After a delicious breakfast with eggs( Helen, who LOVES her morning eggs was so happy) we headed into Elgin centre to start our adventure...... The bank, the post office, the grocery store,,,,just like home...how adventurous :-)
No, really, after the vacation chores we headed to visit the Elgin cathedral ruins. A couple of hours wandering medieval stone structures dating from the '1200 s....a seat of great wealth and power in the Highlands. The visit was quite inspiring and we were blessed with clear weather.
Lovely Ms. Linda in the Visitor center kindly sold us a joint ticket to include Spynie Palace, home to the local bishops of the time.... Or as Helen says... The uber-bishop! She is right. It turned out to be a pretty damned spanky piece of waterfront ( during its time) real estate. That said....
Lovely Ms Linda also told us of a wee shortcut which would have us there and through the back fence of the old palace grounds inside of 1.5 miles. After all, if we took the route that had been suggested it would be an easy three miles plus. Lovely Ms Linda doesn't walk much.... Or own a Fitbit....NO concept of distance. We don't know this so off we trot under gorgeous sunny skies... Totally trusting in her description of how to reach our destination via that wee shortcut. We kept following the pink felt marker line drawn on our map....sure we have saved some time.
2+ miles later, after passing many, many sheep in open fields....and tractors....and windmills....and NO wee cottages( those were her landmarks) we happened to a crossroads, totally convinced we had taken a wrong turn. Just then, to our delight, Sir Gallahad in his trusty steed, a wee red hatchback, along with companion Alfy the border collie by his side, pulled over to confirm for us that we were indeed in the right road, to the shortcut through the fence.to Spynie Palace. We figure we still have about a mile to go...not bad.
We waved him on his way, and within the next 30 minutes we experienced true Scottish weather.... Four seasons in day! It rained..sideways. It hailed...sideways. The wind blew dirt from the fields across the road and up the nostrils.....sideways! Pants soaked, shoes soaked ...Did we bring our all -weather gear today....of course not...it was only a wee walk after all :-)
Low and behold, Sir Gallahad reappears to offer us a ride back to Elgin if we would like. Relieved to see we had rain jackets on ( our only smart clothing decision) he turned the car around and led us to the last leg of the journey...a lovely tree lined dirt path leading to the" back 40 "of Spynie. And, he opted to park the car and walk with us. A chatty man, he knew of Seattle, was up on all National Lampoon movies and could discuss them at length and....knew where Wisconson is....quite proud! He escorted us to the hole in the fence and he and Alfy the dog went on their way...after an offer to take us back to Elgin at the end of our visit. We thanked him for his kindness and parted.
Upon checking into the visitor center , as we had been instructed to do, we asked Ms Katie about the directions we had been given...convinced we had made a wrong turn. Nope. Correct directions and she confirmed the
lovely Ms. Linda certainly had no concept of distance . We felt a bit better. We explored Spynie Palace grounds about an hour and then headed out to face the gale winds which had reappeared , of course! Low and behold, 300 meters down the dirt path Sir Gallahad and Alfy re appear....at which moment it is decided we will walk back....thank Sir Gallahad politely, but walk back. Weather is easing ( well, compared to what it was) and walking is what we came for after all. A disappointed Sir Gallahad says goodbye and heads out...honk honk...wave, wave.....Alfy in the back end barking his good-byes.
We make it back to Elgin, via the same wee shortcut, only this time at record speed to outrun the dark clouds looming just west of us. After all, we know we will dry out quickly, it is just rain AND we have several wee bottles of scotch whisky waiting in our room.... Perfect day!
After a delicious breakfast with eggs( Helen, who LOVES her morning eggs was so happy) we headed into Elgin centre to start our adventure...... The bank, the post office, the grocery store,,,,just like home...how adventurous :-)
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