Hold the Fort!

Well, that's it, the end of the season. The last of this years events (but not adventures, rest easy my friend!). And what event was this? The Siege on the Forth at Blackness Castle.

Now, we have done this event once before in yon days before COVID (scratch that, 2017, that was a lifetime ago!) so I expected it to be different. With the rise of Outlander, some of which was filmed at this castle, it should come as no surprise that redcoats and Jacobites were abound. I decided to getu redcoat out the loft and, with cooler weather, knew that Missy would be more inclined to her Jacobite outfit.

Well, I expected some comments, but my, so many compliments! All from the reenactors (and a pair of young girls who were also dressed up as elves, who recognised kindred spirits as my friend and her boyfriend were also dressed up). Tremendous fun!

I was rather out numbered! There were also World War soldiers (who did a talk about the differences in the uniforms between the first and second), Napoleonic reenactors and also the classic Medieval ones. Missy managed to put stare a lord who relented to give her a piece of chicken but did not succeed in trying to hard stare some quiche off the squires.

The hard stare in action.

Missy tolerated the cannon once, but decided she was above such spectacles upon the second so I went for a wee walk about the camps which were now very quiet and managed to have a lovely chat with two medieval ladies about thier dresses and how they were made.

We then went for a wee walk before returning for the World Wars talk and the final parade. All in all, a very good day.

Even if I did upset a Napoleonic Soldier with my comment about his cute cannon.

 

I mean, how can something that small and deadly not be cute?!

Whilst I don't expect things to calm down any (life is not that kind at the moment), I think there will be an uptick of sewing in future posts. The longer nights are a good encouragement to be genteel and get on with crafts!

Until next time!

Inchmahome Priory revisited

Missy has previously done Inchmahome Priory (back in 2017!), but we weren't going to turn down a puppy play date just because we've been before!

It was my brother and Maisie, my mother, Missy and myself. My brother kindly offered to pick me up from the house and we were soon on the road. He was looking forward to trying Maisie on a boat, as she hadn't been on one yet, and he was hoping she would prefer it to the steam train. 

I just laughed and told him that I would have thought for her first boat he would have done a proper big boat. 

I swear, if he could have stopped on the motorway he would have. I was drilled as to what kind of a boat it was and, thinking he was concerned about Maisie, tried to play it cool by describing it as a rowboat with a motor.

Would we be given life jackets? He asked with some alarm.

Life jackets? For the dogs? Then it clicked. My brother cant swim. 

Yep. Enjoy the irony - I, the scuba diver, has a dog who will actively avoid water whilst my hydrophobic brother has a dog that will find any excuse to leap into it. The more I think of it, the funnier it seems!

Well, I wouldn't be writing the blog if we never made it. So despite his panic, the boat did not sink and even though I insisted I wouldn't judge him, he declined the offer of the life jacket. Maisie enjoyed it more than he did.

We got onto the island with no fuss, got our tickets and stopped for our picnic. Now, like everyone else, I'm trying to reduce plastic and waste and picnics are one place I find myself still seeking some plastic sandwich bags - not anymore:

Tada! A sandwich wrap (more photos on my instagram @missdaisysewing) - just simply put the rolls in the middle and assemble the velcro the right way and voila! I made a few earlier in the week so was pleased to road test it. Missy and Maisie were keen to share the spoils as we all enjoyed the unexpected beautiful weather.

The priory is a complete ruin. The foundations are completely intact and some of the buildings have most of their walls, but there is only one roof and that's the chapter house (Missy went on point in the completely empty, dark and chilly room so we didn't linger, just in case she had spotted a ghost).

What does remain is beautiful. Stone arches and tall plinths which are perfect for having dogs pose on (Missy and Maisie would not cooperate together, I have lots of nice photos of them individually, but they wouldn't sit nicely together!

