Loes's daughter's partner Peter has a "Big-0" birthday and together they invited us to join them on a weekend of celebration in Scotland.

Danielle had booked two adjacent chalets on the outskirts of St Andrews, a town famous as the home of Scottish and for that matter, world golf.

Peter has always wanted to play a round on the "Old Course" that features in the World Masters Tournaments.

This weekend he has a chance for that dream to come true.

"Welcome to Scotland" as we drive north.

We avoided the motorways and headed up the A7 towards Edinburgh.

The road took us through the border country of South Lanarkshire.

The towns were looking decidedly Scottish the further north we went.

Taking the south Edinburgh by-pass, we headed across the Forth Road Bridge.

This is the new road motorway bridge, as opposed to the old road bridge seen across the way,

but not the famous Forth (railway) Bridge which we could hardly see, even though the phone was poked out of the sun roof by Loes !

In an attempt to catch a later sighting of the iconic bridge, we diverted to the little village of Aberdour.

It has a small harbour and a fabulous view south across the Firth of Forth towards Edinburgh . . . but no bridge, it was too far away, around to the right.

An unhurried journey north brought us to St Andrews, at just about at the time we had planned.

The deep blue water beyond the town is the North Sea and the Firth of Tay Estuary.

Our route took us into St Andrews and then out a short way to the east to the Chalets at Kinkell Farm.

This would be our base for the next two nights.

Here Peter and Danielle were waiting on cue to greet us and show us the cabin they had previously booked.

Highland Cattle, part of the farm's re-naturalisation of the land.

Down at the bottom of the slope we reach the Fife Coastal Path, though exactly which side of the wall the path was was a bit difficult to work out to start.

The St Andrew area is famous for golf and once we crossed out of the farm field we appear to be part of the local hotel's golf course.

Standing on the cliff edge, looking north across the bay and down at the impressive rocks below.

I search for a way down but there was nothing obvious.

A panoramic view shows the unusual circular nature of the rock strata, part of an eroded volcanic dome perhaps ?

No direct access to the big path down below due to cliff erosion and safety fences, so Peter and I make our way back to the chalet.

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The chalets are self-catering with basic cooking facilities, but we fancied a "posh" meal tonight

so we headed the short distance back into town.

The restaurant Peter had booked was in the centre of St Andrews, so we parked at a convenient spot and walked just a street or two to find it.

St Andrews is an ancient town with some quite old buildings, so when we have more time tomorrow we'll be able to do more exploring.

Tonight we have a dog friendly restaurant and a waiting table to find.

St Andrews is also a University town and the young clientele ensured that the famous ice cream parlour remained open and busy well into the evening.

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Next day dawned sunny but with a slightly cool breeze . . . . but the morning started with the sound of a cork popping !

Peter appears "so happy today" in more ways than one.

No space for breakfast due to the number of birthday presents . . . I think Danielle was aiming for 50 small gifts for his 50th birthday.

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He has always wanted to play golf at St Andrews so after breakfast we headed into town.

In sporting terms, playing St Andrews Old Course it's like stepping out for a game at Twickenham or Wembley

or taking a racing car for a drive around Brands Hatch . . . a lifelong ambition for some.

We headed over to the golfing area.

Peter had to report to the Old Pavilion to enter a draw to play the course.

There were building repairs and improvements in progress, to get the area updated and fit for the future.

This is the area you see on television when the big matches are in progress.

The Club offer pre-booking option for a guaranteed game, but as it is a real package price the cost is rather high for a formal booking.

They also offer visitors the chance of a game when there's last minute space on the course, due to lack of bookings or after a late cancellation.

Peter put his name plus golf experience into the Club Draw, so that he could be matched with others if there was a suitable chance to play.

There was no spaces left this morning so Peter and Danielle decided to take their own dog down onto the beach, so offered to take Dougal along for company.

Loes preferred to have a walk around this famous town, to see the buildings and soak up the history, so dog-less for a while, Loes and I headed into town.

Cobbled street and old houses . . . but also Indian cuisine on offer.

In the Main Street there's a fountain in memory of major George John Whyte-Mellville, who died aged 57 in a hunting accident.

" His writings delighted - his conversation charmed and instructed " . . . seems he was a nice guy !

$$$ Above a corner shop was a plaque to Bailie Bell who was an assistant printer in the early days of type setting. $$$

At the end of the street was a dramatic structure standing tall as part of an old building.

The Cathedral of St Andrew, now in ruins, was built in 1158 and became the centre of the Medieval Catholic Church in Scotland.

It was the seat of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and the Bishops and Archbishops of St Andrews.

It fell into disuse and ransacked after the Catholic Religion was outlawed during the 16th-century Scottish Reformation.

It is currently a monument in the custody of Historic Environment Scotland.

We continued our walk around town, gradually heading back to the car park on a road next to the sea.

That looks to me like a relatively modern tidal swimming pool, but to the right, sadly out of picture, is the cliff and pool known as the Witches Lake.

In England they used Ducking Chairs to identify witches, up here they just threw them in the sea.

If they didn't drown then it proved they were witches and were then put to death anyway . . . best not to be singled out and be accused in the first place it seems.

St Andrews Castle was an early fortress and home for the Catholic Cardinals.

Catholicism was the strong religion of the day but it had its detractors.

The building has a gruesome history of betrayal and conflict.

There has been a castle standing at the site since the times of Bishop Roger (1189–1202), son of the Earl of Leicester.

It housed the wealthy and powerful bishops when St Andrews was the ecclesiastical centre of Scotland, during the years before the Protestant Reformation.

Information courtesy of Wikipedia

As a result, this building is the notional home of 'Protestantism' and it seems, hosted the first ever "Protestant Church" service in Scotland.

- - - o o o - - -   The Martyr's Monument. Built to commemorate four men who were executed in St Andrews during the 16th Century Scottish Reformation, the Martyrs’ Monument has become one of the town’s most intriguing and iconic historic landmarks. The monument hosts the names of the martyrs. Henry Forest was executed in 1533 for owning a copy of the New Testament in English. George Wishart was burnt at the stake for defying the Catholic Church and Walter Myln followed in 1558, having advocated married clergy. Courtesy of Historyhit.com   St Andrews was the centre of religious power in Scotland and it became the centre of conflict during the Protestant Reformation. The Bishop's Castle was besieged and the Cathedral destroyed. Scotland became officially Protestant in 1560. Courtesy of the Historic Scotland signboard.   - - - o o o - - -

Many of the buildings in town, here on the seafront, are part of the University of St Andrews.

The organisation has a similar kudos in the academic world as Oxford and Cambridge does amongst English universities.

Approaching the new development down on the seafront means we are nearly back at the car park.

The famous bandstand and the golf course that stretches out across the links and sand dunes, which extends all the way up the coast.

The signboard overlooking the sea reminds us of the many sights and landmarks we had seen today

on this short but remarkable walk around this most ancient town

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The morning ended with us meeting up with the Peter and Danielle and the two wet and sandy dogs.

Time to decide where to have lunch and what to visit this afternoon (see part two).

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Peter did strike it lucky next day and won a place on the course for a game later the following afternoon . . .