109.
The sun had its hat on this morning, so we decided to head off in the direction of Pittenweem on the south neuk of Fife. There was no rush as we crossed the Tay at 2pm: we were going to the village's festival to take part in the torchlit parade to burn the effigy and watch the fireworks display (all very Wicker Man-ish). We would have plenty of time to tour the Kingdom's lesser travelled back roads, and visit some castles and picturesque inland villages on the way. Our route took us past PITCULLO CASTLE, where I met the owner who happily showed me around, and even told me the best place to take photographs from (I should introduce him to the owner of AUCHTERHOUSE TOWER). From there, we drove on to DAIRSIE CASTLE, which has recently been rebuilt (completely rebuilt from rubble). We stopped at the picturesque and historic village of Kemback, which is nestled in a narrow glen formed by the CERES BURN which was used by the Covenanters during the religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries. Our travels took us on to KELLIE CASTLE, where we noticed the haar decending upon us. We wandered around, and spent some time in its beautiful GARDENS (where I saw this rose). By the time we got back to the car, the haar had turned into fog. We knew it was hopeless, but we carried on to Pittenweem anyway. When we got there we could hardly see 20 yards in front of our faces, and we decided that there was little chance of a fireworks display happening today: so we went to CRAIL for our tea instead. Rather than follow the coast road through ST ANDREWS to DUNDEE, I decided to head inland in the hope of escaping the fog... some chance. We practically retraced our steps, but the fog had taken over. At 3pm it had been warm and sunny, by 8pm it was like November. The joys of living in Scotland (yes, I know, that's why IT'S SO GREEN!). A quick trip to the SUPERMARKET and the day was complete. I know that this is a technically poor photograph with the rose out of focus and partly cropped. You will see plenty better in my FLORA gallery: but I like this one...! Go figure! CLICK HERE if you want to see the image that I almost chose for my PaD.