END OF THE TRIP SUMMARY

At the end of a trip I like to put together a summary of what we did, what we saw, and where we went.  By doing this I find out things that I hadn’t realized.  For instance, on this trip we ate in more pubs than most other trips.  It seems that the Borders and southern part of the country have embraced the Gastro Pub concept more than the central or north.  I also understand why my golf scores are so much rubbish this trip--we played more than our usual quota of difficult golf courses.  With that rationale in mind, here is our summary of this fall’s one month trip to Scotland.

Rental Car: Toyota Auris (now very dirty)

Miles: About 2200

Price of Petrol: £1.40 per litre or about £6.30 a gallon.  With the exchange rate that’s        about....drum roll, please...$10.08 a gallon!

B and Bs Stayed In: 8, including our Scottish home at Merlindale in Crieff.

                                          Robertson and Emma at Ferintosh in Dumfries

Golf:

18 rounds, 284 holes, 78.5 miles walked on golf courses

16 different courses

                                          6th at Crail Balcomie GC

7 courses new to us, bringing our total played in Scotland to 230 (there are over 570)

5  9-hole courses, 11 18-hole courses

                                          11th at Colvend GC

8 Championship or Open Qualifying courses

Eating:

11 restaurants, 7 new to us

6 pubs, 4 new to us

15 tea rooms, coffee shops, or cafes, 9 new to us

5 golf course lounges, 4 new to us

Tourist Attractions:

3 ancient sites (standing stones, stone circles, etc.)

4 nature (waterfalls, scenic areas, etc.)

        4 commercial or shopping

8 religious (churches, chapels, abbeys)

                                           Detail at Lincludin Collegiate Church, Dumfries

3 gardens

                                          Logan Gardens, Mull of Galloway

4 historic (castles, museums)

                                          Mason marks, Cambuskenneth Abbey, Stirling 

8 picturesque villages

                                          Wigtown, Scotland's Book Town

1 cultural event (celebration of dance in Scotland in Dumfries)

5 lighthouses

                                                       Corsewall Lighthouse

The Best of the Trip:

Best Golf...Turnberry Kintyre course

Best Food...Brig o’Doon Hotel in Alloway, Crown Hotel in Portpatrick (Seafood Pub of the Year)

Favorite Tourist Spots...Mull of Galloway, Rosslyn Chapel

Biggest Surprise of the Trip...(Anne) playing Turnberry when it wasn’t planned;

(Bob) Ballachulish village near Glencoe, a village we had been by many      times before but where we had never stopped.

All of this, plus seeing many old friends at Merlindale and making many new friends in B and Bs and on golf courses, adds up to one fantastic trip.  See many of you at home soon.