We needed to leave the Edinburgh campsite by midday on Tuesday (August 20th) but we only had a 90 minute drive to our next site at St Andrews. So, we decided to take a detour to Falkirk to see the Wheel and the Kelpies. Luckily, they weren’t too far apart and both had fantastic parking for campervans with just a short walk to the attractions.

The Kelpies are a pair of huge 30m high horses’ heads made out of steel that celebrate the horses used to move the boats along the Forth and Clyde Canal. They were installed in 2013 and were absolutely stunning.

Onto the Falkirk Wheel a few miles down the road. This is the world’s only rotating boat lift that replaces 44 lock gates. It uses a fraction of the water and very little power as it’s all done by Archimedes’ principles. It links the Forth and Clyde Canal to the Union Canal 35m above and only takes 5 minutes. We took a ride on a tourist boat that enabled us to experience the lift in all its glory. Amazing piece of engineering.

We arrived at the St Andrews campsite around 17.00 to meet up with Helen, James and their dog, Knox, in their motorhome along with Jane & Maria in their Twin, Arty. Arty is a slightly longer version of Dora. We were all there for the British Women’s Golf Open. Luckily, James’ and Helen’s Moho (it doesn’t have a name) could accommodate all 6 of us so gin and tonics there before a ‘Ready, Steady Cook’ type BBQ which we ate in said Moho. We were even treated to Helen playing the guitar!

Wednesday was practice day at the golf course and Helen, James, Liz and Jo cycled along the coastal path to try and find somewhere near the golf course to secure the bikes before watching the players. Eventually, after asking various security guards and event personnel we found a cycle rack behind the 18th green. What they didn’t tell us was that the entrance for us plebs was a good 15 minute walk away. Not great for Jo’s leg. Still, we had a fun time wandering around watching the players despite the wind and the rain. The organisation wasn’t great (the tournament doesn’t get going properly until the Thursday) so we had had enough by around 15.00 and made our way back to the campsite. The coastal path by now was extremely windy! After lovely nibbles and pre dinner drinks again in Helen and James’ Moho, we caught a cab into town to eat at The Bothy restaurant. Great food and an interesting venue.

Although we had tickets for the whole tournament, the others didn’t so on Thursday, Jane and Maria went off to see the local sights and James, Helen and Liz cycled into town to explore St Andrews, including where Kate and Will studied and stayed. It was also an excuse to do some window shopping followed by lunch! Jo rested her leg and watched the golf in Dora.

We bade farewell to Helen and James early Thursday evening after Liz and Helen had gone off to swim in a nearby cove. Liz only managed a paddle! That left the four of us and we decided to eat the leftovers from the BBQ the night before.

Maria decided to take their van to the golf on Friday so we cadged a lift with them as the parking was right outside the front entrance. We had decided to book a mobility scooter as the course would be too much for Jo and Jane decided to join her as she had Achilles’ issues. It was great fun to be buzzing around the course without worrying about knackered knees or tendons.

By the time we got back it was after 19.00 so we ate at the restaurant on site. They even had the last few holes of the golf showing on the TV. The food was adequate and certainly saved us from cooking.

The weather during the golf was mixed with anything from glorious sunshine to hail storms! Luckily, we all had wet weather gear of one sort or another. On Saturday we drove Dora to the golf course and had a lovely day on our own watching the tournament. Tom Grennan was headlining the music stage at St Andrews that evening but we couldn’t be bothered to stay until 20.30 to see him after a long day. He was obviously very popular given the number of young people queuing to get into the grounds. We were joined on the campsite by friends of Maria and Jane’s so we had another BBQ that evening. We actually sat outside although by 21.00 it was getting pretty chilly.

Sunday was finals day at the golf and it was a 4 way race. All very exciting as it went down to the final putt on the final hole. We were very lucky as there was a viewing platform right by the 18th green so we were almost in touching distance to the players and saw the closing moments up close. With the trophy presentation it was quite late getting back to the site so we ordered pizzas from the onsite pizza parlour for supper. They were pretty good and were a godsend after another long day! Early to bed as we needed to be up early to drive back down home.

We left at 06.30 on the Monday morning and had a horrendous drive back that took nearly 12 hours (that will teach us to drive that distance on a bank holiday!). We stopped for a delicious breakfast at the Cairn Lodge Farm Services on the M74. It was a welcome relief to park up at home at 17.50 and relax. A great couple of weeks away even if the weather wasn’t too kind.

Miles driven since last post: 533