As with all sites across the central belt, there is a lot of fuss about Mary Queen of Scots (she seems to have visited just about every castle - I'm waiting for the day I find a privvy with a sign stating "Mary Queen of Scots had a wee here") and there is a boxwood bower it is said she planted. My brother isn't a fan of the priory's and abbeys, much preferring the castles, so his highlight was the grounds of the island and its abundant trees. Despite only being half a kilometre long, there is a sizeable portion of 'woodland' which both dogs enjoyed.

Missy made friends on the boat ride back and Maisie decided to nap, a far cry from her excited barking going to the island. I was sat in the back with both dogs (they were harnessed in, Missy normally has the boot to herself) and they both fell asleep on the ride home. Definitely a worthwhile day out.

A tail of two Abbeys

The weather this year has officially been crazy. After flash floods on Monday, Thursday and Friday were hot enough that my poor tomatoes have heat damage (lots of water and a dose of tomato food should hopefully revive them). That's right, in the space of 8 weeks I've had frost damage and heat damage. I honestly couldn't make this up!

With the good weather set to turn over the weekend (typical) the hubby and I decided to go and follow the sun south to the borders and visit first Jedburgh Abbey and then on the return home, Dryburgh Abbey. There was an ambitious plan about also getting Melrose, but we shelved that as too ambitious the moment we arrived at Jedburgh and were offered the audio tour.

Now, I'm sure I've mentioned before that hubby is quite severely dyslexic and, whilst he refuses to let it stop him or put him into some kind of social box, he really struggles going around anything heavily word based that involves having then having to read with the distractions of a) other people, b) the dog, c) other people's dogs and d) dustmotes. It is one of the reasons we love and advocate the kids quizzes, they give us a nice stop by stop tour of the place, encourage finding the important answers, make sure nothing special gets missed and, most importantly, a sticker for the scrap book upon completion.

Audio tours on the other hand, let him unlock everything about a place. And I mean everything. Not a number shall be skipped, it shall be done in order and all interesting facts will be relayed to me as I'm having far too much fun photographing Missy and skimming the information boards to bother with the tour myself. I do enjoy them, and don't mean to belittle them at all, but for me, having the hubby recite weird and wonderful facts at me is far more enjoyable.

I digress. Long and short of it, once we knew there was an audio tour we knew there was no risk of it being a quick fly by look of the place so decided to scrap off one Abbey from the list. Better to do less well and enjoy it than rush three things and feel like you missed something.

It's unkind to Jedburgh Abbey to assume it would be a quick visit. Barring roof and upper floors, it's remarkably intact and and is huge. Built in the late 1100s with a red stone, it dominates the small town of Jedburgh. They're obviously very proud of it and, after going through an elevated viewing room filled with wonderful and odd little artifacts (loved the comb with Hercules) the place was immaculately well kept. We enjoyed a picnic looking up at the Abbey before exploring (I'm getting worried that Missy is starting to pose on her own accord, she went onto the bench without prompting and sat and smiled at me beside the hamper). The audio tour was a bonus as we found the stone room which had some great information about how they built the place (it took that long that Roman went out of fashion and Gothic came in, which shows in the shape of the vaulted windows)  and enjoyed the views from the viewing platform. Most definitely worth a visit.

Dryburgh, a twenty minutes drive away back north, was an Augustine abbey as well but, unlike Jedburgh which is in the heart of a city, Dryburgh was very isolated and had some woodland to it. A very different atmosphere to effectively the same type of building. 

Built about the same time as Jedburgh, this one is predominantly gothic and, has the added interest of having been bought in the 1700s and done up as a romantic ruin. It felt a very different place to our first abbey and, whilst I couldn't pick a favourite, Missy clearly preferred this one. There was a rabbit to point at and field mice to stalk, important misadventures when getting ones history lessons. 

The trees are huge, and it homes one of Scotlands oldest yew trees (hint, it was ginormous) - they are clearly very proud of the trees as we were eagerly handed a sheet of the important trees to find whilst being given our quiz. Missy was fawned over by the staff and we bought her a Harris Tweed collar from the dog display which had a matching bow. They've also introduced tap water bottle refills (which they kindly did to resupply us with water for Missys return journey) and it's something I'm super pleased to see and want to see more businesses do.

