Our winter trip from Killin and back over the next six months was going to be over eighteen destinations. We are at number three now and move on to number four tomorrow.

For the last week we have been on a site next to Yellowcraig beach. The journey from Markinch to here was only an hour and a half and Mostly motorway but it was a horrible journey for one reason or another.

As soon as we were pitched up and had some lunch we’re were off down the beach. The plan was to have a drink on the beach as it was Nikki’s birthday but with a overcast day and a very chilly wind and the fact we had both had horrible drives to get there we gave up on that idea.

Beach walk done and a nice dinner and of course a birthday drink or two it was an early night. Being no where near a main road the site is so quiet and peaceful and dark at night so a good sleep was had. That’s nothing unusual for me but even Nikki had a good sleep.

A walk was planned for the following morning into Dirleton, a small village about half an hours walk away. The old castle which had been stood in the village for 800 years was our target.

The walk was through a wooded area and across fields and then you come into the village green. The pub looked very inviting but was closed until later.

Some of the castle was off limits due to repairs so the admission price was half of what it would be normally. Funnily enough though the castle was built in three stages and it was the newest part which needed the repairs. It was still a lot older than a modern house.

The castle was impressive outside and inside and then we went into the garden where a Dovecot was. The dovecot would have held 1000 nest boxes and is a very impressive structure.

And then we went into the garden which was in two parts. only small but kept so nice with loverly plants and small bushes and trees. I expect years ago they would have grown all their own vegetables and had chickens, cows and pigs to live off.

We walked back a different way trying to pass a little cafe but failed and had to sit outside and have a drink and a slice of cake and watch the world go by. Then continued on our walk back along a backroad and spotted several deer in a field who kept there eye on us just to make sure we never got to close.

There are so many golf courses in Scotland and this area has a few. I looked online at the price of one and if you wanted to join it would cost you 35 thousand pounds and then another £1900 per year. So I think I will give that a miss and stick with the crazy golf. When you see some of the houses that are built close to the course you can see there’s a lot of money in this area. And with the average house price in North Berwick being 516 thousand pounds it’s an area we will not be living in.

North. Berwick is only about three miles down the road with a loverly little harbour and a street full of independent shops. We drove there and parked up and had a wander around and almost got away with not buying anything until we come across a cake shop window full of cakes to die for.

Going into the shop I was dribbling with the site of all the different cakes and freshly made bread on display. Then I looked at the prices of each cake and almost fell over. £4.75. So yes we had a cake each and I also had a sausage roll. A cheap lunch really. We went down by the beach and sat in the sun eating them, all the time watching out for seagulls who would have loved to get a piece of cake. But at that price they were not getting a crumb.

The Tern statue above is outside the Scottish seabird centre which is down the harbour.

After having our walk around and our very expensive cake it was time to go back to the car with one more photo stop of an old 17th century church. This would have been the original one with the old gravestones around.

Just on the edge of North Berwick is a Law. Not a law as in you have to obey the Law. A Law in Scotland is a conical hill which rises from the landscape. This one is 187 metres above sea level and I just had to walk up it. So early one morning I drove to the base of it and walked up it. My research had told me it would take 30 minutes to get to the top and we had spoke to someone on the beach a couple of days before who said the same. It actually took me 20 minutes. It was steep in places and I was sucking in cold air and my legs were burning but the view from the top was stunning.

Yesterday we went down the beach for a walk. It was empty but with a cold wind. But we love the beach and with blue sky and a good imagination you could have been anywhere.

Our last day here today so we went for one more look around North Berwick and guess what. Yes we went into that cake shop again. This time we bought the cakes back with us. They were just as nice but I preferred sitting on a bench over looking the sea eating it really.

So that’s us up to date. Tomorrow we head out on the open road for Melrose. Number four destination.Only about an hour and half away. It’s another small town on the English, Scottish border so will be our last stop in Scotland this year.

We closed the gates, locked them up and headed down the road a mile to stay on our friend’s site. we planned to go out for our end of season party. Not really a party just an excuse to walk to the Killin hotel and have a drink or two and a final meal in there.

The weather was nice as we strolled along past the river and into the hotel. We decided to sit outside and grab the last of the sun before it disappeared behind the mountain.

Our friends joined us for a drink as they were also out for a drink so a good evening was had by all. A chilled out day followed and then on the Sunday we packed up and headed out for our next destination which was a small town called Markinch over on the east side of Scotland.

A two hour drive and mostly motorway and duel carriageway for me in the camper. The sun was out and I was lucky to get a sunny pitch. Nikki was not far behind in the car.

