Chronicle for 5 May 2012

We woke up this morning to brilliant sunshine, to the sounds of birds, and the squawking jibber-jabber of fellow guests down the hall. Regarding the weather we are hoping that this is an indication of how our holiday is going to be.

After an excellent breakfast we wandered up the road the few yards to Stirling Castle. We ended up spending most of the morning there exploring the complex arrangement of rooms, hall, passages, nooks and crannies.

After seeing everything that we could and enjoying a nice coffee and cake, we headed over to the site that we had been admiring from the castle ... The William Wallace Monument. Sitting on the top of the hill looking down, it is very impressive. After a short walk up the hill, and the the climb up the 246 narrow, tight, spiral stairs that make up the staircase, we admired the view from near the top. We were surprised to hear someone complaining about the lack of wheelchair access within a 120 year old building. However it is probably a fair point that they should have been told about the lack of access before being sold the ticket and climbing the hill to the monument.

Leaving Stirling we headed out towards the Kingdom of Fife via the coastal road. The first part of the journey made us wonder why it was called the coastal route when all got to admire was industrial sites with no sight of the sea. However this soon changed and we enjoyed a delightful drive looking out over the Firth of the Fourth on the fifth of the fifth.

We arrived at our destination of Anstruther and checked into our B@B (spindrift). A wonderful place with hospitable hosts and a plethora of whiskies available for our pleasure. Which after a short walk down the road to the best 'fish and chip' shop in town, we sat down with the whiskey menu to decide upon which to enjoy first. This is going to be the beginning of a beautiful journey, a journey that I could well get used to.

Tomorrow St Andrews, which is just up the road, but that depends on how the moods take us.