We timed our trip home well, the moment we entered the Edinburgh limits the heavens opened and it poured down with rain.

Missy got to wear her lovely new collar on Sunday as we went to the eagerly anticipated Paws at the Palace at Scone Palace (I really must visit the actual palace sometime - I've done loads of events there now!). 

After the wash out of Dogfest, and a forecast of showers, I was armed with wellies, umbrella, full waterproofs and a rain hat. Guess what? Didn't rain! We spent the whole day avoiding talk of the weather so as not to jinx it, but it was that perfect dog weather of sunny with a cool breeze.

We checked out the stalls and watched the flyball have-a-go as well as the gun dog have-a-go (basically retrieving skills) and had a laugh that whilst Missy would be very good at them, it's such a pity she has no inclination to tennis balls and therefore wouldn't turn her paw to them. We did have a go at agility and she became best buddies with a bonkers collie mix - I'm sure she was somehow leading that dog astray whilst being on impeccably good behaviour herself!

There was a DJ and a dog parade (we didn't bother joining in with the parade, it clashed with prettiest girl and Missy wouldn't have enjoyed being in the rabble)  and the time honoured dog show where she didn't place. I think had there been fourth, she may have gotten something at prettiest eyes, the judges were taken with her and chatted to us which wasn't the case with prettiest girl, but it doesn't matter, she had fun and the entry fee went to a good cause. 

It was the events first year and I think they weren't expecting it to be so successful - there was only three portaloos, and the contest overlapping the parade was a schoolboy error, but overall I was very impressed with it and hope they throw another paw-ty next year.

I have one last announcement before calling it quits for the night - look who has officially joined the family! I can't wait till Ruby has had all her vaccines and we can go visiting!

A Week up North Part 2

After a day of quite heavy history, our middle day was intended to be lighthearted and fun, with both Landmark and Clava Cairns picked out.

Landmark is an outdoor adventure park, and had come highly recommended by older sister and her children as simply the place to go and visit in the Aviemore area. It started off well, we were amongst the first into Landmark which was all bedecked for Halloween and decided to go on the red squirrel nature walk. We instantly realised the place had been oversold to us - the 'really big and long' walk was less than a kilometre long. Missy was on point for the whole trek round and, when we did spot the red tail of a squirrel, she was thankfully behind a screen and unable to see it, despite clearly being able to smell it. 

We took turns (no dogs indoors, although she was permitted in the big marquee beside he restaurant, so we were able to eat under cover) and did the little puzzle and optical illusions house, the butterfly and bird house and also the small roller-coaster and one of the water slides. There were loads of dogs accompanying their families and we took to opportunity to chat to some of them. By that point two coach trips of kids had turned up and the place was rammed with families and a further visit around the squirrel viewing walk showed that the glimpse of the tail was the best we were going to get as kids ran around screaming at each other (which I have no problem of children doing, but red squirrels are notoriously skittish, and will only be seen in absolute silence).

Impostor syndrome had hit hard and we decided that it was most definitely the kind of place kids would have a great time at, but I couldn't justify to myself waiting in a very long queue to have a shot on something when I was surrounded by masses of kids desperate to get on too. We decided to consider the experience as worth doing, but only to repeat when able to borrow some of my nieces and nephews!

The day took a downturn after that. Deciding that Missy would appreciate some peace and quiet, we decided on getting another Historic Scotland site out the way and visit Clava Cairns. Its one of the free sites that you just turn up at and, so long as everybody respects the rules, they are generally nice little sites. We'd got out the car and waited for another to park before making our way to the gate. No sooner had my hand touched the gate when the door of the car we'd waited to park popped open and, engine idling and finger wagging, some middle aged man started shouting at us that dogs weren't allowed in.

