Day 16: Tea and an abbey

I actually managed to sleep past 6 am despite our bad blinds and made it out in the gray (but dry) morning for a quick three miles.  Then the rest of the household was dragged out of bed to try to get a start on the day.  As we waited for the teens to come to life, Frank and I watched a remarkably interesting television show “Country House Rescue” where a couple inherited a castle and a 2000 acre estate in Cornwall along with a 6 million pound inheritance tax bill and they were trying to figure out how to make the estate be a paying concern.  Such a reality show is one of the few I would find interesting if for no other reason than it would never make it in the States:  we don’t have hereditary castles from the 1700’s that we need to preserve for posterity as a general rule. (For the record, their website indicates that Pentillie Castle is up and running as a deluxe country house for hire. )

Then we headed out to visit relatives for a cup of tea, collecting Gran along the way.  (Yes, there were biscuits involved.) It was a lovely visit with Uncle Jimmy and Auntie Jean even if we don’t agree with all their politics….

We then proceeded to  lunch at the The Bridge Inn in Tillicoultry before heading to Alloa to climb the 15th century tower that was once the stronghold of the Earl of Mar and supposedly still has a dungeon to visit.  Alas, it was closed on Wednesdays so instead we were off to Dunfermline in the Kingdom of Fife for a visit to Dunfermline Abbey – one of the oldest monastic buildings in Scotland, founded in 1072 by Margaret, wife of Malcom Canmore (and later St Margaret).  It is truly a wonderful place to visit both the ruins of the original abbey church and the “new” church built in 1818 and where the grave site of Robert the Bruce is to be found.  I got my stained glass fix as well as adding to the early Scottish history knowledge as I was reminded about the Scottish monarchy and the fate of medival religious houses after the reformation.  Although the abbey was once the monastic house for the Benedictine order, it became a Church of Scotland house of worship after the Reformation.  The abbey and the accompanying palace and grounds were a gift of James VI of Scotland (later James I of England) to his wife and Charles I was born there.  Really great stuff!

Then back south for dinner and a wonderful evening with friends Gilbert and Jenny.  A full day was had by all.

Three things we noticed today:

1. People who feel like they probably should exercise are not very friendly to people who do.  The two women my age who were smoking cigarettes or waiting for a bus were not nearly as friendly when I passed on my run as the dear old wifies with their rain bonnets and sensible shoes who were very encouraging of me and my “keep fit” routine.
2. Parallel parking in Scotland is an art form.  It could be on either side of a narrow street and usually involves being up on a curb – I’m not sure we could pull it off that way in the US.
3. The pervasiveness of jacket potatoes (baked potatoes stuffed with various fillings) is the celiac’s savior here.  I’ve had ones with prawn marie rose, cheese and beans and Coronation chicken and couldn’t be happier.