Day4 - Perth to Newburgh

Date: Tuesday 18^th August 2015

Route: Perth to Newburgh (via Scone, Dundee & Arbroath)

Our Listening Pleasure:  Marmalade

Miles today: 111

Total Mileage: 618

Scone lies just a few miles outside Perth, and is the place where kings were crowned in days of old. The last king to be crowned here was Charles II. This was one tourist attraction we didn’t mind paying in to see.

Scone Palace

Toppled gravestone in the Burial Ground

The skies were a bit heavy and anticipating rain was not too far off, we started with a walk around the grounds, and took in the burial ground, the archway and medieval wall, the “tomb”, the two Clydesdales horses (Elvis and Beau) and the Stone of Scone. 

The Beeb at The Tomb

The Archway that was too small for Queen Vic's carriages

The Stone of Scone is steeped in history and legend has it that when the English invaded, the monks of the Abbey that was on the site in the 1600’s switched the real stone for a fake and the English took the fake to London. In the not so distant past, some Scottish students stole the stone from London and although it was eventually recovered, and returned to London, the Queen was really generous a few years ago and let the Scots have the stone back, and it is now in Edinburgh Castle. The stone we saw in Scone is a replica (or maybe it’s a double bluff and it is the real thing!!!).

The Stone of Scone

The Beeb tries to make a friend

The grounds are home to some peacocks, and one was an unusually white coloured one. They didn't want to be The Beeb's friend...

The White Peacock in full bloom

The house, Scone Palace is built on the site of the old Bishops Palace. No photography was allowed inside as it is the family home of the Earl of Mansfield. Guides were on hand to give you the history of each room, and they were very informative. Queen Victoria stayed here for one night and gave 2 years’ notice of her visit. In preparation, the driveway had to be rebuilt as the original archway was too small for the Queen’s carriages, the dining table was specially purchased, and the Queen slept in a bedroom set up for her on the ground floor.

The Murray family are obviously very proud of their hunting roots, with loads of ivory statues prominently displayed, 2 large taxidermied grizzly bears and 2 elephant skulls (complete with tucks) hanging from the wall.

We stayed for a cup of tea and a scone (had to be done!).

A scone at Scone

As we left Scone, the rain really started to pelt down so our tour was restricted just to a drive through of Dundee and a brief stop in nearby Arbroath.  

The Discovery, Captain Scott’s ship that took him to the Antartic was impressive, shored up in the harbour at Dundee.

Scott's Discovery

Arbroath Rain

In Arbroath, we did brave the lashing rain and wandered around the harbour. The fishermen are made of tough stuff here, as you can see from the boat heading out for day – you would think the sun was shining from the guy sunbathing at the front of the boat. One thing we did notice was that all parking was free in Arbroath.

Sunbathing in Arbroath

We continued up the Coastal Trail North, and arrived at Chez McCambleys in Newburgh, just north of Aberdeen, where we had a lovely relaxing evening with Sheena, Alex and Bobby, eating a curry and spending all night chatting.