My temper gets the better of me in these situations and I invariably say something I shouldn't. I simply snapped back that the sign clearly stated dogs were permitted on leads and we recieved another tirade of abuse that is was a sacred site, the place was covered in dog muck (I barked back that I am a responsible owner and pick up after my dog) and he continued over me that dogs simply werent allowed and he knew 'the rules'.

My husband is far better in these situations. Calm as can be, he simply asked 'do you work here? Are you a groundskeeper?' and at the following response of 'what? No.' the hubby simply walked through the gate and we left the ghastly man behind. It was a lovely site but we took no enjoyment as Mr I-know-the-rules was stomping about the place also, clearly waiting for Missy to do something inappropriate like sniff a rock. Out of the safety of his idling car, he made no movement towards us again, but by that point the whole thing was rather ruined for us. The hubby told me off for trying to get Missy to pee on the mans car as we left and tried to figure out what to do with the day.

Stopping at the local shops to stock up on some ice cream and purchase a new Halloween costume for Missy, we decided to explore the site about the lodge we were staying at. We had been told there was a lake and weren't disappointed when we found the patch of water nestled in the trees. It was completely flat and still and, with the autumn colours in the trees, absolutely beautiful. Upon returning to our lodge, we tucked into the ice cream and made a bullet proof plan for our final day before playing some board games. 

It was time to hunt down Nessie on the Jacobite Loch Ness cruise. The weather was to stay dry but it was one of those formidable days that threatens at rain with dark skies and banks of low lying cloud. Perfect for hunting monsters.

A promising start on the hunt!

The boat ride was dog friendly and the staff were more than happy to Missy come aboard. She made friends with an american tourist who was missing her dog and a couple from somewhere European and they simply insisted on cuddling and patting her. Deciding that the world was back in alignment and that things were how they should be, we settled down for the hour long ride and enjoyed the commentary about the history of the Loch and the lore of the monster.

A formidable landscape

After being told that Columbus had banished Nessie in 500AD, and how Nessie reappeared throughout the middle ages and through modern times, it was quite understandable to reason how such a stark landscape and vast body of water could spark imaginations and tales of monsters. Despite low cloud and dark skies, it was pleasant for Autumn as we rode on the top of the boat and discussed with the other tourists about how the highlands truly were the best landscape to be seen in the world. 

The boat sailed to and around Urquhart Castle. Some people got off here to visit the castle and those from the earlier tour joined us. The site does not permit dogs and the reason is simple, in peak season 2000 people can visit the site per day, so its simply too busy and dangerous to allow them. Urquhart Castle was our plan for the day  after sailing so, after discovering all the loch side walks flooded, we walked Missy in the woodland above the loch for an hour before heading over. Leaving Missy with food, water and a blanket in case it got chilly, we headed inside and explored the infamous site.

That's not the jetty, that's meant to be a courtyard

Urquhart has a long history, originally being the site of a pictish settlement before becoming the now-ruined castle it is today. With a full sized trebuchet upon entering the site, it certainly has lots to see and we explored the tower and the citadel whilst quoting Knightmare and filling in our kids quiz. The visitors centre was full of artifacts that had been found in the area and a ten minute film condensed more than a thousand years of history and explained how the castle had swapped hands and sides before being blown up by its very owners to stop it getting into Jacobite hands. 

We returned to Missy and drove to the nearest village of Drumnadrochit to try and find a late lunch. Nowhere was dog friendly and also serving food, so we found a cafe with outdoor seating and laughed as we were one of six outdoor tables occupied by dog parents. Missy was treated to a buffalo ear as we had lunch before we popped into the information centre and enquired about local walks. A forest walk was indicated to us and we were soon trekking up an enormous hill through woodland. Missy ran about looking for squirrels and rabbits, all of whom were wisely out the way and we made it back to the car just as the weather broke.

And the weather certainly broke. With Storm Calum attacking Ireland, we had weather warnings for rain through the night and on our return trip. Deciding it wisest to just head home, we didnt have any outlandish stops but treated Missy to one of her favourite local walks upon arriving home.