The next day we had a walk around Balbernie park which is next to the campsite. A huge big park with so many different paths through the trees and by the river. As we were walking we met a lady out walking her dog who told us about the area and places to go and places to eat etc. She walked one way we walked another but on three occasions we crossed paths and had a good laugh about it.

We decided to head out to the coast having not been on a beach for six months. So we chose a place called Crail which has a lovely little harbour and a small town. As we set off some amber warning lights came up on the cars dashboard. More of that later.

We got to Crail, parked up and headed for the harbour where the fishing boats were moored up and the tiny little old fisherman’s cottages were sat in the sunlight.

There was a lovely little tea room overlooking the sea but Nikki had made us a picnic for the day. An attempt to saving money as we are now jobless for six months so we are living off our seasons savings. It’s surprising how much lunch out costs when you do it regularly. The picnic was very nice and sitting on a bench overlooking the sea was priceless.

We had planned on visiting some other coastal villages and towns on the way back but because of the dashboard lights decided to head back and try and get that sorted while the garage was open.

One more stop we said because there was a tower I wanted to get photos of. So we headed for Elie beach, that still gave us time to get back to Markinch and a garage for advice.

We parked up at Elie beach with the sun glistening off the sea and headed out on the coast path to Lady’s tower which is perched on the edge of the cliffs.

Lady’s tower was built in 1770 for lady Janet Anstruther, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy Elie merchant. She was a regular swimmer and got ready for her swim in a small cave on the beach below and would then go to the tower to recover.

Further along the coast was a nice old lighthouse where we sat on a bench looking out to sea and then continued around the coast path back to the car and headed back to find a garage.

We got back to Markinch and headed for the local garage. There was only one guy in there who could not help but told us about another garage not far away so we headed out to find that garage. With no success. I remembered it starting with a C but we could not find it so decided to come back to base and do some research.

The dashboard lights were amber which is a warning but not as bad as red lights. But with modern cars which are so sophisticated now it throws up all sorts of problems and we had a lot of miles to do over the next few months. Nikki would also be driving a lot of miles on her own so we needed it done.

The garage we should have found we found on the internet so I headed out to it first thing in the morning. Met by a great bunch of guys I told them of my problem. Leave it with us and we will take a look and fix it today for you. Later that afternoon I walked back down to the garage and picked it up. All sorted. Proper old school service which I like. For those interested it was a hub speed sensor. The part costing £28 but with labour and the diagnostic testing etc the bill was £226. Good job we had a picnic the day before.

Markinch has a railway station so another day planned was to go into Edinburgh on the train. How brave am I going into a big city. I don’t really do cities or even big towns but I do like to see the old buildings etc.

The train journing was 45 minutes and went along some coast and over the Forth bridge. That’s the one that is famous in Scotland. The saying it’s like painting the Forth bridge because it takes so long to paint by the time you get to the other end you have to start all over again. I wanted to get some photos of the bridge but the weather since has been all overcast and misty so that’s another day sometime planned.

We arrived in Edinburgh Waverley station which is the end of the line. A huge big station with hundreds of people going about their business which to them it was just a normal day. To me it was mind blowing.

Out of the station and a plan on where to go. Big city bright lights is here. We wanted to go to the old town, the royal mile, and Grass market areas. So we headed off up a tiny little alleyway to another street which was where we wanted to be.

We managed to find the tourist information shop and got a street map which helped us a bit, google street view helped us the other bit. The amount of people about all getting off tourist coaches and heading for the castle was scary. We were not heading for the castle although I got some photos of the outside of it away from the madding crowds.

The streets were buzzing with all sorts of people from all nationalities and all different ages and all different dress codes. I love to see all that and mixed in with the old buildings. The shops were expensive which is what you expect in a tourist area. But we weren’t here to go in shops and I think we only went in one which was a retro cloths shop and that was just to look. We did sit outside and have lunch. Yes a bought lunch no picnic today we are out for a good day. To be fair it was only a roll but sat just off the tourist area so we could actually breathe and watch the world go by.

Looking at the map and google I could see a grassed area, away from the crowds so we headed for that area. An old cemetery with some gravestones which were hundreds of years old were very interesting followed by a walk through a park where they were setting up stages for a music event on the weekend.

There was also a fantastic fountain in the park with a backdrop of the back of the castle. Lots of people in the park chilling and watching the world go by. They were probably watching us and thinking that guy with the beard is out of his comfort zone. They were right although I felt good in the park.

There were a lot of other nice statues in the park. One in particular bought a lump to my throat. It was of an elephant and was for all the babies that have died.

