Our first destination was Dirleton Castle.
The castle itself dates back to the 13th century .
Climbing to the top of one of the turrets offered a spectacular view of the surrounding farmland.
But there is one feature that makes Dirleton Castle truly unique:
It has the longest herbaceous border in the world.
Not that I ever realized that such a competition even existed, but if Guinness says it's so, then who am I to argue? I will admit, that it sure was lovely!
We were quite taken by the charm of this town
and we soon found ourselves the only patrons in a small tea room, enjoying fresh baked scones.....mine served with scrumptious cream and jam.
We were soon joined by a local woman who stopped in for a bite to eat on her way home from an art lesson that she had just finished taking. It was quite obvious that she was very excited about pursuing her artistic talent, as her face lit up as she went on to tell us that she had been sketching a live model today.
Being the only customers in the place, the waitress became quite interested in the conversation and curiosity got the best of her.
She politely asked the woman if the model had been dressed. The woman said no.
I'm not really sure if one's eyes can pop out of one's head, but the waitress's eyes came darn close to it! Looking quite shocked, she gulped and asked the woman, "Do you mean NUDE?" The woman nodded, to which the waitress, whose jaw was nearly on the floor at this point, responded, "The man just stands there with no clothes on while you draw?"
The woman waved her hand, chuckled, and said, "There's no way a BLOKE would do something like THAT! These are young women that we draw....students from the University". The waitress seemed a bit relieved at this point, and Marty and I were trying to stay composed as we felt very much as if we were part of one of those British Comedy sitcoms.
We left the place still chuckling, and headed out along the coast towards yet another castle: Tantallon, located just east of North Berwick.
This castle stands on a bluff that jets out as a peninsula in the spot where the Firth of Forth meets the North Sea.
The views from this place were outstanding:
Directly out from the castle, one can easily view Bass island:
Can you guess why that rock looks so white? There are over 150,000 pairs of white birds nesting on it.
But, what we found to be very exciting was the spotting of a pair of Puffins on the rocks below the castle.
Ok, so I'll admit that they aren't that easy to see here. This is the best that my camera would let me zoom in. But Marty and I watched them for quite some time, excited by the fact that we finally were able to see Puffins after not spotting one on Inchcolm island.
Before heading back to our B&B, we ventured half way up North Berwick Law, which offered spectacular views of the Firth over to Edinburgh in the distance in one direction, and of Tantallon Castle in the other. Here you can see the castle in the distance.
We didn't make it to the top, as the terrain became too steep for my foot to be happy. So, I'll leave you with a road view of the top, which features the bone of a whale jaw.
I haven't a clue why that is up at the top of this "Law".
But, one thing is for sure. It sure is easy to spot while one is driving around. It's just too bad that it isn't as easy to reach!
But despite failing to reach the destination, we found ourselves with a nearly picture perfect day.
Could we ask for anything more? I think not.
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