And that was it! Why do holidays always pass so quickly? We've earmarked the highlands for another return visit, so it certainly wont be Missys last attempt at trying to find Nessie!

Incholm Abbey

So, no rest for the wicked! After our fabulous long weekend adventures, we had a (mis)adventure around Incholm Abbey on Wednesday. Not to be confused with Inchmahome, which we have previously visited, when holidaying in the Trossachs! Incholm is located on the Firth of Forth, and its name means "Columba's Island" whereas the latter is located in the Lake of Menteith, near Aberfoyle - a very important distinction we have discovered in retrospect!

Incholm is one of those sites I've really fancied for a while now, but it's only open on season whereas we do the bulk of our weekends out and about off season. With it being an on season weekday, the hubby and I figured we should give it a go and hope for the best.

We weren't disappointed!

To get to the island requires catching a boat over - we used the Maid of the Forth ferry (recommended via the historic Scotland website) and pre-booked ourselves onto the morning boat at a cost if £14 each (£20 for non historic Scotland members). A quick double check showed that they were indeed dog friendly and we enjoyed a half hour boat ride out to the island. Although it was sunny, autumn is certainly about as there was a definite chill in the air. We've both caught small-child-lurgy and decided to sit downstairs in the warmth and watch the scenery in comfort and away from any wind chill. A wise choice I suspect owing to overheard comments.

After a delightful loop-de-loop about a small rocky outcrop full of seals, the priory soon came into view. It was far more intact than we had expected and, with an hour and a half until pick up, we got our kids quiz and were off. There were rangers showing off sea life and a monk doing a walking tour, but we decided to have a meander about the priory at our own pace. We found the kitchens and the dormitory and the quad and enjoyed a wandering through the maze of buildings. The quiz came in hand otherwise we would have missed the delightful octagonal Chapter House - another reason they are certainly worth picking up! It was as we scaled up the bell tower however that Missy had her misadventure. 

Clearly in an adventurous mood!

When it comes to narrow spiral staircases, we tend to have one of us go up/down and then allow Missy off the lead at the all clear to safely get up or down at her own pace without tripping people up or wrapping them up in her lead. This time however, as the hubby was scaling up a very steep staircase, which was really more a glorified step ladder, Missy launched herself up them and dragged me along with her before either of us had realised that it was going to be far too steep to get down again. Deeming it a future problem, we went up to the view point and found a pair of German tourists who were very surprised to see Missy.

I shuffled backwards down the steps first, trying to encourage Missy down with some biscuits as our new audience looked on. The hubby decided to allow them down first and, as I discussed with the lady of the couple about how the stairs somehow felt steeper coming down, we overheard my hubby explaining that he would just carry Missy down, at which point the German lady shouted up, asking if he would carry her down too!

In hindsight, I rather wish I had taken a photo. It was not one of Missy's finer moments. Scooped up in one arm (so that the hubby could hold the rail with the other, we normally carry her in two) she paddled her legs uselessly in the air and kept trying to catch the rail as they slowly advanced downwards, gaining a round of applause from our new German friends when she was eventually placed down on solid stone. We allowed them to go down the tiny windy staircase first whilst Missy shook the embarrassment out of her fur and then behaved perfectly for the rest of the day, doing exactly as she was told.

Missy rather pleased with herself after being rescued!

We realised that the island had a military base and a walk, but had used up most of our time going about the Abbey. Once safely back on the ferry, we were told that, so long as its not the peak of high season, if we just notify the crew, they are generally good to let you catch a later boat to give you more time on Incholm, which is likely what we will do next time we go. Chatting to the monk tour guide, we also had another odd phenomenon explained to us - that to Inchgnome island, a rock outcrop beside Incholm where, during the winter breeding season, gnomes appear and multiply. In 2014 they applied for Independence from Scotland but were denied, and apparently next year they will be applying again. We were told to keep an eye out on the web, so I'm not sure if its a campaign on Historic Scotland's part, or all part of an elaborate joke that our monk friend was in on, but I'm certainly going to keep an eye out!

