WE HAVE SURVIVED CROVIE! Also we have returned to St. Andrews a day earlier than planned, simply to escape the terrible weather and freezing cold conditions of the North Sea and Mission Hall Cottage.

But to begin at the beginning, we arrived to Crovie on Saturday, 9/11 in a pouring rain and winds so hard that you felt as if you would be blown off the seawall into the North Sea.

This is the entrance to the cottage known as Mission Hall, #65

This is the walk from way in the background where you park the car in the lower parking lot. Thank God we didn't have to park in the upper parking area and come down the hillside steps.
This is how you get supplies in to the cottage.

Regressing, we did stop en route to Crovie at Glenfiddich for lunch in their restaurant. Good food.

Dick had the Salmon Prepared Three Ways.

Because we did not yet have grocery supplies in the Crovie Mission Hall Cottage, we ate out at one of the only 4 restaurants in Banff (about 15 miles from Crovie). Pictured here is me at the Fife Hotel restaurant.

Sunday, 9/12 we drove to Cruden Bay to time the route. We found the famous but scarey looking Cruden Bay golf course. Our tee-time was for Monday at 1pm.

Explored the area from Cruden Bay to Peterhead. In Fraserburgh we tried to locate an internet café. Everything was closed. Ate at Cheers. Weird people there. A couple of drunks at the bar and some girl celebrating her 21 birthday, with whiskey shots at noon! Ahh stupid youth.

Got groceries in Banff at the Tesco. Came back to cottage and made tortellini for dinner. Here are some pictures of the cottage interior:

The main room

The "living room" and kitchen
The staircase to the upper bedrooms
Our bedroom with the numbered pews for the headboard

and the side of room looking down

Monday, we bagged the golf...too nasty outside and too hard of a course.

Back to Fraserburgh to find internet café. Closed for training. Hotel Royal will not have WiFi for two weeks. Went to library and used their computer to make sure the Capital One card for Dick was paid as it was over the credit limit. Still raining and pretty nasty winds. So, we toured the Fraserburgh Museum Lighthouse. Quite an interesting museum. Took pictures of the fishing posts where the fishing lines use to be dried and mended. Now they are decorated with knitting. Sonya will love this.

Dick lost his crown on his bottom tooth while eating a toffee. Tried to find a dentist. A wonderful lady at the Findlay’s Fish House told us where a dentist was. While we waited for our soup, I ran around the corner to the dentist. They would not take an emergency walk-in but gave me a number for referral. Called and left message. We had the great Cullen Skinky Soup and shared a Fish Cake.

Drove on the backroads and came upon this lovely beach (IF YOU ARE A POLAR BEAR!)

Cullykhan Bay

That night at Crovie, I made chicken kiev (from deli area) and salad. We had lovely sunshine in the afternoon. Enjoyed a brief reprieve from the nasty wind and weather to enjoy the view to sea sitting on John Knox's pews in front of our cabin.

Pews actually from John Knox's church


From this view you can really see how Mission Hall did have the look of a church.

This is a photo in a book inside the cottage which shows what the interior was like when it was a Mission Church for the fishing village.

Tuesday, raining hard in the night AGAIN and still cold and windy in the morning. Decide to go into Banff to visit a Dental Laboratory we had seen and ask for a dentists. They called a dentist in MacDuff and Dick has an appointment for tomorrow at 9am. The Scots are such wonderful people; nicest and kindest anywhere!!

The tooth now taken care of, we just did a drive going north on the Coastal Trail West along the little 17^th century fishing villages. Especially liked Buckie and went to see Bow Fiddle Rock.

Stopped at Strathisla Distillery where they make Chevis Regal. Back to cottage to read. High Tide and big surf. Off and on rain all day and quite cold.

Sitting in the cottage and seeing this high surf and on the other side is a mud wall with huge boulders that could come crashing down on you brings a wee bite of worry.

Wednesday we were up early to get Dick to the dentist at 9am. Got his crown re cemented and then drove to Boat of Garten for golf. It is still off and on heavy rain and big winds in Banff/MacDuff area. But into Boat of Garten then weather eased off and we got in a nice round of golf. Lovely course.

When we are staying in Inverness we will be much closer to this course and may play it again.

From this town you can catch the Steam Locomotive for a little ride to another village. Quite a lovely sight to see. Several people riding the train and having lunch.


Thursday is again ugly weather and winds. We are so cold. The cottage does not heat! Again we opt to do some touring around the side roads. Seeing some castles and visiting some little villages like Ellon (where I found a lovely book store and a Truffle store)
Tolquhon Castle
Fyvie Castle, owned by William Forbes

This night we have placed the wheelbarrow at the car park and have purchase a HUGE GUNNYSACK size of firewood. We burn at least half of the bag trying to heat the cottage.

Friday morning we get up in a huge SNIT!! This is stupid. Driving around in the rain and wind looking at castles and not having really much fun at all. We are so fed up with being in this cold cottage that we actually decide to GET OUT OF SCOTLAND!! Cut the trip short. Back to good old USA!

Since we might not get to see Castle Stuart Golf Course, we decide to drive back to St. Andrews via the long way through Inverness. At Castle Stuart Golf Course we run into Stewart McClum who we guess is now Gen. Mgr. of the course. Some acquaintances of Dick are out on the course. Stewart invites us to stay for lunch and to see some of the golf course.


Finally during lunch we settle down and decide to drive pass the Castlefields complex where we have secured a flat while in Inverness. We decide that our actions to leave Scotland early were inappropriate and drive on to St. Andrews. Thank goodness Ros agreed that we could come back early. It was like heaven to be at 10 Pilmour again. We stopped over at Tuny and Art's after dinner and chatted with them briefly. Ahhh civilization.