Letters Home - Scotland
by Leslie Shalduha
October 7, 2025 Return to the Homeland
The sound of birds singing is just one of the things about Scotland that we love! We had not realized, until close to the end of our stay in Iceland, that we seldom heard birdsong. Red flag! As we walk and explore, we enjoy the chirps and trills, thankful to be in a place with an abundance of trees. And the weather—gray skies, drizzly rain and warmer temps than expected feed our hearts and souls.
We arrived in Glasgow on October 1 by plane. Leaving Iceland proved to be as irritating as most of our stay. Let's just say we did not let the door hit us in the rear on the way out of that country. We collected our luggage then figured out the bus system that would take us to Dunfermline, in the Kingdom of Fife on the northern coast, where we are staying for the first ten days.
Our first impression of Scotland is Kindness! Everyone has been incredibly kind, even friendly, in a way that I am not sure I have ever experienced. For example, when is the last time you left a pharmacy with a smile on your face and a pep in your step? This just happened to me and I am so astonished.....trying to fill a private prescription from a specialty menopause clinic in a foreign country is very difficult. The pharmacist happened to be a prescriber in her own right and simply took the private prescription from my doctor, wrote her own and filled the prescription, with much interesting conversation. My next stop was to a pharmacy that offers blood tests. They helped me to understand how to do it, what my options are and more information to take back to my doctor to ensure I do the right thing. This may seem like a simple thing, but I cannot remember the last time I was treated like a human in such situations. After our unpleasant stay in Iceland, we are soaking up this kindness like flowers in a rainstorm!
Our first housesit includes looking after two Shar Pei dogs, a breed that I am completely unfamiliar with. Think pit bull with smooshy faces......pure muscle and so dense! Our task here is to walk Fancy & Fred a couple of times a day, feed them and be companions. We can leave them for a few hours at a time so have managed to explore the area a bit.
Upon our arrival, the hostess picked us up at the bus station and said we would meet the dogs as her hubby walked them to ease the transition. We jumped out of the van near their house and started walking with her partner and the dogs. Right away Emma and I could see that walking them would be…...interesting. They are very strong and it was all we could do to hold them, while also trying to look like we knew what we were doing in front of the guy. This was all fine and good until Fred saw something interesting and pulled me, head over heels, over. Yes, I did a full somersault in the grass, backpack and all. Not an auspicious start. Weirdly, the guy acted like nothing had just happened......so, we did too? After the walk, he gave us a quick tour of the house before they took off.
The house is a big old Victorian styled place, two floors with vaulted ceilings, gorgeous big windows and a "secret wing." It sits on top of businesses below. Pulling our suitcases up the many, many stairs was not super fun. The heaters are really neat water radiators which I really love, so the furnace is actually a boiler. This place is run as an airbnb frequently so there are four nice bedrooms upstairs to choose from. Emma is enjoying them very much. For me, I sleep on the couch to keep the dogs calm through the night. It's fine. I'm fine. It's all fine. There is also a neat little conservatory with a roof terrace, two kitchens (one has a working stove, the other a working washing machine) so we go back and forth between the two as needed.
After walking the dogs in the morning (with every muscle tuned to the job lest they take off with us dragging behind), we usually go to our fave cafe, Prost, located in the Abbot's House, at the Dunfermline Abbey & Palace, a gorgeous and historic place near where we are staying. We alternate between office hours and exploration, checking out the stores and cafes, picking up (very affordable!!) groceries and spending time with the dogs. We've also started watching "The Crown," which Emma has not seen yet.
Speaking of very affordable! Most things here are reasonably priced. Thank goodness Emma can once again enjoy her daily coffee without taking out a loan. The food is delicious and every place is extremely conscious of dietary restrictions. I have been able to eat foods that even in the States I could not enjoy at most restaurants, like fish and chips. Hooray!! The Haberdashery is our most favorite place. We have come to know the server, a nice girl named Eleanor. Our second favorite place is an Indian restaurant called Dhoom. On our first visit, we both were brave and ordered new items and every single bite was delicious. Don't ask me to tell you what it was......just know it was tasty, tasty, tasty! Oh, in the grocery store, find the eggs in the dry section, near the coffee. And the Dollar Store here is called "Poundland."
Many of you may know our love of the Outlander series....I had been reading the series for years before it became a tv series and both Emma and I are in love with the show (and Jamie Fraser, who apparently lives somewhere in Scotland. I shall keep my eyes peeled). It only makes sense that we would fangirl a bit and visit locations from the show where possible. Emma's deep-diving research skills are very helpful. The other day, we hopped on a double-decker bus (!!), climbed the stairs and took the seat in the very front with a terrific view of the road ahead. It felt super weird! Our destination was a small village called Culross, where several scenes of Outlander were filmed. Upon our arrival, we both just fell over from the absolute cuteness of this village and the stone cottages and buildings. Yes, we are touching every single stone we see in Scotland, always hoping to be sucked through the stones and into the 1700's.
Here we toured a Palace, built by a successful and innovative businessman back in the day, with an historic garden and lovely grounds. There are scratchings on each wood mantel above the fireplaces to protect the inhabitants from witches, who were believed to enter homes through the chimneys. We did not see any ghosts or witches, but (for those of you inclined to appreciate this) Emma and I both felt some negative energy in our bodies, in the form of pain, while in the palace. The pain dissipated as soon as we left the building.....ah, to know what actually happened in these historic places. We walked through the village and up a heavy hill to Culross Abbey, where we were able to walk amongst the ruins and an old cemetery. We thought we were at an historic kirk (church) that was in Outlander, but have just discovered while writing this we missed the proper one; guess we have to go back! We ended our visit here with hot cocoa at historic Bessie's Cafe. A few days later, Eleanor told us she used to work in the pub there and that the cast from Outlander often return there to visit. She has never seen the show, though, so to her the visits of these stars were unremarkable. CAN YOU IMAGINE????
Our next stop is Edinburgh, in a few days, where we will stay about two weeks on another housesitting job. We look forward to exploring another new area and hoping for dogs that are just a bit less......strong?
We hope you enjoyed reading the latest in The Chronicles of Leslie and Emma. As always, I look forward to hearing back from you!