Scotland

  Day 30: Manchester - Friday, 27 September Weather: 6º - 13º - Partly cloudy, windy, chilly Accommodation: Staycity Aparthotels  We woke to a brighter day. The clouds had lifted considerably and the wind had dropped. The sea between the high cliff and the harbour wall at Eyemouth was still very rough with high waves coming onto the shore. It was so different from the calm seas we saw only two days ago only a short distance north of Eyemouth. Our accommodation didn’t include breakfast so we packed our car and drove to the harbour at the other end of the village to find a cafe. We couldn’t see anything open and nearly walked passed  the Waterfront Cafe as we walked into the chilly wind. The award-winning cafe sits inside a plain harbour building. Henk and I indulged in French Toast with bacon and lashings of maple syrup (as Enid Blyton would say!). Whilst waiting for breakfast to be cooked I walked along the long, narrow harbour to take photos. The wind was sti...

  Day 29: Eyemouth - Thursday, 26 September Weather: 9º - 11º - Cloudy, strong winds, cold  Accommodation: Cutty Sark Inn  The first part of the day was in Leith, Edinburgh to meet up for brunch with Instagram’s Sewover50 account’s founder, Judith. My sister, Sandra joined Judith as editor shortly after the establishment of this very popular, influencing social media site about five years ago. We were really looking forward to meeting Judith and her husband Robert but all the plans went awry when Robert was tested positive overnight with Covid. We couldn’t take the risk so we had to cancel. It was very disappointing but that’s life. Thankfully, we have another opportunity to meet up in January when Judith comes to Australia. We enjoyed a tasty brunch at Toast sadly without Judith and Robert. Today’s other goal was to tour the Scottish fishing villages in the Eyemouth area south of Edinburgh. I was keen to see the villages as my maternal grandmother’s family, the Mal...

  Day 28: Leith, Edinburgh - Wednesday, 25 September Weather: 3º - 11º - Sunny Accommodation: Pillars House Guesthouse We woke up to a glorious day in Anstruther. There was not a cloud in the sky. Before breakfast I crossed the road from our accommodation and took some photos of the harbour in the bright sunshine.  The day was in two parts - before arriving in Leith, Edinburgh and after arriving in the city. We took the Fife Coastal Route and visited many pretty harbour villages, all very close to the each other and looking spectacular in the morning sun. The first village we visited was Pittenweem only a seven minutes drive on a minor road from Anstruther. I wanted to visit Pittenweem having read Australian author Karen Brook’s terrific historical novel, The Darkest Shore which is set in the early 1700’s in the tiny village. It has a beautiful deep harbour.  A number of men were sweeping up autumn leaves from the Main Street. The leaves are now falling quickl...