Destination: Falkland

Here you see a lovely photo of Falkland Palace, taken from the back gardens. Ahhh..what peace and tranquility.  After the morning Stacey and I had, we were perfectly happy to just absorb this serenity.

It all began with breakfast at the hotel.  Or, should I say, the almost lack thereof.  We headed down as we have nearly everyday in the past, only to find that there was no breakfast set up.  No coffee.  No tea.  No boxed cereals in a basket.  No bread for toast.  For goodness sake, there wasn't even a toaster!  And, obviously, no Dave!  He's been missing for a few days now, and didn't we feel the effects of that this morning?

The poor receptionist at the desk, completely flustered,  was running around, attempting to find us something to offer us for breakfast and delivering coffee and tea to keep us happy.  After a few minutes, Bobby, the owner, suddenly appeared, and he made all well by making us some breakfast porridge.  But we are still at a lost as to what exactly happened this morning.  We're hoping that everything is back to normal tomorrow in that regards.

Now onto more adventures.....  I had wanted to see Falkland Palace for quite awhile, but since it is nowhere near a train station, I never attempted to make the trip.  But, with Stacey here to boost my confidence, I decided that today would finally be the day.

I'll admit that I was pretty nervous about setting up the details, and I spent a lot of time determining the best way to make the trip.  It's kind of funny, because Falkland really isn't that far from Kirkcaldy.  It's just not that easy to get there because, as one woman put it, it's in the middle of nowhere.

According to the National Trust Website, the best way to get to Falkland was to take the train to Ladybank Station where there is a bus station.  From there, we would take Bus # 66/67 to Glenrothes.  The Busline info listed Bus #64 to Glenrothes.

The train trip didn't phase me, as I have been hopping on the train nearly daily now, and feel fairly comfortable with the system.  My plan was to get to Ladybank, head to the bus station, and just ask someone at the station which bus to take to Falkland.  We had half an hour from arriving on the train to get on the right bus.

Ladyband train station is only 2 stops north of Kirkcaldy.  We arrived with no problem, and Stacey and I spotted a woman who was just locking up the station, and we asked her if she could direct us to the bus station.  She was very cheery, and she led down the stairs to show us the bus station.

Well, you have just seen Ladybank Bus station.  Obviously no tellers to ask directions from.  Stacey and I looked at the routes in the two shelters and we decided that the bus route would be number 64 to Glenrothes.

The bus arrived a bit late, and we made certain that it stopped at Falkland prior to boarding and paying for our tickets.  We were feeling quite relieved as we finally sat down in the bus and we looked forward to the drive through the countryside to our destination.

At this point, I'd like to offer you some advice.  If you are ever in Scotland, and you are driving a little car along a narrow road throughout the countryside.....and you see a bus barreling towards you at very high speed, pull over, stop, and let the bus go by.  I only mention this for your own safety, and because, this is what we witnessed as we found ourselves hanging on for dear life as the bus driver was obviously attempting to make up for lost time.

Stacey likened it to the bus in Harry Potter. Since I haven't seen the movie or read the book, I cannot attest to that comparison.  But, I can tell you that I felt like I was on the Jack Rabbit at Kennywood park, flying out of my seat on occasion, and feeling like I was part of some horror movie!

When we arrived in Falkland, Stacey and I couldn't jump off that bus fast enough!

We headed right to the information center where we were greeted by an exuberant woman who made us feel quite welcome.

Falkland Palace was amazing!  No photos are permitted inside the building, so I can't share that aspect of history with you.  But we were entertained by one particular guide who was so excited to share the history of the Palace with us. Falkland was where the royalty went to get away from the big city, and Mary, Queen of Scots spent many days there enjoying the grounds and the countryside. 

Did you know that the oldest tennis court in the world is at Falkland Palace?  That seems to be its claim to fame.  Even more so than the fact that Mary, Queen of Scots often visited here.

Falkland continues to be the property of the monarchy, and the guide mentioned that if Queen Elizabeth decided to visit Scotland, this property would be at her service if she wanted to stay in Falkland.  But since it is not really set up for family living, were the Queen to make such a request....it would send everyone into a panic, according to our guide.  It would be like "throwing the cat in with the pigeons" as she so humorously put it.  Obviously, the Queen doesn't make overnight trips to Falkland.

The town is enchanting, and Stacey and I enjoyed walking through it.

We stopped for a quick bite to eat

 and decided to head to the outskirts of town and explore one of the many nature trails around the area.

The sign says it all.  We started our journey here and made our way through the woods, and up a hill, in search of a waterfall.

The path was narrow and windy and a bit precarious at points.  We kept wondering if we should turn back, but we both decided to just go a bit further when, finally, we came to the origin of the falls.

There it was....our first Scottish Waterfall, and did Stacey and I get quite a laugh out of that!

Rather than return the way that we came, we decided to continue on the trail which appeared to loop around and back to the origin on the other side. 

We weren't far from the falls, working our way down, when we realized that we were being watched.

That one ewe never took her eyes off of us.  I'm sure that we looked quite comical.   And, considering what we had climbed to get where we were, I can understand her curiosity myself!  But you must admit, if the waterfall was a bit of a disappointment, the view from the top was certainly worth the adventure!