Today we headed south towards the Scottish Borders. We stopped at Scott’s View (Sir Walter Scott’s favourite panoramic viewpoint. He is the author of Rob Roy) and then headed on to a bonnie town named Melrose. Here Jon and I peered through the gate and over the stone fence at the ruins of the abbey (too stingy to pay to see more ruins). This abbey fell victim to the Rough Wooing of Henry VIII after Mary’s (later to be Mary Queen of Scotts) betrothment to his son fell through. Seems like a strange way to force a marriage to me. It is also the supposed burial place of Robert the Bruce’s heart. Although I could have made that up. The town was lovely and it was a pity we couldn’t spend longer exploring it. A problem with being on a tour. However, in the brief time we were there we did manage to purchase a copy of Rob Roy against the shop keeper’s advisement. He said the movie was heaps better. That is not a patriotic comment – very unusual for a Scot.After our foray into the border territory we turned around and headed back to Edinburgh. Turns out Rosslyn Chapel is only 15 minutes from town and you don’t need to book a tour to see it. We could have just jumped on a local bus and seen it at our own pace.
We had a very weird lunch at Dobbies Garden Centre. Strange, it was like bringing a tour group to Bunnings for lunch. The tour brochure mentioned this place was what JK Rowling named Dobbie after, but no mention of that was made by our guide. Don’t ask me why she would name a character after a nursery.
Our final stop was the one and only Rosslyn Chapel of Da Vinci Code fame. The actual church is covered in scaffolding and has a roof over it to keep it dry as part of a long restoration process. Consequently we couldn’t get any good pics of the outside and you weren’t allowed to photograph inside. Not that a photo would entirely capture what it was like inside - carvings everywhere. I have never seen a church like it – pretty amazing. Unfortunately there was no sign of the Holy Grail. Apparently there are large crypts underneath that the St Clair family (the owners) wont let anyone enter but this is mostly because it will cause the foundations to become unstable. At least that is their excuse. Nearby are the ruins of Rosslyn Castle (a favourite subject of romantic artists including Turner). Again I would have liked to have lingered longer.
Tonight we set off to try and find a decent salad for dinner. All the restaurants around here are mainly pubs and serve haggis, neeps (turnips)and tatties (potatoes). Jon has already tried this along with black pudding (couldn’t bring myself to sample that one). We ended up in some very trendy bar feeling very out of place in our tourist garb (I have been wearing the same clothes for days). The food was great though.
Note: Both sets of Burkes haves parted ways with us now. Mine melted in the desert. I now have a nifty pair of bronze ones and some bad tan marks.
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