Our first full day in Scotland!
We headed off from the Premier Inn at Mussleburgh, to the east of Edinburgh, and were very excited to go over the Forth Bridge!
The first stop on our itinery was Dunfermline Abbey and Palace. Dunfermline is the place where Charles I was born, the last monarch to be born in Scotland. We were able to get free admission as this is an Historic Scotland site and we have English Heritage membership.
The abbey is also famous for containing the tomb of King Robert the Bruce and the tower on the new part of the abbey celebrates this.
Scone Palace was our next destination. This is a very significant site as it is the traditional place of coronation for Scottish monarchs.
We only paid to go in the grounds as we couldn’t stay long: it was quite expensive! The outside of the palace was very beautiful but we couldn’t enjoy the gardens much as it was sooooo hot and there wasn’t much shade. We ventured into the maze but sadly never found our way to the centre.
We visited the HIghland Folk Museum next. It is quite similar to the Weald and Downland Museum and St Fagans National Museum in Wales (both of which we visited last year) in that it has collected buildings to preserve them, but obviously with a Scottish heritage. Entry was free with donations welcome.
Our final drive of the day took us to our glamping pod which looked out over Loch Ness. The pod was very comfortable and much roomier than I’d envisaged! We ate microwaved meals on the picnic bench outside the pod and admired the view.
As the sunset behind the mountains, we paddled on the shoreline of Loch Ness. Zach decided to get completely naked, well we were still in the heatwave!
