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| Bute's message to us, enhanced by a rainbow! |
Haste ye back.As we drove into the ferry line, this sign was one of the last things we saw as we boarded the CalMac to take us to Wemyss Bay on the mainland. We were sorry to be leaving Rothesay, and I dare say we left behind a little bit of ourselves. This small island has a sneaky way of reaching in and grabbing a piece of your heart!
Plus, we didn't have nearly enough time to explore this lovely place. As soon as we landed and drove through Wemyss, I missed the slower pace of Bute.
Speaking of the ferry, after parking the car, we walked upstairs to the passengers lounge for the 35 minute trip, and there was our friend Jimmy Duncan. He had to make a trip over on business. It was great to see him again, to thank him once more for all he did for us, and to tell him about the Mcc tombstones we had found yesterday in our explorations.
Then Smoky and I walked onto the back deck of the ferry and waved goodbye to Bute one last time.
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| Street view of High Street in Peebles, taken from the Church of Scotland steps. |
We survived the drive through Glasgow and across to Peebles (enough said about that!). Peebles is a vibrant town in the Scottish Borders section of the country, just 23 miles south of Edinburgh. It straddles the River Tweed, and it has a remarkable retail section along High Street and several adjacent streets. In fact, Peebles is known as the top independent retailing town in Scotland for its range of independent shops and its home-town identity.
On-street parking is free (another plus for shopping there), and if you aren't lucky enough to find an available spot, there is a conveniently located town carpark. In reading up about Peebles before our trip, back when we expected to stay here for three nights, we had identified several places we wanted to see.
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| Choices abound at Cocoa Black Chocolate and Pastry School's shop. |
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| Cocoa Black's window. |
Because our time this afternoon was limited, we had to choose what was most easily available. As it turned out, the Cocoa Black Chocolate and Pastry School was easy to find, right on a corner near High Street. Their coffee shop and goodie bar had a great selection of just-made chocolate treats. Cocoa Black School holds short-term speciality classes that people like us can sign up for, but they had none on the schedule for the time we were planning to be in town.
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| The first quilt shop I've spotted this trip! |
Because we had not yet had lunch, we selected two varieties of cake for "take-away" and asked about a recommendation for late lunch/early dinner. Coltman's Deli and Kitchen was the quick response, and it was just around the corner. This small place had a bakery counter in the front with delicious looking scones, tarts, savory and sweet individual pies, and even some dandelion syrup. You could get tea or coffee and cake and sit at one of the small tables. Or you could go to the back on the right side into the fireplace room and order lunch or dinner from a terrific menu. Smoky had a pork chop (thick cut) served with an interesting mix of sauteed vegetables and noodles. I had a fresh salmon cake served with a wonderful sauce and steamed cabbage. The salmon cake was held together with polenta. To me these combinations sounded unusual and really delicious. We both enjoyed our lunch/dinner a lot.
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| A little fall color shows on some trees in the park near the River Tweed. |
After walking around town a bit, we headed to Winkston B&B, just a couple of miles outside of Peebles. This is a very pleasant location, created on what is a working farm. One of the buildings is being used for B&B rooms, and there are several self-catering cottages as well. We are both extremely tired tonight, and the bed feels great, so I'm signing out now to get some sleep!
[Evening update: We can attest for the skills taught at Cocoa Black; the cakes we took away were divine. Smoky had chocolate caramel and I had coconut mango sponge. Yum!]
--Shann
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