The tour finished with more seals and a swooping sail beneath the three bridges, all of which we were informed over the loudspeaker, were record holders in their own right. A rather marvellous way to end our little misadventure!

Dunfermline Abbey and Palace

It was another Historic Scotland site this weekend with Dunfermline Abbey and Palace. The weather has cooled down a little but is still bright and warm, just perfect for days out strolling about castles and graveyards and absolutely ideal for Missy who loves sunshine, but not heat.

The site is split into three parts - the palace, the abbey and the knave, and each part is a distinct building on its own. We were a bit confused at where we were to be at first as the knave is attached to the back of a working church and there was a Canadian pipe band practising for a march, so the area was much busier than we expected! We found the Historic Scotland shop though and got ourselves in. The chap running the site was great, we asked about areas Missy might not be allowed in, and he was happy to give her full reign of the place (though obviously not the actual working church!) and offered to let us into the palace through the gardeners gate if we wanted owing to the spiral staircase being very tight. We declined the offer and, though Missy managed the narrow stairs, next time I would just go through the gate - they were very narrow indeed and she wasn't very keen on getting down them!

The palace and the abbey are predominantly ruins. One wall and the foundations remain on both sites and the knave itself is completely intact. All of the signs are well written and illustrated and, as always, the hubby and I helped Missy with the kids quiz. She's doing well on her history lessons and I think she enjoyed the break from the usual central-belt history of the various Douglas clans and Mary Queen of Scots. Instead we learned about St Margaret in the original church and then about Queen Anne who had it expanded and rebuilt in the 1500's.

After we covered all three parts of the site (and Missy was perplexed as to why we would want her posing in a fireplace), we went for a lovely walk through the adjacent Pittencrieff park. There was a Chinese garden, an Italian garden, large areas of lawn, lots of forestry bits and, most importantly, hundreds of squirrels. A sign warned of free roaming peacocks, but no other dogs were on leads and there was no peacocks to be seen, so we allowed Missy to stretch her legs and brush off the cobwebs and go for a good run. There was a big King Charles Spaniel meet up going on (there was about twenty dogs) and lots of other playful pooches trying to distract Missy from her squirrel conquest.

After that we went for a bumble through the town centre (a few very nice craft shops, lots of places to eat, usual sort of thing) and then called it a day. It had been getting progressively nicer and warmer as the day had gone on and we figured it would be nice to spend the last few ours of sunshine out in the garden.

In other news, I've been getting back into my sewing (I have a few projects I cant share just yet), but I was really pleased to put together this little dress for myself:

Sloths, koalas and pandas? And pockets! And a pretty bow! What more does a dress need? I've finally figured out how to use the tailors dummy as more than just a coat hook to drape my latest project on. Its a hobby I'm constantly learning in, and with my next big project being an Edwardian boating coat, I'm sure I'll continue learning for a while to come!

Prepare to give Fire!

Its that time of year when all the activities and events are on - and with the tremendously good weather, I've found myself wanting to do all of them! Today, my friend, Missy and I did the Prepare to give Fire! event at Dirleton Castle. Ironically, it wasn't that long ago I last visited this castle, but it seemed worth the trip as the other Historic Scotland events this weekend were at non-doggy castles.

Right from the start it was a scorching day and, sunscreen liberally applied, we arrived early and got a chance to chat with the reinactors - they're great people, and are always friendly. Missy stole cuddles off of a chap in a very dandy hat and enjoyed getting fussed over. They all checked if Missy would be alright with the noise and, after explaining that the only thing that upset her last year at the Seige on the Forth was the petard, they all agreed that it was the noisiest and reassured me that whilst it was on display, there wasn't any intention of setting it off.

There was the canon demonstration at midday, so we watched that before looking about the castle. With us both being into out photography, I'm ashamed to say that we took more photos of the flowers than the castle itself! It was a nice break getting into the cool castle and then it was back into the sun to meet the barber surgeon.

