St Andrews

Our Great British Adventure

May 1, 2018

Anthony had very much wanted to see the Old Course at St Andrews as he loves watching golf, especially the (British) Open, so I had booked us onto a walking tour. It was cold and sunny with a very bitter wind and the cloud increased to full overcast by early afternoon.

The tour was very interesting - the guide used a headset and we had receivers so he could be heard easily which was very sensible - though it didn't cover many holes. In looking for our tour we'd also wandered a couple of other courses and were very happy with our morning.

We collected our souvenirs and walked the short distance into town to find a barber for Anthony who'd decided he wanted to look respectable for the conference. You can judge for yourself whether he succeeded...

Afterward lunch we briskly (rain was looking imminent and the shuttle to the hotel only ran once an hour) toured the ruined castle, then walked up and through the ruins of the cathedral.

St Andrews is an interesting little town. Its normal population is about 16,000 (about a third of whom are students at the Uni). When the town hosts the Open about 95,000 visitors flood in and the locals flee, making huge amounts of money renting their houses out for the event! The Uni dates back to the early 1400's when, very unusually, it was endorsed by the pope to teach both theology and witchcraft (science). It was a lovely little town and I liked it a lot.