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.