May 19 St Andrews

We had booked a walking tour for 11 am so we were on the ball relatively early and after two failed attempts to get an Uber to accept our pickup we rang a taxi to take us into town. The fog was still hanging around. We were early so had a wander around the 18th green and starters area at the Old Course. Gave me goose bumps after seeing it so often on tv over the years and most recently in 2022 when Cam Smith won the open.
We met up with our walking group at The Scores which is a monument to 5 people who were burned to death in the streets of St Andrews for refusing to renounce their Catholic faith. We moved onto the University which covers a large part of the old town. Some of the buildings are quite beautiful. About 46 percent of the students are from overseas. We went into the chapel, a part of which dates back to the 11th century. After that we moved on to the ruins of the old cathedral and the castle. After the tour finished it was time for a coffee and some lunch to warm up.
By the time we emerged outside the fog had pretty much cleared and the sun was out so we wandered back to the Old Course. I had read that on Sundays the course was normally closed and because it belongs to the people of St Andrews they are free to wander around with their dogs and have picnics etc. Must be a greenkeepers nightmare. However today was an exception as there was a tournament on. We wandered down a couple of holes and then crossed over to the iconic 17th and 18th holes and made our way back to the 18th green. We made a few purchases in the nearby golf shops and then found a pub to rehydrate. I then found a Turkish Barbers shop. The Turks seem to have a monopoly on Barbers shops in Scotland and are pretty well established in the taxi business also. The haircut went quite well and I was just thinking about the haircut on the Amalfi Coast with a demented Italian and a cut throat razor when he dips this giant cotton bud in some lighter fluid and sets fire to it. Next thing he is waving it around like a Fijian fire dancer and taking swipes at my ears. I was too scared to move and the room was filled with the smell of burning hair. Needless to say I was out of there as soon as I could and Gaye was left to pick herself up of the floor and pay fir the haircut. We ended up catching a taxi back to the camp with the barbers cousin. I could still smell the singed hair.En savoir plus