An absolutely wonderful Scots Adventure .: Golfers and dogs.

Saturday, October 3, 2026

Golfers and dogs.

It's taken a month but the little BMW has been repaired and delivered back to us and the large Ford Kuga has been picked up by the rental car company . I can report that parking in the little car is so much easier .

Down on the beach there's a man photographing the sunrise. He has one of those pull along shopping bags which contains a thermos flask and a small mountain of cellophane wrapped sandwiches. He's setting up one of those old fashioned tripod mounted box cameras. It seems to require a lot of adjustment and keeps him engrossed in whatever he's doing. We say ' Good morning' but our arrival doesn't even register.

There is something Celtic about this mornings sunrise.

It poured for a full hour late last night. Today, the drenched first tee is looking refreshed and pristine for the tournaments golfers. There's already a long queue of players and officials outside the breakfast tent waiting for pancakes and bacon.

On the other side of the fairway the first of the days spectators are showing up. By lunchtime the wee street will be solid with people lining the fence. Tomorrow tickets to view the proceedings will be £21. The young steward who tells me this pauses and then adds the words " You'll get a 20% discount if you're a senior citizen ". The delicate way this was phrased tells me he'll have a bright future ahead of him in the diplomatic corps.

The pedestrian management systems that have been put in place for the tournament channel the local dog owners and joggers into a detour that passes the 18th tee. This is where many of the faces we pass on our morning walk can be found having a 'wee blether'.

Someone has a new black labrador puppy. This requires every other dog owner to stop, say hello and offer a chin tickle. I stand by my view that no town elsewhere on earth has a comparable mutt to human ratio. Places with this many dogs pretend to be grand but can't be.