Lets put it this way, with or without medical help, chances were you weren't going to make it - getting help was probably a more painful way to go!

We found a nice cool spot under some trees and chilled out together until two when it was the musket demonstration. Whilst Missy was absolutely fine temperature wise, she had clearly had enough by that point. I'm not going to complain that its too hot (no one wants to be that person), but what it has been is simply too long and she's been getting tired easily. My friend suggested the beach and, with Yellowcraigs only a mile away, it seemed like a great idea.

We may make a beach dog out of her yet! Getting into some cool water is exactly what she needed and we all had fun splashing about in the shallows. The waves are still too daunting for her, but she certainly went deeper this time before playing with the other dogs about the beach.

A perfect end to the day!

Fun in the Sun

With the thermometer set to hit 22C at the weekend, we decided we had to go out for a day at the beach...and at the same time tick off a few more on our Historic Scotland to-do list.

We started by going up to Arbroath and getting the Abbey ticked off. It was apparent from the start though that it was going to be one of those days: we were late setting off and then we lost Missys lead on the walk before going into the Abbey. We literally think someone lifted it as we'd left it on a large stone whilst getting bags sorted and it wasn't there when we ran back to get it. Fortunately I had packed a spare lead, but seeing as it was a really nice good quality bungee we'd lost I wasn't very happy. Well, it will teach us for next time not to rush about.

The Abbey itself is a beautiful ruin, it's a distinctive red sandstone that had weathered eerily. I prefer my castles to abbeys and cathedrals (more back stabbing and bloodshed) but we still managed to fill in a few hours wandering about the grounds and having lunch in the sunshine.

Highlights were the lego exhibition (bizarrely enough!) - the underwater scene was my favourite one but there was loads of little cityscapes and monuments made from lego. We also found a tower with some incredible acoustics where they kept the lunatics, and Missy only got one question wrong on her quiz sheet, so we were pleased to walk away with a sticker.

An ocean of Lego

It was about half one by this point and we weren't sure what to do as we were both tired and it was very warm. Very glad we did push on with the day!

Initially it looked like another disaster - we were going to do St Andrews Castle, only to discover it wasn't dog friendly. It didn't have a roof (the usual telling point that it is dog friendly) and the website hadn't specifically stated no dogs (although further inspection shows they do have the symbol there, it just wasn't that obvious when your in a hurry, although, again, they normally explicitly say). 

At the Cathedral

Nonetheless, a quick search and we discovered St Marys was dog friendly and we decided to have a gander about that. Then it came to the Cathedral - talk about conflicting information! The sign said no dogs, but it was full of dogs. Even the website says dogs must be on a lead, followed by no dogs allowed. We took it to mean that she was allowed on the grounds (where all the other dogs were) but not into the visitors centre or up the remaining tower which was ticketed. No one seemed to mind and we felt a sense of achievement at another site getting ticked off the list. Then off to the beach!

Missy is funny about water. She's getting braver in her old age and will sometimes step into it, but she's never shown any inclination to wanting to swim and play in water. Because of that, we'd never done a 'proper' beach with her before (mud flats and rocky shorelines don't count as proper beaches!) so we were curious to see what she would make of us wading in the water. The end result was hilarious - she kept running away from the waves and kept trying to coax the other dogs onto the sand flats to play instead of in the water.

A woodland dog, through and through, our Missy, although she did have fun and the water was a good idea to help her keep cool. We finished the day with fish and chips by the band stand watching people play and swim in the sea, and the aquarium was kind enough to refill Missys water bottle with tap water for us, so I picked up some ice creams from the gift shop and we had another wonder down the beach.

So, despite not going to plan, we did have a wonderful day. Missy was shattered and happily spent the rest of the evening having cuddles on the sofa and, though we wouldn't do an entirely beach holiday with her, we're more confident about adding beaches into our future staycation plans. We may make a water dog of her yet!