Dundee - Day 3

We checked out of the hotel and drove up the road a bit to park at the bottom of the Law Steps. This is a path and staircase that takes you to the top of Dundee Law, a hill with great views over the city.

After working our way back down the steps we drove to Broughty Ferry. After parking at the beach we went into the fort for a look around.

We had a nice breakfast of bacon ciabattas in Visocchi's café.

For a walk we went east along the coast for about 5 km, as far as Monifeith.

We caught the bus back to Broughty Ferry. We then drove home, via the kennels to pick up Oscar.

Dundee - Day 2

We walked from the hotel to the city centre, and went into the Soo Delicious café in Union Street for breakfast. Shirley had a bacon roll and Scott had a bacon and sausage panini.

We then walked down to Discovery Point and paid to go in. It's all about the Antarctic expeditions of Scott and Shackleton and is very interesting.

We then explored the ship Discovery itself.

Next door to Discovery Point is the new(ish) V&A Museum. We went in for a look around, and were pleasantly surprised it was pretty interesting, as we'd heard some poor reviews. It had a nice sheltered outside viewing platform.

They're still developing the waterfront area, a metal whale sculpture was just being installed next to the V&A.

We then had a walk through the city centre, seeing the local landmarks like the Desperate Dan and Oor Wullie statues, and the Caird Hall.

We had a bit to eat at Coffee & Co, and had a bit of a walk around before going back to the hotel for a bit. The hotel has a fine wooden staircase, and some history with Winston Churchill.

Later in the afternoon we drove out to Cineworld and went to see the James Bond film No Time To Die. It was pretty good.

In the evening we went to the local Phoenix Bar for a drink before dinner at the Rama Thai restaurant. We had mixed platters with chicken, beef and pork with various sauces and salads. It was all excellent, highly recommended.

We had a drink on the way home at the Old Bank Bar.

Dundee - Day 1

We dropped Oscar off at the kennels and drove up to Dundee in the car, getting there just before 6pm. We checked in to the Best Western Queens Hotel, on Nethergate at the west side of the city centre.

After dropping off our stuff we went out for a wander. We had a pint at the Bank Bar in Union Street, then walked down to the waterfront.

The new V&A museum is there, as is Discovery Point where the ship that took Captain Scott and Ernest Shackleton to the Antarctic is based.

We went further along the waterfront to the Gidi Grill Caribbean restaurant, where we'd booked a table for dinner.

We had grilled lamb, spiced macaroni cheese with jerk chicken, tempura vegetables and skinny fries. It was all pretty good, our criticism was that it all arrived at our table very quickly, so we didn't really have time to relax (and indicated that most of it wasn't freshly cooked). No real complaints though.

We walked back through the city centre to the hotel, stopping at the Market Bar for a drink on the way.

 

Scottish Borders - Day 4

We packed up and left the site, deciding to go to Selkirk for a short walk before going home. We parked in the lower part of town and joined the path up Ettrick Water.

We walked as far as the weir, with its hydroelectric power station and salmon ladder.

We then walked back via the old water-powered sawmill.

At the same spot is the salmon viewing centre, with a TV monitor looking at the salmon ladder. We didn't see any fish though.

We walked back to Selkirk then drove home, arriving about 4pm.

Scottish Borders - Day 3

We did the next leg of the Borders Abbey Way, this time starting by getting the bus to Hawick. First we packed up and left the site, then drove and parked in the public car park in Jedburgh.

We caught the 9.50 bus to Hawick and made our way down to the River Teviot. We walked along the side of it for a bit, then just at the edge of town came across a house with amazing Halloween decorations.

We then carried on. We met a man who'd lost his dog, so we kept an eye out for it but didn't see it. At one point the route was closed because of a landslip so we were diverted onto the road, which made the walk a bit longer.

We stopped for lunch at the village of Denholm.

From here the route left the river and went uphill through some woods. We came across what we think is a squirrel trap.

At the top of the hill it was more exposed, and it was raining a bit by then.

Eventually we went down the other side and back into Jedburgh.

We then drove on to our next site, which was Kirkfield Caravan Park in the small village of Town Yetholm. After setting up we went for a walk into the village, and went for a drink in the Plough Hotel.

Later we had Thai prawn curry for dinner.