jamesq | Scottish Adventurrres 14 - A Cold Wind Blows in St. Andrews

Thursday, June 14 – Our last day together – but still a full day – we drive straight out to St Andrews with plenty of time for you to explore this ancient religious capital – walk the Old Course, run down the beach (Chariots of Fire!), visit the castle and cathedral or do a bit of shopping – the choice is yours. After lunch we make our way back to Edinburgh along the Fife coastline – fishing villages, tales of witches and the grand Forth bridges – and then a stop at the infamous Rosslyn Chapel before the short drive back to the capital!

In addition to the ruins, golf course and beach, St. Andrews also had the coldest wind I've ever encountered outside of Canada. It was biting cold and damp, as you'd expect from its location on the North Sea.

Oh and it also had a sushi restaurant - the only one I saw in Scotland. Cost for two pieces of ebi? £4. Or about $4.50 each. Compare to $1.50 each in Calgary. Sweet Jeebus! No I didn't have any.

The ruins were, well, ruins. Impressive, and I just might have some photos of them, even though my other photos didn't turn out.

Next we went down to Rosslyn Chapel. It was probably the most impressive building I saw the whole trip. Certainly the best mason work I've ever seen. Among other things it had sculptures representing the seven deadly sins and seven heavenly virtues (though strangely, "charity" was in amongst the sins and "greed" was with the virtues. I think the masons were being silly when they carved that up. This church also has the most representatives of the green man in it of any in the world (over 150) - Not sure that's very christian of them, but sneaking pagan references into the church's symbols seems to have been a national sport. This is a shenanigan I can fully support. Finally, there is the apprentice's pillar.

nosarious would have left a stain in his pants. It also had a bunch of legends associated with it and the chamber they've detected underneath it (but not found an entrance to yet):

Some minor novel suggested the Holy Grail is hidden in the chamber, or at least its location is hidden in the cryptic sculptures making up the chapel itself.
The Knights Templar hid their hoard underneath.
There is a code throughout the building which someone has interpreted as musical notes. If played at the right time, in the right way it will open a portal to heaven. Or end the world. They've played it once already (in the chapel) and I'm happy to report the world didn't end.

We had one last trip to the fairlands ahead of us. We went a few miles up to a another, more run-of-the-mill chapel. A funeral was in progress (and apparently you need to fire a gun twice at Scottish funerals). We waited until we could slip by without disturbing hte mourners, then ducked around behind the castle. After a short hike and a short climb we were in another little glen. The trees all had bits of ribbem, string and jewelry tied to the branches. This was a place to ask the fey for good luck. As with all of those sites we'd seen before, there was a ton of loose change stuck into the cliff walls. That would be last glimpse of the realm. At least on this trip.

Earlier in the trip, TD made an interesting observation. "This country has an extravagance of water", she said. Coming from Australia it would seem that way with all the springs, rivers and lochs in evidence. I think after the overwhelming weight of history that I've tried to absorb during this trip I can safely say that they have an extravagance of history.

We returned to Edinburgh in the late afternoon. F liked us enough to suggest getting together for a pint. This was not part of the tour at all, just a way of saying goodbye. Not everyone could make it (MT, SH and KH had to go to other cities) but JO, RX, CF and LF all joined in. We went to the Deacon Brodie (inspiration for Dr. Jeckal and Mr. Hyde) pub and drank for a few hours. Then we said goodbye. I was sad, but I did have some good news when I got back to the hotel. Logging on I found that TD, who had left the tour two days earlier, had emailed us all. Soon there would be a sharing of pictures. I look forward to fond memories.