Recently I've been struggling. I've lost count of the amount of times I've opened the laptop, tried to think of something to write about, stared blankly at the screen, before giving up & closing the laptop again. I haven't done a single freelance piece since I started my new career in digital marketing. I don't suppose I can call myself a writer anymore...
What I have been doing is cooking. I've been doing a lot of cooking. Ava & I have even been experimenting with the odd bit of baking. I've also been painting and decorating our little flat. Oh, and watching Outlander. I have been watching a lot of Outlander...
I've been running out of ideas of places we could set off to and spend the day that didn't involve booking an overnight stay. I adore a Scottish road trip that involves staying away overnight. But I prefer to leave the little one at home during those particular adventures. Mainly because those ones usually involved sitting up till 3am drinking craft beers with nips of whisky and talking total nonsense into the night...
But I had been reliably informed that Culross was not only close, but pretty. And I am a sucker for a pretty village. So we set off to see. And we weren't even letting the lashing rain or the grey skies put us off. My sister joined us on our journey & there were lots of laughs along the way which included a first time venture over the Kincardine Bridge for all three of us, some seriously loud car karaoke to Justin Timberlake & Ava's own interpretation of Eye Spy. Don't ask because it's too complicated to explain let alone actually play...
Culross was indeed gorgeous. A village it felt like time had forgot. With a tiny population of approximately 400, it's tiny cobbled streets were a labyrinth of exciting little discoveries. The kind of place where you felt yourself actually inhale as you tried to squeeze the car through narrow gaps and winding alleys. So we sensibly dumped the car and decided to investigate on foot while discussing the merits of having the kind of hair that looks purposefully beachy & tousled in the rain (me) to the merits of having such an amazing figure that you rarely have to send anything you order online back (my sister). We're a silver lining kinda bunch, us Young girls...
We discovered beautiful, almost medieval looking houses, occupied today by people who I wonder even realise how lucky they are to live in them. We were extremely grateful that the only pub in the village managed to squeeze us into a table in the corner despite being fully booked. We ate steaming bowls of soup with massive wedges of the softest & doughiest bread I have tasted. Ava's fish and chips tasted as if they had been caught that very morning from the sea only a few metres away...
We were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a steam train as it hurtled through the village. Ava even managed to get a toot from the driver, upon which she squealed with delight. We perused the palace gardens, took a tour up the hill to the abbey church and looked out onto the beach. We watched the grey outline of the nearby power station, set against the gloomy backdrop of grey skies and dark, stormy seas.
On the drive home I thought about my long standing desire and need for stability and routine in Ava's life. I thought about how conflicted that often made me feel against my continual desire for adventure. I thought about what a hopeless romantic I was. And about just how in love with Scotland I have recently become.
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