Saturday 11 April 2009

Day trips

Since Rowan was at nursery on Good Friday, I took Sean and Finn out. The intention was to head for an adventure playpark near Limekilns but an articulated lorry on it's side at a roundabout put paid to that so we ended up in Dunfermline instead. We parked at Pittencrief Park and had a brief play there then walked up towards the Abbey and town centre. Sean was having a good read of the gravestones. He liked that they told you peoples' names, when they had lived and died and how old they were. Having only just seen it on the History of Scotland TV program, I hadn't realised that square tower with the words KING ROBERT THE BRUCE set, one word on each face, around the top, was in Dunfermline.

We had lunch in the centre of town, Finn putting away a ridiculous portion of spaghetti bolognese, then we walked back down, visiting a cake shop and exploring the gorge and the rest of Pittencrieff Park on the way.

On the Easter Saturday we had more of a family day, driving east to Dunbar for a picnic and then a walk on the beach. the boys wolfed down their macaroni and sauce although it proved the downfall of my flask as it was broken as it was banged on the picnic table in a forlorn attempt to dislodge the macaroni that had swelled and stuck within. It was a mild and breezy day and the tide was out but the beach was a spectacular strand of rippled sand beneath the blue sky. The undulations weren't easy for Sharon to navigate however. We crossed the metal bridge and looped out and back around, looking for shells and lugworm casts and trying to keep the boys out of the sea. Finn showed his perception at one point, saying he thought a buggy had been on the beach as there were two tracks and they were too narrow to be a car. He has good deductive powers that lad.

From the beach we headed into town and located the playpark in Belhaven Road which is hidden away in what was formerly a walled garden. The garden areas have gone to seed but there was an excellent playpark with sand (always a great favourite of Sean and Finn) and a nice little cafe selling tasty gluten-free brownies and cookies. Bonus!

So, after two or three trips to Dunbar we finally saw something about the place that would attract us back. It may struggle to knock North Berwick off its perch as favoured East Lothian destination!

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