Can You Please Pass the Butter?...in Scotland!

This is the story of how you end up in Scotland on a Sunday morning. 


We set out after breakfast on Saturday for Bamburgh Castle. Up the coastline. Drop-dead gorgeous drive. Got there at about 11:00. Paid our way in, found the potty, went to the tea room on site for a light lunch, made another trip to the potty. Isn't this the way it is when you travel with kids? It isn't until like an hour after you arrive that you actually begin the tour.

Here we are, driving up to the castle.

More about the castle later...

After we toured the entire castle, from awesome overlooks to the dungeon far below ground, we just could not call it a day. Physically impossible. Mike said, "Where are we going?"

I said, "Let's go to Scotland."

I was kidding. But we looked at each other, shrugged, and grinned. I was still half-kidding when I typed "Edinburgh" into the GPS, but when the computerized lady on the GPS said, "Turn right," Mike turned right.

Omygosh, we are going to Scotland. 

Sorry about the crummy pictures! We only had the iPhone to take pics with!

Can I put into words the beauty of the Scottish countryside? About 45 minutes or so north of Bamburgh, we crossed into Scotland and the land got much more hilly, almost mountainous. Always to the right: The North Sea stretching out forever.

We began to see more and more coniferous trees and steeper hillsides. No wonder Scottish people came to the Western North Carolina mountains and found it familiar. We were transported back home--to the soft, lush mountains southeast of the Boone and Linville areas. Rolling green fields with Christmas tree farms dotted about. It was just like that. Wth the North Sea. Can you just imagine being in the Western North Carolina mountains and having the ocean, too?! It was just stunning.

We drove alongside a huge body of water--didn't know what body of water it was--for a long time as we saw the city of Edinburgh coming closer and closer in the distance. Now we know that the body of water is the Firth of Forth. Funny name, right? It is a huge estuary, 55 miles long and up to 19 miles wide in places. And Edinburgh is right there along the firth, with its port-side factories and smokestacks and barges, with its silhouettes of cathedral steeples and peaked rooflines--and overlooking all of it, a fortress like no other: Edinburgh Castle built on top of an extinct volcano. Unbelievable.

We circled the city once or twice, not really with a destination in mind, just taking it in, able to see the castle on the hillside at all times, like a magnet keeping us on course. We ended up in a parking deck built right in the shadow of the castle and set off to find a place for dinner.

Castle in the distance...

Stopping for a break.

Walk, walk, walk. Down busy roads that made me think of NYC. Then down a pedestrians-only street that reminded me of St. Augustine. And we were getting hungry. There was a rugby match on, which meant every pub we passed was clearly not a place for kids.

How can I describe it?

Shouting matches going on. Beer sloshing in mugs. Men wearing either the Scottish flag or the Italian flag like superhero capes. Loud sing-song chanting. Women in short skirts, tall boots, and technicolor wigs. And of course blasting TV screens. It was mad.

So, pubs having been ruled out, we said no to Mexican, Sushi, and Chinese because, well, we are in Scotland! Then we saw it: Mussel Inn.

Oh my, the feast that awaited. Mike had a smoked salmon and cream cheese starter and I had oysters on the half shell for a starter. The boys ate thick slices of farmhouse bread with butter while we waited for our main courses.

And that's where the inside joke of the day began. I said, "Mike, can you please pass the butter?...in Scotland." We were really there! It was too funny. Everything from then on was "...in Scotland!" Even Merrit got in on the fun.

Do you remember where you parked the car?...in Scotland!
Did you have a good night's sleep?...in Scotland!
Can you help me zip up my coat?...in Scotland!
Ollie smells like seafood...in Scotland!

We had fun with that.

We ate steamed mussels, bay scallops, and seafood chowder for dinner. The menu described how all their fish is line-caught in Scottish waters and all the shellfish are hand-harvested from sustainable coastal farms. Everything was just so fresh, so delicious, and so perfectly cooked.

 

 

 

We drove looking for a hotel. And taking in the city.

We did find a hotel. Finally. Nothing fancy, just a chain a little on the outskirts of town, but clean and affordable. Ollie had to shower because, as I said, he smelled like seafood...in Scotland! We popped them in the bed but they stayed up past their bedtimes, doing what kids in hotels do. Switching beds. Wanting the bathroom light on. Looking out the window. Fidgeting with the heating unit.

We finally all slept. And slept well. Until..

Since this was a spontaneous trip, no one had packed a thing. We snagged toothbrushes from the reception desk but otherwise, nada. No PJs. No toiletries. No change of clothes. And, importantly, no overnight diaper for Ollie.

You guessed it.

He wet the bed.

By morning, underwear were clean and hot off the radiator and we were ready to get back out into the city. We had breakfast and checked out of the hotel.

And just started driving.

We ended up at Craigmillar Castle.

How crazy is it to just drive up on a castle? We must have passed six or so on our two-day trip. You can't see them all. But Craigmillar just lured us in. On a hilltop with rambling grassy fields and ancient orchards below, it was so beautiful and so romantic and so picturesque. The sky was something to see, too. Bright blue with big white clouds strung out side to side. The boys got out more energy sword fighting (yes, we were suckered in and bought plastic swords for each of them at the Bramburgh gift shop).

More about Craigmillar Castle later, too.

This is turning into a post about our spontaneous trip to Scotland. I will write about the two castles later.

What we saw in Scotland! Hillsides that felt like home.
What we ate...in Scotland! Seafood that was, in Merrit's words, "off the hook."
What we learned...in Scotland! Keep an overnight bag in the trunk.

On the way back to England, we stumbled upon a coastal park where people were walking, beachcombing, and windsurfing on the south shore of the Firth of Forth. We pulled over and parked.The boys grabbed their scooters out of the trunk and rode around the paved drives. We all walked out into the rocky tidal pools. We spent about an hour there until we were windswept and cold and ready to get back in the car and turn on the heat full-blast.

 

 

We took the scenic coastal road all the way home on Sunday afternoon, stopping in a little town called North Berwick to eat lunch. Tried a little restaurant on High Street called The Grange; the waiter's accent was so strong when he recommended the "cheddar burger" for the boys to split, we seriously did not know what he was saying. Chaadaah Borgaahh. We said, "Oh, okay, that sounds good" and then when he brought out a cheeseburger, we were like, "Oooooohhhh."

We're home now. Showered. In our PJs. Ready for the regular week of work and school and cooking and cleaning to start. THAT is how you spend a weekend, though.