to the castle

and on to the temple

The views below are spectacular!

After a quick bite at the Eighteen Ninety Four Restaurant at the Portstewart golf club, of delicious tomato basil soup and duck wings. Tucker was fitted rental clubs,  a new rain/ wind breaker and extra balls, He need to and was joined by 2 other young men for his round of golf at The Strand!  This is a highlight of his trip!

A couple practice putts then Ricky,  the Marshall,  sent him off with tips about the course,  and 2 young men named Ian and James joined him!

Our excursions today began with a drive to Londonderry / Derry, the still divided city,  the only fully walked city in Ireland.   We in the bog area where the fighting between the Irish Republicans and the British soldiers in the 1970s was fought.   It is difficult to understand the continuing animosity between the 2 populations,  but it seethes just below the surface still. 

In the area called the Bog, the working classes live and commerate the battles with these large murals on the end of the apartment buildings.

the memorial to the Hunter strikers

We walked almost the whole wall around the old city, with just slipping into the city to visit St Columb’s Cathedral, and a bit of lunch.  We enjoyed the views and the storytellers along the way.  

St. Columbs Cathedral

We enjoyed a scone and cappuccino and Tucker had a sandwich,  before we headed back to Portstewart where Tucker was able to get his first tee time to golf on this trip.  It is a rather inexpensive one,  as golfing goes, the local old course,  founded right in town, right on the ocean,  in the 1800s! 

His first tee shot!

And finishing up, he was able to ⛳️ with a couple guys!

The best part of staying in an Airbnb, on our own, is that we set our own schedule,  great up when we want,  sleep in occasionally!  Today,  we slept in!  No specific agenda to rush of to. 

We did some shopping yesterday for breakfast foods,  so we made our own breakfast here.   The only problem??  We forgot to buy coffee!  Emmett and I stopped at a little coffee shop, Dora’s, but brought it back home to have with our eggs and bacon.  

For those who don’t know,  my middle name is Dora,  my mother’s name and her grandmother’s name…..Dora Isabelle Templeton,  my connection to the Antrim coast!  This area can be found in my family heritage.  

After we were sufficiently fed,  and coffeed, We headed out,  up the Antrim coast east of Portrush. 

We stopped at Dunluce Castle first.   This is an interesting ruin from the 13th century,  seized and reshaped by the McDonnell clan in the 1500s.  It experienced the unfortunate problem of losing a large portion of its kitchen into the sea,  over the cliff, in 1639, during a north Atlantic storm.

Just a couple miles farther,  we explored the Giants” Causeway, the huge basalt columns  from very early volcanic activity.

on our way back to the west,  we stopped at Bushmill for the Old Bushmill Distillery tour.   It was interesting to hear the process the ingredients go thru before the final products are revealed! They reuse oral barrels from Kentucky Bourbon,  Madiera Port, and Portugese Sherry.   The type of barrel used shaped the flavor of each batch.   I am not a whiskey drinker,  so it was pretty much new to all of us.

On our drive after dinner,  we visited the strand at Portstewart, where we could drive and park on the sand of the beach!  Tucker will be back in a couple days for a round of golf! 

I thought I’d give you an idea where we are lodging these next 4 nights.   Not the big city hotel for sure.   We are in the countryside just a mile our so from the town of Portrush. 

We have 3 Bedrooms and 2 sitting rooms plus kitchen and both,  even a washer and dryer!  We will be quite comfortable relaxing here between sightseeing and golf outings for Tucker.