Day 44 - Tuesday Edzell to St Andrews
Quick facts
Weather forecast:
Sunny with cloudy periods; H 20 L 7 Wind W 10kph
Humidity 78%
Sunset 19:34
Departure: Edzell, Scotland
Destination: St Andrew’s Warmshowers host
Planned distance: 51.1 mi 81 km
Planned ascent: 1,903 ft
Planned descent: 2,028 ft
Route:
Ride With GPS file photo
Good morning / Good day
It was a warm sunny morning as we posed for photos with our hostess Fiona in front of her beautiful home. Her smiles and generous hospitality were very much appreciated. Thank you Fiona.
I didn’t get very far down High Street in Edzell before I was stopping to take pictures of the round turret on the Town Hall, one of two in Scotland that can trace back to Irish Catholic monks… or something like that. We will be seeing the other one apparently in our travels further along the road inin Brechin. That Round Tower is part of Brechin Cathedral.
Across the street was the Glenesk Hotel where the manager was waving and sending off a very happy group of motorists touring Scotland as was the TVR group we met at Duncansby Head a week ago.
Just in case you are interested, one of the hotel’s claims to fame is a Guinness World Record for “The most varieties of whisky commercially available”. They usually offer over 700 malts.
I don’t think Ralph realized how long it was going to take me to cycle the first ¼ mile…. he was down the road at the Dalhousir arch waiting.
The car enthusiasts waved as they passed in front of the Inglis Memorial Hall and on their way.
One hundred feet or so past
the hotel was the Dalhousie Memorial Arch erected in 1887 over High Street. We had learned about it yesterday. It was erected in memory of the 13th Earl of Dalhousie and his wife who died 24 hours apart from different causes, leaving 5 orphaned sons.
Usually we pedal out of town and into gorgeous countryside. Today it was different. Immediately outside the village limits was the destruction caused January 30, 2022 by devastating back to back storms Malik and Corrie bringing winds of 90 mph and flattening a huge swath of trees in their wake.
On to the town of Brechin where I was intrigued by the number of chimneys on these homes. Then out to the beautiful farmland as we headed to Letham east of Forfar.
…. and what is in Letham?
Keptie Bakery (in the background) and « The best scones in Scotland - 2014 ». I expect they haven’t changed that winning recipe very much. Of course I had to get one.
We parked our bikes in front of The Commercial Inn which has been around awhile and walked across to the bakery and the Hand Pict Showcase Gallery.
Hand Pict Showcase Gallery which has the friendly reputation of letting traveller use their
toilets. I am sure that has resulted in many sales like mine.
I bought a print that exactly fit my pannier. It is of a sunrise with the three bridges crossing the Firth of Forth….which we will cross before we get into Edinburgh tomorrow.
Scenes heading into Dundee
View of Dundee and the Tay Bridge across the Firth of Tay where Scotland’s longest river ends in the North Sea. There is a tragic story concerning the Tay Railway bridge that collapsed during a sever storm killing 75. Tay (Rail) Bridge .
The picture was taken high on the Dundee Law, an interesting geological formation of 415 million years old when lava oozed and covered the area but did not erupt as a typical volcano.
The Dundee war memorial is on the Dundee Law at the highest point overlooking the city.
Architecture in Dundee City Centre
Tickety Boo’s pub.
The Royal Research Ship RSS Discovery
…. And over the Tay Road Bridge. Another good day on our Bridge Tour of Britain.
A beautiful bike path on the south side of the firth as the shadows grew long. Newport-on-Tay is the community just on the other side of the bridge. We got off the A road for a bit and
headed to Tayport on the quiet cycleways we enjoy.
Across the River Eden
On to St Andrews
The home of golf:
The Old Course Hotel in the background… we weren’t staying there!
St Andrew’s gates.
The business with the blue door is a Mac computer repair shop…an interesting combination.
Tonight we had accomodation with a Warmshowers host. The contact we had was with his housekeeper along with elaborate instructions about how to find our rooms.
It involved getting into the garden, past the mini golf course, opening the summer house and finding the key for the adjacent building which has the shower and toilet … but no heat. Heat was not a necessity however certainly would be a nice perk to be comfortable.
Alls well that ends well. We contacted the housekeeper Jill to ask about bedding and such. It seems the adjacent townhouse is normally rented out as a BnB. It wasn’t booked so Jill invited us to make ourselves at home. It was an absolutely beautiful apartment with a stocked kitchen and laundry. We were very appreciative of this generosity.
Thank you Jill C.
As I have said before…. Scotland’s the best!
Safe travels.
Lorraine