We had promised to take Alison out somewhere so we decided we would check out Linlithgow. We stopped at Tesco’s for a few supplies and I decided I would drive by Carriden Church where Nana got married. I had never been inside and when we arrived we were fortunate enough to be greeted by a man who was in the process of cleaning it for a funeral service the next day and he offered to give us a guided tour!
At Linlithgow there is a playground that Alison liked so we all drove out and followed her competent directions to a good parking spot down by the Loch. There was a nice footpath leading around the edge of the loch where a large number of swans, geese and ducks profligated due to the proximity of oldjuns with loaves of stale bread. We had brought a loaf with us and had a bit of fun feeding the large and seemingly hungry birds.
We carried on down the guano soaked path to the well fenced off playground which was a good size and had a lot of things for children of all ages. Will loved following Alison around on all the attractions and we had a few near misses where he would quickly run off behind someone on the swings.
We walked into the old centre of Linlithgow to Alison’s favourite café for a coffee and some nachos. While we were sitting there we noticed a sign hanging in the main square highlighting the James Doohan exhibition (Scotty from the original series of Star Trek) just around the corner. It seems he originally came from Linlithgow so I made a note to come back and see it if I got the chance.
Up the long cobbled driveway was St Michael’s church and Linlithgow Palace. St Michael’s church is distinctive for having a crown of thorns adornment on the spire that looks like clashing swords to me and is very prominent to most of the town. Inside, it is a very nice example of an old church with lots of cute little animal carvings on the chairs and a mixture of beautiful old and modern stained glass windows.
Outside we were greeted by the sound of bagpipers practising and we paused to take some artistic shots of the pipers standing outside the palace with the loch in the background. After a while we walked into the palace which is a very well preserved ruin with multiple storeys with reconstructed floors and a tower that goes right to the top with a fantastic view and exactly 140 steps. The palace was really quite large so we spent a good amount of time poking into as many nooks and crannies as we could find. We decided we would buy a historic places 3-day explorer pass as it would save us a lot of money whilst on the road and we regretted not buying it when we were at Edinburgh castle.
Will needed to be home for a sleep so we toddled off home and put Will down to bed. Lou collapsed on the couch not long after to have well deserved forty winks. Since Alison had her weekend planned with Trish and Kenny, today was the last day we would see her so we decided we would come over to Linda and Jim’s to have a Wii evening and to say farewell. Steven was there with his girlfriend so it was a full house and we have a nice time.
I popped home to check on Will and found my cell phone with a couple of texts on it. The first was from Gill saying that Winston had been in a fight and they were taking him to the vet to get looked at. Poor wee kittie… The second was from Tim and Hayley saying they would be arriving in 15 minutes – a little earlier than expected! I jumped in the car and drove around the corner. We said a quite goodbye and sped off to Linlithgow.
We arrived at the station just as the train was pulling in. Tim and Hayley met us on the platform and we packed into the car to head back around to Isobel’s. She had kindly offered for them to stay at her house provided we make it clear to them that it’s “noo a palace!” They were grateful for the room as it had been a long day for the both of them. We stayed up and chatted for a while before calling it a night. Hayley took the bed while Tim slept on the floor beside it. Fortunately the carpet had a long pile which made it more comfortable for him!