We ended up walking about five and a half miles in the four hours we were in Edinburgh and that was enough. The old part was great apart from the amount of people but that’s city life. The rest of it I could live without. So as we stopped outside the railway station for one more look around, at a nice pub. Was I tempted to go in for a drink. Yes I was but my bank balance would not have liked it and I would have probably missed the last train back to Markinch.

So that was us done for city life. Back on the train to Markinch, off the train and walk back to site. But yes we had to walk past a pub and yes we had to go in for a drink, we sat outside actually in the last bit of sun. As we sat there in the sun having a drink Nikki reminded me it was our anniversary so I said in that case we better have a meal to celebrate. So two burgers and chips were ordered.

Tomorrow we move on from here to a site near North Berwick which is a short walk from the beach. We plan to have a drink on the beach for Nikki’s birthday. Weather permitting of course.

The season is over. I can’t believe it has gone so fast, but it was only six months. We closed on Monday and have been closing the site down since then. Luckily the weather has been good to us while doing this.

So our last days off we went to Pitlochry, a small tourist town with shops full of tempting Scottish tourist items. We were not tempted. But we were tempted into a cafe for lunch. Always a gamble when you’re somewhere new unless you have been recommended somewhere. Our choice was a good one and a nice lunch was had.

In the carpark where we parked was a train carriage, not parked but a permanent feature. Turned into a Thai restaurant which looked very nice and I think next year we will check it out for food.

Pitlochry also has a dam with a fish ladder so we had to go and have a look at that. The fish that day were obviously afraid of heights because I didn’t see any on the ladder. I found out later they normally climb the ladder in the morning or evening. The river Tummel runs from the dam and there is a walk you can do that crosses the dam and then crosses another bridge further down the river.

Two weeks ago the campsite which is a mile down the road from us on the riverbank had to be evacuated due to the river level raising to a point it was getting dangerous. I did say we have had a lot of rain this season. Scotland does get its fair share of rain but this year has been exceptional on the rain score. Even the locals are saying it’s the worst summer they can remember.

The falls of Dochart at the end of the village which normally this time of year would be like a small river with people climbing all over the rocks to get photos were like a scene from the winter. I went down there in the morning early to get some photos and the sound was fantastic and the falls themselves were right across the rocks and raging. You would never normally see it like that only in the wintertime.

Around the site was also exciting as I found a couple of frogs who were very happy with all the rain. I also found some orange coloured mushrooms which got me doing some research to see if they were edible. It turned out that they were Chanterelle mushrooms which are a real good find for foragers and very expensive if you had to buy them. A couple of days later we had a couple staying on site who were foragers and had a good chat with them about the Chanterelle mushrooms and they confirmed I could eat them.

So Nikki fried them up in butter and I had them for lunch on toast. Nikki did not like them so only tasted one so I had a feast and am still here to tell you about them.

The frogs were not for lunch just the mushrooms. This site has had so many different types of mushrooms and fungi along with all the different plants and flowers which is great for all the bugs and wildlife. The latest plant to appear is a small ball of purple flower which I think is called Devils bit. I managed to get a great photo of a bug on one which looked like the flower was floating in space.

I had one last bike ride before leaving here. Heading out to the mountains and down the Glen. I had looked on google earth and had a route I wanted to do if the legs held out. Luckily they did as it was stunning.

Following a river and then climbing up the mountain track, again legs burning and then I just had to stop. Not because my legs were burning but because just perched on a small price of grass over looking the Glen was a Shepard’s hut.

With a stash of wood under it ready for the wood burner. What a great place to chill I thought. On one side it had a big window facing down the Glen and overlooking the mountains on the other side of the river. Luckily it was locked up otherwise I think I would have claimed squatters rights and moved in. If my lotto numbers came up I would have it.

Stopping there really made my day. It’s about five miles from the nearest tarmac road. A cool box full of beer and some food and phone switched off for a great weekend.

Yesterday early evening I spotted a Buzzard fly up into a tree not far away. It’s amazing how they know the site’s empty now so claim their space back. He sat up in the tree looking around and then flew down and pounced on a vole and sat there eating it. Again a magical moment.

So tomorrow we will have a chill out day and it will be our last day here on site. We are only going a mile down the road to our friends site so we can walk into the village on Friday evening for a meal and a couple of drinks. We will leave there on Sunday and head for our first stop on our slow way south. Watch this space for more adventures from us.

The last photo is the view from our compound as the sun was going down yesterday. Yes I did say sun. That’s why I took the photo just to remind myself of the one day of summer.