I will have no pictures of Edinburgh to share with you because we did not stay.  Our room there was not very comfortable,  and neither of us slept well.  Amy woke feeling worse, so bad she didn’t think she had the energy to tour the city.  So we decided to head on north to our next stop, Kirkcaldy.   It is only an hour or so from Edinburgh,  so we arrived a little before noon, hoping to get into our room early so Amy could rest.  Here’s where the story gets interesting,  but it turned out to be one of those happy accidents we’ve been blessed with on this trip.

I had used booking.com for the hotel here in Kircaldy.  I’ve been happy overall with the other rooms.  This one was a big flop.  As soon as we walked in, the smell of the place nearly made Amy vomit.  Sitting right by the font entrance, on a table in font of reception, was a slop bucket full of food scraps.  There was no one at reception, and we were told by cleaning staff that it might be after the 2 p.m. check in time that we would be able to get into a room.  We didn’t want to stay there by that time, so we went looking for another place to stay.

We found the Strathearn Hotel just around the corner, and to our surprise, it was just as affordable as our original hotel, but quite the cut above.  The house was built in 1795 by a mining magnate and became a hotel in the 40s.  It is beautiful, and well – run by Stephen Stewart, his wife, and his staff.  Cassy was our waiter at lunch, and we fell in love with her charm, her sense of humor, and her kindness.  By the end of a delicious lunch, we were old friends.  We also met Diane, the bartender, who this evening poured me my first taste of Scotch whiskey, Glenmorangie, and I hope I’ve spelled that right.  I could get addicted to that stuff if it wasn’t way out of my budget!  Strathearn also has a top notch chef.  Once again, we were so eager to dive in that we didn’t take pictures of our Scottish salmon fillets or our desserts.  I had a trifle with summer berries and cream, and Amy had a lemon posset with berry compote and shortbread cookies.  It was all scrumptious.

Stephen and his staff are all so kind and friendly, finding the Strathearn Hotel was a godsend.  We are hoping that booking.com will get us a refund on the other place, but at any rate, we’re so glad we found the Strathearn.

Kirkcaldy has a lovely stone built harbor with a ruined church and a ruined castle built by James II nearby.  I hope to have some pictures to add to this post tomorrow before we head north to Stonehaven.  We did get in a little beach time today, and I picked up treasures to share with friends and family.    Hoping this warm weather holds!