An unlikely event—my face hit the sidewalk in Edinburgh, Scotland, on May 13, 2023, and it wasn’t pretty. But it didn’t stop me from seeing the sights! Here’s the first three days of our official Insight Vacations tour, “The Country Roads of Scotland.”
May 13, 2023 – Edinburgh Continues
We thoroughly enjoyed our first three days in Edinburgh, and now the official tour began. We started our day with breakfast at a nearby café, “Scottish Indian Infusion,” and Lin had haggis with his meal. I sampled it and it wasn’t too bad.
Then we had to move from our present hotel to the Malmaison Hotel for a couple of days. Because we so enjoyed our taxi driver from the airport, we hired Paulo to move us.
Again, we had an engaging dialogue during our trip. We arrived, and he helped us with our bags. So we started our registration process in the hotel, but I wanted a picture of him, so I ran out to the taxi and caught him before he drove off. I took a selfie with Paulo and ran back inside to show my traveling companions.
Before I knew, I felt myself sailing through the air—no stopping or controlling it! I hit full force on my chin, skidded on my nose, hit on my left side and scratched my glasses! Blood flowed! In shock, I couldn’t imagine what happened, but a couple on bikes stopped and gasped at me! I knew it was bad.
Quickly, a nurse from our tour came running and assisted me. She told me she saw the cyclists’ response and knew something bad had happened. Just as quickly, someone from the hotel came with a first aid kit and the nurse bandaged my nose. She also wiggled it vigorously and stated, “It’s not broken! But it might be fractured!”
She also assured me it was better that I landed on my face and not my wrists because, in her words, “You could be on your way to the hospital with a broken wrist.”
As I came out of the initial fog, I assured her I would rest before doing anything, but she demanded, “Do not go to sleep. We don’t know if you have a concussion.”
So, I went upstairs, and first washed the blood off of my t-shirt and jeans. When I looked in the mirror, my heart sank. I looked like I had lost a fight for sure! Then I rested for forty-five minutes, but we had plans—we had tickets for the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus. We had an orientation meeting for the tour and then a welcome dinner back at our hotel, so we needed to get going. Three were waiting on me, and deeply I kept hearing my ole cowboy dad’s voice whisper, “You get bucked off. You get back on.”
So, I got up. We caught the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus and rode it to the Waterloo station. Then we wandered around downtown Edinburgh shopping. We found a place to grab a snack, then we were late back to the Orientation meeting because of bus connections. We met our tour guide, John Gillespie, and what a guide he was!
That night we had a delightful get acquainted dinner and met a couple we became very attached to, Ernie and Charlotte.
I felt the brunt of the fall when I got back to the room, but I slept well.
May 14, 2023–More of Edinburgh
We spent the first part of the day at the Edinburgh Castle. Our group didn’t go there during our first three days in Edinburgh, knowing we would be on this tour. Lin and I had been there for a short time in 2019, but I loved being back there. Built up on the hill above Edinburgh. What breathtaking fort! We wandered through the halls and rooms, oohing and ahhing at the tapestries on the walls and the massive size of everything.
My favorite part of the castle this time—St. Margaret’s Chapel is the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh, dating back to the 12th century, but I can’t find my pictures. This was the day after my fall, so that may be why!
During the afternoon, we took an optional excursion. At the other end of the Royal Mile, we drove to the Palace of Holyrood house, the official Scottish residence of the King. Again tapestries, statues and gigantic rooms! Lin had fun in the garden talking to the gardener.
That evening, we took off on another optional excursion, Ceilidh Dinner and evening at the Ghillie Dhu. A Scot, dressed in his colorful tartan kilt, met us at the door and piped us in with his bagpipe. Two young ladies danced for us, and Lin and I got up and danced a jig. What a wonderful end to a full day.
May 15, 2023–St. Andrews and the Highland Capital of Inverness
This day began our time of having our large luggage outside our door early to be put on the bus. This day was 6:55 am, so we had to plan accordingly.
It was north out of Edinburgh to St. Andrews and the Highland Capital of Inverness. We traveled alongside three bridges that crossing the River Forth.
I’m embarrassed to say I hadn’t looked at the itinerary closely and missed the fact our first stop was, St. Andrews. When I heard, I gasped! How exciting!
Coming into the city, I noticed how manicured it looked. We immediately went to The Old Course—St. Andrew’s Links. Golfers lined up ready to play this famous course and have their dreams come true! What a scenic, beautiful course with the beach so near.
After seeing the course, we wandered the streets, peeking in the University of St. Andrews and found The Northpoint Café, the place where Kate met William for their first coffee, and we ate there. Not feeling great, I didn’t join Lin and Linda taking pictures of the ruins of the St. Andrews Cathedral.
From there, we continued north and stopped at Blair Castle. “It is the ancestral home of the Clan Murray, and was historically the seat of their chief, the Duke of Atholl.“
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blair_Castle
The Duke apparently liked to hunt because the place overflowed with stag’s antlers and guns and stuffed animals!
Here, we had our first sightings of “hairy coo,” the reddish colored long-haired cattle of Scotland. They fascinated this ranch girl. How did they see? I have many more great pictures of them later!
We continued to Inverness for the night after a full busy day! My face continued to hurt, but I kept moving. What else could I do?
I have ever been to this part of Scotland? Have you ever had an accident affect a trip? Like my face plant?
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